We are looking for the following items to be donated now through the end of May – If you would like to help support this cause please feel free to pick an item or items off this wish list:

Great way to get your customers and or business involved with helping a great cause – Thanks for your support

• Dog Treats
• Canned DOG or CAT food
• Paper Towels
• Hand Sanitizer
• Dog or Cat Toys
• Rubbermaid Containers (18qt plus)
• Cat Litter
• 32 oz Spray Bottles
• White Copy Paper
• 55 Gallon Trash Bags
• Peanut Butter

** please bring donations to our reg. sched. meetings

Over the past quarter the KC Women’s Network collected over 60 gifts and money for a supermarket voucher, to make this Christmas season special for one family in our community.

Thank you to all the ladies who went above and beyond to contribute to our campaign.

Our Fourth Quarter Volunteer Drive will be providing wrapped gifts for abused and neglected children as well as adopting a family through The Children’s Place. We will provide Christmas for those would not have a Christmas without our help. Not only will we will be collecting gifts for The Children’s Place, but we will also include grocery items for one very special family, so that they can celebrate this special holiday with a family meal.

We are collecting items now through Dec. 8th . Items may be dropped off at Candice’s house or during the holiday party.

Members – For more information on our family’s wish list, and to let us know which item you will be bringing please visit our discussion board.

As you can see, our blog is also now our home page here on the site.  Come back regularly to read our inspiration articles, learn about events in our city, read about other members and learn more about running a business.

For your convenience we have included all our social networking websites on the right hand menu, this will make it easy for you to find us!  Be sure to connect with us on Meetup, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Ning.

PAID MEMBERS – Please review your business listing

We have a brand new directory that will make it easier for you to update your information as it changes.  Please take the time now to review your listing.

If you find you want to make changes please submit a NEW LISTING, and I will delete the old one.  This will also be the way that you can make changes to your business entry in the future.  Just create a new listing.  Your  entry will not immediately be available.  This is because our members directory is only for our exclusive members, those who have paid their dues.  Therefore it goes on a waiting list until I go in to approve it.   Once it is approved, and your old listing is deleted, your information will become available on the website.

We always try to encourage you to do business with those in our network first, before you look elsewhere.  We hope you will bookmark this site, and use it to connect and support each other.

The heart of any business is the connection it has with other businesses and individuals that it can call upon to help meet its needs. Networking – any activity designed to create, maintain and utilize interpersonal connections – is an essential business skill. But not all business people take the time to truly master. However, without a solid understanding of how to network effectively and efficiently, no business can make the vital connections that it needs to survive and prosper in today’s super-connected economy. Here are some tips you can use to increase your networking – and business – success

Go with a goal. One of the first and most common mistakes that people make when entering a networking situation (planned or otherwise) is to fail to have a firm goal in mind. Are you looking to acquire new prospects, meet colleagues for possible collaborations, create a mutual referral partnership, create name recognition for you and your business, find funding or just “shop around” for interesting news and trends you can use? If you haven’t taken the time to determine what your goals are for the encounters ahead, you will have a hard time meeting them.

Of course, most businesses have several different needs, but in many cases any given networking opportunity is unlikely to provide more than one or two types of results, depending on the situation at hand. For example, if you are attending an event made up primarily of others in your industry or trade, you are unlikely to meet prospects, since everyone will be a provider just like you, nor are you likely to find referral partners, since almost everyone will be a direct competitor. So if your primary needs are clients and referrals, such events, while not an entire waste of time, might not be your best use of it. On the other hand, if you are desperately seeking a partner to expand or are looking to find out the latest, greatest technology in the field to offer to your client base, then you’re definitely going to be in the right place.

Hone your message. When someone asks you what you do, can you articulate not only your business but it’s benefit to them in a clear and concise manner? How about your “elevator speech” or 15-second intro – is it crisp, to the point and compelling, or do people’s eyes glaze over before you get to the end? This is not the time to give a dry and deadly-dull job description. Save that for your resume. When someone asks about you and your business, you are being given a golden, but brief, opportunity to knock his or her socks off and to persuade them that you are the best thing to happen to them since sliced bread. Make sure you do so.

Important – leave your sales pitch at home! Networking is networking, and sales is sales. Confuse the two and you’ll lose out on both. Nobody wants to be sold to, especially when they’re quite plainly not in a sales environment. And remember that anyone who tries to work a networking event under the “three-foot rule” (anyone within three feet is an opportunity to make a sale) is likely to find others unwilling to get within three feet of them in a very short period of time.

Check your gear. Make sure that you have everything you need to make a great impression. Are your business cards or other hand-outs up to date, and as professional-looking as you can make them? If this is a planned event, do you know who will be attending and have you isolated a few people you definitely want to make sure to meet, or are you going in blind and resigned to winging it?

