[Billie] Mary. [Mary] Hello, Billie. [Billie] Can you tell us how Ladies Who Latte started? [Mary] do you know what? It so casually started. I was working at the Chamber of Commerce at the time and I was running business women's groups. And they had got very popular. I don't think it was because of me. I think it was just because of the smashing crowd of ladies that were there. And all I did was give them a platform that they were and they were amazing ladies. We went from sort of, these are not humble little ladies that were working quietly from home. These were dynamic women who wanted to have a serious business. They weren't doing this as a hobby. It was a business. They were looking after their families. were being supportive to the family. they also were curating and carving out a career for themselves. So it was an inspirational time, I think, and it was a great time for women who were also not fitting in with the normal networking that was going on, as in the suits that attended. tipped. So you could come to breakfast meetings and lunch meetings, evening meetings, and a lot of membership organizations run these events, especially for for people to come and network. But it does attract a certain type of person. And if you don't fit into the man's world just like that, because you do nails, because you do soft furnishings, or you're a seamstress, or you do makeup, bearing in mind that makeup produces a massive GDP to this country. the value of it is enormous to this country. So it's not businesses to be poo-hooed. Many bookkeepers, many VAs, they would probably do well in a suited atmosphere and networking group because then they're probably going to be helping men out while they run their diaries. But for the rest of the ladies, they didn't have a home. And I think that that's the one thing that was coming out of it. We needed something for just us. [Billie] Do you think the time frame, like how many years ago now that was? [Mary] 18, 18 years ago. Can't believe it. Yes, the time, the timing was perfect. Because we were getting more enterprising, we had more ladies coming along to networking. They'd learned the value of it. What they hadn't had was the opportunities from it. And that makes a big difference. whenever you get to it, we decided that we would have a special networking group. But everything costs money. So if you start your business and you've got no money, as many don't, they might have to, if they've got a little bit, they might have invested in their business. By buying business cards, maybe back in the day letterheads that we don't even hear anything of any longer. You were investing in your own business and you were needing to buy things to be able to work. So it costs money to start a work job no matter how, no matter how feeble it is or how small the job is, you'll need some sort of support to get yourself started. And business cards is probably one of those main things which really that's all you need now these days. Business card, I know it's getting even trickier now, but business cards are still a good passport because they are around when you're not. Yeah, absolutely. [Billie] I agree with that completely. Even though we're getting the digital ones and digital versions of it, there are still people that prefer to have that. [Mary] You have to have face card. It's a tangible thing. And of course, the one thing that we did find as well, the ladies paying membership for membership organisations, that can be pretty hefty. So we thought it was, was the lovely Sharon Connolly, who was a speaker that morning. And I genuinely remember her, I remember her that morning doing a presentation on how to wear a scarf and how you can fill a good half hour with that, let me tell you. She had the audience mesmerised and we've seen it now on sort of, you see it on social media now, but she was awesome. We were all like, try copying that. But it was colours as well too. She did the colours and what suited you and how you can make the best first impression of yourself. So it wasn't just scarves. It was whole thing, how to create a good impression when you walk in the room. And that's vital. If you've got a business and you're the businesswoman and this is your business, you want to walk into that. You want people to believe who you believe you are. And that's what I think Sharon actually instilled in a lot of ladies. She did a lot of women a lot of favours and she also did lot of favours when she was telling them what impression they were creating just by the colour of their tie. At the breakfast meeting she had a cue after every breakfast meeting, check me out and tell me how I look. So it was a brilliant thing and we just casually said wouldn't it be lovely to be able to meet for a coffee and not have to pay membership fees. And that was it. Was our conversation and regardless of which one of us said it, it was, you know, sorry, we can't do that because, you know, we're a membership organisation and the organisation, it'll want its two penny wealth. So we have to be able to pay them. But if this is something we could just do. So I said to Sharon, wisely, stupidly, you start it and I'll advertise it. I'll share it with the ladies. And that was going to be meeting at Sainsbury's in Bracknell, where we all thought, right, what we can do is we'll do our shopping afterwards. Very naive, obviously. We can all go and do our shopping afterwards, which is a great idea. And they've just got a new Starbucks cafe in there. So was a few tables around, with about four chairs around every table. Well, the first meeting, we'd about eight of us, I think, met. Well, it was great. Chat chat chat chat chat, you know. Women don't need an excuse to talk. We do it naturally and we don't even need to be introduced. [Billie] Do you think there was a key, do think it was key about the timing that it was 10 to 12? Cause it was Sharon had children juggling that time frame. was on purpose. [Mary] Absolutely. It was there to cover the moms that were taking kids to school, to nurseries. I had a grandchild as well too then and my first little one. And I was also helping with his nursery. So it was a challenge to take them to nursery, then you can do your networking and then you're back in time to pick them up. So you could have two hours of me time, just your business time and you could forget everything else because everybody was in the same boat. So it was really geared towards mums who were working from home, working alone and didn't have the opportunity to meet other people at maybe either affordable networking events or maybe even any network, even getting out. [Billie] It was quite a trek, wasn't it, to do the breakfast networking and then the lunch networking would always carry on over and then you wouldn't be able to come back for that school run. But Slough, with the Chamber of Commerce, that was started at half past seven and you couldn't have left family at home, you couldn't have gone there to do that. [Mary] No, that's a lot of breakfast meetings. But of course it does suit an awful lot of men because the majority of men are not the home-minders. I know some men certainly do and then they can't attend those networking events, but they can probably attend something later