Category: Small Business

Small Business with Tom Sullivan

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Brandon Burton 0:00
This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.

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Our guest for this episode is Thomas Sullivan. Thomas is the Vice President of Small Business Policy at the US Chamber of Commerce, working with the US Chamber’s nationwide network. Tom harnesses the views of small businesses and translates that grassroots power into federal policies that bolster free enterprise and reward entrepreneurships. He also runs a US Chamber Small Business Council, engaging those members on a regular basis to increase Small Business input and involvement in chamber initiatives. Tom’s advocacy career spans from creating Legal Center at the National Federation of Independent Business to General Counsel at the Bipartisan Policy Center to building the innovative lending platform Association. Tom received unanimous Senate approval to serve as SBA Chief Counsel for advocacy at the George W Bush administration, and remains active in the bush Cheney alumni network. Tom and his wife live in Virginia and are blessed with two teenage sons. Tom serves on the board for the Global Entrepreneurship Network and is a graduate of the Chamber’s four year Ioan credential program. Tom, I’m excited to have you with us today here on chamber chat podcast. I’d love to give you an opportunity to say hello to all the chamber champions who are out there listening, and to share something interesting about yourself so we can all get to know you a little better. Well. Thank

Tom Sullivan 2:37
you. Brandon, hello all the chamber chat listeners, it’s great to be with you today. Let’s see something interesting about me. Well, you know Brandon, when you and I were chatting about the day that this podcast will air, April one, not only is it April Fool’s Day, but it is a day that is forever etched in my memory and pain in my lower back, because I have significant structure in my lower back where several of my vertebrae are fused together, and that was done on April 1, a long time ago, so I’ll Never forget that day. It is certainly something interesting, yeah,

Brandon Burton 3:22
and hopefully it’s improved your life since then,

Tom Sullivan 3:27
it has, definitely has. I can, I can, I can use both legs regularly. So yes, it’s, it’s, it worked. That

Brandon Burton 3:35
is a good improvement, for sure. Yeah, well, Tom usually I have the guests tell a little bit about their chamber size, staff, budget, scope of work being at the US Chamber, why don’t you instead tell us a little bit more about your role with the US Chamber to kind of set the stage for our discussion. Well, Brandon,

Tom Sullivan 3:54
thank you. So first of all, I am a little bit biased, but I do have the best job at the United States Chamber of Commerce here in Washington, DC. The reason it’s the best job is I get to spend every day talking with folks who are probably listening to this podcast local state chamber leaders as well as their small business members. Now I get the added benefit of taking what I learned from all of those wonderful folks and advocate before Congress and the White House, but I truly think it is the best job, mostly because I get to talk with small business owners every day.

Brandon Burton 4:29
Absolutely, I can totally understand why you would say it’s the best job in the world. That’s I love working with chambers for that very reason, they’re the ones that are dealing with people that are on the front lines with, you know, putting bread on the table, so to speak, for families across this country. Well, for our topic of conversation today, we’re going to spend the majority of our focus on small business on the local and the national scale. And. And bringing in some of your expertise, some of the things that you’ve seen, and some things that you may see on the horizon as well, with regard to small business, and we’ll dive into this as soon as they get back from this quick break.

Joe Duemig
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Rose Duemig
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Joe Duemig
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Rose Duemig
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Joe Duemig
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Rose Duemig
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Joe Duemig
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All right. Tom, we are back. So as we turn our focus today on small business, on the local and the national scale, I know your focus is on that all the time, but what are some of the things that you see as you, as you interact with chambers across the country, as you, you know, pay attention to the needs of small businesses. What are those things that are top of mind right now, things that to be paying attention about? To be fair, we are recording this in in December of 2024 so by the time this comes out in in April 2025 we may see a little bit of a different climate, but at this point, how do you see things, and what are those things that are top of mind? Well,

Tom Sullivan 9:10
thank you Brandon, and thank you also for letting the listeners know that here in December, while we’re awaiting president elect Trump to take office, there is some uncertainty, and I’m sure that by April, all that uncertainty, you know, smooth sailing, but, but seriously, there are some things that will certainly still be front and center on the radar as your listeners are listening right now. Probably the thing that has been on every small business owners radar for close to three years has been inflation. This has been the the strongest headwind for small business growth for three years and. There certainly have been proposals to reduce inflation and whatever those proposals are, small businesses are going to be the largest cheerleading section, because it it has been a wet blanket on growth for small businesses that have been anxious for that growth to take off for some time. So solutions to inflation are front and center for every small business in the country, and most of my job is trying to look at small business policy through the lenses of growth, and that means through the lenses of those policy solutions designed to reduce inflation.

Brandon Burton 10:45
And that is such a hot topic, for sure. And even as this is released in April of 2025 inflation is not one of those things that you can just turn a dial and it’s fixed right. There’s, it’s a it’s that small steering of that ship, that that makes those, those changes. And some of this gets done on the, you know, the advocacy front. Some of it is, you know, when it comes to importing and exporting and where these goods are coming from, and there’s a lot that plays into the cost of goods, right to Yeah, what we look at with inflation, but for sure, on the local level, for the local chambers listening, is there, are there things that they can do to whether it’s to help with inflation or or to put minds at ease of their members and help them to navigate their way through the uncertainty with with inflation. Well, let’s, let’s

Tom Sullivan 11:45
start first hit on your your question about, How do they help? And I just want every listener to know how important it is to show up. And I don’t mean just show up was switching on the zoom camera or picking up the phone. I mean, coming to Washington, DC and having your voices heard. I mean, this is something I do every day. And you know, it’s nice when lawmakers are sick of seeing my face, but every time a small business owner comes from the district that has elected this member of Congress. Every time they go into the office. That’s what makes a difference. I mean, the best lobbyist I have ever met, and I’m saying that with full acknowledgement that my wife is a lobbyist. So the best lobbyist I have ever met is Yasin Taru from Knoxville, Tennessee. He owns a falafel shop, and he comes to Washington, DC, and, you know, he gets the selfie pictures with with members of Congress and all that stuff. But then when the member of Congress sits down and the staff around them take out their notepads and pencils. He says, Look, he starts locally. Hey, when are you going to, you know, you said you were going to have some federal money to rebuild that bridge. Like, how’s that going? Where’s the progress? Because I haven’t seen the construction trucks pulling up yet. And and the member of Congress looks at the staff member and says, okay, yeah, we got to follow up with that. And then Yaseen generally, then goes on to tax policy. It says, Look, you know, some of these tax provisions really have to be made permanent, because it helps me and it helps millions of other small businesses around the meeting ends, Yasin goes home to his beautiful family, and then it’s up to me and my colleagues at the US Chamber of Commerce, along with the colleagues of chambers all over the United States, to make sure that there’s follow up capitalizing on that local small business owners advocacy. And I could tell you, Brandon, it makes a huge, huge difference. Every Yaffe in Toru who shows up in a member of Congress’s office, is worth 20 times when I show up. Yeah, so the magnifying impact really, really does make a difference. And now I know that small business owners, you know, they gotta make enough profit at the end of the day so that the lights can get turned on the following day, and they’ve got to make enough money so that food does get on the table of their employees. So it’s hard just to pick up and go to Washington, DC, but I can assure every small business owner it makes a difference, and what makes an extra difference is when they talk with their local chamber first, make sure they get their message down so that they know what the ask is that will help them as a small business and will help the entire community of small businesses that honestly, they’re representing when they make that trip to Washington, DC.

