On January 28, Business & Beer (BNB) met at Brewco, a gastropub in Manhattan Beach, for the first time. I have to admit, since this was the first time we held a gathering there and it is on the outer reaches of the self-imposed boundaries we set up, I was not really sure how many people would show up. This was amplified a little because I had not been able to attend BNB lately due to prior obligations. When we had four people show up early, with each of them being first time attendees, my fears were quickly erased. We had about 15 people show up and almost half were first time attendees! We owe this to our regular attendees and those following us on Facebook who have been spreading the word; we definitely appreciate it.

Set up and ready for Business & Beer at Brewco

Besides the new faces that joined us, I observed new business leads being made. At one point, Tanya was talking to a first time attendee that mentioned she needed a plumber. Tanya asked me if the plumber that comes once in a while was there or not; he wasn’t, but one of our first timers was a plumber so I introduced the two. As it turns out, the plumber had brought a friend that has a stained glass studio. One of our regular attendees had introduced himself to the table of new attendees and asked them what they did for a living. When he discovered that one of them had a stained glass studio another lead was completed as he had been looking for someone to do some stained glass-work for his home. The funny thing is that the stained glass studio owner had been wondering what benefit Business & Beer might have for him. As I frequently say, it is all about the networking. Your results may not be instant, but it is safe to say that someone in our group will have a need for your services at some point in time or will know someone that does. Business & Beer is truly about the business as well as the beer.

First time introductions resulting in business leads

This Thursday, January 31, Business & Beer will return to Sophie’s Place in the Riviera Village portion of Redondo Beach. Sophie’s Place is a very nice gastropub that always has eight craft beers on tap, with about 50 others available in bottles. We always have a nice time at Sophie’s and usually have a fairly large group in attendance. There is plenty of free parking [after 6:00 PM] so that should be a non-issue for those concerned with such things. We hope to see you there and we will do our best to introduce you to others that might benefit from what your business offers.

All the photos from our visit to Brewco, Manhattan Beach can be found on GotBaddog.com.