Community is something I've spoken about before, but I feel it's so important to recognise online friendships and make the most out of them. So, along with Mat who you all know by now, I went to visit Magnus and India of Haarkon in Sheffield.

You Must Create - YMC

Navy zip jacket (similar)

Norse Projects

Niels standard grey LS

The Cords & Co.

Bud fit ecru cords (similar)

Weekday

Black leather tote

These trips are the best. The ones where you strip back the curated, the edited and the well planned out. Time and time again when someone asks what I enjoy most about my career, the reply is always the people I’ve been fortunate to meet. Sheffield was the meeting point for the day to hangout with India, Magnus (of Haarkon) and Mat.

Haarkon had a mini tour in mind, which was great, although we kept things pretty loose. They asked me if I needed to get photos for anything specifically, but sometimes it’s nice to be able to say no and allow yourself to get into conversations you can’t online. The back and forth and second opinions are so valuable for people who work independently and it all gave us a chance to relief ourselves of internal worry (well I did anyway). It’s so important to have people who you can trust to be able to provide thoughts on things you have been deliberating internally, even when they contrast your own.

As for what our Sheffield itinerary consisted of: we popped into both Tamper locations for good coffee, late night drinks at the coolest bar in Sheffield, PUBLIC and Marmaduke’s for a rather tasty breakfast.

Of course, I returned to The Depot Bakery and the Botanical Gardens as well – well we had to when Haarkon had a hand in things. The bonus item on the agenda was a very short drive to the Peak District. Ten minutes out of the city and we were sat down in the hills with our phones tucked away - ironically Magnus has his out in this photo – and again provided a setting to just talk.

For all the bad rep that social media can sometimes receive, I honestly have a lot to thank it for. I’m able to make a living from social media, connect and befriend fascinating people with similar interests and above all it’s the first step in being able to turn online friendships into lasting offline ones where you want to go out of your way to meet up. Thank you India and Magnus for playing tour guide and thanks Mat for putting in the hours to travel all the way from Blackpool. I’d encourage anyone to push their online friendships further as that’s when you really get to understand a person beyond the photos and words they share on the Internet and instead create a setting to ramble and share things that only happens when you’re in the company of one another.jbicon