Susan Finch Solutions

A Favorite Holiday to Celebrate Hope for Humanity - MLK Weekend.

Normally I don't observe many of the smaller holidays. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and possibly New Years is it for me. I make the exception for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Dr. King's messages speak to my heart. They also give me a great day off to help others.  The day will be spent making blankets with my friends at HandsOn Portland, our amazing regular volunteers and Binky Patrol.

The office of Susan Finch Solutions will be closed Monday. Voicemail will be on, but I'll be in the middle of 40 sewing machines, 75 non-sewing volunteers and piles upon piles of fabric making blankets to give away to children and teens in local area shelters and hospitals.  What are you doing to make a difference on Monday?  How will you contribute to humanity?  Comment below. I'd love to hear more!

A tribute to a talented entrepreneur who happens to be a woman and mom

Having moved from a fabulous group of PR professionals in Orange County, CA was difficult.  I thrived at the roundtable discussion groups that brought 'competitors' together to help solve each other's client challenges, promote each other's charities and support and cheer for each other on a monthly basis.

I moved to Beaverton, OR and found Mamapreneurs aka, The Power MOB.  Social Media Expert, Graphic Designer and Entrepreneur - Marlynn Schotland led this band of professional mothers who were caught in the in-between of play groups that were all mom and networking groups that we all business.  She had a need and turned it in to a vision and then shared it with any woman who was in her predicament.  I found my networking home.  We would talk business, shoes, kids; laugh, cry, cheer and get really... errr.. supportive (not really the word, but let's keep it friendly) if anyone messed with one of us.  We combined all facets of our lives because we are a sum of all of these facets that create the jewels we each recognize.

Sometimes you have to take a break to get out of yourself.

It's been a great Monday. We started out happy, the children were off to school, I had great projects to work on. Then I received an email that stopped my day dead in its tracks.  A classmate of my son (6), lost her mother to colon cancer on Friday.  She's an only child and I cannot imagine the sadness and fear she and her dad are going through right now. 

Women Entrepreneurs of Oregon Launches New Site

Here's the challenge:  gather a group of 12 or so Oregon and SW Washington women who own their own businesses, most have families to coordinate AND the volunteer on the board of WEO - Women Entrepreneurs of Oregon.  These busy and fantastic women spent countless hours honing their needs for the organization to continue on its growth tragectory. A new website was definintely in order, as well as a new way to manage event and sponsor registration and membership renewals. 

The solution: After reviewing several CMS solutions and event management ideas, they landed on Commpro's CMS because of the VERY friendly admin, ability to easily manage private content, create a member directory with a few clicks for each new member and ease in communicating with the membership.

They also needed an event management system that could be twisted to handle membership registration, sponsorships, etc.  cVent had the solution.  It meant that several members had a lot of new procedures to learn, but everyone is very happy with the new system.

Thank you, WEO, for allowing me to do this project with you.

Good Old Fashioned Networking Wins Out Over Social Media Contacts

The problem of finding a way to get over 1,000 quilts delivered to Japan was presented to me yesterday.  The solution wasn't through "connections," "friends," followers," the solution  came from my very first networking group that meets face to face around an oval table once a month.  This group holds my networking heart because they always say, "yes we can" as a group and think outside the box many times each day. These are a group of seasoned professionals who are used to finding a solution and creating true relationships.

Our chapter leaders had originally worked through their local contacts.  One chapter was in charge of coordinating the delivery, the other took  over getting the word out to 5,000 quilters to lend a hand.  The quilters came from an old fashioned newsletter list from a quilt shop in Placentia, CA - Calico House Quilting.  Once I heard that the delivery effort had stalled, panic set in with the quilters and dissent through the group. I stepped in thinking with all of my social media knowledge this would be easy with Facebook and Twitter.  Not the case.  People either didn't respond or had vague ideas or wished me well.  No solutions there.

