Four years ago when I started www.bloomhost.net I decided the only way to get business straight away on a limited budget was to go networking and it worked!

I have grown my business year on year predominently through attending networking events regularly and by referrals and  give presentations to networking groups on "How to Grow your Business by the Power of the Internet".

So it made sense for me to get involved in Business Women's Cafe, and an excellent opportunity for my company www.bloomhost.net to do the website design and development for this project.

The perception of networking has changed over the last 5 years and more and more people are at last valuing the advantages and the rewards from growing their businesses through networking and of course giving and receiving support and advice along the way!

Networking has also helped me on a personal level, helping me to gain confidence, yes and perfect the "one minute".  It gave me the opportunity last year to put together a team of eight independent women to take part in the Reading Rowing Club Corporate Regatta where we came third.  This was a tremendous achievement as this was the first time an all womens team took part and a team made up of women who each run their own businesses - we even had BBC Berkshire filming our training sessions. 

We raised over £6,000 for East Berkshire Womens Aid and if you would like to see our journey, please go to www.independentwomen.org.uk