Arden McLaughlin is a Mooresville native with deep roots in southern Iredell soil.
Perhaps her name sounds familiar to you, especially if you’re from around here and have an affinity for the best sausage and livermush around. Arden’s dad, Tom McLaughlin, is the fourth generation of the five-generation McLaughlin Sausage, Co. “We’ve been here forever,” Arden said of her family. “My dad is McLaughlin Sausage, and my great-grandfather was once the mayor of Davidson.”
In fact, McLaughlin’s Sausage is providing breakfast for Arden’s newly created “Mooresville-Area Networking Group,” which meets tomorrow morning from 8:30-10 a.m. at Performance Coffee House on Broad Street in Downtown Mooresville. Cost is $10 and includes breakfast and coffee. Tickets can be purchased here or at the door.
Arden said the networking group is open to small businesses — lawn care specialists, contractors, construction workers, social media managers, healthcare providers, etc. — dedicated to Iredell, Rowan and North Mecklenburg counties. “We will learn together, connect, refer each other and work together to ensure positive business growth for all,” she said. “I want all people feeling comfortable coming in.”
The morning will start with open networking from 8:30-9 a.m., followed by fun icebreakers and a workshop — “How To Get Your Own PR” — delivered by Arden herself. She owns a consulting company that works with a lot of start-ups and small businesses, helping them with their social media, strategic marketing and branding.
Each month of networking meetings will feature different business owners sharing helpful tips and information. Arden’s initial workshop will teach all the insider secrets to garnering media attention and boosting brand visibility. “I want everyone to walk away from these workshops, having felt like they learned something,” she said.
The Mooresville native is a 1996 graduate — “and a Sweetheart Princess,” she laughed — from South Iredell High School. She lived in the Queen City for a while, learning a lot about people, business and what would later become her passion: connecting and consulting. She recently returned to her roots in Mooresville and immediately started looking for a specific kind of networking group, but she didn’t find exactly what she was looking for.
So she created one herself. “I want this to be a grassroots effort to forge strategic partnerships,” Arden said.
It’s about people helping people, she said. “I care about my community, and I was taught, right over at First Baptist Church, that we take care of each other. I have an innate ability to pull people together. My family has always taken care of people, and it’s why I have the business I have.
“I know how to do this, and I feel like I’m supposed to be right here doing it.”
Find and join the Mooresville-Area Networking Group on Facebook. And then mark your calendars: After its initial meeting tomorrow morning, the group will meet again May 7 and June 4 at Performance Coffee House and then will have a happy hour event at Hoptown Brewing on May 15 from 5-7 p.m.
