Good morning Syndicate Family. I need to start out with some very sad news, and I will keep this week’s newsletter short. Our Syndicate member, and my friend, @Jonathan Shuffield passed away in his sleep Saturday night. I am devastated by the news. I’m sure you felt his energy here in the Syndicate and believe me outside of it, as a personal friend, his energy was just as electric. Jonny was one of the most creative people I knew and it was an extreme honor to be his friend these past 5 years. We created podcasts together, traveled together, and created new projects together. His latest project, his indie sitcom he wrote, produced and starred in, I was honored to be a Producer for and a Mentor. Jonny’s talent will certainly be missed, but his heart and friendship to his family and the chosen family around him, will be missed the most. I will keep you updated if his family and friends need anything. After such great feedback from the survey and talking to member individually, I am excited for the content we are slowly moving toward here in the Syndicate. Our CORE VALUE PILLARS are; Sharing tried and true business methods with each other, Support through referrals, messaging and communication with each other, and having fun together. This past weeks 5 day Sprint to get our businesses ready for Pride Month in June was a great success. If you haven't looked it over, it's on the "Classroom" tab and the steps you need to make sure your business is ready for Pride. Our Thursday Morning Success Chats have been a successful way for members to add true value to the conversation, sharing their passion and innovation. Coming soon we will be talking about “AI and Ethics In The Workplace” “Influencer Marketing” “Mental Health in Business” and much more. If you can be there for the LIVE chat, it’s Thursday mornings at 10am Eastern Time, right here on the Syndicate’s video page. DM me if you would like to give a presentation sometime. We are definitely upping the fun here in the Syndicate. Be sure to check out and try to participate in our Virtual Pride Parade, that we are creating floats for this month. We also recently had a Success Syndicate Bingo that helped you do things to move your business forward, while winning prizes along the way, (congrats to @art ). I also shared a fun “Success Syndicate Trading Card” template that I have used in other parts of my business over the years. I hope you are finding value in being a member here and I look forward to more participation from you all in the future………..Scott

Hello, All! @Scott Fullerton please let me know if this isn't appropriate or the correct place to post this. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and this year I am focusing on sharing messages of hope for queer folx living with mental illness/mental health concerns, as well as personal quotes from folx living with mental illness. I would love to offer any of you who are interested to share a message of hope or a quote about your experience with mental health. The messages/quotes should be around 5 - 8 sentences, and I will be including your name (unless you want to remain anonymous), any links you'd like me to share, as well as a headshot or picture of you (optional). While they are going to be shared across social media, they are also going to remain on our organization's website. Feel free to comment with questions, and message me if you are interested!

Good Monday Morning Syndicate Fam! I hope you all had a most excellent weekend. If you didn't read this week's newsletter, it is FULL of good information and I Hope you will check it out (you can find it on the newsletter category above). Let's welcome our newest member, @John Morley who is from North New Jersey, and is an Author, Engineer, Video Producer, and President of Garden State Gay Socials. Welcome John, looking forward to connecting. Today's Motivation Monday is to get you motivated to take part in our "5 Day Pride Month Business Ready Sprint." Over the next 5 days, on the Classroom Tab above, I will be adding lessons on how to get your business/coaching ready for Pride Month. Hard to believe but we are only a little over 4 weeks away, but there is still time for you to create a game plan for your business to participate authentically and with some flair. Each day I will add a new course, that has ideas, worksheets, attachments and encouragement to be ready to engage with your customers and clients in June. I will also be LIVE TODAY, WEDNESDAY and FRIDAY, from 1-2pm Eastern time for questions or just to chat. Feel free to pop in and say HI if you can.

Good Morning Syndicate Fam. I hope you are all having a great start to the week. I've got some great DM's and positive feedback for our Pride Readiness Sprint. This was designed for you to work at your own pace and get your business or coaching ready for Pride Month this June. I had a great chat with @Bill Roberts about his goals and there will be open chats at 1pm Eastern Time, this Wednesday and Friday, for any questions. You can always DM in chat as well. Of course, although June is the official Pride Month in the US, Pride is celebrated at different times all over the country and the World, depending on individual cities and communities needs. Today's Sprint post and worksheet is all about creating an event, offer, or visibility hook for your business and the ideas can be for Pride, but hopefully be incorporated to your business all year long. Attached is the "Idea Guide" to get you thinking about how you can create your own individual projects for Pride and/or year round. This will be this Tuesday's "Tools For Growth." Now............Drumroll Please........... Here is the Success Syndicate Pride Event for 2026. We are going to have our own Virtual Pride Parade!! Over the next 4 weeks, I am asking members to CREATE YOUR OWN FLOAT for our Virtual Pride Parade. I want you to create either "A Still Photo," or "A Short '3-10' Second Video," of a float that BEST REPRESENTS YOUR BUSINESS. Make it Fun, Make it Gay, Make it Full of Pride, and Make it Represent Your Business, Coaching, Product or Service. You need to turn your float into me by May 26th, and I will take your photos and videos and turn them into a Virtual Video Pride Parade and post it here in the Syndicate and all over our social media accounts. I hope you will all get creative and participate. I can't wait to see what you come up with.......S

This is a focused workshop helping LGBTQ+ business owners in our Success Syndicate, stop chasing every tactic and instead identify the few actions that actually grow revenue, visibility, and community. This aligns with the Syndicate’s mission of creating a supportive space where LGBTQ entrepreneurs can thrive together. Let’s Get Back To Some Basics: Set Your Business Foundation: Define your business goal, ideal customer, core offer, and competitive advantage so your target audience/clients, know exactly what you sell, who you serve, and why buyers should choose you. Define Your Marketing strategy: What is your Brand Messaging; do you have a Vision Statement that guides how you will operate your business? How are you going to go about your lead generation? What are your current visibility channels (LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Blog, Newsletter, Etc.)? Have you created a simple marketing action plan with clear goals? What Is Your Sales System: Do you have a Sales Funnel built or an idea to create one? Do you operate solely on Referrals and Reaching Out 1-on-1? How do you teach your ideal Customers/Clients, to move them from Awareness to Inquiry to Purchase/Hire? Are you including sales goals and do you track them? What is your follow-up after your points of contact with potential Customers/Clients? What is your follow-up after you make the sale or get hired? Create An Operations Check-up: Review your systems quarterly to see if they are still serving you. What is your client experience; do you capture referrals, testimonials, feedback questionnaires? What are your daily business habits? Are you using a practical checklist approach? Attached is a Mini-Worksheet to help you plan.