What we’re about
This is networking for people who hate networking. It is for entrepreneurs and self-starters who work in cafes (or from home). It’s an opportunity to work together, learn essential business skills and share skills without the usual ‘working the room’ pressure. Read any article or book on networking and it will tell you that it’s all about building ‘real’ relationships. However, for a lot of people it’s actually all about anxiety (“what’s my elevator pitch”, “how can I introduce myself to people”), a developing collection of – never again looked at – business cards and an uncomfortable feeling of trying to compete with the networking pros. Something different? Here’s a new idea; a networking event that is about working and sharing expertise. There’s no anxiety to sell yourself or your business – because that’s not allowed. So it really is about developing supportive relationships and about learning life and business lessons from the people you meet. It's social but with a real focus on developing business skills. Small groups are better? Uncomfortable when faced with large groups? So are a lot of people, so each meeting is confined to at most ten attendees. That way you're likely to find it less intimidating and likely to get to know individuals rather than have superficial chats with lots of different people. What if loads of people are keen to participate? Easy, more than one meeting can go on at the same time; but just in a different cafe. In fact lots of meetings can be going on, in lots of different venues, all with small groups of motivated business entrepreneurs. The rules: * Strictly no selling; anyone selling their services or products won’t be invited back. Why no selling? * At each event there will be a one hour learning/mentoring session from 11am – 12am * Each event is about getting work done and learning/sharing business success advice. You can of course come and go as the please. Suggest a date to meet in your cafe! Jim Byrne
