The Story Of SEVEN

Last week we bypassed our commercials and took a little extra time to tell everyone our stories. Today, I want to share my story with you.

It All Began In Gradeschool

Networking has always come naturally to me. Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve been connecting people. On the playground, I’d introduce kids to other kids with the same interests. If Mary liked the monkey bars and Julie did too, I’d make sure they connected. It warmed my heart to see kids making new friends. This has been a common thread throughout my life.

Back east, I was a teacher. As an educator I value knowledge, and I love to help others hone their skills. When we moved to Arizona and my husband started his business, Fast teks On-Site Computer Services, I discovered networking. A friend of mine invited me to go to her networking meeting. She told me it would be a great place to meet people and maybe find some clients. This sounded exactly like my kind of thing, so off we went!

I had no idea what to expect as I’d never been to a networking meeting before. It was a little scary, there was that fear of the unknown, but what a great opportunity to meet new people! I went for a while and made some connections, and then the nugget of an idea began to form. What if there was a networking group that was about educating and building relationships? And that is when SEVEN was born.

SEVEN originally stood for South East Valley Entrepreneurial Networking. Our first chapter opened in Chandler on August 6^th, 2009. We are a social networking group designed to bring business owners together. I really wanted to incorporate education into the business, so we do a topic every other week. Not only do we get to learn from each other, we get to learn about each other.

Soon the word spread, and people started asking about other locations. We now have chapters in Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah and New Jersey, and one launching in Hawaii soon. We have a Virtual Chapter that meets on-line every Wednesday with participants in Australia and New Zealand! SEVEN has truly become a global networking community. Now SEVEN stands for Supporting and Empowering the Vision of Entrepreneurial Networking!

My story doesn’t end here. I am always looking for new ideas and ways to help people connect and grow their businesses. My latest venture is FABrightnow, a marketing solution to help you be visible on social media. For more information, please visit the FABrightnow website.