and maybe get a childminder in for the evening or they're certainly free to do the lunch once until something happens at school. And then we're all governed by that anyway, whatever happens. But the breakfast meetings aren't conducive to moms with children who are the responsibility of getting the kids to school. absolutely. [Billie] Again, another probably another reflection of how far we've come in there, 18 years as well. [Mary] Well, its because now we've got an awful lot of moms who, well, an awful lot of ladies sending, who are not moms and they don't have children and they have chosen to start their career earlier in their life and maybe straight from university. So they're starting earlier and then maybe also deciding that either they don't want children or they want to have them later. Yeah. So it has changed the format of who's coming to networking groups. It isn't the moms working from home, working alone any longer. It's enterprising women who have really made a life decision that business is what their career is going to be. [Billie] So we've got now probably, where are we at the moment? It's 2025 July and we've got over 130 groups across the UK. We've got five in Africa to Malta. Generally on the whole, our leaders opt with the traditional format that we set out to start with, with no agenda. Isn't that amazing? [Mary] After 18 years, we're still doing it the same way. So why do you think it is quite, is it because we've got it right? Do you know, we've had many opportunities on the way as to we've been offered, we've been offered money, we've been offered business links to help us out and almost take over. We've had two or three people wanted to take over our groups as well, too, and change the format of what they were doing. But we decided let's keep it simple. We were going to be there. It was one tempting time, which it really was. Could we bring in training? Could we move into that? And yes, it was really, really possible because geographically we weren't displaced. We were local. So we could have, say, in Reading, you know, the county time, we could have run something in Reading that would have been this ladies who latte training sessions there. So it was at that time possible. And I really thought about it and then thought, and then of course they worked out how much it was going to cost. And then all I seen was the money again. Here comes back the money figures and it's going to cost this and it's going to cost that. And I looked at some of our members and I just thought they're never going to be able to afford it. This is just beyond them. So why are we trying to create something that everybody else is doing anyway? We're going to lose track of what we started off with. We started off with this, let's help other women to get into business and see if we can give them a helping hand. And, you know, I was in my mid, ⁓ is that? I think I've come towards the end of my working life. Well, I want to go looking at retirement, to death. It's such a thing. I was looking at, well I wasn't really looking at retirement but I was certainly looking at slowing down in somewhere or other because I was, I loved business. I absolutely loved that job at the Chamber. I loved the events, I loved everything about the place and I had great members and we had social occasions, we I got friends from it as well and yeah, so the actual thought of doing it, but you know, I did look at the ones that were coming to our meetings and there were some 20 and 30 year olds there and they were definitely younger than me and all they needed was a bit of help and we could do that. For no effort, we could do that. We could help somebody and you know, whenever you just see if you just help one person and you see them, I'll tell you, this is where you choke and you end up with a of tissues because you're going to blob your way through the rest of it. to see some people come up and stand up there and say, this changed my life. And then you say, And it does, it does change your life. It changes yours as well. You've changed theirs, but by them changing their life, they've changed yours as well too. And they've changed the way you look at things and the decisions you make. And I thought, we can't stop. I don't know how we're going stop Billie, you know we're stuck with this, know that. To infinity, we are. But the main thing is, no there was no reason to change because the thing is we had actually got it right from the very start and the simpler that you made it the easier it was for every other group to copy the same model. And it's come in, go and get your cup of tea or coffee. Generally just say hi to somebody, chat around the room. Then after about half an hour, the leader says, right, let's come down, we'll have all our introductions. No time limit on it, no one minute. have to talk this person, try and get it all out. And some people saying, I really don't want to talk about going. And they have got no voice because they're terrified. So, you know, so just go around the room casually and let people chat. They're of course the ones who've swallowed the dictionary on the business. Shush. It's a good idea to say, you've had the floor for long enough. Don't be afraid to stop them. You know, it's time to stop. Somebody else needs a turn. And usually you can do it with a bit of comic and it almost relieves all the pressure. What did you do? [Billie] Julie wasn't at the Bracknell and Wokingham Ladies Who Latte yesterday. So Jann was hosting on her own. So I just did the timer for her and didn't realise it was a quack quack alarm setting - because we do the timer because ladies like to see the timer going so you get to see it. Well I know some of them do because it helps them to control what it is they're saying. So it works for you then do this magic one minute thingy jiggy. used to have my colleague, she used to have a rubber chicken. So if somebody talked for too long she'd just pick up the rubber chicken and squeeze the rubber chicken. Okay, so that's really, yeah, I wanted to get that good outline of the meetings. What is it in those first few minutes when a woman walks into a Ladies Who Latte meeting that you'd hope she feels? [Mary] Do you know, I've had one lady, we read her story and she's up in Harrogate and that genuinely moved me to tears. I really did cry at that one because she just, she was introducing herself to the group after she'd been to a meeting. She wasn't there to flag up herself and say, is what I am and this is what I do. She just wanted to say thank you. And I'm getting emotional again. And she said English was her second language. And so to get the confidence to walk across the room took everything out of her. She didn't have the confidence. She knew she needed to do this because she actually had to live. So she needed because also like, ⁓ because her language was her second language, she was not bad at it, she was pretty good, she was better than she probably thought she was. But she didn't have the confidence with it. And so she wanted to come to a networking event to let people know what she did to see if she could get some support. And she got it in buckets for their fabulous crowd up there, they're really absolutely superb. And they're so supportive of