Why organize networking breakfasts for free? / Tbilisi, Georgia ????

[on the hidden worth, second-plan thinking, and clarity; well and on the networking value]

'You should collect a fee for organizing this!'; 'I liked the vibe and the insights!'; 'I learned so much!'; 'This changed my perspective on how to run my business and think of the investments', and so on. Thank you for the feedback - I know that what I'm doing makes sense.

One winter morning I woke up and decided to start organizing networking breakfasts in Georgia. It was a natural association based on:

• I want to network with more people here - I am an expat myself;
• I love to learn new things - I like the interview format;
• I enjoy going for the breakfasts out - as best with friends.

Bring this together with years of organizing events [and good process management], hiring a local biz assistant, having some 12k connections on LinkedIn, running a podcast, and my decision to stay in Georgia and to evolve my collaboration here. [and making more PR for the country]

If you have known me for a while - you can imagine that I did...

Exactly that:

Booked a nice location, texted my friend whom I'd like to learn something more about, created a Google Form, and invited people via LinkedIn. Tada - we met a few days later.

I wasn't thinking of the format for too long - I want to gather people, but I don't want it to be random. I want a particular topic, otherwise, it's rather 'nice looking for your mum', but pointless. I want to have the main guest, someone who has a lot to tell and I can interview. Also, attendees can ask questions. I want to go to a new location every time - and I want to have a limit for the slots to 15, otherwise, it'd be overcrowded and no fun. Plus FOMO. We will eat what we want and people pay for themselves - I am the initiator and organizer, but, well - no rich husband / no socialism / no bitcoin in 2012.

I remember walking to the first location in the morning and understanding I was... I was scared that people wouldn't come since they don't have any 'commitment' - it's usually easier to gather people together if they have to send money in advance, however, I didn't worry about it. I knew that 'in the worst case', I would eat something tasty, talk to Giorgi Avaliani (we had the talk about the Branding for 2024; he's the person-to-go-to for the branding strategy and design), and then go home. Nothing really happens.

However - people came.

And it was really nice.

I had such a great feeling from it that I knew - I needed to continue this, it makes sense, I enjoy it. I started a Telegram channel where we connect and I share information first.

'Girl, charge money'

Well, I hear this e-v-e-r-y-t-i-m-e, and I say 'It's fine'. Why?

My perception is that we get a value for the value we give away. At some point - people can send me $$ via buymeacooffee, however, this is not really the point.

Some math:

Imagine I charge 20 GEL (7.5$) for the entrance. I get 10 attendees, making 75$ - that's not really bad and would cover the time to organize it, to invite people to pay for my assistant and to cover my tea and food there. [writing it now, maybe I will reconsider the principle :)] However, most likely, I should also get an accountant and ehh can I even do this with my individual entrepreneur license? And how about the VAT? And well - I am too European for this maybe, so it's easier to make it 'legally' free of charge.

Anyway, let me talk about the second-plan perspective.

The indirect worth / PR

After the first event, I had a call with my friend based in Prague. He made over 1000 interviews with local entrepreneur minds, marketing experts, founders; Forbes 30u30 guy. He does the mentorship starting at 400$+ per hour and well - he's just great. [And I am super grateful to be in touch for this long.]

'Hey, so you're organizing the breakfasts there?!?!??!?!'

We talked about charging it or not. He organizes some great all-day entrepreneurship seminars which would make much more sense for me in the future to go with something like this as well.

The thing is that I do not really care about <100$. I don't mind about how to make a few dollars more, I mind about how to make a few thousands of dollars more. From the perspective of a monthly basis, not from one gathering. My rent is 1200$, I don't really care about the 75$.

What I care about is that he knows. And not only him.

Well... are you... I mean... Getting the point yet?

On the worth

So why is this gathering a way much higher of the value than the potential of making 75$?

From the obvious - I fulfill my objectives:

• I eat well
• I meet great people
• I learn something new from the areas I am interested in [on the 16th Feb we will talk about the investment opportunities, on the 23rd Feb about the Real Estate market in Georgia, in March about 'making it in the US', and then 'Global opportunism']

From the non-obvious:

• I repurpose the knowledge to more valuable content for my social media;
• I create buzz - and it's seen not only on my LinkedIn but on the LinkedIn of the people coming. Oh and well - they are not only from Georgia, and the connections are a way further. Not just people from Georgia now know I exist, but more and more people around the globe know it.;
• With each breakfast I broaden my network - I purposefully connect with new people who might be interested in the topic and who are based here;
• New collabs - well, I initiate new collaborations, I drive more traffic, connections, and clients to the guest [and the attendees if they want to interact] - and trust me: you want to bring in clients to other people;
• New clients of mine - I get new connections every day [5-30] and people are curious about how I can help. I've really learned a lot about the ecosystem, political situations, and such - and I'm glad I can share the best with people around the world, as Georgia is one of the countries where you can resolve most things remotely, online - be it real estate purchase [from 40k$+, payment even with crypto], or quality bank account opening for the diversification [this is one of my main focuses].

So to summarize - if you've read it till here, you are just living proof:

People know something business-related is happening in Georgia. It's the selected-audience, limited-attendance gatherings in the later mornings. And yes, people text me to keep them in the loop for their planned visit to Georgia in the next months.

When I started this, I didn't realize how well it can benefit the whole ecosystem - just a 'simple morning meetup' to eat breakfast and exchange knowledge. As I keep learning, again and again - the best feedback is the execution.

So what I can imagine will be next?

• First, I have the guest slots open for 1 March, 29 March, 12 April.
• Second, I can imagine making bigger, longer, monthly masterminds with different topics of diving deeper into business analysis. This is to be paid, with even more value added. I can imagine starting this in April.
• Third, I am open to more collaborations, exchanging ideas, and meetings.
• Fourth, I want to make it a trend to have a 'workation' here for the foreign C-levels - going to Georgia for both fun and business. [great food, wine, and business meetings, aww] And I will be glad to connect people with the right people [so DM me, I'll be happy to help].
• Fifth, who knows? I am not the god, but I am agile.

Thank you for reading and - join us next time. It's always different and I am glad that everyone enjoys it - so as I do :)

With love from Georgia,????

Sam

P.S. You can read more about what I do on my new simple site, or DM me directly, and let's talk.