Founder of the Northern Ireland based female only networking group, Sinead Norton, is encouraging women in business across the UK and beyond to join the movement and reap the benefits of being a part of a like minded community dedicated to supporting and encouraging one another.
The inspirational networking platform Mums At Work launched in December 2018 as a free Facebook group for a small group of women after Sinead experienced first hand the many challenges that arise when setting up and managing your own business.
“I’m a mum of 7 and when I owned a large and extremely award winning busy wedding business, I quickly realised that survival is dependent on past brides and other suppliers referring you” said Sinead.
“So, I wanted to create a space where businesswomen working on their own could come together to stay motivated and work towards their dreams as I know how lonely it is when you start out and how hard it can be to achieve a good work-life balance.”
Four years on, the Mums at Work Network group has thousands of members ranging from full-time employed mums looking to start a new business venture to successful female entrepreneurs, a VIP membership portal and an app available to download on the Google and Apple app stores.
In an attempt to bring women together all over the world without oversaturating the pre-existing social media platforms, Sinead created the Mums at Work business app which has had hundreds over installations since its creation in June 2021.
Sinead explained: “I realised that social media is so busy, and at times, negative. As a result, it can be difficult to reach people who are already busy, or moving and trying out different platforms so rather than try and be everywhere as well, I created a simple app for the network so that all the information was in one place.
“The app allows users to connect with fellow business owners, receive updates on networking events, access free resources and receive daily early morning positive affirmations to kick start their day with positivity.”
Catering to those who seek further collaboration, Sinead developed the Mums at Work VIP Membership portal where women in business can feature in their online members directory, attend online networking events at a discounted price and advertise their business directly into email inboxes.
“The VIP membership is a great place to collaborate with others who have the same target audience. In addition to that, VIP members are featured on our social media and website and via our own community platform, so you can reach the email in-box of other members” she said.
All members across the groups are encouraged to work together, share knowledge and offer advice when they can through the ‘Connect, Support, Refer’ tagline which has been proven to bring real results to women who have joined the group.
“I love to hear about women working together on their business and achieving success. It’s great to see the results. If advice received has saved someone time and money and effort, this makes me feel like I have made a difference” she said.
Sinead recognised the importance of networking as a businessperson and has been running free coffee mornings in conjunction with training seminars and vibrant networking evenings since 2019 when her first event was attended by 35 people.
However due to the pandemic, all in-person networking and training events over the past two years moved online which played a role in growing the Mums at Work audience to a bigger scale.
Sinead added: “In 2020, we moved all our events online which connected women all over the world and I believe the pandemic accelerated our learning as business owners were able to take their business online and reach customers worldwide,
“Our members who attend our events are encouraged to complete positive action steps for each other, sharing each other’s business details, engaging on posts online, providing feedback and inspiring each other with ideas.”
To join the group, go to www.mums-at-work.com or for membership see here
Download the Mums at Work app for Android here and for iPhones here.