Calendar of Events

It’s time for the annual Loving Collective Halloween Networking Social, October 27, from 5:30-8:30pm, at Comfort Suites Innsbrook! Come dressed in your Halloween best! Costumes are encouraged! How wacky, outrageous or terrifying can you be?

Whether business has been frightfully good—or simply frightful—the Loving Collective is the place to find new connections and opportunities. Need new business partnerships? Some mentoring? Some ideas? This is just some of what you’ll find when you come.

Thanks to the Loving Collective members and our terrific sponsor Robinson’s Plumbing Service, this networking event is STILL FREE! We believe you shouldn’t have to pay to have a good time and meet the kind of people you want to be doing business with. That’s why the Loving Collective members, partners, and sponsors work tirelessly behind the scenes to provide you with this monthly networking opportunity.

Special thanks goes to Robinson’s Plumbing Service for their sponsorship, the J. Smith Jazz Trio for providing great entertainment, and Comfort Suites Innsbrook for their long-standing partnership with the Loving Collective.

So, RSVP today and join us on October 27 for food, music, costumes, and terrific networking! Don’t be scared of success—it will be waiting for you at the door when you get here.

Back to school—and back to business for the Loving Collective members and guests! We hope you had a great, productive and prosperous summer. Now, it’s time to launch into fall with September’s Jazz Networking Social.

Get ready to kick off the 4^th Quarter at a new location—Wings, Pizza N Things at 1404 N Parham Road Richmond VA 23229 (804) 767-6025, on Thursday, September 29, 5:30-8:30pm. There will be some light appetizers and snacks, courtesy of the Loving Collective and Wings, Pizza & Things, or feel free to order yourself a beer or entrée from the fine menu selection. You can check out what they have ahead of time by clicking here.

The J. Smith Jazz Trio will be there to entertain and soothe after a long day in the office or pounding the pavement. Catch up with some of your networking buddies from past events—and make new connections with the scores of business people from across Greater Richmond Metro Area who regularly show up to find partnerships, ideas and camaraderie!

Every event is different—and this month’s social will be no exception. RSVP today to join a new crowd in a new location. Find out how easy success can be, when you know the right people. It’s “give to get” networking. A great way to build relationships—the stuff every successful business is made of.

On July 28, the members of the Loving Collective are shaking things up and opening our doors not just to the Richmond business community but to all of Richmond! We want to say “Thank you, Richmond!” for supporting local businesses with a cookout celebrating Richmond businesses and their customers!

And it’s FREE!

RSVP by July 25, and you, your family and your friends can get in free for Hawaiian BBQ, dogs and all the fixings by Sweet Peas Catering! Without an RSVP, tickets at the door are $15. Dress will be casual, so dress comfortably for an outdoor cookout and come ready to have some fun.

This is our way of saying “Thank you” to everyone who has come to the Collective socials to network, pass business, refer people and to support local businesses while helping their own businesses grow. At the same time, we’re thanking the community at large for recognizing what small businesses do for Richmond, for the local economy, and for our community—and saying thank you with a fantastic party!

The J. Smith Jazz Trio will be our featured musical entertainment—and we hear they’re bringing in some extra friends for this special occasion. Many of our sponsors and charities from the last year will have tables set up such as Robinson’s Plumbing Service, and we encourage you to talk to them and visit with them to find out more about what they do and how you can network together.

You’ve got to give to get. It’s true in networking. It’s true in business. So, we’re giving a cookout and party to say, “Thank you,” to the very people who make Richmond what it is—you, your families, and your customers in the community.

RSVP right away for your free ticket ahead of time. Otherwise, tickets are $15 at the door without an RSVP. July 28, 5:30-8:30 p.m., at the Comfort Suites Innsbrook, 4051 Innslake Drive, Glen Allen, VA, 23059. Can’t wait to see you there!

“The longest lasting client relationships I’ve built in the last year all started at the Collective.”

“I closed business about two weeks after the first one I attended.”

