You may have noticed a whirlwind of activity in the last 9 months here in Fuquay Varina surrounding a dynamic group of women aptly named The Successful Business Women. This group was founded at the tail end of the pandemic by Amber Richon of Richon Planning. Amber was tired of seeing all of the unrest in our community and the competition between small business owners. She made a post on Facebook about wanting to start a networking group based on the premises of connections and community. When you hear Amber speak about the origins of the SBW she will tell you how she made a post about how angry she was to see everyone bashing each other and talking down about others instead of trying to connect and collaborate with their fellow community members. She said, “I’m not going to stand for all of the hate and division, who’s coming with me?” Amber will tell you she expected nobody to follow her… except they did. What started as a small Facebook group of around 30 women has now grown to a community of over 1600 women with new members joining every day. They are currently working on their own social media platform for women small business owners, and are hosting a symposium event slated for this fall.
The Successful Business Women, or SBW, was founded on the core values of connections, empowerment, and community outreach. Amber leads the group with two admins, Krista Abshure of The Abshure Realty Group in Fuquay Varina, and Jennifer Cramer, owner of Catalan Tapas Bar in Cary. The three admins are assisted by their leadership team which consists of several other women business owners in Fuquay Varina and surrounding towns. What the SBW preaches is love and acceptance for all, and that connections are the most important thing in life not only personally but in business as well. Two of Amber’s favorite phrases are “Connections over competition” and “Connections increase revenue”.
The SBW Facebook group allows its members to post about their businesses, their events, and to engage with others in discussion about ways to improve their businesses and services. They host networking meetings and trainings monthly that are open to any and all women business owners who are looking to meet new people, find their best referral partners, and learn how to grow their businesses. Most of these classes and training sessions are complimentary and sponsored by the businesses of the women who are leading the trainings. The SBW does not exclude any woman who wishes to join, there are no pre-requisites; women who are part of MLM companies are encouraged to join, as well as women who are not yet business owners and those who assist with the operations of a business but do not own it. All are welcome.
While the main premise of the SBW is to encourage women business owners to branch outside of their circle and meet new people, they are also engaged in community outreach and charity work as well as some good old fashioned fun. Over the last 9 months they have supported a variety of charitable causes including a massive Angel Tree program supported by small businesses in Fuquay Varina, Holly Springs, Apex, and Cary that supplied gifts, food, and sundries for over 300 disadvantaged children, elderly, and homeless people in our Southern Wake communities. You may have seen their shenanigans in May when they took the town dressed in inflatable costumes riding in the back of a deuce-and-a-half, or just a few weeks ago driving around town in that same ex-military vehicle in the middle of a North Carolina downpour. These ladies not only know how to run their businesses, they also know how to have a great time!
The SBW has several events on their calendar for the next few weeks including their July Red White & Blue Tutu pub crawl where they will be dressing up and supporting some of the local bars & restaurants in Fuquay, a social media content creation class led by founder Amber Richon and admin Jennifer Cramer, a time-management class and networking BINGO led by leadership team member Pam Horton and admin Krista Abshure, and their August pub crawl celebrating our Buzzy Bees and all things honey! Their current community outreach project for this quarter is Teacher’s Trove where the ladies of the SBW are collecting school supplies to create supply closets for local teachers so that they don’t have to spend their personal money to fill in the gaps for children whose parents can not afford school supplies.
If you would like more information regarding The Successful Business Women or to learn how to join them in their crusade to change the world one connection at a time please contact Amber at amber@richonplanning.com, or reach out to them through their Facebook group “The Successful Business Women”.
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