Unpopular opinion: I used to LOVE water-cooler office small talk.
Well, in the UK, it's loiter-around-the-kettle-while-we-all-try-to-make-tea talk. But the point still stands.
No, Karen, I don't want to hear about your daughters trouble at school, but can I interest you in an opinion about Baby Reindeer?
Those two minutes by the kettle did give you a chance to connect with other organisations and companies in your office building and hear about their struggles and triumphs.
These moments give you a glimpse into how other people like to work, and help you understand that there isn't just ONE way of doing things.
The only interaction I have when trying to make a cup of tea is my dog dancing around my feet trying to get me to throw her favorite ball.
We all do our best to put myself "out there" online as much as possible. Blog posts, LinkedIn messages, the works. But after browsing online for some local networking events, I stumbled upon Rebel Meetups. They hold monthly networking events for "founders, creatives, freelancers, and rebels" for free. This caught my eye right away.
The first event I went to happened last night at the Piano House in Brixton. I rocked up to the brick building, confidence a-blazing, looking for the entrance, and accidently walked into an attached pharmacy.
But it didn't deter me!
Confidence less a-blazing now, a few of us rebels (I am calling us that now) were let into the building. We were greeting with free beer and a bubbly host named Shadee (business owner and presenter with amazing nails).
Shadee made us all feel at ease, asking us questions about our businesses and goals.
Attending the event were graphic designers, a couple creating their own health service AI tool, creative writers, an aspiring product manager, a recruitment agency owner, and a guy who ran his own sneaker altering business. And that's not even all the people I spoke to!
We then met our speaker, Shay Rafati (known as Shay D). She is a rapper, DJ, and mentor to young artists (she also runs her own nonprofit Yeah Youth UK, and I can barely juggle laundry and washing dishes).
Okay, but did you bag any new clients? Get 3 new numbers? Schedule 2 coffee follow ups?
🙄
If you think that is all that networking events are about, you need to check your priorities.
Not only did I get contact information for people I could see working with in the future, I felt so seen and heard in my journey.
Connecting with people in person, regardless of whether or not they can hire you, is invaluable.
Okay, you might not always say the most intelligent thing, or always make perfect eye contact, but you showed up. You put yourself out there.
Take a chance. Go to a free networking event and meet some cool people.
You never know when that unpopular opinion about Love is Blind might connect you to your new freelance work BFF.
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