Brandon Burton 14:57
Yeah, and I see you know. All the time, these chambers that do their Washington DC fly in and, you know, maybe bring some of their people from their board, who are these business owners, and be able to present their voices and concerns and what their needs are. And I know not every chamber has the ability to do that, but there is strength in numbers. So the more, the more that show up and can plea that case and hopefully be in line with each other too, so you don’t have one chamber contradicting what another saying, right? Well,

Tom Sullivan 15:29
you know, we we do more to just have folks come and and speak their mind than we do worrying about whether or not everyone is on the same page. One small business owner has a different view of how their business can grow, and the federal incentives to make that happen, it’s not going to be so different from another. Growth is primarily the main talking point, and small business owners know what it means to grow. They know what it it means to grow as an economy that actually bolsters the America as a superpower instead of making it weaker by adding deficit. So we don’t worry that much about exact messaging. We worry mostly to make sure that our representatives are speaking through the lenses of growth, to their their policy makers. And I should also at least acknowledge you don’t have to come to Washington, DC. Every member of Congress has local district offices. And when they’re when they come back home to the voters who elected them, they want to visit with small businesses. Not only is it a great photo op, but it is also great from a Chamber of Commerce’s perspective, that that small business owner gets the undivided attention of the elected leader through the entire visit. Yeah,

Brandon Burton 16:54
that’s a good point. So a couple times now you’ve mentioned looking at things through the the lens of growth, or presenting things from that that perspective, and as I think of these, a lot of the lawmakers, they’ve they’ve been in politics their their adult life, right? They, a lot of them have not run and operated a business themselves. So is there any maybe best practices on how to communicate through that lens of growth that can be relatable to those that they need to relate it to? Well,

Tom Sullivan 17:24
what a great question. The answer is yes, there is some advice. So first of all, the advice is, be who you are. Don’t try to be a lobbyist from Washington, DC. Don’t try to be like the most caught up on the latest scandal of the hour. Just be who you are and tell your story and practice your story, either with your loved ones or your local chamber leader, and have them ask questions the way that a member of Congress would I love telling a very recent story that happened. We have been already aggressively meeting with Congress to promote the pro growth aspects of tax policy that are set to expire at the end of 2025 Our campaign is designed to make those provisions permanent, so that at the end of 2025 all of a sudden, small business owners don’t wake up with an enormous tax bill that they didn’t expect. And we brought in a local small business from Bucha, Arizona, who sells hay, alfalfa, if you want to be more specific. And he was wonderful. He was meeting with Dave Schweikert, who is a member of Congress, who serves on the tax writing committee, and and Dick Cardo, who’s the owner of Cardo hay company. He said, you know, all this, this whole discussion of taxes, is just so complicated, and it’s this is awkward for me as a small business owner, I don’t really know what to say. All I know is, for the past five years, I have been saving a little bit every year in order to buy this piece of machinery that bails hay and puts the hay on my truck in a way that I don’t have to because I’m getting older and I can’t do it anymore. And, and the congressional staffer looked at dick and said, Oh my gosh, that like, that’s the example we’ve been looking for. Yes. And he said, Where are you gonna buy this equipment? He said, Oh well, you know, I, my friend down the street, sells this particular piece of equipment, we’re going to get it there. And so all of a sudden, Dick is just telling his story and what he’s been doing, which is saving some dollars at the end of every year, which is made possible through some tax deductions that are set to expire. Not only is he saving that to spend it. He’s spending it for his business to grow, and he’s also spending it at a neighboring business that will allow them to grow. And so the reason I tell you that story is sometimes we make it too complicated, and it’s as simple as telling your story that connects your local experience with a national policy that is designed to promote growth, and that’s what Dick did. And I’ll continue telling that story to anyone who will listen. What

Brandon Burton 20:32
a great example. And you know, sometimes there’s sometimes government can get in the way of that growth, and we want to be able to take down some of those barriers, eliminate some of those things. And for him to say, I’m trying to save a little bit each year to make his job easier, but be more productive, to help his business, help others. And then, as you’re explaining this, the whole thought of inflation creeps back in here too. I mean, that ties right back into it when he’s saving a little bit each year, but that little bit is less than is less and less each year because of that. So it all. It all plays into it. So does it. Does wonderful example. Is there anything that local chambers can do to help with their their members, maybe to put their mind cities or to to help them carry on, you know, through a lens of growth that will allow them to maybe not focus on the the negative effects so much of inflation, but continue to look at opportunities to grow and control what you can control and and maybe encourage others to help you in the other areas,

Tom Sullivan 21:43
there certainly are ways that local chambers can learn from each other, perhaps learn from you and me and others. You know. One of them is Institute. You know, the Institute of organization management, otherwise known as Institute or IOM. I’m a winter Institute graduate down in Tucson, Arizona. You know the networks and learnings that all Institute graduates benefit from carry on for the rest of their professional lives. And when you’re struggling with something all of a sudden, you have this immediate network of other chamber professionals who hopefully are listening to this podcast. And that does provide comfort, it does provide certainty, and it does provide paths forward. The other thing to do is to recognize that that the relationship with the US Chamber of Commerce is intended to be a two way value proposition, and the access that our 1600 local, state and regional Chambers of Commerce have who pay a small amount in order to be part of that network. Their value is gained from getting the regular insider information about what’s going on, and then we encourage those local chamber executives to share it with their membership, so that that connectivity, which really chambers are famous for because that’s what we basically do. At our core, is we connect people work. We’re the community connectors, and the more that we can lean into that connectedness, whether it’s through IOM Institute or whether it’s from being part of what we call the Federation, sounds like a Star Wars term, but really it’s just a term that is assigned to this incredible network of both trade associations and local, state and regional Chambers of Commerce. So just leaning into that connectivity, I think, diminishes some of the fear, some of the uncertainty, and does create some really long, lasting bonds.

