ConnectEr

Vanessa Fox says she "loved working at Google" but is "enjoying the flexibility I have now."

Are you waiting for the “right” time to pursue your entrepreneurial dream? With today’s economy you have two options: ride the wave until you feel the time is right and hope you’re not a casualty of a downsizing or make the commitment to yourself—this very moment—to embrace your future and create your own opportunities… even if that means relinquishing your (and others’) perception of a comfortable cocoon.

Success holds its definition depending on who you are and what you have to offer. For some, it’s the safety of a big company, a large salary and the corporate muscle that comes with working in a big firm. And for others it’s taking the leap and starting a new venture without a safety net in order to gain the freedom, flexibility and responsibility to define and create their own futures. This article lets you see how others have trusted their intuition and taken risks to pursue their own dreams. And, along the way, they’re offering to assist others in reaching their goals… it’s leading them to amazing business opportunities.

With the dynamic world of social media moving at breakneck speed, we’re all attempting to get our arms around the technology du jour to make and manage meaningful professional relationships and personal friendships... and in the process it seems as though we’re losing the opportunities to connect the old-fashioned way – face-to-face. This isn’t a suggestion that one approach is more effective than the other; quite the contrary. The great news is now there’s a “both/and” solution - "have your cake and eat it too".

Enter Dahyu Patel, of Intellect Strategies and soon to come TappedInDC, is dedicated to making sure that the art of in-person networking isn’t lost. He’s come up with an intriguing way to unite online and in-person networking forums to help people create meaningful and actionable professional and personal relationships in local communities. “After all,” Patel says, “friends prefer to do business with friends.”

Patel’s concept of taking one central belief – when it comes to business, you can’t do it alone – and combining it into a human-meets-electronic networking forum is ingenious. TappedIn DC is based on local culture. It’s the only organization in the area that focuses on human business relationship building and combines both digital and real-world opportunities geared toward Baby Boomer, Gen X, Gen Y, Millennium professionals. When participating in TappedIn DC’s networking events, attendees are assigned networking Connecters (visualize “networking nodes”) and promised a relationship-focused process that guarantees one true solid connection per event… with action delivered by the next day.

While individuals’ passions may be all over the map, the overarching theme is that these are people who want to share their generosity and wisdom with others within a “give-to-get” community. TappedIn DC is not a sales or lead generation-focused community; all profits from events go to non-profit organizations focused on helping improve the quality of life for the younger generation in DC with affirming and life-changing experiences.

Patel is excited about the possibilities. He shares, “Our community has built a gathering place similar to having the comfort, ambience and graciousness of a community living room. Our attendees understand that their first greeting in meeting someone is ‘How can I help you?’”

Understanding and managing the currency of meaningful relationships while giving back to the community. It doesn’t get more valuable than that.