Best Low-Cost High-Value Business Networking Opportunity-337 Networking

Welcome to episode number 85 of The Determined Mom Show. A new, low-cost, high-value business networking opportunity called 3 37 networking. First, I want to go into my background in business networking and give you an idea of my experiences and all of those things. So years ago, I was part of a Chamber of Commerce.

Fifteen years ago-ish, and it was okay. I never had time to go because I was a location-based business and needed more time. I occasionally went, but I didn’t like it because the businesses were more stuffy and formal and not down to earth. It probably had to do with a, the area, and b, the chamber.

That is why I am going to explain to you why I created the other networking group. Then fast forward to. What would it be like in 2015? I was managing a credit union, and I needed to attend networking events for my business or my manager position. And I ended up attending probably three different chambers, and I did not love any of them because they were basic.

You would network around the room for, like, I don’t know, 15 minutes before the event started, and then you would get your food, you would sit down at a table, and the only people that you would be able to interact with from then on would be the people to your left and your right. So whoever you could squeeze in in 15 minutes and then whoever.

You could interact with that who were sitting on your left and right. And people always tend to those things to sit next to people they know. Therefore, networking is absent. So with that said, I. Fast forward to when I owned my own business and joined several local networking groups.

I tried out a few, and then they were okay. One of them I liked, but it was different. It just didn’t feel right. It has to feel right. Right. So then I found another networking group that was super cool, open, and friendly. They said I could take my daughter, who was only six months-ish then, maybe not even.

And obviously, I was still breastfeeding her. I breastfed her until she was 26 months. So I was not anywhere close to giving up. And the. The group’s owner or leader told me I could no longer bring her after she turned six months because she didn’t need to be breastfed. Who are you to tell me my child doesn’t need to be breastfed after six months?

Like what kind of rule is that? So I ended up leaving that group and creating my group specifically for mom business owners in my area. And that was awesome. And I’ve met so many amazing people through that and made many connections. It was just truly unique. I love it. And. I kept it going for a while.

And then, it took a lot of work to get people to attend and hard too. So many different things made it more challenging to keep it together. We held the meetings at the local library, and the time thing is, okay, are you available in the morning, the afternoon, or the evening?

Like, what is the best time for you? And then we also had to work around when the library was open. It was very hard to manage an in-person networking group for moms because every, you know, if their husband worked or if they worked, or, you know, there’s just so many different variables, so I had experience leading that. Then I became a leader, or not a leader, a meetup leader for the Mob Nation, an amazing networking group. I’m still a member of that, but I’m no longer a leader because they have restructured and no longer have meetup leaders.

So I was a meetup leader for 2020, and I never got to have my first in-person meetup because of the Covid 19 crisis. With that to say, I enjoyed hosting online meetings with them last year, and then I realized that while I love that networking group and everything about it, and if you are not in it, I recommend joining it.

A lot of times, I couldn’t attend the meetings because it would be right at dinnertime or during another time when I have stuff with my kids or meetings or virtual school stuff and all of those things, and it just was difficult. So, I will never leave the mob because I love it.

So again, if you’re not a member, you have to join, and that’s the only thing to say about that. You should not be a part of that, but I wanted to give you another option because I felt like something was missing. There’s like a hole in the networking industry, and that hole is.

You don’t have to be a member to attend, so you can drop in at any time and pay a small fee to connect with outstanding business owners. The other part that needs to be added is communicating with people, talking, and converting. That isn’t like a Zoom room.

Having that more in-person feeling to the networking event and being able to connect with people and understand their business, laugh, joke, ask questions,s and refer people and get referrals. It’s just missing from Zoom. It’s not possible to do it on Zoom because you get stuck.

You either get stuck into a room with people you’ve already networked with a million gazillion times because it is an exclusive group, or it’s closed. You don’t have the opportunity to meet people, not in the group. The other thing is you get stuck in a room with people that don’t have connection possibilities for you.

