Networking is just one of the avenues that small business owners use to make themselves known.

Often, it is a way to promote their business but also a way of getting to know other self-employed individuals.

One Preston based social media coach and blogger decided to set up her own group for those that hate traditional networking.

Morgana Loze-Doyle is the founder of Coffee Work Sleep Creatives – a community for female creative business owners. A former social worker, Morgana has also previously owned an online children’s accessories boutique.

She said: “I’ve worked from home around my family since 2011 and this can often get lonely, something I often chatted about with fellow freelancers on social media. In Easter of 2018 I decided to do something about it and founded Coffee Work Sleep Creatives, an initially online community of fellow female creative entrepreneurs in the north of England. It’s steadily growing and we now hold sell out Meet Up events in my town of Preston.”

Although the Coffee Work Sleep Creatives group has only been around a year it now has over 300 members.

The group appeals to those that don’t like the hard sell. Female creatives can get involved as much or as little as they’d like and there’s usually an inspirational speaker at the events to add variety.

The diverse group includes photographers, florists, illustrators, graphic designers, makers, bakers and many more. Although there may be many of the same or similar businesses in the group, the motto ‘community over competition’, is at the forefront.

Friendships and collaborations between businesses have also taken place and many find it a great place to source talent.

Robyn Swain is a Preston photographer, she said: “CWS Creatives is a fantastic group of local ladies, all working to bring Community in our (otherwise quite lonely), self-employed lives. I love the endless amounts of creativity within the group and the fact that Morgana has managed to bring such a strong collection of ambitious women together, to support each other in our ventures.

“Since joining CWSC I’ve been so lucky to have been able to work on so many amazing projects! None of which I’m sure would have happened without the collaborations & friendships made in the group.”

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Former teacher Helen Kerray also from Preston, is an education consultant and owns the Babyloved Family pop ups, she said: “I joined CWS creatives initially to gain some support from other small business owners as I was new to developing BabyLoved Family.

“It’s now grown and developed so much. Being part of the CWS creatives group is great for networking, skill sharing and developing skills I never knew I needed. It’s also become a space where I’ve been able to collaborate with Morgana to launch the CWS X BabyLoved Family child friendly meet ups for all the mamas with children in tow.”

Morgana is currently busy creating a member website to make it easy for local female creatives to join.

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If you are interested in joining, the best way is via the Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/cwscreativecommunity/