The Next Question - Why Pay for Membership

The next question you may ask is why pay an annual membership fee to 3 Degrees Connected™ to be included in a members only web-based network when there are so many other social media platforms on which someone may connect such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or Ning? We hope the answer will not surprise you as we’ve really been trying to get the message out.


Building a network of women-owned, women-operated business that is cohesive in nature, based on consistent ideals, and growing in numbers is actually harder than one may think. With applications like MySpace, Twitter, or Facebook, people can build business pages, and gather fans, and increase their readership through offering incentives, which I hope we are all taking advantage of. However, what this doesn’t really do is connect us on a deeper level as “business entrepreneurs”, it is a self-serving mechanism. Each business is operating as an independent entity with hopes to gain a greater audience to support their own business endeavors.


In the organization 3 Degrees-Connected™, the mantra should be “it’s not about me”. We are creating an infrastructure to support and encourage one another so we don’t feel like we are walking the independent business owner path alone. With an appointed Board of Directors we will be creating bylaws which govern the direction of this organization. We hope to be a useful resource for making connections, one business owner to the next, and providing resource information to support and grow individual companies.

Membership fees will help us to file for non-profit organization status which will make fund-raising efforts within our community easier. We hope to provide an online support system through dialogue and pay for web-development and maintaining our domain name and trademarks. We will developing an orientation program to train those not comfortable with “online” activities to gain confidence in building their social media strategy and learn how to operate within this ‘ning’ network. We hope that existing business entrepreneurs pave the way for those following in our footsteps to make the road smoother and help others avoid unnecessary roadblocks that stand in the way of their success.


Philanthropic efforts will include joining together as a group of talented women to assist businesses in our community who have lost hope and are in survival mode. We hope that we as women will be the encouragement to other women to continue to follow their hearts and not give up the fight too soon. It’s not about funding businesses, but about offering our expertise. This effort has already begun. We are encouraged by the offering of services, and effort to invest in the success of businesses around us. If we want places to go, places to shop, and services in our local community, we need to begin to address the needs of those businesses. If we don’t who will?

Membership - 3 Degrees Connected

If you live in West Michigan, are a woman, and own or operate a business, or have a business objective where making connections is important to you . . . we would love to have you become an integral part of our women’s network. Since women-owned businesses are one of the fastest growing demographics within our new economy, we are interested in meeting you.

The 3 Degrees-Connected™ blog site was established to help you become familiar with us as well as provide relevant business information to you. If you would like to stay abreast of all of our postings, please become a “fan” or link to our updates using an “RSS” feed. Our blog; however, can not be the only resource you use to create a deeper network connection. If that is what you are looking for, membership in our network is probably the answer; please read on . . .


If you are interested in an interactive forum to make more relevant business connections when face-to-face contact is not always practical, we have created a NING networking for members only. For $36.00 a year our membership includes:


• Three “Face-to-Face” Events a year (Jan., May, Oct)

• Interactive Forum Discussions about Topics Relevant to Business (Internet – Invitation Only)


• Personal Stories about Women (Behind the Business) to help us become better acquainted


• A Badge for your website or blog indicating that you are a member of 3 Degrees- Connected™ Women’s Network


• A 3 Degrees-Connected™ cling decal for your car window so you can easily be identified in the community


• Links to your Websites


• Inclusion in our Women-Owned, Women-Operated Business Directory


• Information about local events or organizations that support business development


If you are interested in Membership, please write on a piece of paper the information noted in the application form found in the left sidebar of this blog.  We are working on a downloadable application, sorry for the inconvenience.

Send your check, made payable to, 3 Degrees-Connected™ Women’s Network. Bundle both application and check into an envelop and mail to the address below:

 3 Degrees-Connected™

P.O. Box 495

  Spring Lake, MI 49456

We have also added a Pay Pal button on the upper left column of this blog to make this easier for you. If you select this form of payment, please note that we have included a small fee to cover processing costs.




It is important that we receive your application along with your payment.  If using Pay Pal, please use the comments box to enter enough information that we may contact you.    

Since we are living in the 21st Century, the most valuable resources our members can hope to acquire is using electronic means; if you are not Internet savvy, or have an email address, you probably wouldn’t have found our site to begin with. These are key elements to our membership. If needed, we will try to create a future event that helps to ease you into this type of electronic interaction.

If you have any questions, please feel free to forward them to president@3degreesconnected.org or rhonda@genevagirlsdesigns.com.

You can also leave a message on our toll free number  866-587-2963.

Best wishes,


Rhonda W. Geneva
Founder/president
3 Degrees-Connected™ Women’s Network