Thursday, May 31, 2007

Join us for 1st Fridayz™ Online Networking Event

"Informal conversation is probably the oldest mechanism by which opinions on products and brands are developed, expressed, and spread." Johan Arndt
"Online Networking is a hallmark of the 21st Century and one of the best ways to learn about new products and services and increase your own circle of influence. " Heidi Richards



And have we got an online networking event for you! You are invited to join 1st Fridayzbrought to you by The WECAI Network™.

1st Fridayz is a 36-hour email networking event that takes place on the eFriday Forum listserv. 1st Fridayz begins this Friday, June 1st at 8 AM Eastern Time and goes until 6 PM Eastern Time on Saturday. In addition to participating in lively discuss topics of interest to women business owners, professionals and executives. 1st Fridayz networking events allows participants to get to know more about the products and services each offers.

1st Fridayz are designed to be a rich mix of conversations, one-on-one interviews, and panel discussions. And the beauty of an email event is that you can come and go and interact as you please. You are not attached to your computer keyboard unless you want to be.

The June event has a twist to it… the first 15 people to sign up will have the opportunity participate in a 15 minute "showcase" in our (pc friendly) online conference room. The conference room events are scheduled for 12 noon, 4pm, and 7 pm on Friday and 10 am and 2pm on Saturday (all Eastern Daylight Time). Go here to convert the time in your part of the world: www.timeanddate.com.

Because you are a part of our Global Network, you are invited to attend at no charge and participate in these discussions. And as a valued member, you may invite one person in your circle to attend and introduce her to our network. If each member invites one person to attend, we have now doubled our potential network. And as a thank you for participating you will receive a directory with a complete list of every participant.

There will be book and prize give-aways throughout the 36-hour event and even a few surprises. BTW, if you attended in the past, you don’t have to do anything! You are already signed up.

Want to participate? Go to http://listserv.familynet.net/mailman/listinfo/wecai and sign up. Because this is an email networking event you will receive the discussions, questions, answers and introductions via email to your inbox. I recommend you set your email at DIGEST, so you won’t be inundated with messages. I also recommend you not use your primary email address if another one is available. This will help you separate your important business messages from the networking event.

One last thing, I recommend you create a folder to put the messages in so you can check them when you have time and not feel overwhelmed by the amount of information that will be shared, and fully absorb all the information as well as reconnect with those women who attended.
Later today you will be asked to submit a "networking profile" introducing you to the group.

Even if you have completed the profile from the last event, please do so again. We are going to encourage participants to click on your links and get to know you. We will also be using the information you supply to create questions participants can answer and some will even include an opportunity to "WIN" some great prizes. If you would like to donate a prize, let me know and I will include it in our messages as well as post it to our blog. This is a great way to gain extra visibility for your products and services.

Here are just a few of the prizes that have already been donated:

I have Power Marketing ($25 value), by Jenn Givler - jgivlercoaching
Create A Thriving Business ($37 value), by Jenn Givler - jgivlercoaching
Break Through Your Invisible Barriers ($17 value), by Jenn Givler - jgivlercoaching

"The Truth About Burning Body Fat" Special Report by Gillian Hood-Gabrielson, MS, ACSM of HealthierOutcomes.com

You can read about the inaugural 1st Fridayz event that took place on May 4th here: http://virtualwomansday.blogspot.com/2007/05/1st-fridayz-success.html

THANKS! We look forward to networking with you.

Heidi & Suzannah

Co-Founders – The WECAI Network - "Helping Women Do Business on and off the WEB™"

Friday, May 25, 2007

Listen to Nancy Michaels - Establishing Yourself as an Expert

"If you do nothing unexpected, nothing unexpected happens." Fay Weldon


On Wednesday, May 23rd I had the pleasure of interviewing Nancy Michaels of Impression Impact during one of our latest eWednesday Chat™ webinar sponsored by the WECAI Network™ and Verbal Networking. Nancy is the author of five books on marketing for small businesses, including Perfecting Your Pitch, Off The Wall Marketing Ideas, , How To Be A Big Fish In Any Pond, Media Madness, and A to Z to Visibility, Nancy is a top notch speaker with a long list of credentials.

Among her many accolades and accomplishments, in addition to being an author, Nancy is a spokesperson and trainer for Office Depot and the first person to win the Tom Peters WOW! Project Personified Award (2002) that hails individuals who take on WOW! projects. The WOW! Project was a cover story for Fast Company magazine.

During her interview Nancy shared quite a few gems of wisdom with our audience including how achieve expert status without a college degree or without writing a book, how to promote our expertise and gave us 5 additional tips she uses to marketing her business.

