In My Orbit...
Yesterday, I had the distinct privilege of attending The Biz Panel Preview Event hosted by The Entrepreneur Connection. My good friend Susan M. Baker, The Escape Hatcher was one of the panelist, along with Rebecca Quinn of RebeccaQuinn.com, Alaia Williams of One Organized Business, and Lizzy Shaw of Lizzy Shaw Public Relations. Another good friend, Erin Elizabeth Lanahan of the Erin Lanahan Method was the entrepreneur who served as a coaching example for the experts to apply their skills.
The focus was disseminating business building tips and networking, and the panel had some excellent information on targeting your audience, refining your product and/or service, and how to best monetize your existing capital or goods. I gained lots of good tools to move forward in my own entrepreneurial pursuits, and some encouragement to continue those small steps toward monetizing what I do. Susan encouraged us to remember the fable about the Tortoise and the Hare--slow and steady wins the day.
But key to any networking event is the quality of the attendees. I met lots of savvy and fascinating women and men who were looking for ways to jump start or increase their own businesses, and being among like-minded people was very uplifting and inspiring.
And now, we take a nose dive from inspiration to desperation: The unemployment numbers can be described as anemic at best and piss poor at the worst. I tend to go with the worst-case scenario, so I'll let the lovely Bureau of Labor Statistics report speak for itself:
"The unemployment rate edged up to 9.8 percent in November, and nonfarm payroll employment was little changed (+39,000), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Temporary help services and health care continued to add jobs over the month, while employment fell in retail trade. Employment in most major industries changed little in November."
The cogent phrases here: "edged up to 9.8 percent", "employment fell in retail trade", and "Employment in most major industries changed little". Not much going except whistling in the dark. This is why networking events like the one mentioned above are growing by leaps and bounds. With more bad news and a local and national administration clueless about how to create jobs, more and more people are looking to make their own magic; which in turn, can become an income stream. That's my plan!