Welcome to the podcast, the Networking Spark podcast.

Now, I really want to share something that not many people know about me because so many people comment on the energy that I have and project and how I'm really good with people and just a natural speaker.

However, roll back over the years and this was definitely not the case.

I used to have a crippling sense of social anxiety, and I was not able to connect with people at all. In fact, I felt a huge amount of fear around people and I was not able to approach others, particularly if it was a group of people. All I wanted to do was to hide.

So, believe me, I understand when people say they find networking hard.

I grew up as a child feeling anxiety from my mum and fear from my dad. I was always worried about doing the wrong thing, and growing up in the late 70s; I experienced the parenting that was repeated over the years where you would feel physical pain, often without understanding why.

I don't hold anger about this because it was just, as I say, a repetitive form of parenting. I've just chosen not to do that myself with my children.

However, I did grow up to become quite shy, and I would hold things back. And as I say, I had a lot of fear, and I found it incredibly difficult, even just basic socialising. It just did not come naturally to me.

If you roll forward, fast-forward to today, where I stand up and speak in front of others comfortably. I organise events full of people and put on retreats. I host retreats and workshops, and I just naturally connect people and help them grow because that's what I love to do. I love connecting with people. I love connecting people together and seeing them really get the best from each other.

That is not the kind of person I used to be in any way, shape or form.

So, to me, that just goes to show that by stepping into what holds you back, what you find fearful when you step into those shoes and just keep going, gradually you get over your fears until you get to a point where people just don't see it anymore, and you don't see it anymore. And things just become natural and flowing, and you can actually become good at what you initially feared.

Wouldn't we all love to be young with an old head on our shoulders?

Often these are things that we learn as we get older and wiser for sure. But I just wanted to share my journey. I think it was important to do that, and it is important to do that as a start because, as I say, people think I'm a natural networker and important for me to be real and say I haven't always been the way I am now for sure.

So, the next series of interviewing amazing people, so I love to interview entrepreneurs, millionaires, people that are becoming really successful, industry leaders and just people that I feel like we can all learn from.

We don't just look at the shiny sides of them, we delve really deep into failures, into what their struggles they've been through as well.

An idea is that it's just super inspirational for anyone that is out there trying to run their own business or just starting out, or you know, it's not always roses running your own business. Of course, much of it is fantastic because we're getting to do what we want to do, and we're not having to be told what to do by others. But at the same time, it's really, really wonderful to learn from others and to hear from others that are two steps ahead.

Just to be surrounded by the right kinds of people to inspire us and to share sometimes a golden nugget of information that just makes us keep going and picks us up, and gets us to the next step.

So, really excited to introduce this podcast to you, and I really hope you enjoy it. Please do subscribe. We've got some absolutely brilliant episodes coming up.

So, super excited to share with you the networking spark. I hope you enjoy!