each other. They're a magic group. They started their group. They launched with 61 people in a cafe they're still using today. They're still there. They're the second birthday night. And what a fabulous crowd of ladies up there. They're inspirational. across the country, haven't They're just scattered. They're scattered sideways, haven't they? easy-chained, yeah, across the country. But her letter to the leader to say thank you, thank you. Welcoming the group, the hardest thing for me was crossing the room. And I thought that resonated with me with an awful lot of people, a lot of ladies, and generally if they're really quiet you'll see them sneak in. They'll come in and they'll almost come down the side walls. They'll sneak in the back way and hope nobody sees them. Any good leader spots them, that's what you're there to do. You spot the one that's sneaking in because they're the ones that need, they're going to need that hand, they're going to need to hug and say, you're brave, you've managed to do this. This is, that's all you need to do. Now relax because now you're fine. You're ready to go. You're with friends now. And I think that and friendships of people have gone out of it where they've got lifelong friends from complete strangers before. That's also very heartwarming. But I love, I love the one where it was just thank you for helping me cross the room. [Billie] That's really lovely. We've always held space for multiple disciplines. So believing in connection over competition. Can you give us an example of how you've seen that play out? I think within our meetings, think the number of times that we're sat in meetings and ladies come in and they say, ⁓ no, I'm a graphic designer. And I'm going say, well, you're welcome, because actually that makes me comfortable because I'm a graphic designer. So I'm meeting and I like meeting multiple disciplines. And we can then compare notes, we can talk. We can talk old school, you know, that's a, it's a really strong thing. [Mary] There's many networking opportunities that don't allow more than one discipline to come into the same meeting. And there is, there's so much business out there. And then listen to all these members. You know, that's a ridiculous thing to say only one, you know, only one industry at the table. You know, if you're the graphic designer, well, you're the you're the member. So because you're a member, then nobody else is allowed. And I know. I know that there some people very unscrupulously will join things just to stop somebody else becoming a member of it. Because they may hold that place and they don't always turn up for the meetings. That's very wrong. But they've created that through their own stupid imagination of not being more creative about it. And I think that's one of the things that ladies who latte learned very early on that competition was not in question. You weren't there to learn about somebody else's business. You weren't there to pinch their ideas because you've got to carry it through. Nobody can be fooled if you're just there stealing somebody else's ideas. That never, never happened. And, you know, because somebody else is a graphic designer, you're as, you're fantastic to come along and meet another graphic designer because sometimes from the last time maybe since you left college was the last time you combined with anybody else on a professional level and you all scatter to the wind. You don't get a chance to meet up and just say, have you ever had this to deal with? And see what somebody else deals with it. So you're going to have commonality and problems that nobody else is going to have. So I think from there, lose the competition, lose the envy, get over yourself and get in there. And you're not there. Nobody's there to steal your business. [Billie] Excellent. What's the most unexpected business outcome you've heard from someone from attending Ladies Who Latte? [Mary] I know straight away who that is. I know straight away. I'm just going to call her Helen, okay? Because Helen came in, was terrified. She was a real little mouse. She had the tiny voice and she did literally crawl around the room and she was in one of our first groups as well too. And I spotted her coming in. So I said, hi, who are you? And she said, I don't know if I should really be here. And I said, what is it you do? I'm really wondering. Maybe right. Which could be. Anyway, she said, I'm a bookkeeper. ⁓ said, everybody here's your customer. So I said, sit beside me. So I didn't start with her because that was going to be the worst thing to do. That would put her through hell. And we went around the room and just before the end we were coming to her. I didn't want to sit there with the creeping doom heading towards her. So I stopped at halfway and I said, let me introduce Helen. Helen, you are a bookkeeper. Exactly. have you got any top tips to tell us about bookkeeping that would help any one of us now because we all need a bookkeeper. We all need to keep our books right. we're in trouble guys. So if you're not doing your bookkeeping, have you got a tip? Well, I took the pressure off her completely. She didn't have the creeping death coming towards her thinking, this is my turn, is my turn, and getting even more panicky. So I jumped her in straight away and I didn't ask her to introduce herself. And I just said, well, of course, it was her business, which she happened to be extraordinarily good at. And of course, she had no problem telling me what the tips were. So she said straight away, she said three things you need to do. So I said, get pen and paper and everybody, everybody without exception was all writing down what she said. And then I said, and I introduce yourself. And I'm Helen. I was so proud of her and I told her so I said, I'm really proud of you, not everybody else, because they didn't know she was terrified. And she came to networking. Well, then, you know, after that networking, she was at every meeting and she walked in, she walked straight up to groups of people. She started chatting. She didn't have to wait, you know, she was just from there. She just went. She was absolutely awesome. And I came in one day and I've been out working myself come back in turns until you're on BBC to lunch program. It was a business program. She's only on it. She's only on. And I'm like, yes! No, she climbed Everest. bless you. She climbed Everest. And her I'll never forget because I just, I was just, well, I proud of her before, but like I was bursting. I emailed her before she'd even come off the TV. And I said, I'm watching you on the BBC. That's awesome, isn't it? That's amazing. When you have, you know, genuine fear, fear of coming forward, but there is a way of always helping somebody. And only through, thankfully, my length of time that I'd worked with ladies, maybe give me and I had that learning from other people as I had to deal with it. It's not something that I knew. I learned it from others. So, you know, watch and learn. [Billie] That's fantastic. So how do you respond when someone says, I don't have time for networking. [Mary] You haven't got time to work then. You haven't. Seriously, because you can't prioritise your time, then you're not going to run a successful business. Don't bother. I