Whenever I need business advice from an expert, amazingly, someone has always seemed to “bee” there for me and help me bring my biz to the next level. At this stage of my life, I now have time to pay it forward and give my time and entrepreneurial expertise. This is the reason I decided to become a pod leader for BIG, a business support, education and networking organization for women.
This pay-it-forward a-ha came to me this past year as a result of several experiences I had at Babson College. Babson is located only 5 minutes from my house in Wellesley, Mass. According to U.S. News & World Report, Babson offers the #1 MBA program in entrepreneurship and has a top-ranked undergraduate entrepreneurial program as well. Being a serial entrepreneur, I figured it was time to get more involved with Babson activities.
Three minutes and three Powerpoint slides—that’s all aspiring entrepreneurs get to clearly communicate their business ideas in Babson Rocket Pitch. I was blown away by the energy in the room! At the networking reception afterward, I spoke to several presenters and found myself naturally making connections and giving advice. It came so easily was so much fun!
Zack Repco, photographer (L) and Rob Ianelli, Founder (R) from What's Up Martha
At my second Rocket Pitch session, I met Babson undergrad Rob Ianelli who founded What’s Up Martha, a go-to web/social media site for the 21-35 year old millennial generation to find out—using Rob’s words—what’s REALLY Going Down on Martha’s Vineyard. [Bars] [Places To Eat] [Shopping] [Events] [Parties] and the only Media Company like it, made for You! I’m inspired by his expert use of social media to promote businesses on the island. Check it out—there’s a button right here on my blog linking to their site. I look forward to doing cross promotion with What’s Up Martha and Sueb.do this summer!
In another Babson program, Babson Coaching for Leadership and Teamwork Program (CLTP), I participated in a full day of training and learned to provide constructive and developmental one-on-one feedback to students on their leadership, communication and interpersonal skills. The way it works is that after you’re trained, you observe a student participate in several team-based case studies and then use the CLTP coaching model to give feedback. Again, there was so much enthusiasm and energy exchanged; I loved it!
So that’s the looong version of how it feels so right to co-lead the Boston pod of BIG, which is an acronym for Believe – Inspire – Grow. Here’s a short video that tells more:
The first official Boston pod BIG meeting was last week. Mari Anne Snow, CEO of SophiaThink Consulting, spoke. Her topic—De-mystifying Social Media.
First Boston BIG Meeting, April 28, 2010
Mari Anne Snow, CEO, Sophia Think Consulting, and Sueb.
Mari Anne really knows her stuff! Besides going over the WIIFM for small businesses, she revealed a deep dark secret:
Social media is all about building relationships. Guess what? So are women!
So think about using your Facebook Fan page and blog as relationship-building tools to get over any discomfort you might feel about tooting your own horn. As you can probably tell, I’m all over this little secret and you should be, too!
Coaching new-biz Wannabees, building relationships, and learning as much as I can about social media are major themes for me right now. And, oh yea, I’m opening my new store on the Cape on May 28. Don’t worry, you won’t forget because I’ll keep sending you the buzz!
Filed under: Blog, Cape Cod, Facebook, Social Media, The Islands
