March Forward Together was a successful event where women networked and shared their stories. The event was taped and will be posted online. 

Stay tune for additional details and videos. 

Details:

BREC Announces First Women-Only Networking Forum – “March Forward Together” You asked for it and we listened - Please join BREC on March 10^th at Flight Wood Grill & Wine Bar for the 1^st Women’s Professional Networking Forum. 

 

March Forward Together - Women bring unique skills to the workplace - in addition to being strong, savvy and talented. Women are natural connectors and team builders. As our culture shifts from a control paradigm to a connection paradigm - now more than ever women's natural talents and skills are needed in the workplace, in government and in society. March Forward Together is a first step towards giving women the skills and opportunity to support, mentor and encourage one another. When women support and help one another the impact is far reaching - we improve the lives of our children, friends, colleagues, and community. – Join guest speaker Meridith Elliott Powell as we kick-off this special networking event for professional women in WNC

 

Conversational or Social Marketing - Most small businesses think that if they have a web page or website and they change it up frequently, they need nothing more.  There is a difference between push/pull marketing and oddly enough, or perhaps not so oddly, follows Meredith's explanation of the control paradigm shift to a connection paradigm.  There is a need now to be in conversation with your customers and potential customers, not simply pushing them. There are stories about the big companies ignoring social media and the costly damage control that became necessary.  Small businesses are different, but sometimes only in scale.

 

Twitter is a growing piece of the conversation.  Every small business should have a blog.  It doesn't need to be much in quantity, but it needs to be quality information, told simply.  Then, to "pull" people to your blog, you "tweet" it.  So, you have a circular route for your information where the website is the most static and twitter the least.  But, twitter is different, twitter is not simply self-serving the way a blog could be.  Twitter is like a cocktail party.  You have to offer some witty conversation without revealing too much personal or proprietary information. – Join Nancy Neill, Marketing Director for Flight Wood Bar & Grill as she lends her expertise on social marketing.

 

BREC Featured Female Entrepreneur Extraordinaire – Karen Caruso, CEO of Mind Your Business Inc. Caruso will discuss how she started her Hendersonville-based business, and industry leader in the screening of applicants for corporate entities and families that require extra sensitivity in their hiring practices. Mind Your Business was recently named one of the top 100 female owned businesses in the state of North Carolina by the Diversity Business Council. Karen will share her amazing journey and “Aha” moment of how it all started which will inspire and encourage everyone. 

 

 

The women-only event is the first of its kind for BREC, a job creation program of AdvantageWest Economic Development Group designed to nurture, educate and mentor entrepreneurs in Western North Carolina. Cost to attend is $25, which includes heavy hors d’oeuvres and beverages.  Space is limited and pre-registration is required. Register online at www.brecnc.com or contact BREC Director, Pam Lewis for more information at plewis@awnc.org.