Michelle Gill Newton | Tory Johnson’s Spark & Hustle

I had a great time at Tory Johnson’s Spark & Hustle NYC yesterday. I registered with high expectations. I’ve been following Tory since she started her Women for Hire events several years ago. Last year I started to hear the buzz about Spark and Hustle and I was really intrigued. I decided last year that I would attend the next event she had in New York in 2012.

The day before Spark & Hustle, I find out that my 13 year old daughter is going to play with her basketball team during the half time show at the NY Liberty game at the Prudential Center in Newark NJ. How am I going to get her from school and get her to the game? I planned on attending the this conference which didn’t end until 5:30 and let’s not forget that I’ve been waiting one year to attend. How could I not take my daughter to this major event in her life? How could I clone myself? The dilemmas of Motherhood.

I decided that I’m going to attend Spark & Hustle and I would have to miss the afternoon session but I was going to get the MOST out of every second I was there. And I am so happy to say that is just what I did. The event exceeded my expectations. I was FILLED with information that Sparked my ideas to move my business forward.

I woke up and it’s a dark rainy day, there goes my cute summer shoes and the 20 minutes of flat ironing my hair. No worries, I press on. I rush the kids out of the house and into the car so I can drop them off at school and keep on moving. God did give me favor because I made it up to Harlem in record time for a rainy day in NYC. We had to wait outside for them to let us in which is always the BEST thing to do to build the excitement for and event. As and event planner I’m really liking this

We are ushered in and when I get to the registration desk of course my name is not listed. The staff was very pleasant. I showed them my email confirmation via my BB, yes I know I need to come over to the Iphone or Droid world but, my BB still gets the job done. I walk into the room and I am ready! I met up with Maribel one of my fellow sisters in business, she has a Partylite business. We start visiting the tables of vendors and I am especially surprised by the variety and the unique items I saw. Companies the helped support your business or helped you stand out to your customers stood out to me. There were also products that women love like jewelry, facial products, make up, shoes, but to me the items that were going to add value to my business is what got my attention. I believe 85% of the women there already had a business and maybe 15% were starting a business. One of the stand out vendors was the Intuit Go Payment. When I went to the table I was surprised to learn that they had business women who use their service as volunteer reps at the table for their event. This way they can speak to how the product works for them in their business. The event planner bells in my head started ringing, I loved that!

Another stand out was at your seat there was a pretty item sitting there and it was in bright orange and it was fantastic. It’s called the Card Cubby. It’s a unique way to organize your business cards. I’ve falling in Love! You know we love FREE. Presentation is everything and when you start your attendees with a beautiful presentation they stay excited. Tory welcomed us and she also had a bright orange jacket on and looked amazing. The morning was filled with great information and I tweeted some of the quotes that I heard from the speakers. I exchanged business cards and met new BBFFs (Business Best Friends Forever) (Spark & Hustle language)

The stand out panel in the morning for me was the panel on Branding with Peeled Snacks, Footzyrolls, and May Books. To hear their story on how they have found success in their business was really inspiring. One of the questions about how they determined their target customer or “Sweet Spot” was very informative. Each one had a different story but there were many similarities on how they put forth their brand first.

I was super excited for the break out lunch & learn with Coach Jenn Lee. Her topic was about being a speaker and getting yourself out there and that session even though we had some challenges with the space was one of the best of the day for me.

I was sorry that I had to leave after lunch but I was grateful for the information that I gathered and the ideas that was Sparked during the morning. Now it’s time to put into action what I learned, to get my Hustle on!

Great job from everyone at Tory Johnson’s Spark and Hustle. I know it takes a great team to put together a great conference.

Michelle Gill Newton

Stay Inspired!

www.michellegillnewton.com