NAWBO-Columbus Member Blog

Welcoming.

Exciting.

Inviting.

High energy.

These are just a few of the words we have heard describe last night’s amazing Women, Wisdom, and Wine event!

Fifty-four people attend the event at 36 on the Boulevard, the third such of its kind that NAWBO has hosted over the past year. We are happy to say that three ladies became members during the event, and it was wonderful having so many new guests! We were fortunate enough, also, to have several past Visionary Award winners there! Overall, it was a phenomenal crowd!

The new president of NAWBO Columbus, Andrea Nameche, welcomed everyone and truly set the stage for a fun and engaging evening. Karen Hough and Meredith Liepelt facilitated a networking exercise called “Stories”, one of the activities from Karen’s popular Yes! Deck, which demonstrated value of communication and being purposeful and clear in your messaging.

But new member Erica Adams summed it up best:

“I am blown away yesterday by the supportive unit I witnessed with all of the women. My experience with NAWBO is probably one of the most fun and insightful networking functions I’ve ever attended. One women said to me “this is not a networking group this is a group of successful and caring women who share their successes together!” This was truly an amazing time and I can’t wait to experience more!”

NAWBO Columbus would like to thank the Membership Committee and all those who helped organize the event and the membership drive, including Shelley Menduni, Sue Kantor, Betty Garrett, Robin Leonard, Karen Marshall, Deborah Sheridan, Bonnie Brannigan, Liz Cajacobs, and Catherine Lang-Cline, and everyone else who helped make this event a success! Also, thanks to all the NAWBO Columbus members who donated their wonderful products and services to give to new members!

I attended my first NAWBO meeting last spring and was greeted so warmly and made to feel so welcome; I set a personal goal to introduce myself to every new face at each meeting. I’m an over achiever by nature. I always run out of networking time before I run out of people I want to meet.  I enjoy catching up with other NAWBO members, as well as introducing myself to new faces, learning about their business.  I have yet to make it through the entire room and connect with everyone.

Could it be I set my goal to high?  Probably.

I really enjoy meeting and getting to know new NAWBO faces, learn about their businesses, their challenges, commonalities, as well as finding ways to support them either directly or indirectly to help their business thrive.  It all starts with “Hi, I’m Karen.  Tell me about your business.”

Could it be I enjoy good conversation?  Sure.

Could it be I believe you get what your give?  Definitely!

In the past year, these introductions have helped me grow my business, develop strong business relationships and acted as a catalyst for some wonderful friendships.

With the growth of the Columbus Chapter, and the goal of doubling the chapter this year, I will never be able to reach my goal. Not at the monthly meeting.  It’s great news for the Columbus NAWBO chapter -not so good for an over achiever like me.   But there is hope!

Have you heard about the Huddle?

The Huddle was implemented late last year as a way to welcome women business owners attending their first NAWBO meeting, learn about their business, and provide information about the many benefits  NAWBO membership.  The huddle has proven to be an important aspect in relationship building, and generating new members to the Columbus chapter.

Each month the names of those who attend the Huddle will be posted on our blog and website to welcome newcomers and another way for NAWBO members to network and connect .

Hey, I might just reach my goal!

I encourage you will take the time to reach out, introduce yourself and say….”tell me about your business.”

Caroline Ma
M n R Design Studio, LLC
New Member!

Laura Sammons
A Different Direction
New Member!

Kathie Baier
Western & Southern Life
New Member!

Linda Wisler Luft
Fireball Coaching.com

Julie McAleb
Encore Meeting & Events

John O. Huston provided us with a brutally honest, yet entertaining and amusing portrayal of what he deemed the biggest mistakes any company could make.  After decades in the banking and lending industry, he has seen just about everything, and decided after years of hearing about “best practices” that perhaps it was time people heard what they shouldn’t do.  Mr. Huston was kind enough to provide this list for us to repost:

John O. Huston’s Business Worst Practices: Making Business Hard is Easy

What you sell:

1. Don’t fulfill an urgent need (Vitamin Pill vs. Aspirin)
2. Don’t differentiate your product/service (gasoline vs. Prada)
3. Avoid recurring revenue streams (transactions vs. relationships)
4. Dispel all mystery (hammer vs. Synthetic Collateralized Debt Obligations)
5. Compete on price (Cheaper vs. Better/Faster)

How you sell:

1. Push the epiphany sale (and not seizing upon an event)
2. Be a crocodile salesperson and not an elephant (all mouth, no ears)
3. Sell to anyone (instead of targeted, strategic customers)
4. Make all sales pitches binary (true/false) events (avoid consolation prizes)
5. Sell muzzles to dogs (forget about “make me look great”)

How you focus:

1. Make money, not meaning; make more dollars, not a difference
2. Be a slave to your To Do list; avoid your To Be list
3. Follow the experts’ advice, just like everyone else
4. Think that problems are the problem, instead of defining your value
5. Try to out swim others in the sea of sameness