WOMEN IN BUSINESS
COFFEE MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND
Aubrey Betz instituting change one cup at a time
By ERIN WILLIAMS
drinker herself) and eating a Panini,” she said of the surreal moment.
“It was all about meeting people who wanted to buy radio ads, but
after meeting this guy, it morphed into telling people’s stories.”
The setup is simple. Those who are interested in being featured
reach out to Aubrey, who asks them a few questions about their
focus, whether it’s for personal or professional reasons; they set a
date and time, and Aubrey records their conversation, turns it into a
story, and posts it to her blog. She’s talked to everyone from political
office candidates to new transplants to the city; cancer survivors and
weight loss winners; and those who have shifted careers.
“I try to reserve my opinions a lot of times,” she said of writing her
posts. “It’s so hard for me to really go one way or the other because
you never have both sides of the story, and even when you think you
do, you have someone’s version of it.”
Beyond being the best idea for networking ever, her blog has allowed
her to really learn what makes the people in St. Louis tick. Her
interviews are growing close to the triple digits, and she rarely turns
anyone down.
“I feel like everybody has a story, and I think it’s almost better when
they don’t come to the meeting knowing what they want to talk
about, because then you just stumble into some really interesting
things. If they come to me, and they want to promote their business,
that’s fine, but when it’s more organic I feel like it’s so much more
interesting” she said.
Her favorite place to meet? The London Tea Room in Tower Grove for
taste, and Rise in the Mangrove neighborhood for the atmosphere.
There’s a lot to be said about the calming effect of having a cup of
coffee with someone. The soothing caffeine stimulates your brain,
allowing you to remember details and create ideas that may have
been lying dormant; the flow of conversation, whether exchanged
with a rapid-fire back and forth or slow and fluid, creates connection
and intimacy; and the non-committal, no pressure aspect of
extending the moment creates a freeing feeling, allowing the two
people involved to stay for as long as their cups allow.
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No one knows this better than 28-year-old Aubrey Betz, who created
her “Free Coffee With Aubrey” blog three years ago as a way to find
new clients for her then-job as an integrated marketing consultant for
Clear Channel Radio, as well as build her personal brand.
“The whole premise was that we meet, I buy you a coffee, I write
about you, I link to your website, and in exchange, you give me the
name of somebody else who works in media, is a small business
owner, works in advertising, whatever,” she said of her professional
focus. This shifted from professional to personal, however, when a
man reached out to her via LinkedIn for coffee - and, unbeknownst
to Aubrey, he was just released from federal prison.
“It was an interesting juxtaposition - I’m sitting here with a former
federal prisoner, sipping a cup of tea (Aubrey is not actually a coffee
GAZELLE WEST
In 2013, Aubrey moved from Clear Channel to become the director
of marketing for legislative tracking company, Track Bill. After being
laid off last September (“right after my wedding,” she remembers),
she decided to create her own digital marketing company,
InboundBlend after receiving requests for her services three days
after being let go.
“I actually think a lot of it had to do with my blog,” she said. “At the
time I created it, it was interesting for me, and I enjoyed doing it, but
then when I got laid off, so many people reached out right away and
asked, ‘Will you do consulting for me?’ It was a lot of people that
knew about my blog or that I had had coffee with. Several of them
ended up hiring me right away and that was just the foundation I
needed to start my own company.”
Outside of dealing with the constant busyness of running a small
business, Aubrey’ life is about to get even more exciting with the
arrival of her first child this fall.
“Ideally, I’ll continue with the blog,” she said. “I like doing it, I like
meeting with people. I don’t have an agenda. I used to, but I don’t
anymore. But that’s not why I meet with people. I’m not sitting down
with someone to try to sell them something in the end...this is just
totally organic. Let’s just meet and learn more about each other.”