Wednesday morning I met Jacqui! She is the first person who was a connection that I met through another coffee with Aubrey participant!
Jacqui and I met at Comet Coffee right next to my office. We really connected because we both really had a very challenging time for our first year doing sales. She's been in the industry for five years now and had some very good insights. She's also very driven and really seems to know exactly what she wants for her future. I find that admirable. I'm more of a drifter, I think. I know that I want to be (and will be) super successful, but I don't know if I want to be a pop star, a radio magnate, a marketing guru or something else entirely!
When it was time for me to leave to get to work, it was hard to go. I think we could have kept talking for another hour or so about our careers and sharing thoughts and advice on the industry.
Jacqui gave me the name of a Pat that she knows in marketing and he and I are currently scheduling a coffee! Stay tuned!

I met Sean for coffee at the Starbucks in Webster groves this past Tuesday. He actually requested to connect on LinkedIn and, as is my custom when someone I don't know makes this request, I asked him to coffee so we could meet!
Because he didn't know about my website, he bought me a hot chocolate, although I insisted that I pay. It was very nice of him!
We weren't able to talk long but I learned that he is a financial advisor at Wells Fargo. It's really pretty amazing the depth of knowledge he has to posess because he has to be able to advise people on a huge variety of financial options.
He talked a bit about his daughter going to see Taylor Swift the evening before, and I shared that I was a fan and was joining my ten year old cousins for the concert that evening.
It was very nice making the connection with Sean and receiving a peppermint hot chocolate! I hope I can return the favor soon!

I got to meet Ben this morning!
We tried Camille's Cafe first, but they didn't open until 7:30am, so we wound up at Stone Spiral in Maplewood. I'd been here once before but I really like the eclectic feel.
Ben is really interesting and incredibly motivated! He is involved in a lot of different projects right now including adjunct professor at Webster University where he teaches the History of Video Games. He also started the Video Game Design Team at Webster. Right now he is working on a big project with Happy Badger studios where he is an Interactive Producer. Check out their kickstarter at happybadgers.com/kickstarter. They're raising money for their next big project on this site.

Ben and I actually figured out that we have several connections in common, too. So it was really fun to figure out who else we each knew! What I also learned is that he actually gets up at 4am many days during the week to start his day. THAT'S motivation!

Later today I met with Jennie Bellinger who does the marketing for Shiloh Chiropractic. She also sells jewelry, which I found out after I told her how much I loved her ring and bracelet she was wearing!
We met at the Bread Co. in Shiloh, IL. She shared with me that Shiloh Chiropractic is very wholistic in it's approach and works pretty extensively with insurance to cover people who have had injuries. 

Today was another great day with some incredibly nice and motivated individuals. I'm LOVING this!!

What an interesting evening!

Dickie contacted me earlier this week saying that he worked at a Clayton restaurant and would like to connect. We decided that I would come to the restaurant, Little Country Gentleman, a little before opening so we could meet. I arrived around 5:30pm and Dickie came over and introduced himself. Unfortunately with them opening at 6pm and he being the Sous Chef, we weren't able to talk too long. I did get to learn that the restaurant has been open for about 7 months now and things are going really well. Dickie, if I remember correctly, studied culinary arts in California before moving back home to St. Louis. This was about the extent of our conversation, but I hope we're able to get together again to chat more because he seems to have a lot of unique experience that it would be fun to learn more about. 

Dickie then sent over the owner Mike and the manager Bettina. We were able to talk a little about the project I'm embarking on, as well as the restaurant before they had to begin helping their guests.

I had a free evening after this as my boyfriend had previous plans so I decided to stick around and have dinner. Their menu is a tasting menu, but you can order a la carte at the bar, where I ordered the Veal and was recommended a wine by their wine steward (sommelier?). Everything was absolutely incredible. The Veal was tender and flavorful and the wine paired excellently. This was also my first experience with molecular gastronomy which was interesting and delicious. I wish I could tell you more, but I think I would get it wrong if I tried to describe my meal in more detail. Suffice it to say, it was excellent.

While I was eating I conversed with Jeff at the bar. We talked a little about his interest in illustration and a study that was done by Getzels and Csikszentmihalyi where they noticed that some art students would quickly grab an object and begin drawing, where others would take their time examining every object available, observe it in different lighting, settings and positions before beginning to draw it. What they decided was that the first students were solving a problem, draw the object, while the second group was looking for a unique problem to solve, how can I draw this accurately, or how can I draw this differently, or how can I adjust the lighting to make this look a certain way. When they followed up 10 years later the artists who were looking for a problem to solve (the second group) were more successful in their field.
So, Jeff and I discussed this idea in one or two different contexts. 

