Own Your Time Sarah Cook
I’m joined this week by Sarah Cook on Own Your Time.
In today’s episode I’m going to be chatting with Sarah Cook.
Sarah is the founder of Come Network With Me, offering award-winning networking for ambitious female founders since 2016. She’s passionate about empowering women to become trailblazing leaders through authentic, compassionate, and gutsy collaboration. Her networking events help small business owners build joyful, financially freeing businesses. In January 2024, Sarah launched the CNWM Directory—a powerful platform for women’s businesses to be seen and booked.
Let’s get into it…
Key takeaways from this episode:
Networking is about relationships, not just sales. Focus on authentic connections rather than business card exchanges.
Your business should fit your life, not the other way around. Use constraints and systems to avoid burnout.
Outsourcing can improve efficiency and focus. Start small, test relationships, or skill-swap if budgets are tight.
AI tools like ChatGPT & Goblin save time. Use them to refine content, brainstorm ideas, and structure tasks.
The right networking opportunities can be transformational. Choose quality over quantity for lasting business growth.
Read the transcript:
Please note - this podcast episode was transcribed by an AI tool, there may be some typos or errors.00:00 Welcome to Own Your Time, a podcast for small business owners. Get ready to harness your most precious asset, your time, with intention, enabling you to create a life that thrives in simplicity, ease and joy.
00:17 I'm your host, Sarah Stewart, Glasgow-based time management expert. My approach combines the wisdom of traditional time management strategies with the transformative of power of mindfulness.
00:30 My commitment is to help you to get more time for the things that really matter. If you are ready to ditch the hustle culture and overwhelm and instead embrace peaceful productivity, you are in the right place.
00:43 In today's episode, I'm going to be chatting with Sarah Cook. Sarah is the founder of Come Network With Me, offering award-winning networking for ambitious female founders since 2016.
00:58 She's passionate about empowering women to become trailblazing leaders through authentic, compassionate and gut-sake collaboration. Her networking events help small business owners build joyful, financially-freeing businesses.
01:13 And in January 2024, Sarah launched the Come Network with me directory, which is a powerful platform for women's businesses to be seen and booked as well.
01:25 So let's get into it. Hi, Sarah. Thank you so so much for joining me on the podcast. Thanks for having me.
01:35 Do you want to movie start out by sharing with the listeners a little bit about you and your business? Yeah, I'd love to.
01:44 Thanks Sarah. So my business is called come network with me like come dying with me but without the dinner networking instead.
01:53 I think that program's probably like not beyond rage, so it's only like if you're a different generation from what you're talking about, but yeah most people know and the principal behind come network with me is to bring together women to collaborate, connect, support each other like in a really deeper
02:11 meaningful way. So there's nothing, nothing superficial. It actually has real depth to it and I want networking to be really transformative for people so that they know that this is a real great investment of time.
02:25 It's going to really benefit them. And so under the Come Network with me, Umbrella, there's a community Facebook group, there's an online membership which is really small an intimate and then most recently there's a directory all based for female founders leaders entrepreneurs and small business owners
02:45 . Love that and as we talk we'll probably start to explore some of those in more detail. What inspired you to pursue a sort of a career in this niche of networking.
03:01 I think without knowing it, it's always been my destiny doing a better to come. I just, I love working with women and I love bringing people together and that just like lights me up.
03:16 You know, wasn't that long ago? I was like, am I doing the thing I meant to be doing? And then I had a networking session that I was running for my members.
03:23 I was like, oh, yes, I am. It's just you know when you have that thing like this this is what I'm meant to do this is my calling as it were my backgrounds in social media marketing I worked at TEDx Bristol the social media manager and during that time of supporting women growing their business and teaching
03:42 how to use social media I go to network events and I just write little notes as to how I would do it differently or an alternative way.
03:51 And so I just thought, you know, I actually have to do this and launch my own business offering networking events.
03:58 I think that's how many small businesses evolve. They see something done in a certain way. And they just think, actually, there's other ways to do this.
04:09 I want to offer an alternative. And I love alternative ways of doing things we're having a discussion in the membership of the day.