Brandon Burton 24:03
I think that’s great advice. And anybody who I know has been through the IOM program would would echo that. And in fact, it’s often a action item that that guests will share with others, is to build that professional network and to to have those peers that you can lean upon and in the, you know, the US Chamber, even to lean upon. Well, what other what other things come to mind when you go about your work with focusing on small businesses and that, that lens for growth, what what other things are top of mind for you at the moment?

Tom Sullivan 24:39
Well, you know, one of the things that is constantly top of mind are the day to day challenges of small business owners. I mean, I’m lucky to deal with national policy issues, so tax, health care, regulatory policy, those types of things are within my remit. But you know, what about. About choosing a payroll provider? What you know? What about finding an inventory management system? All of these things that are, are the that that are worries, concerns, and, quite frankly, opportunities at a small business level, the US, Chamber of Commerce, traditionally never really addressed those daily needs until COVID, when COVID hit, this desperate need for information was absorbed by our then new CEO, who was a small business owner herself, Suzanne Clark, and she heard this thirst, she felt this thirst for practical information, and we responded by launching a small business digital platform. It’s called co CEO, that digital platform is designed to answer these questions that small business owners have that are daily challenges, and the greatest thing about CO is that the answers come from other small business owners. So how do you choose a payroll provider? Well, there are stories on this small business digital platform called CO that interview a small business owner, and that small business owner tells how she chose a payroll provider or manages a supply chain or how they could figure out how the heck to hire a really good employee like these, these things that keep small business owners up at night are answered by their peers through this digital platform that is available for anyone, and Our local and State Chambers of Commerce are certainly taking advantage of it by by embedding the CO platform into their communications with their members, and it is open to anyone who has a good internet connection. And I’m just really happy that now that COVID is in our rear view mirror our commitment to answer daily questions and challenges small businesses face continues to be a priority. I think that that has to do in a large part because our CEO is Suzanne Clark, is a former small business owner, but it also is an example of how we saw something, we built it into our new muscle memory, and we’re committed to continue it long term.

Brandon Burton 27:46
Yeah, that is that’s a great example and great resource. So if the chambers listening have not been utilizing co I’d encourage them to check it out and see where it makes sense to implement it with your members, and, like Tom said, embedded into your communications, because it sounds like a wonderful resource. Well, Tom, as we start to wrap things up here, I wanted to ask for the chambers listening who may be wanting to, you know, take their chamber up to the next level. What kind of tips or action item might you share with them to try to accomplish that goal. Well,

Tom Sullivan 28:23
I’ll go back to my friends at IOM and Institute in the Federation. You there is a chamber of commerce accreditation process, and those five star chambers around the United States are the best of the best, and that means that that process isn’t easy, but I’ve never heard a five star chamber saying, Wow, that was a heck of a waste of time. I mean, the other way around, we hear like, you know, I had no time for it, and it was hard. But now that we got our accreditation, it was worth it. And I think the chambers that are looking to go to the next level should look very seriously at the Chamber’s accreditation program and see if they can jump in with both feet,

Brandon Burton 29:18
and even if, even if they’re not awarded with a five star accreditation. It’s a good refining process to go through the exercise and see where you where you stack up, and where you can find areas to improve and be more efficient as an organization. Well, Tom, as we look to the future of chambers of commerce, how do you see the future of chambers and their purpose going forward?

Tom Sullivan 29:41
So Brandon, in this digital world we live in, I think there’s an even greater need and appreciation for the convening power of chambers. Now we we have the luxury now of convening in a multitude of ways, but it’s still convening. Yeah, um. And whatever flavor that takes. I do think that the power of networks that are made possible through the convening are actually at an all time high. I say that also with the realization that for the past five years we’ve had record breaking new business starts, and that means there are all these new small businesses looking for connectivity, looking for network opportunities, virtually and in person, and chambers of commerce are uniquely situated to capitalize on it.

Brandon Burton 30:37
I love that, the idea of the power of the networks. I’ve heard a quote before, and I can’t attribute who I heard it from, but talked about digging your well before you’re thirsty, you know, you make those contacts, you have that network built. And then when there’s a need there, you’re not trying to develop those relationships right then in that moment, because you already have them, you can send out that message and say, Hey, I need help with this, you know. And you know those contacts who can help you. So great, great piece of advice and and way to look forward with the future of chambers, I wanted to give you an opportunity to share any contact information for listeners who may want to reach out and connect with you and maybe learn some more about what you have to offer in terms of a small business support. Where would you point them? What would be the best way to connect?

Tom Sullivan 31:27
The best way is through LinkedIn. Under Thomas Sullivan US Chamber of Commerce, you’ll you’ll find my LinkedIn profile. I tend to lean into LinkedIn a little bit more than some other social media platforms. I find the the dialog a little bit more respectful on on LinkedIn than some other social media platforms. But if, if those other social media platforms are your are your thing, my handle is smallbizpatriot, and that’s probably the easiest way to get me.

Brandon Burton 32:00
All right, we will make sure to get that in our show notes for this episode as well, to make it easy to find you and connect with you on LinkedIn. But Tom this has been great having you on the podcast. I really appreciate you taking some time to be with us today and to share some of these insights and and like you said, the the lens for growth. I love that, that perspective, and that’s really the way every chamber should be looking at small businesses in their community, is through that lens for growth. What can they do to help remove obstacles? What can they do to help create that network to allow for that growth? And this has been a valuable conversation, so I appreciate you.

Tom Sullivan 32:38
Well, Brandon, right back at you. I appreciate you, and I certainly appreciate all of the chamber executives who are listening, and in particular because of the great work that they do for their small business members.

Brandon Burton 32:53
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Chamber Passion with Joe Aldaz

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Brandon Burton 0:00
This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.

