Louisa Ellins The net, work and networking

Networking. Does the word make you shudder?

I vividly remember representing a former employer at a breakfast meeting of local businesses some years back.

My bacon roll (and the weather) was amazing but I was surrounded by blokes in suits and too scared to speak to anyone except the host.

Things have changed and in large part due to COVID.

As well as bringing a new identity for me as a freelancer, the pandemic ushered in a new way of working.

We started meeting colleagues and classmates online, so why not other business owners?

In fact, I can now meet more people than ever through my screen, and I can quite often be found networking with fellow freelancers in countries ranging from Canada and Czechia (Czech

Republic) to Spain and South Africa.

I can even work alongside them – through a phenomenon known as virtual coworking.

Introduce yourself, mute your microphone and get going – cameras optional – and then chat for a bit afterwards.

It sounds crazy but the accountability and company can be a powerful thing when most of your working week is spent in a small home office.

And it really does work, not to mention giving me work through gaining a client or two as a result.

Opportunities to network are everywhere I look – even through writing this column.

Earlier this year I met a few of my fellow columnists for pizza, and a previous column led to a new connection on LinkedIn.

I completely understand concerns about social media, but, used wisely, it can bring the world closer in ways 24-year-old me couldn’t have imagined.