A Winchester woman who set up a group to offer Hampshire businesswomen a safe space to network and grow their businesses is celebrating its eighth anniversary.
Trudy Simmons, 50, created the Hampshire Women's Business Group to offer a place to connect with other like-minded women, a welcoming space where they can ask questions and receive advice and support for running their business.
She launched the group back in February 2017, and today there are over 1900 members.
Trudy was inspired to start the group having experienced bouts of burnout, which left her feeling isolated. She found herself struggling to maintain the day-to-day routine of running a business with the many hats that small business owners need to wear.
As well as the online community group, which is hosted on Facebook, Trudy holds online and in-person networking meetings, where local businesswomen can connect, share their journeys and grow their audiences.
She says: "It’s a place where they can come and be themselves and chat and laugh and get to know each other. I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve created and running this group really does bring me so much joy.
"Networking really is the quickest and simplest way to grow your business, grow your confidence and grow your audience of potential new customers."
Trudy is also the founder of coaching company The Daisy Chain Group, and a 'business mentor, speaker, author and procrastination-busting coach', working with hundreds of clients all over the world.
She says: "I help women entrepreneurs to know their potential, grow their confidence and create visibility. I do this by working with them to find what they want to do, why they want to do it and how to get it done.
"From working with me, my clients find the motivation, encouragement and support that we all need to smash the glass ceiling and create happy businesses."
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