A group of local entrepreneurs are set to host Brantford’s first ever Success Summit on Monday, March 25, 2024.
Organizers Jeff Meiusi, Thomas Woodard and Sherri Barna are no strangers to helping entrepreneurs improve their business and grow their networks.
The three created a free local business mixer which holds meetings at various local restaurants on the second Tuesday and third Thursday of every month.
“We’ve had a great turnout at the free networking events and it’s turned out to be quite popular,” said Meiusi. “There’s a bunch of regulars that come out to most meetings, and there’s also a number of people who rotate and come out when they can. We also started the Brantford Events and Local Businesses group on Facebook about two years ago, and we have about 6,800 members now.”
Meiusi said that they created the online group as a space for entrepreneurs to promote their businesses.
“In a lot of these Facebook groups, the moment you go to post anything about your business, they take it down and they say it’s self-promotion and that it isn’t allowed,” he said. “But how are you supposed to help get the word out about your business if you can’t post and let people know? So, we really just wanted to create something that was free for local businesses to take advantage of because everything costs an arm and a leg to be a part of these days.”
He said that now that their networking groups are picking up traction, they knew it was the right time to continue to expand.
“The next step in our journey that we talked about was to hold something like a business conference in Brantford,” he said. “Something that wasn’t overly expensive for people to come join but would help small businesses start to understand more about the things they can do to help get the word out and grow their business.”
The upcoming event will feature five local speakers, including Nini Fatai A. and Kendold Knight, as well as Meiusi, Barna and Woodard.
Fatai’s talk “Unleash Your Potential,” will dive into the secrets of personal growth and how to unlock your full potential in life and career, while Woodard’s “Retirement Ready: Building a Solid Foundation for Your Future,” will cover learning the essentials of financial planning to secure a prosperous retirement.
Barna’s talk “Trending Toward Success: Harnessing the Power of Social Media,” will touch how to use social media platforms to increase visibility and success, while Meiusi’s “Video Content Strategies that Work,” will touch on uncovering the power of video content and learning strategies to captivate and engage an audience.
Finally, Knight’s talk “The Pursuit of Progress – All it Takes is One Step,” will inspire business owners to take action toward their goals and understand that progress is a journey.
With tickets being sold for just ten dollars, Meiusi said it was important to him and the team to make the event accessible to attend.
“Our goal is to just provide as much information as we can to these small businesses and help them sort of get an advantage and a leg up,” said Meiusi. “One, to motivate them so they can get through the rest of the week because we all struggle with motivation, and two so that they could learn something new without breaking the bank.”
The two-hour event starts at 6:00 p.m. and will take place in the Alexander Graham Bell Hall in the Best Western, and will also host seven vendors along the perimeter of the room. Meiusi said they will also likely have a small networking event at Maya’s Kitchen after the event.
“We’re just super happy and excited to put on this event for local businesses to come learn and have a good evening,” he said. “It’s a great chance to bring some attention to the great businesses that are running in Brantford and we’re really stoked to get the ball rolling. Hopefully we’ll be able to grow and make this an annual event that can be held one to two times a year.”
