How networking helped me fall in love with my business!
I have been in business for over 20 years and 10 years ago I joined a female business network in the north west of Northern Ireland, and it literally changed my life!
Having gone through the recession in 2009 I was floored. I didn’t know how to pick myself up having let go of an amazing team of 4, designers who had been with us for many years. But I knew I had to survive in business and look after my family.
When my local business women’s network in Derry, Women in Enterprise (WIE), were asking for volunteer committee members to help keep a previously publicly funded network going on a voluntary basis, I decided to help out. WIE were a network I had been on the edge of for about 8 years before but I never really understood the value of networking.
At that time network events tended to be male orientated and being a bit shy, I probably didn’t get the most out of the events. Plus I didn’t really understand that networking is about getting to know people rather than selling.
WIE introduced me to new friends, new business contacts, new networks, and I grew in a confidence I didn’t think I had. I did things I would never have dreamed of before and I started to see how women work together to support each other. Corny though it may sound, I fell in love with my business all over again.
Now I want to bring my experiences to this circle, and I want you to bring yours!
The Web Club at Bizmerang is for women in business, female entrepreneurs, and gals in general, to provide a space to learn, grow, support each other and be supported. It doesn’t matter what you title yourself as, we are all in some sort of biz either for ourselves or for with/for someone else and we want to make a difference to our lives!
Together we can learn, share and encourage each other. In fact let’s make this our go-to circle. I’m not the expert in everything I will never pretend to be. But I will be there to encourage you to be your best self, give it one more try when you think you’ve had enough, and support your fellow circle members if and when you can.
We want to grow ourselves and our businesses, we want to support our families, whether it’s kids, parents, or far out cousins who need our support – someone usually does. And that’s OK…!
But we need to have a business or a job that provides an income which allows us to live and also be there for others – whether clients or family!
We don’t want to just sell a service or sell a product, we want to live a life with some sort of purpose. We want to believe in what we do – believe we will make a difference to someone’s life for the better. If you’re like me, you feel an obligation to provide the best service possible. While you don’t want to kill yourself working, you want to be known as exceeding expectations.
Join The Web Club at Bizmerang and together we will find, engage, and retain our best clients, doing a job we love.
Looking forward to having you come to our Launch meeting where we will tell you more about Bizmerang, The Web Club and how networking changed my life.
Patricia x