” I wanted a way to not just help these ladies make new friends, but also have the opportunity to support local businesses”
I am so overwhelmed with how this come about, from just sitting in my living room thinking ‘how can I make new friends?’….
This has been felt by myself and by my mum. Due to us working for ourselves we never had the opportunity of making new friends and we don’t have work friends, so we both tried activities hoping this would help.
This has been felt by myself and by my mum. Due to us working for ourselves we never had the opportunity of making new friends and we don’t have work friends, so we both tried activities hoping this would help.
My mum tried a number of fitness classes but realised that once the class is done you really don’t have time to chat to anyone, I also joined a netball team out of the area to make new friends but again after playing, it was time to go home, and I was too tired to talk, especially when seeing how unfit I actually was!
It was a realisation that I don’t even want to play netball I just want the opportunity to make new friends without having to have a scheduled weekly activity for joining something I didn’t actually want to do, and just meet ladies and talk, as this is what we are best at!!
This is where before Christmas back in November 2018 I realised I had no office parties to go to, dress up for, or just have a good night out.. so sitting in my living room on Facebook there is a local company for Lichfield, Tamworth & Sutton Coldfield where you can post a message and people can respond.
I wanted to make some lady friends in the local areas just to go for a drink with and chat, not expecting I would get a response, maybe 1 or 2 ladies, I ended up with over 100 ladies responding and wanting to be part of this also and glad that I had spoken out freely admitting this.
Messaging all of them individually, I soon realised that all the ladies were of different ages, all messaging with their own personal reasons which was so inspiring for me and empowering that I wanted not just to help myself and my mum make new friends but all these ladies that had reached out! Even ladies out of the area!
It amazed me how many asked if age was a problem. I see all ages can be friends and we can all share our life experiences with each other help and advise in life and make friends and enjoy the same things!
I quickly got a private group created, giving the ladies the opportunity to also invite any ladies they knew to be a part of this, which then grew in number. I let all ladies know to introduce themselves personally on the group and ladies will comment and hopefully get in touch. In the meantime, I will arrange ladies get-togethers in their local areas, just for a drink and a chat with no pressure of spending money!
I met a lady called Stephanie in Sutton Coldfield and we had a night out like we had known each other forever and from that I now believe I have made a friend for life with someone I would never have had the opportunity of meeting without doing this.
The group meanwhile quickly got filled with posts from ladies introducing themselves and even 2 ladies meeting for a coffee which they took a photo of, which was so lovey to see!
The first get-together was in Sutton Coldfield at Aromatic Coffee & Bar with there being 10 ladies in total, all different ages, all different stories and it was amazing to see all of them interacting and getting to know one another. I have never done this before, so I wanted to make them all feel welcome and to know that we are all here for the same reason so not to worry and be yourself!
This was very successful and I had many positive comments, so I then arranged for the next get-together in Lichfield at the Hedgehog!
We had a total of 14 ladies for this one, and it was amazing to see numbers being swapped, and cinema dates being arranged! This was overwhelming and I was so happy to see everyone enjoying themselves – also my mum being involved was lovely!
I have one due in Tamworth soon, but I wanted to then create something where I can help all ladies over the UK connect without having the pressures of doing the activities, money pressures, feeling age is an issue etc.
So, I got Expand Digital Media to create the website where I can help ladies all around the UK all making new friends on a platform where you could feel safe! Ladies have their own personal profile and can search their area for other ladies with similar interests.
Although the group went extremely well I felt if you had introduced yourself on the group chat 2 weeks before you were then at bottom of the page, so that was no good!
Also, I wanted a way to not just help these ladies make new friends, but also have the opportunity to support local businesses and to enable ladies to take advantage of discounts to meet up, shop and treat themselves to some quality time with their new friends at a discounted price!
This way we are supporting the local businesses, ladies are interacting making new friends, and it gets ladies out enjoying themselves!
I decided to get a monthly competition going where one lucky lady can win a voucher to spend with any of the local businesses that are on our webpage so this will be a nice surprise for someone once a month!
The ladies group get-togethers are also exclusive to members only which give ladies the opportunity to feel safe with meeting someone they have been talking with through a group environment instead of one on one.
It was also important to me to support a different local charity once a year which will help those that are not heard of as much which need our support where we will do at a fun day.
I don’t want us and our children to grow up in such an ignorant world where no one talks, we don’t talk to our neighbours, we feel lonely or lost, everyone should have someone to pick the phone up to or a neighbour to turn to.
I hope Make New Friends will be the start of an amazing journey for you as it has already been for me!
Lots of Love
Michelle xxx