Last month saw the first Coffee & Co-Working networking event for businesswomen in the popular B12 Bar & Kitchen in Hailsham.
When I heard that Nic Gray was unavailable for this month’s meeting and asked me to stand in for her, it was a no-brainer.
Not a stranger to networking events myself as I’ve been networking regularly for the past 4 years. I’ve also held my own networking events in 2018 and 2019 under the guise of Hailsham Shop Local, a local Facebook group community. It’s probably not a surprise to learn that I relished the opportunity to host another networking event.
This morning we were joined by:
- Lucinda Steeden, Sleep and Well-being Consultant at SleepP,
- Melanie Redstone, a Certified Image Consultant & Personal Stylist at The Image Stylist, based in Brighton
- Emma Vaughan, Freelance Telemarketer at 1066 Girl Friday,
- Emma Rich-Spice, CEO at The Chaseley Trust
- Holly Chapman, Business Development Manager / Customer Accounts Manager at Cloud Voice & Data
- Myself, Virtual Assistant at PA Your Way.
Meeting Format
The meeting is three hours long, so slightly longer than the standard Networking of two hours. However, having that extra hour allowed the meeting to be more relaxed. It’s great to just chat with other people, find out what they do and where the common ground is. I find it’s great to have a laugh with your peers and the meeting allowed us to do just that.
After a while, I invited everyone to introduce themselves as I knew not everyone knew everyone else. I thought it was important to give everyone their own time and their own space to talk openly to everyone. It’s good to be able to talk freely.
Just doing this then opened the forum up to more chat, and more advice from others and what I really love about this side of Networking is that someone else can view your business, or an element of it, in a completely new light.
Pain Points
After all this chat, more coffees and some lovely cakes, we talked about our business pain points.
Pain points are specific problems or hurdles faced by our customers, whether current or prospective, in our own business.
A pain point can include any problems the customer may experience along their journey and how we can work through them.
I find this is one of the great things about Networking. Discussing these pain points and sharing your experiences, problems and hurdles so that you can work a way around them. I think of it this way: If I’ve experienced a particular problem, the chances are someone else has as well. And even more helpful is if they have a tip or piece of advice to help work through this.
What I Love About Networking
I really enjoy Networking. I love meeting new people. I find that in real life, meeting new people is actually quite a struggle. As our typical Britishness dictates, we tend to keep ourselves to ourselves, socially.
This isn’t uncommon. As humans are naturally social creatures we do like to form relationships with others. However, we are rather guarded when it comes to reaching out further to strangers. We like to stick to what we know – our own comfort zones.
The great thing about Networking is that it “forces” me to make that extra step. It makes me introduce myself to a new and unfamiliar face. I know how I felt the first time I went Networking. I went alone and I arrived early and there were only two other people in the room. I wanted to turn round and walk out. But I was soon welcomed by the friendly faces and soon others started to arrive.
I’ve been Networking regularly ever since.
Every time I network I meet someone new. And I never go networking to find my next prospect as that’s not what Networking is about.
Networking is about finding a common ground with others. I love to find out how others work, sharing hints and tips (such as the pain points, as mentioned above). These hints and tips can help you in your own business or you can help someone else in theirs.
Sometimes there’ll be someone there who asks for my assistance in business and that’s a real gem. The second best result is that someone there knows someone who needs my services and exchanges business details.
I find that Networking has improved my social skills as a person and I’m a lot more confident than I used to be.
Why We Network
According to PRWeb, in a 1985 news article that telecommunications expert and consultant Bill Lewis first coined the term “networking”. This was used to describe connecting people in order to build better business connections.
Since that time the word “networking” is a commonly used phrase. Before this time the word “network” was used to describe how computers were linked together.
Networking is essential for business growth, as building relationships and trust are key to successful collaborations. By increasing your connections across different industries and organisations, you’ll be able to open up new opportunities that can help take your career or business endeavours in exciting directions!
How We Network
It’s so important to allow solo or small business owners to talk openly about what they do. There are several reasons for this:
- They’re passionate about their business and all they want to do is talk about it.
- This could be the only time they get out to meet other people and when they start chatting, they can’t stop!
- When solo or small business-owners network with like-minded people and they feel a connection to another, their passion for their business is multiplied.
It’s also important to have some sort of an agenda when networking and this is mainly for the following reasons:
- Everybody has been introduced and knows who else is in attendance.
- Everyone has had a chance to speak, present their business and explain what they do within their business.
- They have a chance to hand out their business cards and find out how to best connect with others.
- It’s an excellent opportunity to mention potential connections and prospective clients.
About Coffee & Co-Working
Coffee & Co-Working is a nationally recognised networking event organised by the influential Women’s Business Club.
At every step of your business journey, Women’s Business Club will provide tailored products and services to ensure long-term success. No matter whether you’re just starting out or already a successful SME. Their mission is to empower all female entrepreneurs on their path towards achieving greatness!
This is a free-to-attend event which enables you to connect with other local like-minded females in business. To share tips and ideas and have a coffee, a natter and some business time.
The idea is to build a great rapport with your fellow female companions. This will build your community, provide a richer experience and in turn, will lead to more recommendations and leads. These leads don’t have to be present but most certainly from other contacts as you grow and strengthen your network.
About Women's Business Club
Women’s Business Club has helped thousands of women in business in a number of ways:
- Forming fabulous relationships with other women in business.
- Sharing business ideas and combat common business hurdles enables everyone to learn from your experiences
- Learning and sharing with others allows you to look at situations in a different light.
- Improve your own brand awareness and reputation by getting yourself out by networking.
- You’re spreading your net wider by meeting new people and being recommended to and by others.
- Meeting like-minded business-women enables you to cheerlead your peers on. Being a solopreneur can be lonely, especially if you don’t get to meet many people in your job.
About B12 Bar & Kitchen
Viktoria Cowley at PA Your Way has been nominated for a Women’s Business Award. 
Read about what this means for Women in Business as a whole, for you as a Client and what it means for me as a Nominee: https://payourway.co.uk/ive-been-nominated/