So let’s say you’re a hair salon, and you get stuck in a room with all contractors, like, okay, you can talk to them about their wives and stuff, but most likely, those guys will not want to get their hair nails done. Do you know? So I’m not saying that there is no value. It’s a limited value.

I’m sure you’ve had that experience before, As I have. And so, I wanted to find a way to solve these problems, and I have created 3 37 networking to solve all of those problems. So I have scheduled them for Thursdays, which isn’t one of those days. Like people are like, Monday, I can’t do it Friday.

I can’t do it. Wednesday’s always a day when everybody has things to do. So I have scheduled it for Thursdays at one o’clock Eastern, 12:00 PM Central, 11 o’clock mountain time, and 10 o’clock Pacific time. So then, that way, it’s at a decent hour for everyone except the central people. If they eat lunch at noon, they can always jump on while they’re eating lunch.

And it is a virtual lounge, so we have a virtual lounge, we have a. We have speakers, and it’s more like an actual networking event, except that you can network with people and float around. There are different topic tables. You can network with people that are in like network marketing.

You can network with businesses, business to consumer. So you can glance at the tables and see who you want to connect with, and you can go to that. You can also move to other tables whenever you want. So it’s an amazing opportunity to hone in your networking experience and get out of it what you want instead of what you know is the luck of that particular networking meeting.

That’s important because we’re business owners and don’t have much time, and many of us are moms, especially if you’re listening to this podcast. But it is an all-inclusive networking opportunity. So there are men and women there; anybody can join, so there’s no exclusion to just moms.

And I did that because I know a lot of men. The business they have amazing businesses, and they can benefit from referrals. And our first meeting of the 3 37 networking group was awesome. Like we had a small group, but so many connections were made just with our small group.

We had ideas for foundation contractors, and I. I could list five or six connections from a super small group. So amazing things will be happening in the 3 37 networking community. And I want to give you an idea of how the layout goes. So from one to one 15, we’ll have the welcome session and go over the group’s purpose.

And I also want to hear your feedback about what you love and hate about business networking groups. And the reason for that is that I want to do this networking. Super valuable for everyone. I want to make it exactly what you need, not what you don’t. I want to take out the fluff, all of those things, and tailor it to the overall needs of business owners.

And then, from 15 to 40, we have open networking in the lounge. So you can float around, network with other business owners, and talk to them. Then from one 40 to one 50, we have a speaker who’s going to be talking about a business-oriented topic, and they will be able to just really give us an overview and teach us something that we don’t know, which I always love learning things that I don’t know.

And I love learning things I didn’t know or needed to know. That’s important. So then, from 50 to two o’clock, we go over referral needs and kudos. So if you’re looking for a particular product or service, you need a VA, a web designer, or anything like that, you can bring it up here.

See who has someone that they love to work with. And they can get those word-of-mouth referrals. And if someone there does that service, they can also give you their contact information. You can also give kudos to anyone who may have helped you in the past through this group or anybody you think is an amazing business owner.

Then from two to two 10, we have a giveaway time, which is super exciting. So if you have an item or service valued at $40 or more that you want to give away in our weekly drawing, you can submit it to me at amanda@thedeterminedmom.com. By midnight on the Wednesday before the meeting, you will have 90 seconds to talk about your business, and we’ll draw from the live attendees.

And so, there is a limit of six giveaway products or services per week because we don’t have much time. I don’t want to make this an hour-and-a-half long meeting or hours long, trying to keep it concise but still adding a lot of value. So super excited about that and excited to have you as an attendee at the 3 37 Networking Group.

And so the final thing I want to discuss is the cost. It is only $3 and 37 cents to attend any of the meetings. And you can attend them once. You can attend it every week or whenever, and it’s still just $3 37. I have a little bit of OCD with numbers, and 3 37 happens to be my favorite number, so that is why it is $3 and 37 cents.

I know there’s no non-rhyme or reason to that, but I love it. So I hope that you have a great week, and I hope that you join us this week for our 3 37 networking meeting, and I’m looking forward to having you.