Cheers to 2018, Cheers to YOU!
It’s been another great year for the Women’s Franchise Network of Tampa Bay and we couldn’t have done it without our hosts, sponsors and members. Each year we focus on education, communication, mentoring, and support of our community.
This year we kicked off our first quarter networking event with our host and sponsor Beef O’Bradys at their Corporate Offices and our guest speaker Liane Caruso, Director of Social Media & Professional Services at Qiigo. Liane has been helping businesses with social media since 2009 when she launched her own agency from a single Facebook post. She has been working with franchise brands since 2012 from both the franchisee and franchisor perspective. She shared with our network which platforms should You be on and where should You spend the most time. Yup, we even had a robust conversation about Facebook ads… do they really work? (check out the link where Liane in March 2018 was a guest speaker on Social Geek Radio: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/socialgeekradio/2018/03/07/how-to-improve-facebook-organic-reach-with-jack-monson-and-liane-caruso
Our June program was all about Franchise Advisory Councils and Franchise Associations. College Hunks Hauling Junk was our sponsor and host…. We had two guest speakers, Kelsie Ackman, Esq. Director of Human Resources & Legal Affairs and who has been with College Hunks Hauling Junk since 2015 and Maria Haan, CFE, CC, Director of Franchise Performance with Office Pride Commercial Cleaning and has been working with franchise brands within the franchise community for more than 20 years. Together we covered the value of a Franchise Advisory Council from both the franchisee and franchisor point of view.
September 2018 brought our guest speaker all the way from Waco, Texas. Mary Kay Liston, CFE spoke on the topic of living R.I.C.H. We discussed LIVE R.I.C.H. and Something Wonderful Will Happen. Respect, Integrity, Customer Focus, and Having Fun In The Process. “Be your best authentic Self”, Don Dwyer and Code of Values. How many companies have a Code Of Values? If you have them, do you live them? Mary Kay gave us the link to: DinaDwyerOwens.com to download the free Create Your Culture Workbook and it is here for you, too, to download. A huge thank you to our sponsor and host for the event Front Burner Brands.
Ahhhh…. The holiday event...the icing on the cake…for the sixth year the Franchise Business Network and the Women’s Franchise Network Tampa Bay held our joint holiday party at Texas de Brazil. Huge Thank you to Plan Ahead Events Tampa Bay and Quarles & Brady, LLP for sponsoring. This event always has a great turnout and the entire evening is dedicated to our members and our local charity. For the second year in a row we sponsored the Blossom Montessori School for the Deaf. Our goal was to raise $400 to help buy uniform shirts for the students. Not only did we meet our goal we significantly surpassed it. The teachers and students were overwhelmed with appreciation.
And one last note of thanks, thank you to our participant gift donations and Chapter supporters Massage Envy Citrus Park Location, Amazing Lash, Carrollwood Location, Qiigo Internet Marketing, Bank United, Maestro, Inc. and Social Joey for without the wonderful support from our network and our member attendees the fabulous networking opportunities would not happen.
I am proud to be the chair of the Women’s Franchise Network Tampa bay, thankful to have such a community to work within, and appreciative of our sponsors, and our network members.
We are a team, a community and part of a growing network. We look forward to continuing to grow our local network in 2019.
Have an amazing New Year! Happy 2019!
Maria Haan, CFE, CC Chair, IFA Women’s Franchise Network Tampa Bay Co-Chair, IFA Women’s Franchise Committee, Task Force
IFAwfnoftampabay @mcshaan