President-Elect Susan Abrahamson and I just returned from the NAWBO Southwest Region’s retreat in Sedona, Arizona. All the chapter leaders from Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona were invited to the home of our Southwest Region Director, Judi “JB” Bloomfield for an exchange of ideas and “Best Practices”. We really picked up some good information and ideas on programs that may be of interest to our members. Stay tuned as we select and adopt the “Best Practices” that are right for our chapter.
We also managed to have a little fun on our last night in Sedona. Something about wide-open spaces and fresh mountain air that drives NAWBO women to get up on the stage and dance and sing and, in general, act a little crazy. My new Sedona handle is “Mustang Sally” and yes, there is a story to tell. Maybe sometime later…
Our NAWBO year is already in full swing with programs and speakers lined up for almost the entire year. VP of Programs Joan Voeller has the programs for this year lined up in a business series. The first program was focused on identifying your clients—finding people who need and want to buy your product or service. We received very positive feedback regarding the value of the information shared and received from the 62 attendees at the meeting. To follow up on our first program on how to identify our target market, our next program deals with ways to market our products and services to that target. Future programs will cover strategies for growing and financing our businesses. Don’t miss any of these informative topics! Our goal is to provide information that allows our members to make better business decisions and be better business owners.
In case you hadn’t heard, one of our chapter corporate partners, Principal Financial, stepped up to the plate and paid the registration fee for any NAWBO D/FW member who wanted to attend the Latina Business Series event held in Dallas. What a terrific thing for them to do for our entire membership! All we had to do was show up. Please extend a big “thank you” to Kelly Kimmel, our local Principal representative and Michelle Swanda, our national representative. You guys are the best!
Right after the September chapter meeting, we will have a Chiapas Project fundraiser, to be held on September 13th at the home of one of our newest members, Lucy Billingsley. I understand that Lucy has a fabulous home for entertaining, and she has graciously opened her doors to host a brunch for us. Former NAWBO D/FW President Dorthy Miller is spearheading this project, so let’s get out and show our support. Look in this newsletter for a separate article on the Chiapas Project.
Finally, in October, we have planned an event intended to co-mingle our Dallas and Fort Worth (and everything around and in between) members. It will be held at the Las Colinas County Club on October 21st and will be an evening mixer. So please come out and mix it up!
And finally, some evidence that we are on a roll. Last month I told you we had 137 NAWBO members and 15 renewals pending. As of today we have 168 members! As our theme for the year states, we are Pumping up the Volume!