04:16 We'll talk about an alternative voice because there's kind of the mainstream voice which we hear in society and then there's all the way to alternatives and I love those because they're really exciting and they make us go oh I hadn't thought of that and then we like dive into different routes that take
04:35 us in ways and directions that we've never thought about and that's what's really exciting. I love that. I also really like when you were doing your intro you talked about the I forget the phrase but it was around the the depth of networking and yeah it's for me I think that's one of the things you know
04:56 if I was coming away from networking events and maybe taking some notes I sort of find that it's all very surface level and you know you're working the room and you know it's basically just speaking to loads of different people and saying who you are and what you do.
05:16 Whereas I would rather have a more intimate group where we go deeper on, you know, a topic or whatever. So yeah, I love that you touched on that.
05:29 Yeah, that's totally my bag of networking. I love small and intimate. In most of our membership sessions, there's no more than six of us.
05:37 and it, you know, we do get really, really deep. And I love that because it's so beneficial. And it's like, I want people to come away after an hour and go, wow, that was such a fantastic use of my time because we're so, I mean, you know, this is what you're all about.
05:55 We're so limited with how much time that we have. And I don't want people to come to an event that I host and then go, well, it was kind of nice, but I could have used my time better doing something else.
06:06 That would be the worst thing for me and I've experienced that before I've been to networking events that have been over lunch or a day and I thought, okay, that's been a nice experience but I want more from that so that's what I always try and off.
06:21 I want it to be enjoyable but most importantly I want people to go away going, wow, that was such a fantastic use of my hour, I can't believe, I gained so much learning, motivation, inspiration, I feel so empowered and that was only an hour.
06:36 So, yeah, I want people to really get that sense of being uplifted from networking because that's one of the misconceptions.
06:44 It's really superficial. You work the room, as you said. You meet lots and lots of people and then you come away with a bunch of business cards and you just kind of talked about surface level things that aren't going to change your world.
06:58 Whereas, no, that's not true. Networking can actually totally change your world and your business like in an hour. I love that.
07:06 That's amazing, you know. Yeah. It's and I think it's shifting that perspective, isn't it? Yes. And what would you say, you know, I think I know plenty of small business owners who, you know, they maybe appreciate that your network is something that that that might help their business, but there may
07:31 be a little bit intimidated or they don't quite know how they should be going about it. Do you have any tips or suggestions for someone that maybe is feeling that way?
07:44 Yeah, yeah. So first of all, I've got a kind of a three-step process that I recommend, but I've also got hundreds of tips as well.
07:51 So the three-step process is firstly, I identify like what are your core values? So, is it around equality and diversity, or is it around sustainability, or what are the things that are super, super important to you?
08:10 And then the second step is to talk about those values as many places you can, like as you meet people on social media, in your blog, etc.
08:21 And then the people that engage on those posts and share your passions, that's the kind of the third set, is engage with them because they're, they try you basically because when you share passions with people, those are the people that you should be networking with.
08:37 So begin to network with them, and I think that's another misconception, people think networking is when I go to a networking event, it's not.
08:46 Networking is any conversation with another human being that you share a passion with, or that's the ultimate objective, because if you're networking with people that you don't share passions with, then it's not a good use of your time.
08:59 So, find those people that you have shared passions and interest with, and then have conversations with them. That's networking, conversation with one person, two people in a little group, and then that can start you off and then see where that goes.
09:15 Also, just try lots of different things. That's the best way to work out what you like, because at the beginning, you don't know, do I like something with three people?
09:24 Do I like something with a hundred people? How do I know? So you might already kind of have a gist, you know, as your own personality, but you haven't tried anything yet, tried different types of things.
09:35 And get in touch with the host before you go, ask them loads of questions. And we people are going to be there.
09:41 What's going to be like? What's Are there going to be other people in my niche? Can I meet people online beforehand?
09:52 I just ask lots of questions. And you'll get a vibe from the host as to whether it's going to be something that's going to suit you.
10:00 If they're really responsive, giving you lots of good answers, and really welcoming, then it's going to be for me if they're quite closed off and don't really want to engage with you.
