An interesting lunch today

I have been having lunch approximately once a month with a Meet Up group that is organized by Julie Parker. It's an informal group in many ways, but it's driven by an extremely energetic woman who has collected an interesting group of people for a monthly lunch and networking session. The only cost is the price of your lunch.

The format of the meeting provides some networking time for those who arrive early. At noon we join at a long table, or a group of tables, depending on the restaurant which hosts the event. Depending on the number of people present we each have a minute or two to introduce ourselves to the group.

This is the time for your elevator speech about who you are and what you do. Usually new guests speak first and then all others in turn follow.

The group today was one of the more interesting. After the introductions there is a speaker for about 20 minutes.

At one of the early meetings I attended, I had the opportunity to be a speaker and talk about my view of Flemington from the perspective of a long-time member of the Main Street business community.

There was interest in what I had to say because I am one of the rare people who graduated from the old Flemington High School, and returned ten years later to the area to open my law office to serve the people of my community.

This luncheon is a gathering of small business owners. Today we had the pastor from the Episcopal Church on Broad Street. We had a chiropractor who also runs a ministry in a different church. He is an enthusiastic fisherman who often posts on Facebook.

We have a veteran from the Vietnam War who survived having been a door gunner. Since his return from the war, he went through a difficult recovery period. He has since spent his time helping other veterans get through both the physical and psychological challenges that come with being discharged from the military.

We have in the Group real estate brokers. We have people from financial institutions, sellers of insurance, and people from a variety of corporate backgrounds who have become entrepreneurs and established their small businesses in and around the Flemington area.

There's one person who represents a storage facility. There are others that represent various not-for-profit organizations. One man runs wine tasting parties.

I found today, particularly interesting for me, a new person in the group who turns out to be a young lady a few years younger than my son. My son had established the first soccer camp in Hunterdon County. It was the summer of his high school junior year, two years before heading off to college. The school would not let him use the field because he was not yet an adult. We formed a corporation. He became a corporation president. They let the corporation use the field. This young woman had been one of the first campers in that soccer camp.

She also tells me she had visited my office as a young girl with her parents. I had done some legal work for them. She proceeded to show me pictures on her iPhone of her parents in different stages of their life. She is a small businessperson; a Financial Empowerment Coach accorded to her business card.

I would love to establish a group of lawyers, like this group, who have offices in the county so that they could network with each other on a more intimate basis then at the county Bar Association meetings. Our local Bar Association has grown in number fivefold from when I first joined. It tends to be full of lawyers who live in the county, but don't practice in our area, or who work for corporations or the government.

The speaker for today was Kathy Guzmanman. Kathy is a senior Small Business Liaison from New Jersey's Economic Development Authority. I've known her since she was employed as a marketing entrepreneur to the Flemington Business Improvement District.

She has since taken a job with the State, promoting small businesses in seven counties and helping them connect with resources that the State offers. I will not post here, but with her approval, will provide her e-mail address and her cell phone number for anyone who's interested in knowing what she has to offer. There is no charge for her service in her role with the economic development authority.

I learned from her presentation today. I expect to connect her with one ormoreof my clients.

She strikes me as a rare government employee who has a real interest in helping small businesses, the type of businesses we find in the Flemington area and other Hunterdon County communities. Let meknow if you want to connect with Kathy. (lbr@lawroth.com) Let me know if you would like to attend a lunch with the Meet Up group.