Fresh on the heels of the World Education Congress (WEC) in Las Vegas, we reached out to the co-chairs of MPI’s Independent and Small Business Owners (ISBO) community—Nick Reid (MPI Orange County Chapter), chief puzzle solver, Travel Staff; and MaryAnne Bobrow, CAE, CMP, CMM (MPI Sacramento/Sierra Nevada Chapter), Bobrow Associates Inc.—to get some insight about this special interest group.
What do you enjoy the most about the Independent and Small Business Owners (ISBO) MPI community?
Reid: I enjoy helping people and learning from others. ISBO is a community of both experienced business owners and new business owners. I have been in the business since 1976 and I am still learning. But I have picked up a lot of knowledge and a few useful shortcuts and I am always happy to help others.
Bobrow: ISBO is composed of a diverse group of individuals, with a wide range of experience, talents and competencies. Next to the all-member forum, it has the most active discussions within the MPI online communities. The people are caring and willing to help each other out—response times are quick in this group while addressing the question or issue posed. The ISBO Advisory Board is proactive in helping its community with news to use, education and discussion groups intended to bring the diversity of our population together for lively discussions. Anyone is welcomed to join this group and learn along with us. We only ask that people refrain from self-promotion.
What are you most looking forward to with the ISBO community for the second half of 2021?
Reid: I am most looking forward to launching our mentorship program. At ISBO, we are all about helping others run their businesses. MPI is responsible for education as it relates to meetings and events but ISBO is responsible for educational matters relating to running your own business. Our mentorship program will be the cherry on top of our educational efforts.
Bobrow: I agree with Nick. The launch of our mentorship program will be another leg up for our growing community of business owners. It is not working in the business—there is a wealth of education on that—instead it is working on the business to ensure its success and growth. Our education team is also hard at work to bring new and topical education to MPI chapters to bolster their revenue streams as we begin our recovery from COVID-19. Our sessions are offered to the chapters with speaker fees waived and only travel/lodging costs if face to face.
How would you recommend new members best get involved with the ISBO community?
Reid: ISBO is global, and as such we can’t have local chapters. We are currently 400 strong and growing. Our main form of communication and participation is using the Community Forums. Make sure to sign up and then participate on the forums. People post useful information, but they also post questions. Our subcommittees are full for this year but consider participating in a subcommittee for 2022. The more you give, the more you get.
Bobrow: At this year’s WEC, we expected about eight people to join our face-to-face Meet Up on Wednesday afternoon. More than 30 people joined us and for the entire 90 minutes, we learned about each other and we’ll ensure that those who attended who were not yet members get an invitation to join. It’s easy to sign up, and once the individual signs up, they will be welcomed to the group and encouraged to pose questions and browse the information already in the community. Right now, we are working on an ISBO directory so members can BUY MPI - ISBO! It will be name, location and company only to avoid people’s emails/phones being overloaded. We see our community as a vital segment of MPI’s global community and we want to help others in our community to be involved and move into leadership of this community.
MPI Independent and Small Business Owners (ISBO) community. Support for the independent and small business meeting planner.
