Women Networking and Growing Business

Winchester has its own networking group, and it’s just for women. Women Innovatively Networking (WIN) was the concept of Catherine Valega, a Certified Financial Planner and owner of .

A few years ago, when Valega left the corporate financial world and started her own business, she felt the need for a networking group.

“Once you become an entrepreneur, you realize the importance of networking and creating relationships,” Valega said.

So she created WIN, modeled loosely after BNI, a global networking group. Valega chose to limit the group to women only because many industries are still male-dominated; she wanted to specifically help women grow their businesses.

Group members come from many different industries, but there is only one member per industry. The goal of the group is to share business referrals and generate more business for each member. Members share referrals and exchange marketing ideas. There is also a Google Group where members connect online.

The group meets one morning a month in the conference room of one of its members. At first, the meetings were loosely organized, and Valega said they often became chatty. She soon structured the meetings to focus on networking and growing business.

The meeting begins with members making announcements and sharing news about their businesses. Afterward, there are presentations by members or outside businesses. One recent presentation was on social media.

“The goal really is to help all of these women to grow their business skills,” Valega said.

For new members hoping to get into the group, there is an informal interview process. WIN wants to make sure its members are committed to the group and to their businesses, and will be good sources for referrals. Current members include an accountant, a retail store owner, an acupuncturist, a lawyer, an interior designer, a mortgage broker, and more.

Despite working to create the group and generating many referrals for other members, Valega has not seen major growth in her own business from WIN. She speculates this could be the nature of the financial industry. Still, she is committed to seeing WIN succeed.

“More than business, it’s been neat to see the support I’ve been able to generate for other women and their businesses,” Valega said.

In her line of work, Valega has seen her fair share of women in financial difficulty. She is also the mother of four daughters, and she wants them to develop financial know-how, as well as a commitment to their larger community.

“As a working mom and financial advisor, I’m huge into supporting strong women and fostering those skills,” Valega said, “making sure they see that Mom’s working and that I’m involved in the community.”

To those ends, WIN is planning a women’s empowerment institute to take place in March 2012. The details are still being worked out, but the event will include business seminars, lunch, and a gift bag. Valega hopes to donate some of the proceeds from the event to a local women’s organization.

WIN is open to new members and to those who wish to present at their meetings. For more information, contact .