That’s the ethos at KNOW Women. We are a collaborative community of female entrepreneurs + leaders, all with a strong desire to educate, inspire, motivate, and support one another. We are our own success sorority.

But wait, where is the science behind this? Too often in society, it has been assumed that women are continually up against each other, striving to be ‘seen’ in a male-dominated world.

While this might have been true at one time, this is most definitely not the case today. Times are changing!

Our KNOW Women are continually proving against the stereotype that women don’t support other women. Because they do! We do! In fact, there are studies (some written by men) that demonstrate women work best when united, collaborative, and work together in community.

You may be wondering how to create actual meaningful connections that we, as women need to fully thrive in the business world. Read on, sister…

Go beyond just the basic introduction.

Networking in female-based groups needs to be more than business-oriented. By creating connections with shared interests and goals, you can encourage each other in all aspects of your life. Women thrive in relationships – and these relationships can happen in the business world, too. Imagine having your work-BFF become your actual BFF, and think of the things you both could achieve when you encourage, educate, and inspire each other? The possibilities would be endless.

To do this, we need to make that first step and redefine the basic format of networking. Take networking events, for example – instead of looking at them as something that has to be done in order to be successful, we should redirect our thought and think of it as an opportunity to simply make a new connection. So go ahead, talk with other women, bond, connect, and thrive. Don’t focus on the sale.

Make building connections a priority.

At KNOW, we believe that relationship-building is vital for growing a business. Think about it for a second, are you likely to enter into a partnership with someone you don’t know? No. You want to be able to trust, connect, and communicate with the person effectively, and to do that, you must build a relationship with them first.

Your calendar should ultimately reflect your values – if you are the type of person to sit at your desk for 12 hours a day, that’s fine. However, we believe that to truly thrive, you should start making time to connect with other women. Lucky for technology, you can do this from your desk and computer!

Understand that connections take time.

If it were easy, we would all be personally connected to the most successful female entrepreneurs of all time! The truth is – connections in business, just like any other kind, take time to develop. You need to nurture these connections to keep them alive, and ultimately to see a result from them.

TIP: Don’t be afraid to reach out to someone you admire or who you think you can learn from. Everyone starts somewhere.

Build each other up.

At KNOW, this is what we love to see, hear, and do the most. We encourage our members to continually amplify each other’s voices throughout our community. Amplifying another woman isn’t taking away your voice or ideas – instead, it is demonstrating that you are supportive, a trait that is admirable in the business world.

Use the community.

Our KNOW Women Collaborative is full of incredible female entrepreneurs. Use them! Leverage them! If you have a question, reach out and ask in one of our many communities. Watch our masterclasses – sign up for more. Our community was created so that we could show up for each other and help each other reach for more.

At KNOW Women, we will always encourage that a community is one of the most important aspects of a female-owned business. We hope that you agree and that you found this blog helpful. And always remember, “empowered women, empower women”.