will. I'll be cheeky. Just don't bother. Because you have to network. You have to make sure that when you start a business, it's all very much said, I'm starting a business. I'm only doing meals. You have to be your own CEO. You have to be able to do your marketing. You have to be your secretary. You have to be the bookkeeper. You have to be the accountant. You have got all these things to do and be a master of all of them. Yeah. Or you won't have a business in another 18 months time. So you might muddle through, but if you have mucked up your paperwork. Or if you haven't advertised and so you've got people for one week and then you've got movie for three weeks, where's your marketing? So you have to network, get your name out there, get people to know you because other people will become your ambassadors. And that's the one thing that you need to remember most. Make sure you tell people what you do because that's how they're going to translate it. Yes. Don't get techie and give them all the techie stuff because they'll not understand. They're like me, I'll just glaze over and just think. I've not got a clue what you said. So tell people what you want them to repeat. And when they're saying to you, oh, the lady at our network, that's what she does. Because you have taught them that. And that is the way to deal with it. So if you haven't got the time to network, don't bother having a business. Go get a job in Tesco's. [Billie] What if they happen to say, I'm too shy? [Mary] No such a thing. You already spoke to me so you're not shy. So you know if because you've even considered it you've already got past your shyness but it is it's a hard thing to do make that person comfortable just say look just come along and watch. I'll introduce you as just this is this is Helen pick on Helen's name again Helen it's just observing yeah because she's not sure what she wants to do and I have had many people like that who actually have left one job have left a corporate job and really don't know what they want to do, but they wanted to know what was out there. Perfect place come along to ladies who latte to listen to what the other ladies are doing. You might get inspired by somebody. You might think, hey, there's a gap in the market there. Nobody seems to be doing that. You'll learn something by listening. And so it's a perfect place. You don't have to speak. You don't have to say anything. Have a word with the leader. Make sure she knows and just be introduced as an observer. And over time, they gain the confidence so quickly, but they find that comfort within that group of people. And then they start doing the whole business swapping thing. Of course they will. And then when you do the business swapping within your networking groups, then we talked about this yesterday, it's actually that moment when you capture that feedback, because we all become ambassadors, like you say, for each other. And we say, yeah, no, I worked with Katie and... she was brilliant and that is enough that's a testimonial of course that now Katie needs to capture that testimonial and put that into her own marketing to then share because then she's that's that's a that's powerful thing to have so yeah completely that we we get so comfortable in the end in our group we always say we're marketing yeah we we we do but you know i'll tell you what the person up is shy that comes up for us meeting and and the very fact that they're not allowed to speak You haven't stopped them speaking, but you just said, don't worry, you don't have to, because that's what made them comfortable to sit there in the first place. By the end of everybody else's introductions, they want to speak. They will have worked out what they want to say. will already have worked it out. And they'll not be shy by the end of the first meeting. Because it's magic. There is a magic that happens in that room. And you can't put your finger on, you can't say exactly, this was the point, this is whenever, this is a bit that changed my life. Walking in the room was a bit of a change to your life. That was a bit of a change to your life because you made your first decision. Your feet went up, hit the floor that morning as you got out of bed. Today is the day I'm changing the rest of my life. Oh, I've got goosebumps in. I doing that. I remember doing that. Oh, no, yeah. It's a scary thing. remember, yeah. [Billie] So with over 100 meetings a month across the UK, what does that tell us about what women really need in business? [Mary] The simple things. I think that's, you know, the thing is with technology, racing ahead of us and us trying to catch up and more technology being sort of swung on us. Our mobile phones are, let's face it, you know, a walking office. There's an awful lot to learn on as fast rate as soon as you learn it. Somebody's better, somebody's improved. The thing is to learn the basics and stay basic. Remember, remember the basic skill. Remember how good sometimes it is just to write a little note. Write a note and say thank you to somebody. Take time out just to have meet somebody for a coffee and say, we love you just to have a chat. So take time for yourself, take time for the people that are helping you and don't forget to stop, just stop every now and again and think, I need five minutes. You know, stop the plan, I want to get off, five minutes, I'll get back on again, but just give yourself some time and breathe. Take a walk, take a walk away from the equipment, walk away from the computer. Besides, you flag down as the day goes on and you're looking at the computer screen and all of a sudden the answers aren't coming, they're getting jumbled up and everything's muddling in your head. The best thing is to shut it down, walk away. Go outside for a walk, aimless to the end of the road, come back again, have a cup of tea, have a cup of coffee, then sit back down again. Now, are you ready to have a go again? then turn it back on again and you look at it, there's the answer, was sitting there all the time. How many times do we do that? So be kind to yourself during it as well too. And you know, sitting all that time as well too, because we create more office work for ourselves isn't good for your health. You need to put time limits on it, you need to get up and walk away every now and again, because sitting posture is not very good for us. So don't wait like me until you're older and find out. It's perfect opportunity to nip along to a Ladies Who Latte, isn't it? [Billie] I tell you what, that's probably what motivates me to go to Ladies Who Latte is because of that human connection of actually having a break, having time out. And that is the only time, because I prioritise networking, that's probably one of the only times that I will sit down with a drink and whether it's a sparkling water or a coffee, whatever it is, that you sit down and that is probably one of the only times. [Mary] That's the nicest thing about whenever you've got your, you're a member of one and you're not treading around, you're not butterflying between all the different groups, you're not popping in and popping in. I'd love to do that, I'd love to pop along and see different groups but sometimes you know it's intimidating me being there because then they