Collaboration

What happens when you turn up to an International Women's Day event hosted by Trudy Simmons' Hampshire Women's Business Group? Collaboration! Great Networking! Fun! Laughter! Energy! Equal for Equal! Great Food! Champagne! Brilliant Women! Friends! Awesome Welcome! Hugs!

I was privileged to meet a whole lot of wonderful, clever and inspiring women who all ace their jobs every single day as they come to it with such great passion and love for what they do, plus they are bloody good at it! I'm not going to give anything away about the content though as that is GOLD and what goes on in the HWBG stays in the HWBG 😘 However, I am looking forward to working more with Naomi Collier and Jennifer Jones on our collaboration mission - watch this space!

One of the most awesome things about a room full of women is the way they pick you up and bring you in and help you every step of the way. Just by having 'getting to know you' chats, you already can think of a number of people that person can help or people that can help them. That is what networking is all about. I never ever go to these events thinking 'right how many people can I get to work with me today'...that is NOT COOL! I would much prefer to see if I can help them in other ways, such as referrals and building relationships. Getting to 'know, like, and trust' someone, to me is very important and essential for me and my business.

When I first started out, I was trying to be all to everyone, and do you know what? that does not work - not even in the slightest bit. Your message doesn't get out to anyone as it isn't speaking to them directly, it is just white noise and there is a heck of a lot of that out there. Now, after looking at my career history and working out what I like to do, I have niched my expertise and can direct my marketing (even though it is still rather sporadic) to that market only - a lesson I learnt only last year but it is a good one.

Tuesday night was the LinkedIn Local Farnham event. I love this one. A room that is full of LinkedIn connections you may already have and new ones to connect with! They are run each month at The Lost Boy in Farnham and hosted by the fabulous Russ Avery and Tim Brown (no relation honest, I'm nowhere near as crazy as Tim! 🤣). The atmosphere is always high energy, and you meet some really interesting people. Arrive, get a drink at the bar, then upstairs to the venue. There is a '5 in 5' slot for three people from 8pm. Aimed at giving your audience 5 points/tips/hints/info in 5 minutes and it is hugely appreciated by everyone as is always really informative.

Since they started this group, Russ and Tim have also formed a business together. Great collaboration! They are great guys and will definitely make you feel welcome, so book your ticket - this event is on the second Tuesday of the Month.

There are many LinkedIn Locals cropping up in the area now with a new one for Bordon and Alton which has its debut on Tuesday 17th March. This is a collaboration of Signal Bordon and villagers Rob Fryer and Sarah Bass and is being held at The George in Alton.

Collaboration is key in ANY business. You may not know what you could 'do together' without investigating what you 'do' together.

If you would like to know more, click here to get in touch as I would love to help you!