Where’d You Grow Wednesday? 1/11

A friend of mine, who works for a great direct-sales company, invited me to pretend to be her.  Thank God, for both of our sakes, she didn’t ask me to sell anything. Instead, she wanted me to present a 45-second commercial on her behalf. After presenting for her, I was then encouraged to introduce myself at her weekly business networking meeting.

“Sweet! Thanks for the offer,” I said, as I hung up the phone.

Wait, what?  What did I just agree to do? Business networking is as far from my comfort zone as climbing into a chair for Botox treatments. At least one look of shock is temporary.

So, I prepped.  I got myself dressed in work clothes at 6:30 in the morning. I have not been professionally dressed so early since I was teaching high school English in 2000. (Stay-at-home moms and college soccer coaches have a slightly different attire)

So off I went. For some reason I thought this was a business women’s networking meeting. My friend sells awesome skincare products and part of me was sure I would be in the gentle comfort of a group of women.

Then the men came.  Lots of them. I realized I was heading into a REAL business meeting with more men than women.

Deep calming breath. Confident. Eye-contact. Shake hands with strength. All the things I try to do when I am in “networking” mode. I can do this. I can totally fake it.

No problem. They welcomed me warmly and seemed genuinely interested in what I do…why I was there.  I have to hand it to them, they were generally very good salespeople.

We got food and coffee, sat at big round tables and the microphone started to make its rounds. It was passed from person to person and the 45-second commercials started to air.  A second wave of panic hit me when I realized that, as a writer, I have a distinct disadvantage in a room full of business lingo. I sell one book product, I don’t really offer services (quite yet) and I don’t have a catchy slogan. They all had catchy slogans! Crap, I thought…I need to come up with something quick.

“Meagan Frank, frankly writing.”

“Meagan Frank with choosing to grow. It’s a way of life.”

“Meagan Frank choosing to write, choosing to grow and choosing to be okay making no money doing it.”

The last one seemed a bit wordy.

So, I ad-libbed the commercial my friend had written, forgot to ask for the referrals she had requested and barely introduced myself as a business entity, sans catchy slogan.

I could have sat and let the microphone pass me by the second time, but I decided to correct my mistakes. I thanked them for letting me come, got in the plug for referrals for my friend and passed the baton.

Before leaving, I passed out some business cards (I suppose I’ve never called them writing cards), made some interesting connections and was requested to come back next week as another sub. They either really enjoyed the entertainment of a flopping fish out of water, or there is value in connecting with a writer.

Last week’s Where’d You Grow, I threatened to go into an ice house. With 50-degree weather, that would have been a risky venture. This adventure felt similarly risky, but breaking this ice was not traumatic, cold or devastating. It was really fun.

Where’d you grow this week?

Mamawolfe, a fellow blogger, submitted her Wednesday growing link.  I love that she spontaneously went on a trip! No planning, plenty of growing.

I hope even more people join in this conversation… this conversion toward growth.  Please comment about one place you went this past week…physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually that was new for you.  How did you grow? Do you have a picture?  If so, email it to:  choosingtogrow@meaganfrank.com.  If something happens to you this upcoming week, and you write a blog post about it, send the link to that email or find me on Facebook.

Happy Growing!

To learn more about Meagan Frank, you can visit her at her website:  www.meaganfrank.com