Friday, April 1, 2011

Networking, North Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce and Networking For Change

     Last night Two Gals Event Planning joined the North Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce.  A very special Thank You to Dani Frappiea @ Dinners by Dani for sponsoring us.  I went to their monthly orientation and was impressed by the group as a whole.  I felt very welcome!  The members that I met seem to be very committed and enthusiastic about what they are doing.  Helping the community, working on charity projects and getting to know fellow members seems to be at least as important as promoting their own businesses.  They have a list of committees to join and I think Two Gals will be a good fit with this chamber. 

     Trying to grow a small business in this recovering economy is a delicate thing.  We are excited to grow, but money spent in the process must be spent wisely.  We have looked at a few other groups, and it comes down to things like, "are the people in this group concerned about the community they live and work in?" and, "are the members approachable, friendly and willing to think out of the box?".  Not every networking group is going to be a good fit for you or your small business.  My suggestion is to go to a few events for free and really check out the group before you join.  Make sure that the group is really going to work with you and for you before you whip out your check book.

     Two Gals has also recently become a member of Network For Change.  This group is honestly FANTASTIC!  Not only is it a networking group but instead of annual dues, you work on charity events or collect items for monthly charity wish lists.  Last month we worked on collecting computer parts for "Computers for Kids".  The Rotary Club (Scottsdale Chapter I believe) and Scottsdale Community College get together and collect unwanted computer items, fit them up, and get the working computer systems to kids that need them.  Awesome, right?!  What we did was get on facebook and put a request out to our network.  It was pretty easy to fill up a carload of unwanted monitors, scanners, a hard drive and various bits and cords.  I really love the concept of us as a group giving back collectively!  The month of April we are working on behalf of "Horses Help".  We are planning a shindig at Dos Gringos in Old Town.  More information on that to follow.

     So, growing is part of the plan for Two Gals Event Planning 2011.  We are trying to do it smart.  Time and Money are very valuable and we need to spend both wisely.  I'm so excited to see where this year takes us! 

Amy
     

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