FINDING YOUR TRIBE
Because it's more important than you think...
Hello again, dear readers
Well, this is the first newsletter under the new regime.
If you remember, I issued a poll in a recent newsletter asking readers about their preferred frequency of the newsletter.
And the results were definitely that people preferred for it to be issued fortnightly, so here we are with the first one being issued today under the new regime.
I hope it resonates with you…..
WHAT IS YOUR “TRIBE”?
Your tribe is your circle of close friends, whether that is large or small, but it’s the circle of people who you are in contact with you the most. You know the ones who you can rely on when you’re in the middle of a crisis.
WHY DO YOU NEED TO FIND A TRIBE?
I’ve been aware of the necessity of having a tribe for some time. But it took a guest of mine on the 45NotOut podcast, back in the early days of the podcast and most definitely pre-Covid, to speak about the importance of finding somewhere you belong with like-minded people (aka a tribe). The guest was someone I’d admired for a while - she’s a big name in the tech world and someone that had reached such a position that people listened to her. Me included.
So, when I asked what she thought the most important thing for a mid-life woman setting out in business needed to do - the first thing out of her mouth was “find your tribe”. And although I can’t remember in detail what else we talked about on the podcast, I’ve remembered that answer.
So this rumbled around my head for a few years (the episode was recorded some years ago) and then Covid hit. Like everyone else, Covid massively affected my business and how I do my job and in particular, for me, letting go of my existing business network (tribe) that was based in Manchester City centre, and starting again building a new tribe in Cheshire, closer to where I live.
If I’m truthful, once the lockdowns finished and we were able to meet up in person again, I didn’t really know where to start. I started to hunt out good and popular business women’s business networks and although I have found a few that I attend regularly, I still take an interest in what else is out there.
Half of them I’ve “tripped over”, if you know what I mean. I’ve gone to meetings and events with no agenda (me, not the events - lol!) and just spoken to people. Some of them I met at events; others have been recommended to me and I’ve hunted them down (in a good way) and made contact. Basically, networking in it’s purest form.
But, apart from the joyous situation of being part of a group full of women just like you, what are the benefits to us as women of a “certain age”
Well, I did a trawl online and this is what I found: