An Enterprising Evening

Part of my responsibility as a business owner is to attend at least one and preferably two networking events each week. Some of these are more productive than others. Some are more fun than others. Tonight I attended one that fell in the top range on both these scales. I went to a meeting of the New Enterprise Forum.

NEF is a group whose sole purpose is to support entrepreneurs. To this end, they provide a venue for people engaging in new enterprise to present their ideas to a larger group with the idea of receiving critique and potentially the possibility of investment. These events usually also include a speaker or two and, of course, lots of opportunity for networking.

Tonight we heard about two new businesses, TuneVUZ and Procuit. The first is a service which helps new musicians market and distribute their music electronically. The second is a site which helps people learn and more importantly retain new information. Obviously I could never do justice to the presentations. You're better off checking out their websites for more information.

We also had a panel of three "unusual" entrepreneurs who spoke about their individual paths to success. Doug Chapman talked about HyperFit USA, a high-intensity fitness club. Janet Brown-Smith told us about her company, Mookies Pet Toys, whose products have sold on QVC. Finally, Brad Morgan let us know how he turned the "by-products" of his dairy farm into a booming business called Morgan Composting.

While I found the presentations interesting, and the folks I met while networking had fascinating stories to tell (and may in the future prove to be profitable), there was one aspect of the gathering which I didn't anticipate which made it really stand out to me. Listening to all of these folks talking about their businesses and about their big plans for the future infected me with their enthusiasm. Walking out of the Holiday Inn where they normally hold their monthly meetings, I couldn't wait to get home to work on my business.

I'm definitely going back.

So, what gets you excited about working on your business or in your career?