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

However with a busy business growing year on year I  needed to find additional  ways to grow, and online networking for female entrepreneurs seemed the way to do it!

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, and connect with other women in business , saving time and doing it when it suits me.

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 online networking for women in business 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.   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