Goals; Part II

A little over a week ago, I was honored to speak for the vendors of the Tuscarawas County Chamber of Commerce Business Expo.

Jill McCartney, President/CEO of the chamber, asked me to help the vendors be more successful with the ideas I presented in my talk.

Of course, this may have been a little late, since I was presenting at their vendor lunch just before the doors opened. But better late than never.

One thought I gave them was to establish goals for what they wanted to achieve for the show. (Does this sound like a broken record?) As all 50 or so exhibitors listened, I knew this idea was a new concept for most. To help get the idea into action, I asked for a few volunteers who would be willing to share their newly formulated goals with the rest of the group.

Guess what?


Two out of the three who volunteered had other vendors stand up and extend their business cards, because they already could be of help in reaching the goals.

So vendors, set and share your goals. I think you'll be surprised at how helpful everyone can be.

And then share you story with us in the comments.

Ya' Just Never Know

Those in my network joke about how "Debby tends to suck them in to projects." I smile because I learned this from the best, Lori Cannon, longtime friend and excellent Edward Jones representative.

Anyway, recently, I asked three friends if they would donate about 1 1/2 hours of their time on a Sunday morning at the end of the Girl Scout Camp CEO weekend. What these three friends had to do was to act as the investor panel, determining which of the four "fictitious" businesses they would chose to invest in.The girls really benefit from this because the panel members gave the girls feedback on their project ideas and plans and also their presentation skills.

Yesterday, I saw one of the three, Beth Sigg. I had just spoken for the Women's Council of Realtors of which Beth is the president. Beth owns both Northwest Real Estates Services, Inc and Northwest Appraisal Company. After I completed my talk, Beth joked with the crowd about getting "sucked in by Debby." But she also added, "Debby doesn't even know this, but as a result of the short volunteer effort at Camp CEO, I got a call from one of the other panel members who wanted to list a commercial building with me and also got a call from one of the other people in attendance who wants to list her house."

Beth said, "So getting recruited by Debby was certainly profitable!" That made me smile!

Look Out, Here We Come!

Back in the winter I met Anne Fleming, owner of Womendrivers.com at a conference. She and I just kind of connected. I like that she is willing to be unique and like even more that she is providing a wonderful platform for women drivers.

In the big girl world where we either have to or want to purchase our own vehicles, many of us find the dealership floor not very friendly.

For me that is not the case now that I have met Stas' Krukowski at the Yark Dealership in Toledo, Ohio. He is great!

So you can go to Anne's site to rate your experience at a dealership (good or bad), find out about various cars (Anne does a her and his review that is really interesting) and she just provides a platform for women (and men) to navigate the world of buying vehicles. You can also see Anne's favorite books (The title, "Peace, Love and Lemonade," makes me want to put it on my reserve list at the library right away!)

Another aspect of Anne's site is spotlighted articles about the business world. I am honored to be one of those chosen to be published on her site.

Check out this site to see the value Anne Fleming is adding to the mix!

Goal Update

At the recent Annual Women's Entrepreneurial Network (WEN) Trade Show, my goals were to schedule 3 paid and 6 gratis speaking engagements. Did I achieve my goal?

No, I didn't.

But let me tell you what has happened since then.

One gratis engagement was scheduled just before the trade show, because I had talked about my goals in advance. Thank you, Jason Conklin!

One person has asked me about a possible speaking engagement since the event as a result of seeing my goals displayed at my booth. Thank you, Amy Cameron!

Then yesterday, I met with Kim Cira. who I had reconnected with at the show, had read this blog in preparation for our meeting. My goals were written about in one recent post. As a result she came to the meeting with three speaking engagement ideas that she wanted to run by me to see if I wanted those types. With my nod, she is going forward to see how she can get me hooked up.

So I don't know if you're counting, but I am and that leads me to five possible speaking engagements so far.

Wonder what the number would be if I hadn't first set the goal and then published and announced those goals to the world?

Pieces of Naught

While visiting my friend, Deanna Tucci Schmitt, last week in Pittsburgh, we got up very early on Thursday morning to go to a BNI Visitor Day. This was for a chapter that Deanna is the executive director for.

Several hours later, I received a "spam" email from one of the guests who attended that morning. It was obvious that this person didn't listen during the presentation. At one point everyone in attendance is asked to stand and exchange business cards with other guests for just one minute. In my opinion the only reason that exercise is included is to get people active after they have been sitting and listening for awhile. But what do I know!

Later the person leading the session asks, "What do you think these cards represent?"

The correct answer is "just pieces of paper" because there is no relationship attached to them. BNI is about developing relationships so that members feel comfortable referring their best clients to each other. They would not refer a best client to someone they just met.

So the person who sent me the "buy from me" spam missed the whole concept. Also, since I live four hours away from Pittsburgh, it wouldn't be likely for me to do business with him.

And I'm sure that he felt satisfied that day when he had finished entering the names and addresses from ALL those cards into his system so he could send the email out.

Wonder if he got anyone else to bite?