Naturally Flyy Detroit Meet Up

"An independent woman can't find a man because an independent woman IS a man." (Pause for reaction.) That was just one of the pearls of wisdom that was dropped at Saturday's Naturally Flyy Detroit Presents the Mens Forum, Part 2. But, that little pearl didn't come from a brotha, it came from one of the founders of Naturally Flyy Detroit, Ms. Espy "Etta Flyy" and she shut the crowd down with that one.

If you saw my previous article about Naturally Flyy then you know that I had been waiting with anticipation for Saturday night's festivities. There were vendors who sold everything from earrings and hats to candles, hair butters and even hand made purses from Africa. There was a belly dancing segment from Tene' of House of Bastet, a natural hair Q & A session with Ms. Wanda from Transitions Salon and Ms. Everette from Everette's Natural Hair and Beauty School/Salon. (S/N- I plan on taking classes at both House of Bastet and Ms. Everett's school. I'll keep yall posted.) There were women, men and children taking in the sights and smells as natural hair became the main event.

But, little did I know that hair was just the beginning as the men's forum opened the floor to the dynamics of  male/female relationships, how the media portrays black women, interracial relationships and how the men were brought up played a part in how they looked at themselves. The men were respectfully blunt and honest and I think we all left with the overwhelming theme of the night and that is simply to be who you are and don't wait for anybody to validate you. One of the gentlemen said that when a woman walks around confident with her head held high, a man can't help but to bow down to her. I couldn't have said it better myself.

Now, let me show you what I bought. BTW, I did have some pics of the event but they came out so dark it wouldn't even be worth posting them.

My girl from college, Stephanie and myself. So Flyy.

I got a tank for me and a t-shirt for my daughter. Too Cute.

Ms. Eartha Kitt Ladies and Gentleman.
I don't know the young lady's name who made these because I grabbed the wrong card
but I do know that she is at the Rustbelt Market on Weekends.

I circled around this cuff about 3 times before I decided to bite.
It is...the business.
The young lady who made this is Jocelyn of Jewelry Fetish and she
sells her creations out of The Artist Village where event was held.

So that's it for now. A good time was had by all and I hear that the next meet up will be May 19th. Yeah.

Love, peace and Soul Deep Beauty!

The Business Expo: wins, losses and great finds

So, it's been a few weeks since my last post but, in my defense I have been super busy. Juggling home life and business life can be exhausting at times, but it has been all worth it. I had been preparing all week for the South Oakland Business Expo, which is basically, an expo for all the Chamber of Commerce groups (I'm a member of Royal Oak's Chamber) in the South Oakland County area and it was a great experience. I was a vendor at last years expo as well, with very few prospects that would actually benefit me and my business. However, as my determination grows with each passing year, I decided to give it another try and I couldn't be happier with the results.

The Wins-
Let's start with the obvious. Whenever you do a trade show or expo, the whole point is to tell people about your business- put your name out there. Because I don't have a particular product to sell and I am "selling" a service, my job basically is to educate people about who I am and what I do. So I had my brochures out, my makeup portfolio was available for people to look at and I had some candy and other giveaways available for people who stopped and talked with me.

I met a lot of people who were interested in my services and even had one make an appointment the following day. I have a few prospective spa parties lined up and overall I felt like there was a need for my services (unlike the holiday fair fiasco last year).

My table was simple, cute and effective.

The Losses-
So when I first got to the expo, I found myself in the tech world underneath the twitter screen they had up for the whole show and around a whole bunch of male vendors who couldn't have been the least bit interested in what I was offering. None the less, I made do so it wasn't a complete loss.

The other thing that you have to keep in mind when being a vendor is the cost. I think I spent a good $600 to prepare for a 7 hour event. That's including the table rent, marketing materials, my giveaways and the shirt and suit jacket I bought the day before. (The temperature dropped drastically so I couldn't wear original outfit- that's my story and I'm sticking to it.) So my bank account is definitely at a loss right now, but like I said, it was worth it in the long run.

The Great Finds-
Anybody who knows me, knows that I am a total nerd at heart. A very cute nerd, but still I take classes for just about everything. So, when they said there would be some free seminars during the event, I left my table for a couple hours and got me some free education. The two classes I went to were about Internet marketing- one talked about the new Facebook Timeline and the other about  FB, Twitter and LinkedIn. The info was good and gave me some things to think about. I also joined the Twitter world finally (BTW, follow me @RhondaSoulDeep). I don't know how often I will tweet, but we'll see how it goes.

I also met a woman who is a life coach and she may just have a business opportunity for me to become one myself. I always wanted to do something for young girls, as far as some sort of mentoring program and this may just be another door opening for me.

So there you have it, the wins are many when it comes to business expos. If you have the opportunity to vendor at one, I highly recommend it.

This is me at home after the expo- all smiles.