Making Contacts: Do what you KNOW to do!

My "plan of attack" on my new hometown starts with something I know how to do:  Work an expo. 

The first challenge was to find the expo; the type I needed tended to be held only at particular times of the year, and the season was not yet upon us.  Google searches turned up little, so I had to spend time sifting through other websites to find the information I sought.  Bingo!  I found an expo for May 15th.  Plane ticket was booked immediately.

Imagine my horror, when three weeks before the expo my vendor payment envelope was returned, unopened, marked "return to sender!" 

I called the contact number I had, and was told that half of the vendors had LEFT the event!  It seemed the organizer had ruffled some feathers one to many times, and that the future of the event was in doubt.  This contact, in fact, was no longer part of the event...and did I want the contact information for the organizer?

In eight and half years working with women I have learned the number one rule is:  Don't get involved in other people's drama!!!  I declined the information, and asked her instead about her business.  I told her how I had established a preferred business network in my current home town, where I advertised other businesses at my home shows, and would she be interested?

To my delight, she was very interested in learning more, and seeing the jewelry.  We set a date for coffee when I got to town and had settled in.  Number of women I now knew in my new hometown:  3.

So what to do about the expo??

I sent a simple email to the organizer, explaining that I had received my check by return mail.  She was very quick to contact me, and apologized for the mishap (she simply stated that the vendor had dropped out, and did not speak ill of them.)  Was I still interested?

Given the fact that this expo was an annual event, that the year prior they had had a respectable number of attendees, and that advertising was still going strong for the event, I decided to participate.  This was still the most likely source of new bookings for me, and the cost of being a vendor was minimal.  If few attended, that was ok.  I am choosing NOT to get involved in the argument that I was not part of.  Business is business.  Number of women I now knew in my new hometown:  4.