Why we welcome other networking groups

No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you! Small Business Vibes is a networking group and we welcome women who run other networking groups to not only come along to our meetings, but shout about their meetings loud and proud. We want dates, times, links to sign up, the lot.

We made this decision back when we started in 2023 and to this day it’s met with surprise, confusion and almost always the question “Why on earth would you do that?” The short answer is we believe in collaboration over competition. 

There are no industry restrictions in our meetings. We welcome as many copywriters, photographers, website designers, coaches and any other type of business you can think of as we can fit in the room. As founders, we don’t get special treatment. We welcome other networking groups too.

In fact, we deliberately created our format to complement other groups too, we didn't want to clash and do the same thing, what's the point in that?  It's already out there!  We wanted to create a unique format that not only offered something different, but beautifully worked alongside other networking offers out there.

We believe in collaboration over competition because ultimately, it’s good for the businesses of our members and that’s our top priority. The more support a woman in business can get the better. Here are all the ways it helps our ladies grow their businesses. 

It supports women business owners

We’re all about supporting women business owners. We want to help them find clients, referral partners, collaborators and any other connections that will help them grow. So if a woman runs a networking group, we want to support her and her business. Therefore, she is welcome to promote her business at our meetings as much as any other businesswoman. 

It helps members find clients

Your next client could be in the next networking meeting you walk into whether that’s an SBV meeting or one run by a different group. Or you might meet someone who knows someone who knows someone who introduces you to a client. We’re not going to keep opportunities to find clients from our members! Networking is such a great way to grow their businesses that we want our members to do it as much as possible.   

It generates referrals

The power of networking is in the referrals and networking in multiple groups helps with that. The more you see the same people in different scenarios, the more you get to know them. When you get to know people, they start introducing their connections to you and because you come with a glowing recommendation, it’s more likely to lead to a sale. So seeing the people you meet at Small Business Vibes in other networking groups will help you send business to each other.

It multiplies the room

There are only so many people we can fit in the room at any given Small Business Vibes meeting. And only so many people you can meet, greet and actually remember what they do before we run out of time. When our members network in other groups, there are no limits! 

Say there are 15 regulars at an SBV meeting and they all know each other quite well. When each of them goes networking in other groups, they bring the other 14 with them. If someone asks about a product or service an SBV member sells, they can recommend each other. Our members get promoted at events they’re not even attending.

That’s the beauty of collaboration over competition. We champion each other at Small Business Vibes events, at other networking events and even in the queue at the post office if we get chatting to the right person. So if you’re a woman business owner who runs a networking group or any other type of business and wants to experience the benefits of collaboration yourself, get booked onto your local SBV meeting. We’ll see you there!