Our guest for this episode is Joe Aldaz. Joe is the President and CEO of the Colorado Springs Hispanic Chamber and Education Foundation. He is a seasoned nonprofit leader with over 20 years of experience, he has revitalized the chamber, achieving national recognition for its growth, membership retention and impactful events. Joe is a passionate advocate for diversity and leadership development, founding the adelante Leadership Institute to empower marginalized communities. His as his efforts have created opportunities for bipoc business owners and fostered strategic partnerships at all levels, a sought after speaker and consultant. Joe’s expertise spans nonprofit management, small business ecosystems and veteran services, but Joe, I’m excited to have you with us today here on chamber chat podcast. I’d love to give you an opportunity to say hello to all the chamber champions who are out there listening, and to share something interesting about yourself, so we can all get to know you a little better.

Joe Aldaz 2:13
Sure. Well, you know, thank you for this great opportunity to kind of share our story about our chamber journey here in Colorado Springs, but something maybe not a lot of people don’t know about me is I have a journey into thoroughbred horse racing. So I am a micro share owner in a program called my race horse so it gives you the opportunity to to experience being a owner and watching thoroughbreds race across the country, so I’ve kind of dabbled in that with my son over the past few years, and it’s just fun being able to have very small shares, act like an owner and watch one of your horses win a great race. So that’s something a lot of people don’t know about me, but coming from New Mexico, a lot of horse racing there in the state of New Mexico, I kind of grew up around it and had the opportunity to experience it as An owner, beginning in 1995 but then stepped away from that and had the opportunity again, about five years ago, to purchase some shares in a stable of horses, very small percentage, but it’s just fun having that great experience to watch Your horse coming down the home stretch, and it’s a, it’s wins a race. Yeah,

Brandon Burton 4:04
no, that is interesting. I’m actually, I’m in North Texas, and so we’ve got a lot of, a lot of horse ranches, a lot of horse breeding that goes on around here and and a lot of these race horses come out of, you know, not, not too far from where I am, but that that is neat. It’s a something I don’t know a whole lot about, but I admire it is something very fascinating. Well, if you could tell us a little bit about the Colorado Springs Hispanic Chamber, just to give us an idea of the size of chamber, scope of work, staff, budget just kind of set the stage for our conversation today.

Joe Aldaz 4:45
Well, the Colorado Springs Hispanic Chamber was originally incorporated in 1988 and they had a pretty impactful run up until about the early 2000s and obviously has a small identity. City chamber where you were your your revenue is based on memberships and sponsorships of event. It’s very hard to sustain that unless you have an effective staff in place. So ironically, in 2006 I was in between jobs from the defense sector being retired Air Force, somehow they found me, and they asked me to come on board, to be their sole staff member as their executive and to rebuild the membership in the chamber and professionalize their board of directors. So not knowing a whole lot about chambers, I took on that role for a little over a year, grew their membership that had dwindled from probably close to 400 to less than 100 and built it to back over 200 in a year, uh, began to develop some programming and structure for the organization, but then had an opportunity to Move on to the USO and and serve in a position there. So I was far removed from chamber operations from beginning in 2007 but in 2009 the Hispanic Chamber closed its doors based on not having funding and able to continue operations. Four community members in 2016 reestablished and reincorporated the chamber as the Colorado Springs Hispanic Business Council. And they reached out to me in 2018 to come on their board that evolved to becoming their board chair in 2000 in the June of 2018 I volunteered to serve out that board chair’s term, but that turned into almost a two years as a volunteer board chair. At the time, I had a full time role in veteran trainings, facilitating and training veterans for Syracuse University in a program called onward to opportunity. So that was my full time job, as I was the volunteer board chair. But when I took on this role, we had 22 members in June of 2018 $6,000 in our account. And to make a long story short, I retired from Syracuse in March of 2023, and the board made me, asked me to be their full time executive. And since that time, in June of 2018 we’ve evolved to over 350 members, over $200,000 in assets, and we continue to grow. We have a very robust event schedule and programming. And believe it or not, when you mentioned about our staff, I am the staff for the Hispanic Chamber. Wow, all things that we accomplish are the support of our board of directors and myself, making sure that we deliver the high caliber programming, high caliber events to our community and our Hispanic Chamber members.

Brandon Burton 8:15
So that is very impressive. Great job. Sounds like they got the right man in the seat there. So keep it up. Man that that blows my mind to go from 22 members when you come in to over 350 now. So as I, as I reached out to you, and we were setting this up, we talked about, kind of focusing the discussion today on overall chamber passion. And you know, this kind of, these kind of results don’t happen without passion. So I’m excited to dive in deeper on this passion and kind of what drives you with this as soon as I get back from this quick break,

Joe Duemig
Hi, I’m Joe and I’m Rose, and we’re the founders of App My Community, a mobile app that can be customized to meet the unique needs of your chamber of commerce.

Joe Duemig
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Joe Aldaz 12:09
I know the my passion kind of is centered around trying to create a lot of opportunity for Hispanic owned and multicultural businesses in our community. This is the fastest growing entrepreneurial market in the country. If you look at the just the the economic power the Latino population has in the United States, it’s 3.6 trillion GDP, which is the fifth largest in the world, resident in our country. So the indirect and direct impacts of that are, there’s going to be entrepreneurs that are going to be starting a business, because that’s opportunity to grow generational wealth, which the Latino culture continues to try to build in the United States. So that drives my passion, and I just want to be of service to those businesses, to help our community grow and continue to build that small business ecosystem here. Yeah,

Brandon Burton 13:19
I mean, you really are in a position to see lives change for sure. You know creating that, the generational ability to be able to create a place, tell us a little bit more about some of the programming, the the approaches you take, what how is the chamber stepping into this role that that really can be so impactful for these individuals and their families. Well,

Joe Aldaz 13:47
you know, we we provide, as an example, one of the programs we provide, and it’s a free service we have, what’s called the avanzar business accelerator program, that is a digital platform that we created through one of our board of directors who has been in the startup business space for several years. And what that allows us to do, and we are providing that as a free service to all startups and entrepreneurs in the Colorado Springs community. It’s a 24/7 digital platform. Entrepreneurs can register and go in and gain training in a lot of different topics, from building your financial plan, building your business plan, identifying the right type of client for your market, develop financial projections, all of those things that impact growing a business. And we’ve made that free for all entrepreneurs in our community. And as we grow, we believe that we’re going to reach and touch 1000s of entrepreneurs here in COVID. Colorado Springs. So that’s a unique program that we have that no other Chamber of Commerce here in El Paso County has here in Colorado Springs. Another unique program that we have is the adelante leadership institute that is a 10 month fellowship program through Education Foundation, and we’re developing a pipeline of emerging Latino and Latina talent to become more civically engaged and begin service on nonprofit boards and commissions in Colorado Springs to start to change that diversity of what boards look like in our community, since the Latino population is the fastest growing population here in Colorado Springs.