Then I thought about my local women business orgs in Oregon, that wasn't it.  Then I got smart. The binkies were in Orange County - DUH - my favorite networking group is still South OC PR.  I miss it more than any group I've ever moved away from due to the roundtable format.  Sure enough, I sent an email out to the group. Within less than an hour I had 10 fantastic ideas and contacts.  From there, four were underway. Within 6 hours, I was contacted by the president of Shin Koyamada Foundation, Shoichi Nakagiri. We spoke briefly this morning after the Japanese Consulate referred me to him as someone who could make things happen. He returned my call within 20 minutes and told me he would write at the end of the day.  True to his word, he did and said he could get our 1,100 quilts to Japan.

Our group in Vacaville is still trying to pull it together with Fed Ex who has told her they would also ship her 800 quilts to Japan for her pro-bono.

I was speaking to Doug Erber, president of the Japan America Society in Los Angeles earlier. He said that at the moment there is no infrastructure in Japan to distribute these quilts.  He was hoping to be able to coordinate something in a few weeks. This may work as our group will continue to make blankets.

We have a few people in our group that had put in motion additional contacts to make this happen. I asked them to lovingly put the brakes on for now and thanked them profusely for jumping into action.

THIS is true social networking - true human networking - human relationships. I am blessed.

1,000+ Quilts Need a Ride to Japan

Binky Patrol Comforting Covers for Kids put out a challenge and it was met!  We have over 1,000 quilts made by amazing volunteers to send to Japan.

We usually focus on our local area shelters and needs, but this was as special request and everyone stepped up to help:

People have been very generous and have made an extra effort because of the horrific nature of this disaster.  Some people have written notes in Japanese and  attached them to the quilts.  And then there is the woman who hand pieced and hand quilted her quilt. It is the first and only one she will ever make as sh  has arthritis now and can no longer do hand work.  These are the stories that make me feel so strongly that the quilts HAVE to go to Japan.

Can you help us get them there?  Can you give us a contact in Japan to deliver them too? Please let me know:  sfinch@binkypatrol.org

 

‘ANGEL AWARDS’ FOR OREGON WOMEN BEHIND SOCIAL CAUSES

This Friday, February 25^th from 6pm-9pm at Sip D’Vine off 7829 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland, several Oregon  women will be awarded MOMtrepreneurs Red Dress Society’s ‘Angel Awards’.   

The Red Dress Society’s ‘Angel Awards’ program, founded by Angelina and Daniel Musik-Comp, recognizes women behind social causes or non-profits, nominated by their communities from Portland to Beaverton to Umpqua River,  for demonstrating how to make a difference in other’s lives. 

Improving our service businesses.

Last night I was in the midst of approximately 20 women business owners from The PowerMOB.  We met in the work/living space of Kim Campbell of Campbell Salgado photography studio.  The evening was over too fast as we spent two hours discussing ways to improve our service businesses.

Sometimes it's simply about connecting.

I'm the proud member of a couple of professional women's organizations. I've also recently attended one of those "one person from each type of field" groups where the topic was managing time and measuring the effectiveness of your networking time.  I almost felt dirty after attending.  I feel a bit used like a bottle of rum that's been passed around. The overall feeling is that they were evaluating, "What can she do for me? How can I make the most of her talents - usually without paying for them?"

Missing the office, but I found a solution - The Power MOB

As a member of two amazing professional women's organizations:  Oregon WEO and ThePowerMOB, I'm able to engage in intelligent business conversations with a variety of women from endless experiences.  This is a gift I receive as a member. Two meetings a year are worth the price of membership!

As a work from home professional, isolation is a part of the day; nose to the screen and keyboard to plow through the day.  I rarely look at what's happening in the adjoining room until 3:30 or so, only to feast my eyes on total toy chaos and snack debris.  As a result I don't get a chance for a lot of face-to-face communication with my clients.  This is alright. I really enjoy my clients, but what I miss the most is the positive side of the "office."