Our first event! By Sarah

Our first event was held on Thursday 22nd November 2012 - the night of the South Wales Monsoon.  There was a moment, at about 6 o'clock, when we considered absolutely nobody turning up at all.  And that we'd have to eat all the nibbles ourselves...

We obviously shouldn't have underestimated our brave ladies!  23 of you turned up, ready for some FUN!  Our first speaker was Sue Smart of Positively Smart who had us all absorbed with her 'Trial By Handbag'.  So what handbag type are you?  Classic, Natural, Dramatic, Creative or Romantic?  Annie definitely had the best Dramatic bag of the night...

Although Anna's fantastic zebra stripe bag ran it a close second!

We had our 'Needs Met Mingling' where we were able to help with questions such as 'I need help with my Mac' and 'I need a new website' and there was our short talk by Sarah Bowden of 'Got-a-Sec?' who had an innovative way to look at your business with fresh eyes...

We reckoned the night was a success when we had to gently ask the last attendees to leave at about 9pm.  

Well, actually, we suggested they came to the pub for a drink!

Serendipity - by Debbie

Serendipity n. the faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident.

Serendipity brought the FUN networking team together, and maximising serendipitous opportunities, aka networking, is what inspires me in life!

It was at the Hopkins Law Cowbridge event for Cowbridge Fashion Week 2012, organised by Lianne,  that I was prompted to take up the useful invitation to find out what colours best suited me, with the fabulous image consultant Sue Smart. Lovely friendly atmosphere in the room and I turned to one of the glamorous assistants to ask who had done the creative copywriting for the event, and for Hopkins Law in general – as I’d always been impressed by their leaflets and posters – to find myself in conversation with the creative herself - Sarah Bowden. A bit of group chat, laughs and few glasses of Prosecco later  we germinated the seed of an idea to form a networking group for women that took the best of what we liked from networking events we attend, and  then added our own wishlist. The main intention being to create opportunities for women in life and in business to come together in a way that was useful, valued our time, was sociable, made us feel good about ourselves and provided a supportive learning environment. Our uniquely individual skills, expertise, experience, personality (as was revealed in our own Trial by Handbag) have been brought to the table and here we are on the cusp of our first event, when we’ll see if our ideas work!

 But that great old cliché of it all being about the journey is so true. All of our planning meetings and preparation have been a joy – humorous, warm, professional. If that’s all it ever becomes I’ll have met some lovely women – and will have no regrets!

Who says image doesn't matter?

Ok so going to the dentist is never a pleasant trip - but over the years I've got used to the place. Fish tank in the waiting room, up to date mags to browse, white coats, efficient reception, bright smiles etc - but lately the fish tank has been replaced by a heap of dirty second-hand children's toys, very grubby mags (and I'm not talking here about the content matter), threadbare carpet, no white coats, overspilling bins, grim reception and handmade peeling laminated signs. So guess what - I've moved to another dentist - because the outward signs put doubt in my mind about the efficiency/cleanliness/skills of the actual dentist. Who's to say that the instruments being put in my mouth were not being equally neglected?
So to all of you thinking of going into business for yourselves - make sure the outward signs are consistent with the great skills/service you are selling. It is so easy to lose a client and almost impossible to win them back!
Sue x

Fabulously Useful tip... from Sarah

This may come across as one of those 'Cut Out Your Flab With One Simple Tip' adverts that appear on Google (do they ever work???) but it really isn't...

I am, shall we say, a certain age now where hot flushes and uncomfortably hot nights had become the norm - but I've found a way of stopping both.  I know - how mad is that?  So I thought I'd pass it on in the hope that it may help somebody else...

After a particularly lovely holiday this summer eating and drinking more than I should, I came home feeling somewhat, um, flabby and decided to cut out sugar for a couple of weeks... Not that I was ever a sugar freak, but I did drink a lot of Lucozade for energy.  After a couple of weeks the flab hadn't really moved (sigh) but then I realised both the hot flushes and the night sweats had stopped.  Really!  They didn't re-appear and gradually I relaxed a bit so that over the next couple of months the sugary stuff crept back into my diet - and so did the symptoms.  In order to prove it wasn't just a fluke, I cut out sugar again.  With exactly the same result.

So there it is - hopefully a Fabulously Useful tip for anybody else around the same age!

Fab service...

BIG hats off to the Ted Baker shop at Bicester Outlet Shopping for great service, delightful staff and a really fun shopping experience.  OK, so it was helped by not being my money I was spending.... Guy tried on some T shirts - if the size wasn't right and wasn't on the shop floor the staff phoned their stock room and if it was available they brought it right down to you.  They gave great advice such as "I like it, but it looked at bit 'pyjamary' on me" which turned out to be spot on, and generally made it all great fun.  Guy probably bought more than he might have done because they suggested other shirts and colours.  And then it was all packed into the most gorgeous designer shopping bag.  I have bag envy!  Really nice to have proper service from enthusiastic but not pushy staff - all shopping should be like this!

Reality Bites...

Oh Lordy - got a meeting with my FUN pals at Hopkins Law offices, Cowbridge on Friday to put the finishing touches to our inaugural very exciting and Fabulously Useful Networking event and I've kind of let myself go in the school holidays ....got the festival vibe ( red bits in my hair, bought some turquoise DM's, nearly ran off with a gypsy, want to live in a yurt) and I've got to 3 days to work out how to get it together and come across as a serious player in the professional networking world - yikes! What's Sue from Positively Smart going to assess from my 'look'!??

BTW - we think we've got Fabulously Useful Networking ideas - but what are yours? Our aim is to put on networking events for women that are enjoyable, cost effective, value your time, and above all are extremely useful in life and in business. What would be on your wish list?

Debbie

Too slow? By Sarah

I don't really mean to rant ALL the time but....  Today we had a family outing to Westonbirt Arboretum for Treefest.  It was lovely - really lovely (see, I'm not ranting yet...)  I offered to get the four of us coffees, so I queued up at the best looking place.  There was a bit of a queue.  I wanted a black filter coffee, an Americano, a cappuccino and a hot chocolate.  And I waited.  And waited.  And waited.  I heard one of the staff say 'The hot chocolate takes a few minutes is that OK?' while I was waiting.  And I waited a bit more.  If it had just been me I'd have given up, but as I'd said I'd get all the coffees I waited.  By the time it was my turn my list of 'a black filter coffee, an Americano, a cappuccino and a hot chocolate' had shrunk to 'one black coffee, two white coffees and a bottle of water please'.  In the time I'd been waiting Guy had walked several hundred yards back to the car, collected the dogs, walked them round a bit and made his way back.  He thought his coffee would be stone cold and it wasn't even ready when he came back. It was lovely when we eventually got it (and my water was very nice thank you) but I reckon they did themselves out of at least £4 by being so slow....  Or am I just turning into a crabby old bat??

A bit of a rant... By Sarah

I’m going to have a bit of a rant...  Recently I and my better half were all set to go to a charity dog show - dogs, treats, leads, best collars and poop scoops in the car, sat nav at the ready.  And we got to the address, the right postcode - everything.  Could we find it?  Nope.  No sign, no bodies to help, zilch.  We drove around meeting other confused people for TWENTY MINUTES then gave up and took the dogs for a walk somewhere else.  How difficult would it have been to put a sign on the road???  I spoke to a friend who knew somebody involved later and asked how many people were there.  “Not as many as expected”.  I wonder why....