The Small Business Marketing Jams

When is the last time you went to a networking event and the whole room was erupting into kindhearted laughter? How about the last time you were at one of these events and made meaningful connections AND walked away with great realizations and support contributed by the others in attendance? I am so fortunate to facilitate exactly the networking I described through The Small Business Marketing Jams with Taiha Wagner from Mom on the Go.

Last Wednesday, we had 27 participants and on Thursday, we had 16. It turned out that nearly all of the participants were all women small business owners with one small business banker and one marketing rep. Careers ranged from a a website developer, to a holistic magazine publisher, to a lifecoach and a wide range in between.

Taiha and I were pleasantly surprised at the wealth of ideas the participants shared for each other. In the "Power of Collaboration" session, each small group came up with incredible hypothetical ways to collaborate and it sounds like many of them will be following through to make their ideas for cross support a reality. They also had a lot of fun with the exercises. We love doing these!

When I think about the networking events I most enjoy, it's when I get the chance to really converse with the other participants and learn something new--not just their name, business and type of referral they want. I am drawn to create events that I would be most interested in personally. I learned many years ago that when I try to be something I'm not, I become less interested and confident in my work. When I reveal my own style and passion, everything else seems to fall into place.

How do you bring your true self and interests into your work? Might there be a way to do more of this?