Here’s what I consistently treasure about the connections I make in Women In Consulting (and no place else):
- Friendship with women committed to success in building their business.
- Women generously sharing hard-won insights into proposals, winning business, charging, business structures, and key financial decisions.
- Women unapologetically out to make some money and have an impact.
- Women committed to the success of women in their own businesses.
- Deep, abiding bonds exist between me and a number of other members because of these shared values, beliefs, interests, and commitments.
How did I develop these friendships in Women In Consulting? Where and when did I get these insights?
I have discovered several avenues for different aspects to getting deep value from Women In Consulting. And this is value that has made all the difference in my actually having an ongoing consultancy – truly.
The friendships I have now came from small group settings that afforded me the chance to really work with and get to know other members. We shared our challenges and hopes while working through issues on behalf of Women In Consulting. Groups like the Sandbox, book groups (we’ve had one going for two years studying and readying about systemic racism in the US), the mastermind, even the Contributing membership level Member Mentoring sessions once a month, and on ad hoc committees, as well as being in a position in the organization. Working together, spending time together, talking, getting to know each other over a period of weeks or months – this is how relationships have developed for me. And always inside of a larger circle of women who treat their business an important part of their lives.
When I first joined, several sources of info from the organization made a difference in my business – not so much friendship, but in my work:
- The Best Practices report gave me some eye-opening information about what I should be charging and how I should be structuring all of that. That made the difference between a mediocre consulting setup and a profitable one.
- Panel discussions with women telling the stories of how they created, grew, and managed their businesses.
- Workshops on developing IP, structuring fees, and making connections.
The bottom line is that to take full advantage of being part of Women In Consulting, you need to find the best way for you to build deeper relationships with the women in our organization. For me, it was small groups. For others it’s month after month after month of networking or speaker meetings. For others it’s a consistent use of the email list and trading information with each other.
Find YOUR path to this core value – the deep connections with other women who take their business seriously. This particular core value is a rare thing in organization like this. Reach out and grab it.
