You can tell busy season is here when I don’t have time to blog (note to self: pencil in time to blog).

Throughout the year, I receive dozens (sometimes over 100) emails or messages asking to “pick my brain.” Furthermore, judging by my conversations with other entrepreneurs and seasoned professionals, I’m not alone. messages flood email and social media inboxes, and introductions seem to fly at you and before you know what happened, you’re scheduling a meeting.

You know what comes next: the back-and-forth of:

“I’m free at this date and this time, does that work for you?

“Great, where do you want to meet?”

“Oh, that doesn’t work. What about here?”

“ Great - sounds good. Please send me a calendar invite. See you then.”

I am actually a huge advocate of sending those messages, in fact, when you are looking for a mentor or someone to talk to about your path forward. What I was finding, though, that many of the times that I dedicated to going for coffee, having a phone call, or scheduling a meeting wound up being for nothing, as they were cancelled or rescheduled at the last minute.

After countless conversations about wasted time and wanting to help with fellow entrepreneurs, as well as attempts to quantify “mentorship” hours, I decided to start “Pick My Brain” luncheons - a ticketed event that allows one-on-one or group discussions ranging from how to start your own business, to how to succeed in event planning. We just had our first group luncheon April 19, and it was great to see not only the synergy between myself and the attendees, but the small network that was built by the end of the luncheon.

The next one will be in Mid-May at the gorgeous Aqimero Philly! Book now using this link.