want to go, oh it's about Ladies Who Latte, I don't want to hear about you and what you do. So it's sometimes a bit difficult for me, but I really worry about the salespeople that come to a lot of meetings and that isn't in the vein of Ladies Who Latte. However, they have started a business that means selling, pyramid selling, whether you admit it's pyramid selling or not. So all these groups offer you a room full of customers. So those people do visit a lot. But if they're, this is when you have to learn how to conduct yourself as a salesperson. You tell them what you do. Don't be in people's faces. know, listen to what other people are doing. Become the person who recommends them to other people because you're starting to make friendships as well. You can tell people what you do. You know, we know all the same companies that all do these things. But as long as it's not being round in people's faces, you will be welcome. It's the ones that go and say, are you with this company? Do you want to join us? This is the offer we've got. And they don't want that. They don't want to have that at the meeting. They just want to know who you are, what you do. You know, the one to one things, that's for later meetings. Can we meet later for a cup of coffee? Can we meet another day? That's when you do business. Your networking group is all it is. It's networking. You're there just to say hi, meet greet and listen. And then from there, then there's people you want to talk to, that person really be able to either help me or I can help them, then ask to meet them at another time and bring your diary with you and then set up the date. [Billie] What's your favourite thing about running Ladies Who Latte? [Mary] Obviously our leaders run the groups but from a central perspective... the good news stories, yeah, there's an awful lot actually. I love to see a new group starting, I love the enthusiasm of a new group starting. I also love the sadness in leaders that are giving up. no. You know, they're, you know, business life changing or they're moving. How much it's meant to them and how much it's changed their life and how much it's helped them. So there's beautiful stories out of that. There's beautiful stories with new leaders coming in, taking over. New groups start, or new groups getting revived is also a thrill. But I love the eccentricity stories. I love it when one of our groups, they did a calendar girls calendar. Do you remember? Yes. And they, that was awesome. That took some courage and they did it for a charity fundraise for one of their girls, for cancer. And they've supported her a whole group of... The year before they were complete strangers, never knew any of these people. Next thing is these girls have all taken their kit off, got into calendar girl style photographs to do a calendar to raise thousands of pounds, which they did. Yeah, that's amazing. That's your heart. Yeah, that's your heart. So there's an awful lot about, I think every day you could see a story on Ladies Who Latte that will really get you. And you think, is worth doing it. [Billie] Did tell you I've got the form live? people can send their stories in? Yes. Got the Your Story page that's as of last night is live. so hopefully we will get stories flowing in of successes. [Mary] We want you to hear more stories, more of your stories because they are, your stories are the best stories. yeah. That is the success of Ladies Who Latte. That is the success. There's a heart to it. Something different. You can't ask the same thing. [Billie] What keeps you passionate about running Ladies Who Latte? [Mary] Oh, it's success. I'm proud of that. I'm proud. I'm proud of it. I'm proud of what it's done for you know, whenever you're born, I was ill, very ill when I was little. at one stage wondered if I was going to make past 13, I wasn't going to live. And then I would come from a very religious family and said, you must have been saved for a reason. And I can look back at that and think, I found a reason. And that maybe is my reason. Maybe that's just a feeling, dramatic or whatever. Oh Billie, don't fill up. But people do have extraordinary stories, you know, we hear lots of extraordinary stories from people. That might be different than a lot of other people's, but if there was something, it's the reason why you're in the world. I found it. [Billie] If someone's on the fence about coming to their first meeting, what would you say to them? [Mary] I'd ask them what they're worried about, you know, because it's not going to cost them anything. No, it's completely free of charge. It ⁓ will cost you a couple of hours of your life and maybe you're going to waste that in some other way, so no wondering, it's not going to better it. So when something's free, it really totally is free, there's no hidden corners. Do buy your own tea and coffee because I think that's only right to be supportive of a venue that's giving you the space for free. And other than that, there's nothing to worry about. Come in, judge for yourself, is this for me? And like I say, you don't even have to speak. You can have just a word with the leader and just say, I'd like to be an observer. I just want to watch because I want to get some ideas. I don't know what I want to do. And I'm in between ideas and I just need some inspiration. Well, sit and watch the inspiration flow in the room. And, you know, hopefully by then you will have made a decision. But there's no need to ever sit on the fence because this is going to cost you absolutely nothing. No membership fees, no meeting fees. So it's going to cost you nothing to find out. Just come along. [Billie] I know what you made me think. I wanted to say was to say thank you to all of our venues. So ladies who latte there's 130 groups across the country and each one of those is hosted at a venue who welcome us for free. There's no venue hire and they just understand that it works, don't they? [Mary] It's a community thing. think that's a lot of everybody else's marketing has brought in community and how you can support your local community. And for a lot of people that, you know, their doors are open, they can leave the space free for people to come and take up that corner because they can do that corner later. Yeah, our venues are absolutely priceless. And the ones that have been doing it for such a long time are an absolute credit to their business as well. And I know there's many clubs out, many places have had them for 12, 13 years going on. So that is a blinking long time to say, here's your space. And you know... If you haven't got the footfall, if people aren't coming into your property or your business at that time of day, know, these cups of coffee are now around about five pounds, know, such. you know, 20 people come in there at five at a time. It's a hundred pound you got for nothing. Just by giving up a bit of space. So it's worth it. It's worth it all, right? But for the community support, this is where they need to be applauded. And we do need to give them a bigger shout out and a bigger thank you for. all the support that they do give us because they help to make that difference. Absolutely. Well done the venues. Thank you. [Billie] Right, where do you see Ladies Who Latte going next? What's