“The exposure to the new charities each month has been great—I never knew our community had so much to offer people.”

“There’s a lot of variety in the people, the industries. I need that, so the networking has been great for me.”

This is just some of the feedback that we’ve been getting from the business people who have been attending the monthly Jazz Networking Socials, hosted by the members of the Loving Collective.

And your chance to be a part of the buzz is coming up again, Thursday, May 26, at 5:30 p.m., at Comfort Suites Innsbrook, at 4451 Innslake Drive in Glen Allen. Join us for free networking. That’s right! Why should you have to pay to come out and meet people in your own community? Come meet the people you need—and want—to do business with.

How do we keep it free? Thanks to generous sponsors, like Robinson’s Plumbing Service, Vending Services of Richmond who provides the coffee and beverages, and Sweet Pea’s Catering who has been our newest food sponsor. When you come by, make sure to shake hands with them, give them your card and thank them for helping make this great event happen.

It’s also thanks to the members of the Loving Collective, who believe that by strengthening businesses in metro Richmond and the surrounding areas, the community as a whole will be stronger.

Make sure to “pay it forward.” Since there isn’t a fee to come and find new business, please make sure to throw a few bucks (whatever you can afford) to this month’s featured charity.

Great food. Great music from the J. Smith Jazz Trio. Great business connections that will make 2011 your best year yet! See you on May 26 at 5:30 p.m.!

Like attracts like–and the ambitious, successful types are coming out in droves to the Loving Collective Jazz Networking Socials!

Thanks to you regularly coming out to meet and greet at our networking events each month, we’ve been hitting the 100 person mark regularly! And that means that now more than ever, metro Richmond, Northside and Tri-Cities business people have more opportunities to find partnerships and connections that will lead to more success.

Let’s keep the ball rolling! Join us again for April’s networking social on April 28 at 5:30pm at the Comfort Suites Innsbrook at 4451 Innslake Drive, Glen Allen, VA. There will be  entertaining jazz by the J. Smith Jazz Trio, delicious coffee from Vending Services of Richmond (VSR), and tons of quality connections for your networking pleasure and success!

And when you come, make sure to support April’s featured charity, Even if you can only throw a buck or two their way, it’s really appreciated. Take some time to pay forward all the success you experience in your life by helping out some people who could use a little support from us. Take some time to visit with our charity and get to know them and their mission a little better.

So bring the business cards and an open mind and get ready to meet the person (or people) who will be your next great business connection–the one who will fill a gap in your products or services, perhaps be a partner or a vendor, or even be a mentor or just a great friend for brainstorming and ideas.

We’ll see you there!

Something new at the Loving Collective! You love your
business. You love your family and friends. So bring them together at
February’s Loving Collective Jazz Networking Social! It’s time to introduce
them to what you’ve been doing away from home these Thursday nights.

Bring your spouse or significant other to Comfort Suites
Innsbrook at 5:30 p.m., on Thursday, February 24, to show them what networking
is all about. As an added bonus, David Proett Photography will be on hand to
take your picture with your sweetheart! You’ll enjoy the great jazz of the J.
Smith Jazz Trio, some free snacks, and the great company of your fellow business
friends and their families.

While you’re here, make sure to visit with and support
Mended Little Hearts, the February featured charity. Did you know that nine out
of every thousand infants (that’s 36,000 babies each year) are expected to be
born with heart defects? In 2004, there were more than 139,000 hospitalizations
for infants and children with cardiovascular defects, costing over a whopping
$2.6 billion in unexpected hospital charges.

Can you imagine the devastation and stress of finding your
newborn infant fighting for life and of facing tens of thousands of dollars in
unexpected hospital bills? Mended Little Hearts educates the public and supports
the families who find themselves in these life-and-death situations. Come talk
to them and give as generously as you can—even if it’s only a few dollars.
Everything is appreciated.

Share your love and your passion for your business and for
good networking with the people in your life you love the most. Come join us
for a very special networking event like no other, as the Loving Collective
community comes together to make opportunities happen in 2011!