Opening and running your own business can be fun. It can also be scary, challenging and difficult. There is a lot to consider when starting a business: Do I have the clientele? Will I be successful? How do I market myself?
If you have your own business in Bradford, there are plenty of networking groups to help support your dreams of running your own empire. But there is only one group in town that focuses on women entrepreneurship and that’s Successful Women Always Networking (SWAN).
SWAN was created almost seven years ago to empower and encourage women to run successful local businesses. Since then, the group has developed a stronger community presence and continues to welcome new women.
The group meets every third Tuesday of the month for two hours at the Bradford Legion where they discuss a variety of business-related topics and network with one another.
They are a not-for-profit group who pride themselves on not only helping women in business, but giving back through all of their charity work. Every year the group selects one charity to sponsor and organize a large fundraiser to support it.
Natasha Leskiw is the group’s president. She has been a member of SWAN since July 2017 and hopes to grow SWAN’s membership numbers this year.
Leskiw runs her own social media management business, Personally Yours. Although she conducts most of her business virtually with clients in other countries, she still finds SWAN helpful in making her business a success with mentoring, teaching and support.
“By showing up to SWAN and meeting other business-minded women, it helped me grow the confidence to really push forward in my business … and feeling like a welcome part of the community,” she said.
Jessica Crossan, the club’s secretary-treasurer, has been a member for just over four years. She is a stay-at-home mom who runs her own Epicure business, Jess’s Fab Food. She first heard about SWAN at the town’s Carrotfest. She says she owes a lot of her business success to SWAN.
“It’s (SWAN) awesome for people like us (women) because when you’re a stay-at-home mother and you start up with a network marketing business sometimes it’s hard to expand your network because you don’t go to an office everyday and you don’t have a storefront that people come into,” said Crossan.
“How we (women) are perceived in business is different. Even what people think about our businesses, it’s different.”
Jackie Kozak, who is the club’s vice president, joined SWAN six years ago. She runs her own DJ and Karaoke business, Scaraoke Entertainment.
Kozak says she loves being part of SWAN and enjoys the charity aspect of the group.
“When I first joined SWAN, I had just moved to Bradford so it was kind of an opportunity for me to get to know the community and bring my business into this town through this women’s networking group," said Kozak.
"But in the six years that I have been a member, for me now, the focus has been more on the charity work we do … I don’t really know any other networking group that does the amount of charity work that we do,” she said.
This year, SWAN will be supporting CrossTrainers Ministries Canada, a registered charity based out of Bradford whose mission is to provide the community with practical help and programs like A Hand Up Clothing Room, which offers people in need a place to shop without cost.
SWAN supports the charity by donating a portion of its membership fees to the cause, as well as putting on a large fundraising event once a year.
Last year, the group held their event at Made in Mexico and raised over $1,800 for the Helping Hand Food Bank charity (including the portion of the club’s membership fees).
“By all of us being members of SWAN, we get this opportunity to work together, even though we represent individual companies," said Crossan. "But we get that added benefit that anytime we participate in some of our charity stuff it makes us more visible.
"It makes SWAN more visible, but it makes each and every one of us who participate more visible because we donate product or we donate services or we are associated with what we are doing, and that’s the whole point…. We’re not just a bunch of girls sitting in the legion every third Tuesday, because that’s not going to grow your business, but giving SWAN a physical presence in town means that people get the opportunity to ask questions and know who we are,” said Crossan.
In addition to the charity work, SWAN participates in all the grand openings in town to show support for local entrepreneurs.
“We definitely try to show up to those and just welcome people into the community. That has been for me, my personal experience with SWAN, one of the best things,” said Leskiw.
Whether you are in network marketing or own a brick and mortar business, SWAN encourages all women who conduct business in Bradford to attend a first meeting for free.
“If you can come out to SWAN and you can sell your product that should be the cherry on top … you should be coming for the friendship, for the support, for the networking,” said Leskiw.
The group says besides the monthly meetings, they do arrange social nights for the members as well.
Kozak says she considers Leskiw and Crossan her best friends.
“We hang out outside of the SWAN meetings … we’re best friends and we met through SWAN and we hang out every week,” she said.
The next SWAN meeting takes place on Tuesday, March 19 at 7 p.m. at the Bradford Legion located at 115 Back Street. All women in business are encouraged to attend.
“You don’t have to be alone in business … you have a whole network of people rallying behind you who want to see you grow,” said Leskiw.
To get in touch with SWAN, you can check out their Facebook page here or send them an email: [email protected]