And don’t forget to double-check the time, date and venue. Nothing is more irritating than showing up only to find that you’re too early, too late or unable to find a parking space closer than a quarter-mile away.

Educate your audience. Are you seeking a collaborative partner for a project? Then make sure everyone knows what the project is and what sort of partner you are looking for (and the general parameters of the partnership they’ll be investing their time into). If you’re looking for referrals, then do your potential referral sources know what constitutes a good referral for you? It’s a waste of your time and a drain on your referrer’s good will and reputation if you turn down or do a bad job for everyone they send to you because the referrals were inappropriate. Likewise, a well-educated referral source might wind up sending you fewer referrals, but those are much more likely to be quality prospects that have a high probability of becoming solid clients.

On the other hand, if you are directly prospecting do your prospects know that you’re the answer to their prayers and why? Remember that all prospects are tuned into station WII-FM – What’s In It For Me – and unless you make sure that they know why they should consider working with you, they won’t.

Follow through. The most important part of networking happens after the initial contact. The best impression, the snappiest laser marketing message and the deepest desire to work together will all come to naught if they don’t hear from you in a timely manner – or even worse, never hear from you at all. No matter who said what about calling whom, always follow up promptly and in a manner designed to strengthen the relationship and add value for the other person.

A simple follow-up email may be okay for old contacts touching base, but for a new contact that can provide you with crucial funding or superior referrals, or a hot prospect itching to clear your warehouse of your top-shelf merchandise your follow through needs to have all the finesse, power and elegance of a figure skater’s best jump – and all the holding power of a solid landing.

There are three keys to an effective follow through:

It reinforces the original intent of the contact. Refer to your original conversation, restating any key points and reaffirming any agreements that were made or intimated. Follow through on any promises you made to deliver information, provide samples, initiate a meeting, put through a request, whatever – before the follow-up call, unless time constraints or lead-time make that impossible.
It carries the scent of enthusiasm without the stench of desperation. Follow up as promptly and as regularly or frequently as the circumstance warrants, but don’t turn into a stalker or a pest. And if you can find a way to add value to the relationship through your skills, influence, position or connections, by all means offer to do so, but don’t cross the line from generous associate to obsequious sycophant. And if the other person makes it clear that they are not interested, move on. “Kicking and screaming” is not an acceptable level of participation in networking, and neither is “beaten into submission.”
It includes the seeds for the next contact. Don’t get caught in the dead-end follow up. Unless it is clear that no further relationship is warranted or desired, make sure that there is some agreement on a next step or arrangement made to continue the conversation. Make that phone call and at the end, set up an appointment for lunch a few weeks down the road. At lunch, offer to forward an important report or offer to broker a desirable introduction to someone higher up the food chain, and so on. Make sure you never leave the table without an invitation to resume your seat at a later date.
Like a good golf swing or a stunning presentation, effective networking boils down to three essential stages of activity: preparation, delivery and follow through. And like an electrical circuit with a short or a break, a failure at any of these points stops the flow of life-giving connective energy – the healthy and continually renewed cycle of which your business requires to maintain a strong, stable potential for growth, resilience and success.

Mastering the art of effective networking, like any other business activity, requires time, dedication and attention. But in the end, the dividends it pays are well worth the time it took to cultivate them. Take the time to master these five tips and you will be amply rewarded with the prodigious fruits of your networking labor.

You do everything to protect your family on a regular basis. You make sure your house is safe, you ensure you have ample insurance, you buy the freshest foods and try to make your children eat their fruits and vegetables. You teach them how to cross the street and you save for their college education. But you deny or delay the creation of 3 critical documents that also protect your family. Unfortunately 70% of the population is currently without a valid or updated will which means you have NOT fully protected your family.

There is really no good way to discuss the importance of having your will, living will and health care power of attorney in place (now rather than later) without making people uneasy. Many think that if they prepare these documents then – well – they will die. That is just not true and deep down we know that. But also deep down we know that we need to get these documents in place to continue protecting our family from further disaster if something were to happen to us.

Here are some facts:

1. If you do not specify who should take care of your children if anything happens to you (as a single parent) or you (as a couple) the State will take control of your children and decide where and with whom they should live. That could be in the foster care system or with a relative you were not on the best of terms with in the past.
2. Without a will in place, your estate is pretty much guaranteed to get tied up in probate court. The State of Kansas takes 40% of your assets and the State of Missouri takes up to 50% of your assets right off the top. And unfortunately that money does not get returned. It’s gone!
3. Everyone has assets to consider. Many of us say ‘I don’t have anything.” If you think you have nothing then you have not spent time with a financial planner and you have not taken stock of your life’s worth. Vehicles, jewelry, furniture, art, life insurance, 401K’s, the stuff in your garage, your 50 in. TV, even your photos and videos, your business … the list goes on. Do not underestimate your worth – it could cost your children money.