Brandon Burton 15:47
That’s that’s awesome, hey, and a great the business accelerator. I love that idea, and being able to have that as a free offering, a free resource to help these businesses really get their their business up and going. Definitely, I’m always fascinated being a Hispanic Chamber, aside from word of mouth, how do you how do you target people you’re trying to reach out to, versus a chamber that has a demographic, a, you know, more of a geographical footprint, you’ve got geographical but then also the subset,

Joe Aldaz 16:22
right? Well, I relied on having a very high caliber board of directors. Uh, Frank Sinclair, who’s on is one on our board. He is the, what we call the great connector and networker in our community. So he has a large network of organizations and businesses. He also has a show called The be encouraged show that he they host, pretty much on a daily basis, where they bring in small businesses to give them exposure and help them build and gain that that branding and access to our community. So I’ve used my board of directors networks. I’ve been in the community since 1999 and then the several different capacities, and I’ve leveraged that network as well, and kind of in essence, have called in a lot of favors. Hey, can you help us with our chamber and make a member investment or sponsor an event, and I get, I think my track record of the other positions I’ve been in, I think there’s some trust that has been built there and credibility to where they say, yes, we’ll we’ll make that investment. Perfect example of that is I met with a a colleague of mine who happens to be a 1983 Air Force Academy graduate. He was a classmate of mine in 1983 runs a major company here in Colorado Springs, and we met over coffee, and he said, You know, I want to help you. And he made a significant investment in our organization. So it’s those types of relationships has here in Colorado Springs and Frank, who’s on the call here at podcast as well. We’re very relationship driven community here. It’s not transactional. It’s, you know, having relationships like this, talking with people over coffee, meeting them and establishing that relationship, which I think the outcome directly is, if they see that it’s a valuable relationship, they’re going to make that investment in time or talent or their resources to help your organization. So that’s what I’ve really been passionate about is being a chamber that is relationship driven. If you go to our website to become a member, you have to click on partner. You don’t click on an icon that says member, because member, to me, is more of a transactional type word partner is we want you to invest in us and become a community investment partner, because we’re helping build community through business. So we’ve kind of changed that dynamic of membership to becoming a community investment partner with us, because you’re helping build the community through our your investment into our organization. So

Brandon Burton 19:23
when somebody goes through that process on the website and and instead of becoming a member, they become a partner. How long from the time that they sign up and they they say, Yes, I want to be a partner. I want to I want to join before they hear from you, to develop, start building that relationship. They’ll have for

Joe Aldaz 19:43
me pretty much immediately. You know, I will we, we send a welcome letter out to him, pretty much through our technology, and then I will reach out to them, to to to see if they will want to meet and ask questions we have. Believe what we call a member orientation sessions, where they can log in, and it’s a very free flowing discussion to answer any questions, whether you’re a new member or a current member, just to you know, to explore what their needs are, what their services are. But I have met with executives in the large companies here that are members, and I’ve met with those micro business owners over coffee that may have five employees to try to learn, you know, what their needs are on how they can, you know, help expand their market or grow their business, because every one of our members has different needs. Some of our members just want to come to our events and network. Others are trying to find business resources. Others are trying to figure out how they grow their business, to access more capital in order to enable it to grow so there’s a variety of needs that these different businesses have, and some of our major financial institutions and corporations that are invested in us as well?

Brandon Burton 21:03
Yeah, I was hoping that was going to be your answer, that they hear from me almost immediately. I’ve seen other chambers where the button says join. Click here to join, become a member, and it’s all about that transaction. They put in their credit card information, they get loaded into the database, and, boom, they’re a member, and then they may not hear, I mean, there might be an email sequence that they receive, but that personal communication they may not hear for months, and it very much is transactional. So going, you know, leaning into building these relationships and having it be, you know, something that ends up being really more of a transformational relationship. To be able to help these businesses thrive is so important. And I like how you mentioned every business they join for different reasons, they have their their reasoning for for being a part of it. And I think bottom line is they all want to see their business grow, right? That’s the That’s the common the common need. But it comes in different ways, whether it’s looking for funding or networking or those different opportunities, but being able to get to know these members and their needs helps you align them to you know those best fits and make those introductions to the people that that they need to meet to be able to thrive, right? Are there any other maybe unique approaches you take into building relationships with these partners?

Joe Aldaz 22:30
You know, one of the things that we established through our chamber is in late 2022 I reached out to all of the other local chambers here and asked them how their networking events were going, what the attendance was like. And they said, you know, we’re kind of getting the same people that come. They’re not really growing. So I threw out the idea of coming together and collaborating to host what we called quarterly business after our events. So we hosted our first, first one in March of 2023, and we had five chambers involved with it. And we called it the chambers of El Paso County Business after hours, every guest that comes registers through their own chamber. And we just had one chamber that kind of CO hosts to man the registration has members came in. And that initial one that we did in March of 2023, that we hosted, we had about 120 some guests. Since then, they have grown to a couple of our quarterly after hours to over 200 guests. Wow. That spirit of collaboration, of being, you know, trying to bring members from other chambers to connect with members of other chambers. I think it’s been a pretty great experience, because we’ve seen the the growth and at the same time. It’s a $10 investment. When we have a multiple of activities going on here in Colorado Springs, we found that if somebody’s going to invest their time, they’re seeing this event as an opportunity to be connected with several different organizations at one time. So that’s something that unique that we’ve done to try to build that relationship as well. We are very social type organization. If you come to our business luncheons, we have done a pivot on what a luncheon looks like. We bring in an inspirational speaker to speak to our audience, because we, I felt, feel that if they leave with a very inspiring, motivational message, they’re going to be a better business owner, and they’re just going to be a better individual in general, which I think will impact them as either a staff. Member of an organization, owner or an owner of a business. We’re having our last luncheon next Tuesday, and we’re bringing an Air Force Academy graduate and former MBA basketball player, Antoine hood, who led the Air Force Falcons in 2003 and 2004 to the Mountain West Conference Championship and the first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in I believe it was 42 years Wow, wow. He has a very great story on his journey trying to break into the NBA. And now he’s an entrepreneur that’s developed a very unique water bottle that you can use for your marketing, in your business and in sports venues. So you know, those are the types of individuals we bring in in June of 2023 we brought in an individual named Vince papale. His story was the Walt Disney movie, invincible, that Mark Wahlberg starred in. Yeah eagles, yeah about the Philadelphia Eagles. Great, great, great luncheon. People left just inspired. Everybody got his the book that he had just recently authored. So it’s that luncheon is very high energy. People establish relationships in there, and they look forward to coming back to the next quarterly luncheon. We don’t do a monthly lunch, and we do a quarterly luncheon just because of time and resources, but it’s now work become affected because they anticipate and look forward to the next one, because they know the types of speakers we bring in to leave those great and inspiring messages.

