2025 Q2 Women's Business Collective Brunch

Name: 2025 Q2 Women's Business Collective Brunch
Start: 2025-04-06T11:00:00-04:00
End: 2025-04-06T13:00:00-04:00
Location: 1538 W. Prospect Rd., Ashtabula, OH

Schedule

Sun Apr 06 2025 at 11:00 am to 01:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

1538 W. Prospect Rd., Ashtabula, OH | Ashtabula, OH

2025 Q2 Women's Collective Business Brunch

Who is this meeting for?
This brunch is for women who currently own a business, is part owner of a business, is a director or head manager of a business/nonprofit, sole proprietors, someone who manages vendor events, or a crafter who is looking to start a business and is actively selling a product or service. You do not have to officially be in business to attend. No direct sales / MLM’s please.

Why don’t you accept direct sales and MLM consultants/sales reps?
This is a small business focused network that I am creating. When you do direct sales or MLM’s you are actually a self-contractor for a large corporation. I know they like to market it to you as “your very own small business”, but it’s actually much different than starting and running a business from the ground up on your own, which requires much more specialized support and networking. Direct sales / MLM’s come with an upline of their own people to look to for help. You are also limited on how much money you can make, and how creative you can be with those companies because the product is not your own and you mainly depend on soliciting people underneath you to make more money. It’s a lot of work without much reward. This group wants to focus on our own creative skills and experiences to help women that do not have an upline, a predetermined product line, or ready-made marketing plan from a large corporation to help them along. Lastly, you can find a Scentsy/Avon/Pampered Chef/Younique etc. Representative on almost every corner, so this creates a lot of competition among people. We are not looking to experience competition in our group due to the oversaturation of direct sales/MLM reps in the area.
Now if you make a product or supply a service and want to turn it into your own business and break free from direct sales and MLM’s altogether, then I encourage you to join us. Most people join direct sales because they want to work for themselves but don’t have the resources or people to help them or educate them on how to do so.

What is the cost?
There is no cost or purchase necessary to attend. We just ask that you bring a snack/beverage to share, and if you know a fellow woman owned business owner/owner to be, invite her too. Feel free to share the event on your socials. Financial reasons are the biggest barrier to women in business and I want to create something that does not cost a ton of money to help women get support or education they otherwise could not afford. If the number of attendees increases, then we will have volunteers bring dishes to each meeting rather than everyone bringing something.
What kind of food should I bring?
I have coffee covered. You can bring cookies, chips, crackers, dip, anything easy really. Since this is a private event with no cost, you can bring wine if you want. If the location changes, this could also change.

Why are you doing this?
To build a community of like minded women in business. I was speaking with a fellow business owner friend who mentioned she struggled with starting an official business, and needed someone to teach her. I thought what a better way than to create a network of local women that we could all pull resources and knowledge from. Collaborate, teach, mentor, network, etc.
Another reason is there might be a lot of people out there that you would love to collaborate with, but life happens, plans get cancelled, people lose touch. This creates a space for everyone to be in the same room at the same time, and have a list to pull from when they need to. Less having to chase each other down.
The third reason is to share possible vendor events of past and present. Discuss the pros and cons of the events, who the coordinator is, price, how you did, ease of set up and breakdown, parking, etc.
Lastly, lets be real, most of us, if not all of us, had to learn about business on our own. We are still learning as things change in our world. It’s just not something taught in school. I think creating a space like this could encourage the younger generation of women to enter the business world if they have guidance from people who have been there and done that. There are a lot of resources on the internet just like this, but sometimes you just don’t even know where to start, and not everything online is accurate, especially depending on what state you are in.

What if I can’t make the date?
No problem, we plan to take notes that can be shared through a mass email after the meeting. We are a collective of busy women, moms, grandma’s, aunts, friends. This is a no pressure casual brunch.

What is the location?
Floating Ember Candle Co.
1538 West Prospect Rd.
Ashtabula, OH 44004
(In the DQ Plaza Across from Becker’s on Route 20)
440-536-4147
[email protected]

How many people can attend?
Currently we have space for 20 – 30 people. We have a larger space in the works for the future, but if we receive a lot of interest, then we will be taking offers to meet in a larger free space if needed. Lakeshore Park is also close by for warm days. We ask you RSVP as soon as possible before the meeting to confirm space is available. Some meetings may be able to be virtual in the future if there are weather issues.

What are the dates/times?
2025 Q2 – Sunday, April 6th, 11:00am to 1:00pm
2025 Q3 – Sunday June 29th, 11:00am to 1:00pm
2025 Q4 – Sunday September 7th, 11:00am to 1:00pm
2026 Q1 – Sunday January 4th, 11:00am to 1:00pm

What topics do you plan to discuss?
General business topics, events, collaborations, seasonal planning, possible contests, fundraising, etc. Example, our first meeting will entail mostly summer plans, discussions on future meeting topics, etc. Our June discussion will discuss fall, our September meeting will cover Christmas, and our January meeting will include 2026 ideas and plans.
Some ideas I have specifically include a possible small business crawl/scavenger hunt, and to raise money to support new women entrepreneurs and host women in business retreats locally. I am hoping others will help expand on these ideas.

What is the etiquette required?
This is a casual event.
You can wear your pajamas if you want. No pressure. No judgement.
We ask that everyone remain supportive and respectful of each other. We are here to help not to compete, put others down, be rude, or act as if we know it all or are better than anyone else. Everyone will be at different stages in their business journey, and everyone has to remain mindful of that.
Absolutely no political conversations or debates. There is enough of that online and everywhere else in between. Politics are irrelevant to this mission, so keep it out of meetings. The only thing remotely close to acceptable is laws passed that affect small businesses directly.
No drama.
Please refrain from bringing children to the meeting. Unless you have a teen interested in starting a business. We will only have a couple of hours every few months, so we have to keep distractions to a minimum, and what busy mom doesn’t need a break anyway? Sorry kids, we still love you though.

Why just women?
In my experience as a small business owner for the past five years I have noticed that women in business have different experiences in business than men might experience as business owners. I know quite a few men in business who are great, and will likely invite them to future meetings as speakers. However, I know firsthand that being a woman in business can feel a bit lonely. Our friends and family are usually supportive, but sometimes they don’t “get it”, right? Sometimes you need other people just like you, with the experience to bounce ideas off of. My insurance company also runs a business network, and they do quarterly planning meetings with us on a very large national scale. Most of us members being women. I thought we needed something similar locally, and I haven’t really found something just like this that isn't an hour away or doesn't cost anything to attend.

How is this different from the local chamber of commerce?
Our local chamber of commerce is a great resource to utilize, but their mission is a bit different from what I am trying to create. They also are specific to our county or town, most chambers are. I think we need to reach beyond that to network and support each other without county or even state boundary lines. We are in a unique location in NE Ohio to go beyond those boundaries. As a bonus, this isn’t an official “organization” and there are no membership fees. This is simply a network of like-minded women supporting each other and helping each other grow.

Where can I find updates on the brunch meeting, such as what snacks to bring, meeting cancellations or reschedules, or location changes?
I plan to create the events on Facebook, and each one will have a discussion area where you can post and find updates and changes. If you do not have Facebook, please send me your email address to [email protected] so that I can create a list of those not on social media to send updates to.