Somna launched Reloop Beta earlier this year, and since then, we’ve grown a strong community of independent professionals who care deeply about the work they are doing and want to define a career on their own terms. We’re so proud of what this platform has become, and with more in store for 2024, we felt that Career Development Month was a perfect time to chat to Somna about her journey bringing us all together. 

Somna, what inspired you to create Reloop? Could you share the story behind its inception?

After moving to London from Sydney, I ended up taking a long break from work. It took some time to settle my kids into school and figure out what my next career step was. I’d been freelancing in Sydney, and had built up a network there, but in London I had to start fresh. 

When it came to updating my LinkedIn profile, I hit a wall. LinkedIn felt too corporate now for me. It was full of people posting about how brilliantly they were doing in their careers. And most people were working in full-time roles – no gaps, no pivots, no authenticity. 

After multiple attempts at updating my profile, I simply gave up! It was so upsetting. It felt like I was ‘failing’ at life, simply because I had chosen to prioritise other aspects of my life for a period of time. Was I less professional? Did my brain work less well because I worked only half the time? Were my insights less valuable? 

But when I started opening up to friends, I realised that so many of us were struggling with the same feeling. Smart, intelligent, successful freelancers were feeling like they didn’t really have a professional place where they ‘fit’ – always feeling like a square peg in a round hole on LinkedIn.

And that’s when I realised there was a need for a different online space. One where pivots, gaps, different life and career journeys were celebrated. A place full of people where choosing to not follow the traditional path was more the norm – not the exception. A place where I could be open about my journey without feeling ever-so-subtly judged. 

Enter Reloop!

What problem or challenges in the professional networking and freelancing space were you aiming to address with Reloop?

After doing a survey with about 100 freelancers, I found that we all tend to face the same issues. We’re all looking for a community where we feel we belong and one that feels relevant to our needs, a way to present ourselves and our varied backgrounds and experiences without negative stigma and ways to generate new projects. Reloop was born to address these key challenges. 

There were also a couple of ‘general’ pet peeves I had with existing platforms that I wanted to address: 

• Freemium professional networking sites are encouraging people to have more connections. But the research and data shows that smaller, more focussed networks are far more powerful.
• Freemium professional networking sites are designed to reward those of us who shout the loudest. This doesn’t seem fair to me. I’m an introvert. I don’t ‘post’ for the sake of posting. And I end up just seeing posts from my connections who post regularly – the rest gets lost. And half of my feed is full of sponsored posts from companies and people I have no interest in hearing from. There’s just too much ‘noise’
• Freemium professional networking sites use your behaviours/likes/interests to sell to you via advertisements. They’re basically marketing/selling platforms. The community aspect has become diluted.

Who is Reloop for and why did you choose to focus on this group?

Reloop is for anyone that believes that our careers do not have to follow a straight line, and it’s ok (and quite normal) to adjust your career to fit other goals and aspirations in your life. 

It’s for people that recognise that every single person has a different career/life journey – all equally valid, successful and to be treasured and celebrated in their own right. 

It’s for people with a particular mindset. It just so happens that most freelancers have this mindset, because often that’s why we’ve chosen to freelance versus work full-time.

How has your own experience or background influenced the development of Reloop?

I’ve had many roles and careers over the years – engineer, small business owner, investment banker, strategic advisor, fundraiser, full-time mum – and each of them has taught me something about myself, and helped me grow as a person. 

At times I’ve certainly lost my way!

Every facet of our journeys, be it positive or negative, whether in the professional realm or within the sphere of personal life, contributes to the sculpting of our identity. 

And we’re all seeking different things from life. Individual joy and fulfilment stem from unique sources for each of us. So it makes complete sense to me that every personal journey is distinct, deserving of both commendation and celebration. 

Recognizing that most of us are continuously evolving, always a “work in progress,” fosters an attitude of understanding and kindness within our community, and influences every decision we make. Building Reloop with this in-mind was really important to me. 

What advice would you offer to aspiring entrepreneurs and founders who are looking to grow their business and network on Reloop? 

I would suggest three things: 

1. Make some goals around who you’d like to have in your network. Then reach out and connect with those people on Reloop – with no immediate agenda, and expecting nothing in return. And if you hear nothing back, that’s ok. At least you tried. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!
2. Be giving with a portion of your time: Put some time aside each week (if you can) to help another member, or engage on the platform. You can’t recommend someone you don’t really know.
3. Own your personal journey. If you took some time off work to travel – put it in your profile. If you are the primary parent – put it on your profile! If you made a few wrong turns along the way (haven’t we all) – put it on your profile. If you’re proud of something – whatever it is – put it on your profile. Be your wonderful quirky authentic self – and you’ll attract clients and connections that relate to you. 

I’m so pleased to see some of the connections, work and projects that have already come from Reloop and look forward to seeing what you all do in 2024!

Want to join the Reloop network?

Discover more: www.reloop.co