I speak from experience – almost four years ago my brother left his two young daughters with a babysitter, went to run before heading to the class he taught in Sedalia. He never made it home. His will was outdated and was from Virginia, not Missouri. Well over 18 months and thousands of dollars later – there are still outstanding issues that have not been resolved. Money spent on lawyers that could have gone to all five children – down the drain. Emotional stress that could have been avoided if he had prepared an updated, valid will with his wishes on custody and assets.

So, in conclusion if we deny our mortality and refuse to prepare these documents, your family is faced with two disasters – the loss of Mom, the pillar of their life, and a very long drawn out court experience that could drag on for years. This is a discussion you need to have with your husband or your parents or your siblings or your best friend – take the time to document your wishes – your family with thank you for it.

About the Author:

Maggie is a transplant, having relocated from New York to Kansas 12 years ago. Previously Maggie spent 36 years in the telecom industry until she left the corporate world and started her own business. In her previous life Maggie traveled all over the country and even to three European countries as a subject matter expert in telecommunications. However now Maggie is enjoying staying right here in KC, with occasional trips back east for fun, and having fun hiking and playing with her two dogs. Meals on Wheels and serving on the Board of the KC Small and Home Business Connection includes some of Maggie’s volunteer work. Maggie also represents Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. as an Independent Associate.

Pre-Paid Legal Services, a 35-year old NYSE company, gives members access to professional legal counsel not only for traditional legal problems, but for everyday events where legal review should be routine, but rarely is. For Pre-Paid Legal members, access to legal counsel is only a toll-free phone call away. Affordable access to top-rated lawyers provides peace of mind in a time when we need it most – today, when so many are facing issues of bankruptcies, lay-offs, foreclosures, debt collections and identity theft. For more information, please contact Maggie or visit her website www.prepaidlegal.com/hub/mlee.

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
On the UMKC Campus, 6:00 PM

The Turn Over Team

The statistics about gender violence are frightening.
The problem hits at all social and economic levels.

We need leaders and role models to help.
We need to let victims and potential abusers know there are resources.

Find out how you can be part of the solution.

We’re asking men to actually walk a full mile in high heeled shoes.
We know it’s silly, but it works.

This year more than 10,000 men will participate in over 200 Walks.
We’ll raise more than a million dollars.

We’ll rescue hundreds of women and children.
Men and women are welcome to walk in support of this effort.

For information and questions, contact:
Keith Winterhalter cell: 816-225-1876
Email: kpwinterha@aol.com

Make donations that will benefit the UMKC Women’s Resource Center.

Join the Turn Over Team or start your own team at:
http://www.firstgiving.com/turnoverteam

The Kansas City Autism Training Center (KCATC) is a nonprofit 501c3, childcare facility that specializes in research-based treatment of autism. Autism affects an estimated 1 in 150 births, knows no racial, ethnic, social boundaries, family income, lifestyle, or educational levels and can affect any family and any child. Autism is more common than childhood cancer, diabetes and AIDS combined. To date, there is no known cause or cure-but at KCATC we provide hope through evidence-based interventions.

The Mission of the KCATC is to provide professional, evidence-based interventions and training for children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and their families. The Center provides education and training in the use of these techniques to parents, teachers, therapists, educators and other direct service providers in the Kansas City Community.

Many experts estimate that the service we provide can save our communities from $2,500,000 to $7,000,000 over the life of the child based on the level of outcomes. We believe that the KCATC clearly provides one of the greatest returns to the community both from a human aspect as well as the financial impact of early intervention.

The Center is in need of the following items. Anything you can donate off this list will be greatly appreciated by the staff, parents and the children.

This is the video shared by our speaker last night. The little we do make such a BIG differnece, let’s really pull up our socks work hard to help out this amazing center.

How you can help?

The Center is in need of the following items. Your donations are greatly appreciated by the staff, parents and the children.

Stationary:
Printer Paper
Ink (hp tri-color97 and hp black 94)
Automatic Pencils
Dry erase markers
3×5 index cards
Paper towels
Facial tissue
Scotch thermal laminating pouches (available at Sams) 9” x 11.4”
Post- its (all sizes)

Art & Activities Supplies:
Stickers
Books
Wooden Blocks
Dramatic play stuff (dress up items)
Construction paper
Glue
Washable markers
Colored pencils
Plastic bins
Kid’s music CDs
Floor Puzzles,
Bean bags (large for sitting)
White out
Washable Paint
Finger Paint
Craft goodies (e.g. pipe cleaners, goodly eyes, felt, pompom, etc)
Clocks for learning how to tell time
Tricycles
Water Colors
Small bookshelves

Cleaning Materials:
Broom, Swifter Mop, Pads, Cleaning Fluid