10:12 Then to me, that's a sign that's probably not somewhere to invest time. time. So, yeah, there's a lot, there's plenty of things you can do before you even step in the door and that could be a digital door as well as a physical online, you know, real door.
10:27 Either way, there's loads of things you can do beforehand to get yourself ready. Yeah, and I had, I suppose I hadn't quite thought of it in a sense of just having conversations with people is networking.
10:43 I sort of, I guess, I appreciate we can do online networking and the in-person stuff. But I sort of just assumed that networking meant, you know, like a formal thing where you're like signing up to go join a group or whatever.
11:03 I think that happens so much because As soon as it's got networking in the title, then people go, oh, I know what it is.
11:12 It's one of those networking things where we do X, Y, Z. Whereas if you don't use the word networking, they don't think there is any.
11:19 And then I'm like, you are actually networking. It's just we haven't called it that. You know, can you go to an event and they say, none of the networking bit?
11:26 And the whole thing is networking. As soon as you're there and having a conversation with someone else, you're networking. But yeah, that's what I think sometimes intimidates people is this is a networking thing, okay, I've got to put on my networking face and my networking kind of like, you know, mask
11:45 , why you don't just be you, yeah, yeah, love that. And how about, you know, you've sort of shared around why you see networking is being really powerful.
11:59 So, you know, if someone is viewing networking is being time consuming or, you know, they've labeled it as something that's non-essential.
12:08 How might they reframe that? I think that can happen because people attach stales to networking. Okay, so I'm going to go to the networking because I need to grow my business and get sales.
12:23 Yes, that happens, but when you put that pressure on networking, then it can make it more uncomfortable and difficult and something that you try and avoid, whereas if you think of networking as making friends, meeting new people, broadening your horizons, getting support, getting your questions answered
12:45 , brainstorming, being motivated and a whole house of other things like that, then it's like, well that's exciting then isn't it?
12:53 So then that avoids the avoidance of going. It makes it something that you'd want to include in your regular activities that support your business.
13:04 Yeah, love that. And if we shift ever so slightly, so in your pitch you did sort of touch on your personal life a little bit.
13:16 And so your journey into self-employment was to allow you, you know, was driven by that desire to be spending more time with your family.
13:28 How did that then shape your business? Like, what did you need to consider to allow you to achieve, you know, that sort of elusive balance?
13:39 Yeah, so I'm a single mum of two teams and it's really important to me to spend as much time with them as possible.
13:47 My daughter's just turned 18, she's going to uni next year. How much time am I going to see her? I want to like, you know, really get as much squeeze as much out of life as possibly can with them and my parents, who are not young with I keep saying, yes, I'm 18 now, so I say, yes, I know that.
14:06 So I wanted to design my business to fit in with my life. So I have like a life-first approach. And I look at the aspects of my life that are really important to me as family, my friends, my community, learning, creativity, doing fun things.
14:26 And then those come first. And then I write, how do I fit the parts of my business that I want into that?
14:37 And I think when we have, when we give ourselves too much time, then we're not efficient with our time. Whereas if you have to slide your business into smaller pockets of time, you'd be amazed how efficient you can be with that time.
14:54 Like I remember saying to someone, just give yourself 20 minutes to do that task. I was I'll never be able to do it in 20 minutes, so I was like, try.
15:01 Try really hard with a time and they came back and said, I did it. I did it in 20 minutes and normally spend two hours doing that, because I give myself two hours.
15:09 So when we have less time, we're more efficient with the time because we're more focused. So I try and be as focused as possibly can, remembering what's really important, being really, really disciplined with my time, and spending less time scrolling on social media.
15:26 Yeah, I mean, that's that's one of the biggest things all of us is that aimless, the scroll, the rabbit hole kind of like sort of just, yeah, I was a minus just gone.
15:40 Yeah, yeah, I love all that. And it's, I think where you and I are probably quite similar in that set.
15:50 So I'm a single mom of two teens as well. And I've been really intentional with the business and building it around, you know, the other commitments.
15:59 Like, you know, the time of the kids and different things comes first as well. So yeah, it's interesting, you know, yeah, having that conversation around making it work.