the vision? [Mary] I hope to see no change is what I would honestly say. No change. Keep it as it is because it works. The thing is, as you get bigger in your business, as you grow more, move on. Don't you stay with Ladies Who Latte who's standing still. You move on because that's where you are. Ladies Who Latte has taught you all you need to know about networking. It's helped you to grow your business through contacts and connections. You now are able and qualified to move on to other networking where you can expand and grow even further. So as a business person who's been to Ladies Who Latte for a million number of years, look to expand. You expand. We're staying. Because I want us to always be there for the next lady that's coming along, leaving her kids to school and wondering how she's going to start business that morning and what she's going to do. So for the grassroots, we will be there for the grassroots and put a hand out from the from our older sisters above us saying we're here to help you. And it would be an awful shame to lose that level of support at the very beginning when every people need that help. [Billie] What's really lovely and possibly brings us round to the collective is the fact in the last few months where people were slow to understandably slow coming out of COVID. So most of our groups and pretty much I think 99 % of them now are back to physical meetings. Some have kept the online meetings as well in addition to that. But what I have noticed is that those women who we first networked with back in 2007 are have gone off, they've flown the nest, they've grown, and actually they're now coming back to Ladies Who Latte because it's a comfortable, lovely thing to do, but then they are giving their support to those people that are coming and using it as the first stepping stone on their networking ladder. Got a way to start with. First round, yeah, so that they come back and it's really lovely to see them, but that is in fact the idea of the collective where they're... They're one, they're the sort of position wanting to position themselves as an expert. They have been around the block and they've got lots to share and they want to give back. So they can join the Latte Collective and submit articles, video, how-tos, not sales pitches, but ways of giving back to all of those ladies that are coming through, up the first rungs of that ladder. And building that community, but then they're also going to reach that much further because their profile will be there and they can reach internationally. [Mary] That's it. You see, we are in the global village. We really are with global village now and we were years ago. The global village started about 30 years ago when we started to realise how easy it was to train somebody in another country. You didn't have to be there. You don't have to physically see somebody to train them to teach them something. Australia, weirdly enough, has been doing it by their education for ages, centuries. They've been teaching kids over radio for years. So they already had their first original, you know, this is the way to learn. You don't have to be able to touch somebody, see somebody. You know, that's the added bonus when you can. So the collective, which is really your baby, this is where I go, no, it's pretty good. And I am very proud of it. I'm proud of you because like you've created this. But to see this platform now where ladies want to be there, they want to put their blogs on there. well, bravo you, you can help Ladies Who Latte to grow. We would still be static if it wasn't for you. Thank you. Absolutely would be. That's what happens. see, whenever you get, when you join together with people and you meet somebody, you meet a really good friend networking. And somebody says, I can help with this. thank God, because I can't do it. So then you're starting off, you took over the website. Yeah, was then. was then taking the website on, which was a massive relief because I was quite happy to grow Ladies Who Latte to go there and the ambassador, go out and tell people, start a group, you know, get people together, get people to come in and you'll grow. You'll just grow on your own. You don't even need to advertise. You just bring one friend. That's the easiest way to grow it. Bring a friend to the next meeting, everybody, you've doubled your numbers. And that's the easiest way Ladies Who Latte grows Very simple. And then again the website, well that's something else. Then the techie things. And then we grew to Facebook. And then our Facebook, because technology was there for us, we were able to use that. Again, a free support, which helped us grow. And now look at us and... Look at what you've done. That's all you. Such a clever person. Thank you very much. [Billie] Don't embarrass me. (Already embarrassed) [Mary] This is us being spontaneous talking about it, isn't it, reading the things. And then we're kind of working out what question you have now. So I think we've covered it pretty well. I might be coming out the other side of menopause, but my brain's not quite caught up yet. What inspired you? I was recently asked the question, what advice would I give to somebody starting out in business? And instantly my answer was implement fast. And the reason I gave that answer was because I had the idea for the collective back when I was brainstorming things with Sharon. Right, okay. And that was when the idea was born and I never implemented it. I never took action, never made it, never did anything with it. Did the website, redesigned the logos and the brand and everything. And since then, we've worked together to keep that consistency of a brand for Ladies Who Latte Um, but I never ever got around to implementing and doing and building this community area for online. So when I did eventually do it and people may remember this, I sent out an email saying, right, we're going to call it and we're going to call it. I'm not going to say the name. We're going to call it because it was, turned out that there was already an existence and another organization that wasn't to do with businesses, was to do with women over 40 and This lovely lady contacted me and said, what are you doing? And I was like, ⁓ you're joking. I didn't realise the name. So then was born the collective itself and the naming of the collective. she was very understanding. We obviously used the same image bank as well at the time. So I had the same image and she just couldn't get her head around how can you possibly have the same name and the same image and that be a coincidence. But she was all right. Yeah, so implement fast because had I implemented when I'd thought of it, then it would have been a very different story. [Mary] Because it does depend on what they're doing. you know, what they don't realise is, you know, if you're taking on say working for a makeup company who have got the package, maybe you've got to buy your initial kit. So there's your outlay. And then just said, you sell it to your friends. Actually, I'm presuming because I don't know what they say. So I said, sell it to your friends and then maybe your friends will take something into work for them. And then maybe you let people work. Like, you know, I was one of the original Avon lady