Brandon Burton 26:56
Yeah, so obviously, we’re on a podcast platform. I’m a big fan of podcasts, and I’ll, I’ll hear a lot of great, you know, motivational type people on podcasts. But there’s something different to being in the same room as giving a speech and and in the people that are there in attendance, they’re going to leave and tell other people, you know, I heard anvil hood talk about this, and you know, to be able to be there is going to generate more that word of mouth and the positive traction that you’re looking for. And I just I applaud you for getting these great speakers to come in and and be energizing and uplifting to those who are in attendance. That’s awesome. So you got your you’ve been innovative in your time there had just trying to make things work. You’d mentioned the quarterly networking, you know, the five chambers throughout the county. I’ve seen in some areas where some chambers may shy away from that regional collaboration when it comes to events like that, because they’ll get things, they’ll let things get in the way as to, like, who gets the money. You know when you register, you know if you’re hosting it, but you’re all registering your own chamber, like the logistics of it, trying to get everybody to agree on how that all works. What kind of structure do you guys use? How does it work to have black chambers work for you guys? We

Joe Aldaz 28:29
make it as simple as possible, so every individual registers through their own chamber, and they keep that revenue. And we ask that one chamber kind of hosts, it, select the venue, work with a venue to hopefully make complimentary appetizers. Usually it’s at a place that there is a cash bar that they can have a drink. And it’s worked pretty effectively, because it’s not really, we’re not really trying to make huge dollars. We’re using it as people connecting and networking. There’s no programming in the event, you know, initially there was thoughts, Well, should we have an educational session before the networking? And I said, this is a Thursday evening, and people are trying to decompress from the end of the week. They just want to come and enjoy themselves. The only remarks are made is the executive from the participating chambers make some brief remarks about some upcoming events, welcoming all the guests here, and that’s it, and it’s just socializing and networking. So as far as the lift and the logistics, everybody’s been very agreeable, and they can make a little bit of extra money through their their chamber for their members, and that COVID, that host chamber, just does all the logistics with the venue and appetizers and things of that nature. So there hasn’t been really any pushback. And, matter of fact, there’s been some other chambers when we initially started, how do we get involved and participate as well? The Philippine American Chamber of southern Colorado just established over a year ago. They’re going to host one next year. Awesome. So so it continues to grow, and it’s just a great collaboration. You know, people enjoy being around a lot of different people that they may not be connected with if through their own chamber. Is

Brandon Burton 30:32
there any sponsors with these networking events? No,

Joe Aldaz 30:36
because, you know, it’s not. It’s not something that we’re looking to make a lot of money, because once you get sponsored, then you’re that’s where we say, well, how do we share that sponsor revenue amongst the five chambers that are actually participating in it? Yeah, we just make it a straight networking event with no sponsors, because every chamber has their events scheduled where they can gain that sponsorship revenue, so we’ve made it as simple as possible. Yeah,

Brandon Burton 31:04
I like that very good. Well, Joe, I like asking this question to everybody that I have on the show, and I think it means a little more coming from you, because as as chambers listening may have a desire to take their chamber up to the next level. I’d argue you’ve taken the Colorado Springs Hispanic Chamber up several levels. But what kind of tip or action item might you share for those listening who are trying to accomplish similar goals?

Joe Aldaz 31:38
I think that what I would want to leave other chambers with is think out of the box and try to be innovative in the approach that you take to chambers. And I think chambers need to be community minded as well, and not so focused just on business. Because I think if you’re trying to build community and be active in your community, in community events, or have what you would call a community event that indirectly is going to impact business throughout your community as well. Perfect example of that is we are now in the process and have launched a campaign through one of our board of directors that is in the Latino health equity world, called one school, one vaccine at a time. And what that is, is we are working with a school district here right now, in Colorado Springs, and looking to build it to other school districts. We want to make vaccines accessible to Latino, specifically Spanish speaking families, because many of these Latino families are business owners, but they cannot make the window of opportunities for vaccinations for their kids and their families during the times that school have those so what? So what our board member has created, and she’s been in this space for several years, is we are hosting vaccination clinics that are outside of those normal working hours on a Sunday morning, on a Saturday evening, to make sure that those organizations, those individuals have access, and our school district that we’re working with has been very flexible to that, and we’re working with the county and the state to continue to mobilize and grow that program. So that’s where we believe that we’re community minded, because those business owners, business can be impacted if they’re not, you know, vaccinated and are not being able to work and own a business because they’re sick and they haven’t been able to get those types of vaccinations, because it’s a family focused thing. If your child is getting vaccinated at these clinics, that family is more apt to get the vaccinations they need as well. So that’s just one example that that we we have fostered. The other thing that we foster is our major signature event is not an annual gala type dinner. We have transitioned, and we’ll be in our fifth year, we have an outdoor Latin culture event called La vida love. It’s a community focused event. You come in, it’s a ticketed event. You come in and sample small bites of cuisine. We have distilleries and breweries or small pores, and then we have live Latin bands performed throughout the evening. So it’s a it’s starting to be tagged here in Colorado Springs, as the premier summer business social in southern Colorado. We’ve grown it since our inception in 2021 from about 250 guests. We. We’re close to 700 guests this past summer that we did it. We do it on a Saturday evening at a country club that’s attached to a a resort called the shine Mountain Resort, and it’s just a great a great event. The only programming that we have there is we announce our Hispanic Business Award recipients. So they get some branding, because they’re out there receiving an award in front of almost 700 guests. And that’s a very community minded guest. I mean, we it’s we have our Hispanic business members come, but the community comes, and they, pretty much now are marking it on their calendar to say this is the summer event that we want to be at. That’s

Brandon Burton 35:43
awesome. I love that. I love that it’s outdoors. I mean that that brings its own issues, as far as planning and hoping weather works out and all that. But we’ve

Joe Aldaz 35:52
been lucky for the five years we have, we have not had any rain, and it’s the setting. Is a very intimate setting. We are on a golf course beach over a lake overlooking the mountains with a large stage for our performers. And it’s just, it’s just a really nice setting, and people enjoy it. They enjoy the samples of food, the distilleries that with provide the small pores of bourbon whiskey lagers, and people have fun. And as you know, with our culture, Latin culture, if you have food, drink and music, we will be there.