16:15 Because I think there's a lot of business owners who will go into business, they're doing something that they love and they spend so much time on it and they burn the candle at both ends and you know they get so far in and you know I've spoken to a number of people who then get to the point where like
16:36 okay I've built it to this point and now I want to step back but they've not thought about the processes or all these different things that allow them to then, you know, for me, I came at it from a system's first perspective.
16:51 And so it was like building it always with a view of this is going to be part-time thing, rather than having to work all the hours to build it to something to then be able to step away, if that makes sense.
17:05 Yeah, absolutely. And I've had that experience when I was teaching social media. I was burning the kind of look both ends from a work perspective.
17:14 I just believe if I did more and more and more, then I'd be able to grow. But I mean, I guess the decision was I could have set up a social media agency and then I'd step back and I'd work less.
17:27 But that wasn't part of the picture for me. Yeah, I think also as well, it's like looking at what your strengths are.
17:35 So I love doing things like this because I love talking and I love having a conversation. It links so closely to networking so I love things like this and I love being able to connect and tap into somebody else's network and I do see it is a really efficiently so time but other people that love writing
17:54 then blogging and you know writing blogs, guest blogs for other people and articles and that's a really good use of time so like look at what your strengths are and then focus on knows.
18:06 Yeah, absolutely. Because for me, I much prefer a long-form content than I do at short, you know, I do not like having to create 30-second reels or whatever that might be.
18:22 I much prefer the longer form, whether it is podcasting or the blogging or, you know, email marketing, like that's what lights me up.
18:33 And so I happily spend time doing that. But also to touch on what you said earlier around the giving yourself constraints.
18:44 That's Parkinson's law that if you give yourself two hours or whatever it is, the task will expand to the time that you give it.
18:53 So you're right about trying to bring it in and sort of push yourself to see if you can do it and and normally if you find that yes, you can.
19:03 Yeah, yeah, absolutely, yeah. And so, how do you, you know, what sort of are the strategies then, like thinking more of my practical day-to-day sense around like being intentional with your time?
19:19 How, you know, what sort of tools and things are you using? So, I get up fairly early and I go to bed fairly early.
19:30 And I find that when I can have a productive morning, then I know I'm gonna have a good day. So I'm best from sort of six until 12.
19:40 And so I have a bit of a routine in the morning where I do my yoga, do a bit of cycling before I get my sun ready for school.
19:48 So I know that I've got that bit of self care ticked off and I'm like, yes, I'm gonna have a good day now because I've done the things that matter for me in nice, you know, kind of like timely way that sort of started my day off really well.
20:04 And getting good sleep for years and years I didn't. And I think I thought it was a bit of an elusive silly idea.
20:12 And now I'm such an advocate for having good sleep. Maybe it's my age or just like, you know, nothing better than being tucked up by 930.
20:25 So I have those self-care principles of things that you love like yoga or journaling, good sleep, good nutrition, fitness, and those things are all kind of like done first.
20:39 It's like, right, that's like kind of the building blocks of my day sorted out. Now I can kind of do the next steps up.
20:46 and I use automation tools and AI tools to make my day run smoother and as efficiently as possible.
21:01 I have a VA who I outsource things to, I have a coach who re-helps me with focus, direction, accountability. I would just be drifting all over the shop if I didn't have saying, right, have you done this?
21:16 What's next? Are we going to go and do this? How about this? And that so keeps me on track because, you know, it's hard to be accountable to yourself.
21:26 Yeah. And that's difficult. So yeah, I have like this little team around me that helps me daily where I want to be.
21:36 Love that. And when we think about the business owners who may well be listening who are maybe yet to start outsourcing and you know there could be a number of reasons for that.
21:50 What advice would you give for someone who's maybe ready to take that step but they're maybe a little bit hesitant?
21:59 Just start, speak to a couple of the A's, identify what it is that you want to outsource, but for a lot of businesses, especially creatives, it's the tech stuff, the final VA that's specialising tech, or is it the design to find someone who specialises in Canaver or whatever it is that you dislike and
22:21 you find it's on your to-do list and it's still on your to-do list six months later, those are the best things to outsource, but just find a couple of people and have a chat with them and feel like how do they work?
