LA Small Business Expo 2025

I found out about the Los Angeles Small Business Expo through an advertisement on Instagram. I like to follow business-related accounts on my personal profiles so that I'm surrounded by resources and opportunities no matter where I'm browsing from. I saw that the expo was free to attend and located in Pasadena, just a 30 minute drive from my new apartment in Downtown Los Angeles.

I showed up early to make sure that I could find a good parking spot. If there's one thing I learned about driving in LA, it's that parking should be top of mind. As soon as I entered the Pasadena Convention Center, I was greeted by hundreds of attendees and ushers who led me to the check in line. Instantly, I was struck by how friendly the crowd was. Unlike the engineering community that I'm used to, people in business love striking up conversations with random people: I talked to someone while I was in line to check in, while I was in line to take a photo with the Small Business Expo backdrop, and while I was in line to select a sticker that denoted my industry. I hadn't even walked into the expo hall yet, and I already had new business cards in my purse. I love the business world.

I walked through the expo hall and visited some booths that seemed relevant to Chirp, my passion project and growing business. A few minutes later, I settled into a seat for my first workshop. This one was supposed to be about cyber security, but it ended up just being a sales pitch from a vendor. Someone in the audience called them out: "I thought this was supposed to be educational! This is a sales pitch." I approached her later and thanked her for that.

The next workshop was better – it was about how to optimize your online business for AI searches. SEO is slowly becoming a thing of the past. Online businesses of the future use AI SEO, or AEO. I learned from the workshp that Gen Z tends to use ChatGPT more than Google for searches, and Gen Z is my target audience. I've already been working on AEO while developing my MVP and landing page, but it was nice to get notes from a professional. I took note of the speakers' names in case I wanted to reach out to them on LinkedIn. I've found that asking professionals for a quick virtual meeting is actually pretty easy and very valuable.

I slipped out of the workshop early to attend a networking event for the web services/apps/tech industry. I talked to a variety of people, all of whom were welcoming and interested in what I do at Chirp. Hearing "That's so cool!" is very validating. Next was the first keynote presentation: Foundations of Digital Marketing presented by Dave Charest. I didn't learn much from the presentation, but I had great connections with the businessmen who sat on either side of me. More contacts found their way into my phone, and more business cards in my purse.

It should be noted that there were dozens of workshops to choose from. I downloaded the Small Business Expo app just to make sure that my schedule for the day was optimal. After the keynote presentation, it was 1PM and I had scheduled a workshop that I wasn't that excited for. I decided to take a 45-minute break to grab breakfast and a coffee. I am a workaholic and tend to forget to eat. In line for my $3 coffee and $7 hot dog, I met a friendly woman in line who works with business owners to remove mental blocks barring them from succeeding. We had an interesting conversation in line and she asked if we wanted to eat lunch together. I'm an extrovert by all counts, but I don't really like to talk over food; I'd rather have lunch alone and then get back to networking afterwards.

I politely declined and had my lunch outside in the sun. Not many people know this, but most common spaces (like corporate offices) are set to a temperature based on the average male body temperature. Women actually tend to prefer warmer temperatures, and I was freezing in the convention center without an outer layer. This phenomenon irks me when I start to get cold at work. As an engineer, I already tend to be surrounded by men, but this is a persistent reminder that I frequent spaces that are not built for me.

After enjoying the warmth of the sun (I put on SPF 100 that morning), I had to grit my teeth and head back inside for the second keynote presentation of the day: Unlock Success in Amazon's Store, a panel moderated by Diana Mungu. One of the panelists was a Filipina woman, just like me. I wrote her name down, too. Amazon isn't relevant to me as a SaaS owner, but I did get the chance to chat with the gentleman who sat next to me in the first row. He sells luxury menswear and showed me his brick and mortar shop.

I had a 15 minute break that I spent outside in the sun before heading back in for my last workshop: Gamification of Client Creation by Carrie Williams. Chirp is the gamification of social media, so I was interested to hear her perspective. It was a great workshop that resonated my sentiment that gamification is key to enjoying what you do. I sat next to two young women my age, who immediately took to me and chatted with me about makeup and introduced me to their colleagues. I walked with them to the expo hall, picked up a few more business cards, and then headed out for the day.

Days later, I'm still going through all of the calls and emails that were born from my experience at the Small Business Expo. It feels great; I love talking to people and I love having a packed Google Calendar. I almost didn't attend the expo because I was nervous about labelling Chirp as a business rather than a fun little passion project, but I'm glad that I stepped out of my comfort zone. Unfortunately, what they say about growth happening outside of your comfort zone is true.

I think I'm going to be happily uncomfortable for years to come.