Brandon Burton 36:32
That’s right. And having it be outdoors is very inviting to the community as well. Nice setting, yeah, if it’s indoors in a big conference center the community doesn’t see it, and being outdoors, yeah, and here

Joe Aldaz 36:45
in our community, there’s a lot of non profits and there’s a lot of annual dinners. So we say, what can we do different, to be our signature fundraiser, but be more of an attractive and separate us from the rest of the group to say, Hey, this is a more of an inviting event that we’d like to come to. Yeah,

Brandon Burton 37:04
you guys made a great choice. I love it. Well, Joe, I like asking everybody I have on the show, as we look to the future of chambers of commerce, how do you see the future of chambers and their purpose going forward?

Joe Aldaz 37:16
I think chambers need to the model that chambers currently work under, as far as memberships and sponsorships and being event driven, I think it works to a point, but I think chambers need to become more innovative and figure out how to create other revenue streams to help their organization grow. We believe our avanzar business accelerator program is one of those types, because we have the opportunity to provide sponsors and corporate entities to be part of that training module that we have on the platform. So if a financial institution wants to say, hey, we would like to provide a training module on access to capital. Well, there’s an investment to have your brand on our platform to provide that training. So that’s an example of another revenue stream. And just trying to develop partnerships with some of our businesses, and we’re always looking to explore those. I know a lot of chambers have what they call affinity programs, where you can get member discount, but what we did a little bit differently this year, and we experimented with it. One of our members is a coffee company called model citizen coffee, and what they did is they developed a specialized coffee that we could promote and get 20% of the revenue, called Rico Suave, so people into members could go to our website, link up to the company, and it every one of those bags of coffee sold, we would get 20% of the revenue. One of our members has a ather Vida beer company. She has done the same thing. They have developed a special lager that they’re putting in a lot of different venues, and we are getting 20% of the revenue from that lager being sold, not large checks, but there are additional revenue that comes into our chamber, and it’s helping build that business members brand as well, because they’re showing that they are engaged and participating with the work that we’re doing and helping us grow as well.

Brandon Burton 39:39
Yeah, it’s a win, win. And those little checks add up. You get enough lines in the water like that, they add up. Well, Joe, this has been great. I can feel the passion you have. I can see the the impact that you guys have been making. And and it excites me to see the revitalization of the Colorado Springs Hispanic chamber. And. And the impact, the true life changing impact that’s being presented there. I wanted to give you an opportunity to share any contact information for listeners who may want to reach out and connect with you. Where would you point

Joe Aldaz 40:13
sure our website is CSHispanicChamber.com, my email contact is info@cshispanicchamber.com, and if people want to contact me directly via phone, it’s 719-231-5353, and I’d be happy to to speak with anyone on you know, if they have more questions on what they heard today, and just looking forward to hopefully having some ideas that have gone out here today for other chambers that you know across the country.

Brandon Burton 40:52
Yeah, definitely some things that can be implemented. So I appreciate you sharing these insights and your experience and enthusiasm and just overall passion for the work you’re doing and the impact that it’s making. So thank you for being with us today. I appreciate it.

Joe Aldaz 41:08
Appreciate it.

Brandon Burton 41:11
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Small Business Passion with Peter Guzman

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Brandon Burton 0:00
This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.

Our guest for this episode is Peter Guzman. Peter currently serves as the president of the Latin Chamber of Commerce in Nevada. The Latin Chamber of Commerce is the most powerful Hispanic Chamber in Nevada, with over 45 years of community work and business representation. The Latin Chamber of Commerce has provided services to the community for over 45 years and continues to grow. The Latin Chamber of Commerce has been a beacon of light for the community and is a shining star of hope for those in need of assistance throughout the community. Peter is also an accomplished realtor, small business owner and real estate investor, and he came to Nevada 50 years ago at the age of two, but Peter, we’re excited to have you with us today here on Chamber Chat Podcast. I’d love to give you an opportunity to say hello to all the Chamber Champions who are out there listening, and to share something interesting about yourself so we can all get to know you a little better well. Thank

Peter Guzman 2:05
you for that incredible entrance. I appreciate it very much. It’s amazing to hear that number of the length of years this chamber has been involved. We’re approaching 50 years now. It’s unbelievable. And my founder, Otto Merida, did an incredible job a long, long time ago, and I took over as president after him, but so thank you for that. That intro something interesting about me. I don’t find myself that interesting, I guess. But something that people don’t know is that I love turtles. I mean, I really love turtles. And I’ve, I’ve had a desert tortoise now with me 24 years, and I just love that turtle to death. And, yeah, that’s, I guess that’s interesting.

Brandon Burton 2:52
That’s, yeah, that’s cool. I actually, I had a pet turtle growing up, and it was just a box turtle, but whenever my brother would get upset with me. He’d go in my room and put the box turtle on top of its jar that had its water So stand up there and couldn’t move it, just sit on top of the jar. He’s like, thanks. Thanks for that. Yeah. No, I’ve been a big fan of reptiles my whole life, so that’s cool. Well, tell us a little bit more about the Latin Chamber of Commerce, give us an idea of the size staff, scope of work, budget, just to kind of set the stage before we get dive into our discussion today.