customers who have built up an amazing business. They've been going for years. you know, there's one lady in America I know has become the first millionaire, Avon lady. And uses her garage as a storage thing because she just piles it in. She lives it and breathes it. And I know plenty of people that get into this makeup thing because there's perks and there's things to attract you that maybe you can go on a holiday, maybe you'll have a weekend retreat, maybe you'll have a spa day. There's things for you to keep enticing you to keep selling, keep recruiting. And of course, you know, then how do you start? So they'll say, well, start with your friends. Not always the best thing to do because you're going to alienate some friends who don't want her going to be embarrassed into having to pay for something they possibly can't afford. Yeah. Because some of this stuff is quite expensive. So this is where it's a perfect time to go to a Ladies Who Latte which costs you nothing. And that's my first thing is to learn how to network. Learn. learn how to network easily where you can promote your business without selling to people because you'll soon find people don't want to talk to you or you'll get snubbed whenever you go to meetings. We've had all those people over the years. We've had people when you walked into a room physically grab you, come and see what I've got. Remember those? It didn't last long. And they're not doing our business anymore. It's the most self-filtering system there. Is anybody that comes in that is too forceful in the sales generally moves on because they understand or they must either, get in the response they want, but that's probably collectively made clear to them that that's not appropriate for this networking format. They'll find that out from the ladies themselves who won't tolerate it. If they've been coming for networking for a long time, they've learned how to network, they've learned what the benefits are of listening. When somebody comes across forceful like that, just go. And they'll be snubbed and they will be avoided. And the only ones that will probably talk to them is somebody that's like maybe the bookkeeper who says, who's doing your books for you? And then they deserve that. But, know, there's a way, there's an etiquette within networking and you learn it very quickly. So if you come in all guns blazing, unless you're a personality and a comedian, You are not going to have the floor. Yeah. Be a personality [The Latte Collective] With the Latte collective that you came up with, we've set Ladies Who Latte up, we've set the meetings up, we know how the grassroots of it's growing, you have developed this collective where people are going to put their blogs in. Tell us about the blogs, what does that actually mean? How is it done? How does it work? [Billie] Okay, so you can register for the Latte Collective for a monthly price subscription. That is the cost of a coffee at the moment for £4.20. So based on my decaf latte with the caramel squirt in there and soy Yeah, they're about £4.20. That's what the monthly fee is. So either it's paid by monthly fee subscription or annual subscription. it can be done. So this is the only part of Ladies Who Latte where there's any money involved. And it is very separate in that Ladies Who Latte will always be free for the networking. We've always fiercely protected that. That there is no way that the networking should ever be costing anything. [Mary] But this is a different thing for a different result, isn't it? [Billie] Yes. So the idea of the collective is for people, women in business, to give back to those women that are just starting out their journey. Positioning themselves as the experts in their field because they're sharing knowledge about their field and it's reaching the wider community for those women who have stepped up further up the ladder of networking and they can now reach globally in this case now, let's be realistic, it's internationally, it's globally. So they are positioning themselves by sharing their expertise in there. Now they can... Once they're a member of the Latte Collective, they can write as many blogs as they want. And I've just introduced a pretty sash for our founding members who've always been in the collective Lovely. The kinds of articles in there, again, we're not one seat per discipline. It's not a case of you can't write an article because someone else has written an article, everyone's got a different flavor, but it would be mindful to have a read of what else there is in there within your area of article [Mary] So how do I read about this? What do I look up to find out? I go into the collective, does it cost me anything to be a reader of the collective? [Billie] Everybody pays that membership fee. you're paying for just cost of a coffee a month, you can go into this resource and freely access all of this information that experts are willing to give back. No differently that if you were sitting with them at a Ladies Who Latte Networking and you asked them a question and they were telling you that information, except they're reaching a wider audience and a wider audience are reaching them. And you can get whatever information for just four pounds. Yes. And they've got then each article when they submit an article you have your profile down the right hand side Which has a photograph your business logo, your preferred contact details and then which Ladies Who Latte group that somebody might be able to find you at physically . [Mary] Right, that's a good idea. [Billie] Yes, and then if you're a founding member, there's a sash but then the longer you're in the collective there's a membership status you're collecting the membership status as time goes by. full details of that are on the website. [Mary] And how are we putting that information out to tell people? [Billie] Once it's alive again, I have a waiting list of probably over a hundred people at the moment waiting to get back into it. I'm pedaling as fast as I can to get live. So, yes, so very shortly I will promoting it and sending it out and sharing it with. I have done my hardest over the years to make sure that I do not sell within our newsletters that we circulate. But I have had feedback that we don't send enough newsletters [Mary] that I agree with as well too. know. So this is the idea of having... It was something easy for me to slot stories in, copy and paste and stick a picture on. I'm really good at that. So that's what it needs to be. I can do that bit. [Billie] The doing of it isn't the problem. It's the content that we don't have. So I'm not going to invent stuff. [Mary] Oh, I read it. Do you know I read it in most people's pages. [Billie] You read what? [Mary] I read the pages on Ladies Who Latte What, because they've shared it? Yeah, on the Facebook pages. I read loads of them. I got enough. haven't got enough. [Billie] you mean the stories? [Mary] Yeah, the stories. [Billie] So we need them to come centrally. So that's why the Your Story page is now live for people to share. [Mary] Some fabulous leaders have got stories. The danger is that the ones that are really good at submitting them will keep submitting the same story and nobody wants to read the same stuff. It's like having a