Later in the evening I was joined by a friend of mine who just got a job in her field and we left to go celebrate with a dessert at Cyrano's.

I had such a unique and memorable experience meeting the variety of people at The Little Country Gentleman and would love to go back for more outstanding food and conversation.

Today I met Dr. Michael Glickert for coffee at the Bread Company at 270 and Manchester.
I felt terrible because I had somehow put the address for his practice into my phone and was at 170 and Page before I realized that I was heading the completely opposite direction. SOOOO, I was 15 minutes late.
He was very gracious however and waited for me to arrive.

Michael is incredibly well-read and recommended at least two books for me to read on networking. He also has a very in-depth form that he filled out during our chat that allows him to better network and connect the people he meets with the right people.

I had heard the acronym CRM before, but wasn't sure what it meant. Michael explained the Customer Relationship Management concept and told me he'd connect myself and someone named Jamie who works with a CRM tool or system. It was very interesting because the whole idea is to keep yourself top-of-mind and visible to as many people as possible so that when someone is ready for your services or products, you're the first person they think of. Talking about this with him got my wheels turning about this.

This website is, at it's core, a brand. My brand is "free coffee with Aubrey". And I need to keep that as simple and basic as I can, while at the same time making it memorable so people remember me and the marketing tools I have at my disposal when they are ready for the information. So, I began brainstorming a few ideas to keep myself top-of-mind after I've met someone for coffee. I have a few basic ideas right now that I want to mull over longer before I do anything with them, but I would like some ideas from others.

What can I do to keep myself top-of-mind for the people I meet?
Is it as simple as printing a business card for the "free coffee with Aubrey" brand?
Do I keep an email list and send out emails from time to time?
Do I work with local coffee shops to provide coffee coupons to the connections I've met while conducting my social experiment?

Leave a comment and let me know or fill out the form on the front page so we can discuss over coffee!

I met DJ and Kristi at Starbucks this evening for coffee #4! Oh, and Lucia (sp?) the guide dog they're training, how could I forget her? I hope she wasn't offended that I didn't buy her a coffee.

Coffee #3 wasn't coffee at all! It was a Chardonnay at Black Finn Grill with Aaron.
Aaron and I were connected through a mutual work acquaintance who showed him my website. It is SO FLIPPING exciting when I hear that people are talking about this! I actually called a coffee shop yesterday and the guy who answered knew who I was. Talk about exciting!
Aaron sells insurance and as I pretty desperately need a new car, it was a good connection to make. We talked a little about our careers and family. He has two daughters, one of whom is a singer so that was fun to talk about!
He gave me the name of someone he knows who sells office furniture and therefore will have a lot of business connections in the area.
I have a few more coffee meetings this week that I'm really looking forward to!

I was lucky enough to meet Timothy today for coffee number two at Foundation Grounds in Maplewood!
What a nice guy! We were able to talk about his inspiring work and goals here in St. Louis. We're lucky to have people like him. Music turned out to be a common interest and afterwards I was able to potentially connect him with some of my music friends from Webster University.
Timothy sent me a text after coffee looking for more information on marketing with one of the radio stations I work for and it was really a pleasure to be able to help with that. He also mentioned putting me in touch with someone who is starting a new social networking site.
I really enjoyed our meeting and I hope I was as much help to Timothy as he was to me!
Who's next? :)

Today was my first meeting for freecoffeewithaubrey.com!
I met Harry at the Starbucks in Chesterfield Valley and ended up chatting for about 30 minutes about his business and how things are changing these days with consumer's having so much information available at their fingertips. I recommended a book called 'To Sell Is Human' by Dan H. Pink and he gave me several marketing tips and ideas. Harry then gave me the name of someone he knows who owns a catering company so I can call them for a free coffee.
It was really a great meeting, and ironically enough when he walked in we realized that we had already met once before! 
I have 4 more meetings this week and two already for next week. I am absolutely thrilled at those numbers, most especially because I launched this site less than one week ago. However, to hit my goal of 300 connections in 6 months, I have to have more coffee's scheduled each week.
Please get in touch with me on the homepage to schedule a coffee!