Celebrating Business in Community

On Wednesday night, Anchor Brewing hosted the annual Potrero Dogpatch Merchants Association (PDMA) member celebration. Anchor provided the beer and food was donated by local businesses. About 150 people came together to celebrate our community of neighborhood businesses and get to know each other better.

I invited four local business owners to attend so they could meet and network with fellow merchants. Networking can be hard to do if you haven’t done it much before. Often it takes getting out there and meeting people two or three times before you develop any lasting connections… but it does work. By putting yourself out there, sharing who you are and what you do, learning about other people and creating new connections…this is how we build a strong, local business community.

I’ve been a member of PDMA for the last three years and currently serve on the association’s board of directors.  Joining this group and actively participating in neighborhood business meetings and events has been a great way for me to engage with the neighborhood and other business owners. For me, community service and advocacy is a key part of what it means to be an active local small business owner. If we can strengthen the small business community neighborhood by neighborhood, the entire city benefits.

I hope you are getting out there, too, and making new connections in your community. If you need a place to practice pitching who you are and what services or products you have, let me know. I may be able to direct you to a group that can help you do that.  Be in touch!