Networking for Life

On Monday evening I was delighted to be invited along to the 10th Anniversary of the Precious Online Awards Dinner. The awards celebrate the achievements of women of colour in business and leadership.

It was inspiring to listen to the winners as they accepted their awards. What really struck me was that the real nuggets came not from the guest speakers but from the award winners themselves. One of my favourite quotes of the evening from one winner was, "Anything is possible......you've just got to work bloody hard to get it!"

Before the presentation of the main award, PRECIOUS Entrepreneur of the Year, the 2008 winners Natasha Faith and Semhal Zemikael who run a semi-precious jewellery business La Diosa, told the audience how the experience had affected them over the last twelve months.

Both Natasha and Semhal, like many of the women present, are young entrepreneurs in the early stages of their careers. Natasha talked about how supportive other women in the room and in the network had been and the friends she had made in the year since the last awards ceremony.

What was important, according to Natasha, was that such support and friendship should continue outside the event itself. "We have an opportunity to grow together and network for life", she told the audience.

Such long-term thinking about the power of networks is still rare. As networks have matured, we have the opportunity not just to make the connections to help us in our business now, but to surround ourselves with people who can support us throughout our careers. People we can grow together with, share our challenges and our achievements and with whom we have the chance to develop such a bond of trust that the support we can offer each other becomes limitless.

If you haven't done so already, look to your network and recognise those people who are of the same generation and who share the same vision as you. Ask yourself the difference it will make to you if you network with them not just for a year, but for many years to come.

Get Over It

I bumped into Hermione Way at The Hospital Club in Covent Garden yesterday. Hermione is the entrepreneur and presenter behind Techfluff.tv and Newspepper.com. Through her viral videos, Facebook updates and Twitter comments Hermione has built quite a name for herself over the last couple of years.



Chatting with Hermione about the future direction of her businesses, she talked about the challenges facing her taking the next step. She has a number of exciting plans in the field of internet video production and social media. The problem is one of funding. She is looking for investment but is daunted by the time involved, weight of work and the sheer scale of the task.

This surprised me. I know a lot of people in Hermione's network, she admits herself that she is extremely well connected. The people I know would be perfectly placed to help Hermione both in terms of advice and connections and getting proposals and plans in place. Yet she is frightened to ask.

"I want to be independent", she told me. "I want people to know that I have achieved things myself."

Hermione's reluctance is perhaps understandable. She is a young woman with a brother who is already a well known entrepreneur (Ben Way appeared in the first series of Channel 4's Secret Millionaire show). However my advice was quite simple, Get over it!

Nobody has all of the talents, skills, expertise and experience within themselves to achieve everything we need in business. Successful people surround themselves with others who have abilities they lack. They see the big picture and get support from others achieving their goals.

In sport the best players have coaches who make them better, caddies who advise them on the most appropriate shot, tacticians who use their experience to help them win. Business is no different.

Hermione may have the potential to succeed, but that potential could be lost if she tries to do everything herself. Having surrounded herself with high achievers who have a wealth of experience, she now needs to swallow some pride and ask for some help where she isn't so strong.

Get over it Hermione. If your businesses thrive, you won't be judged any less for having had the courage to ask for help along the way.