Here's what Nancy had to say after the interview:

"Heidi, Thanks so much for inviting me on to today's tele-class. It was a lot of fun and I'm happy to provide the link to my e-zine subscribers, if that's ok with you. Let's talk about my coming down to Miramar-Pembroke Chamber and your organization as well." Thanks again, Nancy

You can listen to her interview at: http://www.speakingwithspirit.com/eWedNancyMichaels.mp3.

If you would like to join us for future events, visit the eWednesday Chat™ pages and sign up.

Here's next week's schedule: Wednesday, May 30, 2007

12 Noon Eastern Daylight Time - The Time Diva's Guide to Time Management for Business Women... with Ann Rusnak, The Time Diva.

1:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time - How to Market Yourself in 15 Seconds or less Interview with Laura Allen, Co-Founder, 15SecondPitch.com.

Feel free to leave a comment.

We look forward to welcoming you to future events.

Warmest regards,

Heidi Richards, Founder & CEO - The WECAI Network™
"Helping Women Do Business On and Off The WEB."

Thursday, May 17, 2007

eWednesday Chats - New Conference Room Mac and PC friendly!

"During your life, everything you do and everyone you meet rubs off in some way. Some bit of everything you experience stays with everyone you've ever known, and nothing is lost. That's what is eternal, these little specks of experience in a great, enormous river that has no end." Harriet Doeer



Join us for our upcoming eWednesday Chats which take place every Wednesday! Here’s the upcoming schedule.

* Double header Wednesday!

Wednesday, May 23, 2007 - 10 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Interview with Nancy Michaels, Author of Off the Wall Marketing Ideas, will share her strategies to Establish Yourself as an Expert.

Nancy Michaels is an author, speaker and entrepreneur in her own right who addresses small-business owners nationwide. She is a featured presenter for Office Depot, imparting her unique brand of marketing advice to customers at the retailer’s locations throughout the country. Nancy also reaches out electronically to small-business owners via OfficeDepot.com web casts. She is a local draw at events sponsored by Chambers of Commerce, the Small Business Administration and a variety of small business organizations across industries.

You can read more about Nancy at http://www.impressionimpact.com/


Wednesday, May 23, 2007 – 12 Noon Eastern Daylight Time

Interview with Felicia Slattery, Transformative Journeys – "Discover How to Increase Business by Communicating Your Credibility"

The purpose of Transformative Journeys is to enable people to become happy in their relationships and careers. The process includes helping people like you to determine and follow their life's various paths through coaching, support, and suggesting resources.

You can read more about Felicia at http://www.transformativejourneys.com/


To join us, RSVP to Heidi (at) wecai.org with "eWednesday Chats" in the subject line. You will be sent instructions to download our new conference room which is pc and mac friendly!

Saturday, May 5, 2007

1st Fridayz™ a SUCCESS!

"Don't wait for something big to occur. Start where you are, with what you have, and that will always lead you into something greater." Mary Manin Morrissey


Women from around the world - the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom networked and got to know a little bit more about each other during the WECAI Network™ 1st Fridayz™ 36 Hour email event which began on Friday, May 4th at 8 AM Eastern Daylight Time. Women introduced themselves via our networking profiles, answered 26 thought provoking questions and talked about the types of joint venture partnerships they were looking for.

Here are a few of the questions that were asked:

What business concerns keep you awake at night?

What's the latest technology you have learned?

What technology would you like to learn?

If you could afford to, what one job function would you outsource thatyou are not currently?

Who do you consider your best source of referrals?

Relationships were formed and at least four of the participants have already begun doing business together. In addition to the business and networking, we asked more personal questions and gave prizes to the first person to respond. Those questions included: "What is your favorite office supply item? Do you have children, if so, what ages? How about pets? pet rocks?pictures of pets (or children?), What books are you currently reading?" and more!

Some of the prizes we had included "The Art of Positive Conflict: Transforming Confrontation into RelationshipHarmony" by Dr. Nora Feminia and Paper Wings by Betty Dobson of Inkspotter Publishing.

Here's what just a few of our attendees had to say:

"It was a great opportunity and everyone was so candid. Thank you" - Angela Watson

"I will definitely attend all future events." - Katherine Reschke

"As usual, wonderful event! Thanks for taking the time to host this!" Carol Deckert

"This was a great networking idea and a great way to meet and join up with other people, who are interested in sharing ideas and/or business ventures. I look forward to getting the contacts booklet so I can start reviewing all the amazing people who signed up." Amy Sherman

Everyone who attended received a copy of the Networking Contacts Booklet with everyone's contact information, description of products and services as well as any joint venture partnering opportunities they are looking for.

It will be interesting to see the long-term outcome of this event. We will keep you posted.

Heidi & Suzannah

Co-Founders WECAI Network™ - “Helping Women Do Business on and off the WEB™”