Regular readers of my blog will know that I am a serial business networker. In fact, it borders on an obsession. And so it should, because it’s where I get regular business from. The clue is in the title.
For the last four years, I have been a Regional Leader for 4Networking, looking after Lincolnshire & Cambridgeshire – otherwise known as The ‘Shire.
This involves leading a team of Area Leaders who in turn, lead their own teams of Group Leaders to provide fun, energetic and sometimes slightly bonkers networking meetings to the members of 4Networking who live in my region.
This is the official blurb:
The RL drives growth and promotes stability in the region by appointing, supporting and developing Area Leaders. Liaises with the Board of Directors via the Network Leader to help formulate and execute plans and initiatives. Supports the membership, building great networking opportunities in the region.
But way back in 2010, when I first joined the network, I didn’t have a clue where my 4N journey was going to take me. I joined at Wetherby Breakfast as me and The Dearly Beloved (TDB), were living at RAF Linton on Ouse at the time.
I signed up after having a ‘lightbulb’ moment. I had a brand new business, a brand new address, and a brand new contacts list with nothing in it. I needed contacts fast. In fact, I needed them yesterday. But lack of contacts meant lack of business and subsequently lack of money – all combining into a holy mess of needing to invest in my new business but having no money to do so.
So I went to my second meeting with no intention of coughing up £200 as I didn’t have £200 to cough up.
Until the Group Leader (each 4N group has one – they lead the meeting, create the buzz and generally do the schizzle) read out part of the meeting script we still use to this day:
‘Later on, you will have three 10-minute 1-2-1 business appointments, so use this slot to explain why people should have a 1-2-1 with you.’
I sat there with a rather dumbfounded look on my face.
I’d been getting quotes from lead generation companies in Leeds to put me in front of Learning & Development Managers (I was setting up a new training consultancy) for face to face meetings that were coming in at over £100 a time. Yep. £100. All a bit eyewatering.
And this guy was telling me I could get three of them at each 4N meeting for only £15 a time??? And if I joined I could go anywhere in the network and get these appointments!! WOWZERS!
As I was filling in the joining form (and deciding not to worry about where the money would come from – I’d find a way….), the Area Leader at the time casually asked me if I’d thought about being on a team.
I hadn’t.
I hadn’t even thought about joining until half an hour ago.
Until he asked me if I’d like access to a call list of local business owners that I could pick up the phone to every two weeks to ask them what they’d like for breakfast.
**JAW DROPPING MOMENT**
Wait?
What??!!
A call list of local business owners I could use every two weeks??? Where did I sign???????
So – I joined, and I joined the team as Operational Assistant (now known as Group Coordinator), and I have never looked back.
Using that role and progressing to Group Leader, whilst getting involved with as much as I could with all the other aspects of being a 4N member meant my business went from being just me, to me running a team of over 180 freelance trainers working all over the world within 2 years.
It’s now nearly 10 years since I signed that joining form and I’ve been a Regional Leader for nearly 4 of them. Working for yourself can be a pretty lonely experience sometimes. Being on a 4N team gives you that sense of belonging that you can miss when running your own business. Being part of a team and working together to achieve a goal can really motivate you to do the same for your own business goals.
I loved being a Group Leader. But the role I am in now is the one I love the most. Being a Regional Leader for 4N is something I am proud to do. I enjoy it. I have a great team of Area Leaders to work with that bring our own special brand of networking magic to The ‘Shire
4Networking works. We say that at each and every meeting we go to. Because it does. If you want it to.