Features

Work Matters: Business Development - Branching out with networks

Management
Attending the right networking events can be an opportunity to build valuable relationships, says Sarah Steel, manager of the Old Station nursery group.

When I first started my company over eight years ago, a business advisor recommended I join a local networking group to meet other people in business in my immediate area. At the time I was working very long days, covering shifts in the nursery, working on finances in the evenings and juggling family commitments too - a scenario many of you will be familiar with, I'm sure. The prospect of 'not-working' or standing around chatting to people who had no relevance to my business did not seem a good use of my time, and my first experience confirmed this. The majority of attendees at an evening networking event were men in suits (no offence, gentlemen, but it can be a little off-putting) and I lost count of the number of these people who looked at my name badge, saw the word 'nursery' and rather dismissively muttered something about 'playgroups' before moving on to someone more interesting!

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