Unscripted surprises result in the best discoveries.
When I attended the IncVets event last year, I met some great people and gained new business insights, but I did not grasp the ongoing relationships I was building until this morning. For me, stealing away for any amount of time during the week requires the orchestration of surgery. The event must be on Ryan’s calendar (or I need to hire a sitter) and homeschool lessons must be in progress. Hesitantly, I checked my calendar each day. I expected some AOTAF (Act of the Air Force) to cancel my two hour meeting entitled “NMSN Little Rock Meetup” on March 30. I was eagerly anticipating the two hours to focus on my business, because in this house, I can rarely spend more than five minutes focused on any one task. This morning Ryan assured me he would be home to stand “Kid Duty”, and true to his word, he walked in two minutes before my departure time. I was out the door.
In a quiet coffee shop, thrity-five minutes later (yes, I got lost), I met with Sue Hoppin of the NMSNetwork. There was no meeting agenda, no outline, just military spouses talking business. Sue founded the NMSN networking group a couple of years ago, after her own arduous career search, when she realized that there was a need for professional and entrepreneurial military spouses to find, and network with, other military spouses. The National Military Spouse Network was born. What a wonderful resource! How refreshing to know I am not the only one. What a relief to hear the stories of others who are facing the same dilemmas. I talked business with Sue for two hours. By talking about my business with a third party, I was able to articulate specific, realistic goals. Sue suggested several resources to assist me, and even said she would hold me accountable to my deadlines. Sue flew to Little Rock a day early so that she could hold this meetup, and I’m so appreciative that she did. I was able to spend two hours reviving my business, and I’m encouraged and inspired to push my list from paper to reality. What an unplanned surprise – to accomplish so much over coffee!