22:32 Does it sound like it's something that could fit for you, do you get on, do you click? Could this be a relationship that you could have?
22:42 And for my experience most VA's will do like you know an hour kind of test run, we'll just kind of work together or you know just a couple of hours over a month to see how it goes, a trial run.
22:53 So you don't have to make a commitment for six months or a year. And also you're at the stage where you're not yet feeling you can invest financially.
23:02 Then find someone that's got those skills where maybe you could do a skill swap or there's some alternative or you can have a bit of an accountability buddy where you're at least keeping each other on track so there's not maybe skills that they have that you can swap with or task they can do for you
23:25 but you're both sharing what you want to achieve in your business and that's keeping you more focused. And those sessions can be really invaluable.
23:34 And you're not spending any money in investing those, it's just time, but find the right person that feels like it's a good fit for you.
23:43 Yeah, that's some fantastic advice. And I love also the idea of skill sharing too. Yeah, Um, yeah, really great. Um, and maybe tell me a little bit more about your directory.
24:00 Um, how you know, I know that you know, one of the goals was around, um, helping these female founders be, uh, found and booked more easily.
24:12 I think there's a time element there as well. Um, do you want to share just a bit how the platform works?
24:18 Yeah, absolutely. So the principle behind setting this up was that, so in my community Facebook group, I have nearly 2,000 members.
24:29 Extraordinary brilliant women doing incredible things, all wanting to grow their business. And time after time, I would see people say, I'm looking for someone to help me build a presentation in Canva.
24:43 I'm looking for someone want to help me improve my SEO or teach me how to do SEO. I'm looking for an accountant or whatever it might be, all of these skills and resources, and I knew that those people in this group of 2000, but because of the Facebook algorithm, because of how Facebook groups work, they
25:03 weren't seeing them. I thought, how can I let these people know that there's other people in the group that ask me for what they have.
25:11 They searched through 2000 people and then tagged them. I was like, this is impossible. I can't actually, this is ridiculous.
25:17 So I thought, if I have a directory where people list what their businesses, what their skills are, what they offer, their services are, then you just search, just search Canada, you just search SEO, you just search Brookkeeping, and then you find those people getting touched with them.
25:32 And so that's why had to be away from a social media platform and on a web platform. So that's the principle to help those people save time and looking for what they want.
25:45 And then obviously the people that are off in those services be seen, be more visible, have that exposure and get those clients more quickly and directly.
25:57 Yeah, love that. And when you think about the user experience and you know the what was your thought process there so I know you touched on you wanted it to be away from social media so there wasn't you know an algorithm but you want to expand a little bit more on on that side of it.
26:17 Yes I wanted it to be simple and straightforward and I also wanted to look really nice as well. I want people to go, oh, that's beautiful.
26:29 I think some of the directors I looked at, I mean, I say, come network with me in the director line.
26:36 It's like a modern day yellow pages. If you think of a really old-school yellow pages, it's very basic and not appealing to the eye.
26:46 It's not beautiful. So I thought, I want something that's really beautiful aesthetically pleasing that you can look at. and just like, it's really visual.
26:55 And I wanted to have people's photos on there, or people to put an image on there. So it just looks really gorgeous to look at.
27:02 So we want to spend time on it. So it's not like, oh, quick, I'll go there. Just for a quick second, I'll find some of that off again.
27:08 What people to be able to enjoy spending time there. So yeah. Yeah, I love that. And the, the, the, the, You touched on using AI in your business to save time.
27:23 Is that something that you can maybe expand on? Are there any, I think AI is so new to a lot of us that, again, maybe that's something that can be quite intimidating?
27:34 And there are hundreds of tools now. There's just so many things. But are there any particular AI applications or whatever that stand out to you that you're using?
