Another theme we hear amongst our tribe of #GirlBosses is the importance of building your networks. This #TeamCoco writer was at a Start Up event on Monday in a room full of 20 other entrepreneurs from totally different industries and came away with a potential mentor, an American food truck to collaborate with and the intel on a new dessert-only bar coming soon.

As the speaker at that event said the “loose connections” you make (the people that aren’t your friends or in your usual circles) are often the best; you can open yourself up to completely new circles and new opportunities!

In this week’s workout we share five of our favourite places to grow your networks. We challenge you to try out one of the below, make some connections and give us some feedback on twitter through @House_Of_Coco .

  • EventbriteOkay so this isn’t a place but we challenge you to spend an hour (do it on the bus, now!) delving into the treasure trove that is Eventbrite searching for events that speak to you. Search ‘Start Up’ if you are a budding entrepreneur, ‘Fashion’ if you just want to hear more about the industry. You get the gist, right? Then do the same with Meet Ups.
  • Flock Flock is a “global marketplace built on collaboration” run by total #GirlBoss Emma Sexton. Check out their site and social channels for events in London and an incredible group of entrepreneuers are travelling to New York next month for global networking. How amazing is that?
  • Social media So this might sound weird but online is a fantastic place to make professional friends. Think of all the amazing small brands out there who are being run by one amazing soul. That amazing soul will, most likely, be doing all the marketing themselves. Follow their channels and interact, who knows where it might lead. As a starter for ten we recommend following the brilliant Escape the City.
  • Ask AroundCheck our local and industry specific events by simply googling or ask the people you meet through steps 1 and 3 where they go for inspo. You can never go to too many events or meet too many new people! For instance, this #TeamCoco writer is based in London but wanted to offer some shout outs to groups outside of London and asked the rest of the crew for their recommendations and found out about Forward Ladies .
  • Don’t forget about the boys! Yes we are #GirlBosses and feminists but let’s not be narrow minded, okay? Make sure you don’t just stick to women only events, you are excluding the amazing people that exist in the other half of the population! And from one Girl Boss to another, a male entrepreneur really enjoys talking to a badass female one. An easy place to find mixed events is to look at the shared working spaces near you and see what they’ve got going on. Quite often people like Virgin Start Ups and Enteprise Nation will run events in spaces like these, often with wine…

Now we’ve shared our trade networking secrets, tell us yours! Sharing is caring…

Author

Living on the sunny Kent coast you'll find Anna tracking down the best new coffee shops and craft beer dens. With a penchant for vintage, she's more likely to be exploring thrift stores than Bond Street but she'll never say no to a little touch of creative luxury.

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