What a difference a year makes!
On International Women’s Day 2019, Donegal Women in Business Network hosted a sold-out event in the Colab Letterkenny. This was an opportunity to network and get out of the office to connect with other women in a similar situation who were trying to achieve the whole, work-life balance routine while growing their business.
This year, the Network are back in the Colab, on 6th March with “It Starts With Local ” event, promoting local business with speakers who will show you how the connections and collaborations you make at local level are essential to growth and to achieving the goals you have set for your business.
Sitting in the audience in 2019 was Meg O’Gara, a creative designer, megnificentcreative.com
Meg had recently joined the Network and this was her first networking event. She had been aware of what the group did but “imposter syndrome” kept her from showing up at networking events… until then! She undervalued the work she was doing as a mum working from home with 2 small boys, but soon realised that so many other women are in exactly the same situation as she was.
I was MC on the day and got to chat to most people, but I actually didn’t get to chat properly to Meg. The next day I saw that she had posted on twitter about the event and I messaged her to meet for a coffee.
There was no great plan, but her bubbly, creative personality made me think that she would be great to connect with. We met within a week and during the next twelve months have worked on many projects together.
Meg is now the creative director of donegalmammy.com and made the dream of having Donegal Mammy merchandise available worldwide. Following on from that, together we co-wrote, designed, project managed and published a book called the Mammy Handbook within 30 days of idea to launch. Gathering top tips and advice from amazing mums both locally and worldwide, the book is the perfect Mammy Handbook, no matter what age you are. So far, we have sold the book into 15 countries and very soon, it will appear in a Mother’s Day feature in a well-known and loved national Irish Women’s magazine. (Woman’s Way out 9th March.) The Mammy Handbook is also available for sale in Mc Elhinneys, Ballybofey.
So, if you are wondering is it worth going to a networking event, maybe joining a local network group like Donegal Women in Business Network (or any other local or national networks) then look at what can be achieved when people connect and actually move forward with a plan to achieve their goals, whatever they might be.
Meg and I certainly did not plan to write The Mammy Handbook within a 30 day period and sell all over the world, or launch a range of Donegal Mammy t-shirts, mugs and merchandise that will make the perfect Mothers Day present, we merely made a connection, met for a coffee and built on that.
Proving that it really does start with local!