27:45 yeah so I use chat GPT and I use goblin and both of those I use who yeah ultimately saved me time so sometimes I find my brain isn't very efficient and I know what I'd like to say in a really coherent gorgeous way and what comes out ends up being a bit of a gobliny group so I put that in and I just say
28:10 write this so it's just a better version of me but more you know like I give a background and the great thing is is what I'm finding is the more that I'm using chat GPT is it's creating a memory, a library of my style, my personality and the work that I'm doing.
28:30 So the more I'm using it the less I have to give it to get what I want and then what it brings me, what it gives me is me on my best day.
28:38 I can be on my best day at eight in the morning, but if I want to write something at five p.m I'm like, I'm really not that great, so I'm using it to make my writing style, me on my best day, and if I want to cut something down and I've got something that's really worthy, I want it to be shorter, then
28:58 it's a great tool for that, and I also put in maybe a link to my website and say, recreate this in a slightly different way or write another version of this because we want to say the same thing over and over again, especially on social media, but we don't actually want to use the exact same words and
29:18 repeat them. Oh, we can do that, but we also want to use the same message, but in different words, I'll say, you know, take this text and recreate another couple of versions of this.
29:30 So it's already my words, I think that's the key is use what you already have, put that in and ask for another version of it.
29:37 I also in our membership, we have a different topic for every networking session. And I was thinking, oh, what am I going to do on the next month?
29:46 So I gave ChatGP the last three or four months and said, these are the types of topics that we're talking about, please can you suggest another month's topics with you two sessions a week.
29:58 and then within a second it's there because I've given it so much of what's already mine then it's so in line with me.
30:07 Yeah, and that works well. Yeah, I'm finding that as well the more I use it, the more it understands me and my brand voice and so on, how about the goblin part?
30:21 Is that the same as the goblin tools? Yes, yeah. Yeah, okay. I use that for, and I think there maybe are different parts to it, but the bit that I use is to then it's really great at breaking down a bigger task into individual steps.
30:41 Is that what you're using it for it as well. Yeah and also audio so I'll speak to it and I just go do do do and then just all of my thoughts all right like a bit of brain dump and I say can you just sort this all out into a logical sequence with actions and to do's and then it does it and I'm like wow
31:02 that's what I wanted when my brain was in such a muddle I couldn't kind of you know and that's sometimes when we get to a point where we freeze because our brains are going worrying round and round with all things and it could be a mixture of you jumping from like personal things what's happening with
31:18 the children to them something else and then some work thing and you know you just get all over the place and then you can't work out what do I actually need to do right now so I just speak at it and then it sorts it into a sequential order of like priorities and actions.
31:36 I'm not right. I'm ready to go now. Brilliant, thanks very much. I love that. I've not used it for that.
31:44 I didn't know that that was within its remit or capabilities or whatever. So I will go away and have an experiment with that because everyone processes things differently.
31:57 I know when I'm trying to work stuff through actually saying it out loud probably does help me then formulate what I'm trying to achieve.
32:08 So yeah, that sounds like a great use of the tool. Brilliant. I love that, awesome. Is there anything else Sarah that you would like to share with us?
32:23 Well, I've mentioned my membership and if anyone's listening and they kind of like book on a complimentary taster and they can come along to one of our sessions.
32:38 So they're all online and then they get to experience a really small intimate networking hour with our members and see if it's something they like.
32:48 Yeah and I've been to a couple so they're like it's a lovely group. Thank you. Definitely not the like stuffy idea of like networking that you would of yeah not at all yeah yeah fantastic and and I will share in the show notes all your different links to to find you and so on and but do you want to maybe
33:13 just share well where's the best place for the listeners to find you online? I'd say my website because that has everything and they could also join the directory there and then in terms of socials Instagram is probably my most favourite place to be so over there.
33:30 Yeah. Amazing. Well thank you so much for joining me. It's been a real pleasure. Thanks so much as well. I'd loved it.
33:39 Okay bye for now. Thank you, thanks Sarah. Thank you for joining me on another episode of Own Your Time. If you enjoyed today's episode don't forget to subscribe, rate and leave a review if you can.
33:55 Connect with me on social media for additional resources, community engagement and updates. You'll find me on Instagram at sarahstewart.co.uk. Until next time, bye for now.