magazine. You want a whole variety of different things. So if you're in this month, or we even spotlight you that month, you know, you're probably not going to come back for maybe another six months in reality, but it could be, you know, still a really good story there. Maybe could get in the columns and maybe not the headlines, if you know what I mean, because there is so many good stories out there. And, and that, you know, I'm lucky, I think I'm really privileged to spot an awful lot of them. There's a lot of really great stories on there and it's generally like that lady up in Harrogate who that was a fact because I made a comment so every now and again I know the Latte Leaders out there will know there's a comment from your love said I love this guys because I've read it and I love to read and see what they're all doing as well too and I'm enterprising it including some of leaders who think we're trying to inject something new now coming along. [Billie] I don't think so. I think the key with the stories and them sharing them is for nobody to assume that they don't have a good enough story or don't assume, oh, she'll have loads of them, I don't need to send mine in. Everybody tends to assume, oh, they don't want mine or, oh, they'll have too many and then no one sends them in. this is where we are. We want the stories coming in to be able to share them. [Mary] And some amazing stories come out. London's almost like the Leicester Secret. It's a very different area, London. And I will tell you 14 groups in London as well to bear in mind that that's a lot of areas covered. So London, because of its very difference and because of the difference of London, like people don't drive to the right. Nobody in London drives. Everybody gets wherever they're going, either on to buses or trains. So, you know, this is how they travel. Traveling to the groups are are differently done. But my goodness me, there's a massive support for them. We started in Croydon with the lovely Chris and she contacted me the other day because somebody's got in touch with her. After all this time, we still had our contact details wanting to come back and she blessed her little heart after not being there for a little over a years now, she's been out of it, gave them the address and said, well, this is you need to go and there's your contact details. So some last way leaders never leave us. But you know, that's really super. There is fantastic business stories, and relationship stories. Some of them just where they've been. One lot as well too up in New York. There's three girls have just made the best friends and they've written an article about what it's like to find a new best friend. I loved it. That's lovely. Oh, it was so lovely. And they're all supportive of each other. They're going on holidays together and everything. And there's these photographs in all different places of three girls, me and my besties. [Billie] See, that's the other thing about them sending them to us because they tick a box to say, yes, it's okay to share this. Whereas if we're looking at their pages, they're sharing it within their groups as they should be able to do. We don't know without. [Mary] We can't take them, can we? [Billie] We can't take them without permission. Not without them. And then it becomes another thing to follow up, to try and get hold of, to try and chase up. So if people come to us and give us their stories knowing that's what we're going to do with it, then that makes it so much easier. it lot easier. To share them on a regular basis. So we've got the newsletter, we've got the collective. And what happens if you're a business and you have you're up the higher ends of those ladder rungs and you came up from Ladies Who Latte through or you've just seen us from a distance. Can you advertise on the website? So there are on our main pages on the website, we have thousands of visitors to our calendar, our alphabetical list of meetings and our mapped meetings. And there are opportunities on all three of those pages for businesses to advertise at a really reasonable rate for advertising. So it's all good, is it? [Mary] So we are going forward. [Billie] Yes. Billie's dragging us forward. But in the meantime, meetings, grassroots. ⁓ absolutely. Without question, networking, the networking is not going to change. That needs to stay there. We're having little growth, which is good. But how lovely is it that ladies come back? I've made my best friends through Ladies Who Latte. yeah. It's a lovely, lovely supportive thing. Life, life, life friends. One of them, my special friend from Ireland, lovely Ros. And she rang me to be a latte leader in Chester. And from that phone call, we have been the best of friends. We've hollidayed together. Also, we visit each other. She comes and stays. I go to her to say, yeah. That's fabulous. And then I got, Billie. [Billie] Well, I have to say, yeah, you are. You know, we have formed this wonderful friendship. I've never... to have to be put together into a situation where we didn't really know each other. [Mary] No, that's right. And then when we have... when we have... we see things differently. [Mary] Oh, do you want to see them meetings? Oh my goodness. we both... My husband walks away. He just goes, oh dear God. [Billie] But we get to a point where we find... We agree. ...a solution and we agree, don't we? [Mary] But when we put our foot down with a firm hand, our foot goes down with a firm hand, we ain't moving. I think we've come to an end. Thank you very much. I've been wanting to capture all This is like a normal conversation for us in an awful lot of ways sometimes too. It is. And a lot of people have asked us the question and you've answered it, goodness knows how many times about Ladies Who Latte but we've never captured it for everybody to be able to see before. Well, I hope it's worth people listening into it. I hope it's worth, don't know what our grassroots were, but where we came from. Two years time, we'll be 20 years old which I think is a great achievement I tell you what I would love to see the Ladies Who Latte do, and all the Ladies Who Latte groups out there. Locally, in the community does some sort of awards. They do awards for all sort of categories and it can be through business, it can be through community, whatever they are, apply for an award. Put your application in for your group to win an award. That would be something great to say coming up to 20 years of Ladies Who Last, that all these groups here all won local awards for your contribution of what you do for the ladies in your community, because that's what you're doing. The leaders are doing these fantastic jobs. They're giving up their time and you are giving up your time to come to meetings and you're supporting other women in business. And look at this support. And the good news stories they've got. You've all got them. So nominate yourselves for awards. They're there every single year they come out and communities want to have them. They want people to come forward to win these awards and nobody qualifies better than you guys. And I know that for a fact. So let's all stick our names in pots all over the place and nominate for awards. [Billie] Absolutely, yeah. [Mary] Go Ladies Who Latte!