By Suzanne Schmidt
Women are helping to empower other women and promote their businesses through the new networking group Women of Wesley Chapel.
The group recently had its first meeting at Cosi at the Shops at Wiregrass.
Debbie Yoerg, independent marketer for the Trump Network, is working with Vicki Hamilton of Smart Health and Carol Goeble of Trail Wind Travel to run the group.
“The networking group is important because women in Wesley Chapel are really looking to connect with each other,” Yoerg said. “We are working to come together and network for businesses as well as to support each other. Our motto is to empower, encourage, embrace and educate the women of Wesley Chapel so they can become all they can be on the inside and the outside.”
Even though the meetings are not rigidly structured, at every meeting women will be given one minute to talk about their business. Since one purpose of the group is to educate its members, Yoerg said they will have various female guest speakers who will talk about what makes them successful.
“We are going to bring in women who have succeeded in different areas who can be a role model,” Yoerg said. “They will be speaking about how they have overcome different obstacles.”
Women attending the group will also learn useful skills.
“We will have women speaking on different topics like social networking, blogging, leadership skills and recruiting,” Yoerg said. “They will learn how to grow their business and important skills like time management and stress management.”
Hamilton co-owns Smart Health with her husband (Capt.) Rob Hamilton. She said she thinks networking is one of the best ways to grow a business.
“I want to educate women on how to network and build their business,” Hamilton said. “The key to networking is to step outside of your business and learn how others have built their business in order to help your own. When you are running a business you are so busy you don’t have time to recognize what other people are doing.”
Hamilton said a woman-only group is exactly what many women need in order to feel comfortable.
“Traditionally women are in the background of their organization,” Hamilton said. “They may need more prompting than men to get their voice out. In our group we are encouraging women to talk as much as possible. We want the group to be just women because we want women to really open up. We want women to feel comfortable enough to come in and just ask questions.”
Yoerg said she is hoping the group will also help women find balance between work and their lives.
“Sometimes women feel defeated or tired because they are running around in all directions,” Yoerg said. “They have their children and they are trying to run a business. They end up not feeling their best. We want this to be a safe place to talk things through that they might be struggling with.”
The Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce had the woman-only networking group previously and David West, chamber president, said he is glad it is back.
“I am excited about them starting the WOW group,” West said. “The power of networking and marketing is what we are trying to deliver to our members. It is a great benefit to our members that they don’t have to pay extra for.”
He said there will also be several other new networking groups starting soon or that have just started.
“We also have several other networking groups starting with a facilitative networking group and a business builders coffee group,” West said. “They will be focusing on bringing in successful people to talk about how to run a successful business. There will also be a CEO roundtable that will meet quarterly.”
Women will be allowed to visit the group three times as a visitor. Then they will have to join the Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce in order to stay in the group.
“It is nice because people can visit a couple times and decide if it is a good fit for them,” Yoerg said. “We hope women will come out and check it out.”
The group only meets once a month now, but in the future the plan is to meet every other week.
“Building relationships from a monthly meeting is harder,” Hamilton said. “It is better if we could see each other more often in order to build better relationships. We want to make sure we are having more one-on-one interaction between the members.”
The next meeting will be 7:30 a.m. July 9 at Cosi at The Shops at Wiregrass in Wesley Chapel. Typically the group will meet on the first Friday of the month, but with the holiday weekend, the meeting was pushed back.
For more information or to attend a meeting, call (813) 994-5399 or e-mail .