Peter Guzman 3:31
Yeah. So you know, like I said, our chamber is approaching 50 years, 48 to be exact, but we’re approaching 50 and, you know, predominantly we represent the Hispanic community, but because of the strength and growth of our chamber, we’re representing a lot more than just that, right? And so that was something that was intentional. I wanted non Hispanic businesses to be doing business with Hispanics and vice versa. And so we’ve really accomplished that, especially over the last three years, 30, 32% of my growth over the last three years has been non Hispanic business owners. That’s a really great number, and very intentional. Because again, I want business to be conducted and I want business to grow, and the only way you can grow is sometimes you got to go outside your comfort zone. And so, you know, we have, we have over 2000 members. We are a statewide chamber and and like I said, we represent the incredible small business community, which, in my opinion, is the most important segment of our economy representing the most job creations and and just just the whole plight of a small business owner, and we know how difficult that can be, and so we predominantly focus on that. We’re very, very focused. So that’s first and foremost, of course. Dollars because we’ve been around so long, and my founder ultimately did such a great job building a trust with the community. You know, we have to get involved in a lot of other things, you know. So we’re we have people that show up at our lobby that need help with immigration, or, you know, what hospital they should be going to, and all kinds of things that you wouldn’t believe. So our responsibility at the Latin chamber is much bigger than than a lot of chambers who just focus on on the small business community. We have to focus on even more than just that, because the demand is so big and the trust is so so high with the Latin chamber that inevitably, my day is filled with all kinds of things, so I’m grateful for that and and look forward to our future.

Brandon Burton 5:49
Yeah. So being a statewide chamber, how many staff do you guys have? And are you Where are you physically located? Are there multiple offices, or how does that work? Yeah.

Peter Guzman 6:00
So we’re physically located in Las Vegas, and we have, we have about eight people on staff and about four volunteers, and you know, there’s definitely room for more employees, but we got to be the right employees, and we’re going to look at that in 2025 because we’re just bursting at the seams. As far as other offices, we’re in Reno a lot Carson City is our you know, is where it all happens. As far as politically. So we always have an office there during this legislative session every two years. But stay tuned. The next time you and I have an interview, there’s going to be a lot more news regarding that. Okay,

Brandon Burton 6:44
build some anticipation there. I like that. Yes. Well, for our topic of conversation today, we’re going to focus on the small business passion that Peter has. It really drives the work there at the Latin chamber, and we’ll dive in deeper on that as soon as we get back from this quick break.

Joe Duemig 6:26
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Rose Duemig 6:35
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Joe Duemig 6:49
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Rose Duemig 7:03
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Joe Duemig 7:22
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Joe Duemig 7:54
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Brandon Burton 8:40
Chamber leaders, I know each of you works daily to boost your local economy and take your Chamber of Commerce to the next level. But let’s face it… it takes funding, and lots of it!

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All right, Peter, we’re back, as I mentioned before the break, we’re focusing our conversation today around small business passion, and I hope everybody listening has a passion for small business. But when somebody says that that’s that’s always your focus, that’s always your topic, that that is your passion, I’m always curious to dive in deeper, to hear what drives you, what motivates you? And I think you’re you may have alluded to it a little bit just with the the novelties of the the Latin chamber, that it’s more than just the small business community, but it’s the community in general you guys are focused on. But what is your approach? What gets you so excited when it comes to small business and serving that community.

Peter Guzman 11:03
Well, listen when you think about, first of all, I’m very, very grateful for, you know, having been born in America, the greatest country in the world. I say that because my father escaped communism of Cuba and came here and, you know, simply because he knew that his children will have a chance here. And so that’s kind of where this beginning passion starts, right like this is a country where a person can dream about owning their own business and can really pull it off. It’s not an easy road, but certainly that’s why I’m passionate about it, because Nothing excites me more than knowing about folks that take their pension or their savings and starts their business and, you know, one day, starts it off, and you know, three years later, they’re on their second or third location, or they’re on, you know, they went from one employee to five, then to 15. We have those stories. They’re very common in the Latin chamber. And I just, I don’t, you know, it’s hard to pinpoint why that, why that drives me and turns me on so much, but it just does. It’s just, it just does. And I also, because I’m a business owner and struggled in the beginning, I know what that struggle feels like. So I know the struggle, and I know the success of it, and I want everybody to that, wants that, to feel that. And so that’s why I’m so passionate in this position at the chamber where I can actually pick up the phone, make some calls and make things happen for folks, maybe a little quicker, maybe get them through an obstacle a little easier. That’s what really drives me again. My founder and mentor told me who ran, who opened this chamber and ran it. He said, What good is the power if you’re not using it to help others? And so that’s really the power of the chamber. Is the ability, if you do things right, to be able to pick up the phone and make things happen a little quicker, maybe a little easier. That drives me every morning.

Brandon Burton 13:19
Yeah, I love that. I love just the idea of the American dream and being able to create a business and have it grow and be successful, and with you being a business owner yourself, to be able to relate to the members that you’re talking to, to the potential Chamber members, and being able to resonate with them, I think that’s super valuable. Yeah,

Peter Guzman 13:38
and listen, you know, I like what you said in the opening there. Even if you’re not a small business owner, your life’s affected by a small business owner. I mean, every time you get in the car, you need that car to run. So chances are you’re going to, you know a mechanic, or you know a small business owner that that works on cars. We can start with that. Then when you need, when you need milk, you you may not run into the big grocery store. You may just stop at a little place and grab a gallon of milk. So small businesses is is intricate in our day to day life.

Brandon Burton 14:16
Yeah, I would say small businesses that it’s kind of the, backbone to our, our ecosystem, to our, our ability to be able to function as a society and and we saw it through the pandemic where small businesses got shook pretty hard, and those businesses you might have counted on, you know, reliably that that mechanic, or, you know, the the convenience store, whether They change their hours because of, you know, staffing issues through the pandemic, or whatever it may be, that disrupted their normal day to day operations. We felt it as citizens that are trying to carry on with our life, and it throws you for throws a wrench in your schedule. When, when that stuff happens? Yeah,

Peter Guzman 14:58
and, I mean, we haven’t even two. That’s the pandemic. I mean, the you know what I knew, what I already had, had experience and known. You can multiply it by 1000 during the pandemic. I mean, the the fact that business, small business people, have to pivot every day in normal society, because life changes. Consumers, needs and wants change every day. So you good business people know they have to pivot and and meet those needs, right? Uh, imagine during COVID. I mean, we were thrown such a curveball, and yet, especially in the Hispanic community, I saw these entrepreneurs pivot and figure it out. And, you know, I’m almost embarrassed to say that even during COVID, our our we are actually our chamber grew, first of all, which is unbelievable, because we delivered things that they needed. We pivoted. That’s what my mentality is. I’m a small business owner in the chamber is a business and and we pivoted. And that’s why we had success, even through COVID. But that’s, that’s, that’s how it is, that how that’s how it works. That’s right.

Brandon Burton 16:09
And being able to be nimble is so important, because these small businesses, they’re constantly pivoting. They’re constantly doing what they can to figure it out, just to make it work. You mentioned earlier, a lot of them put their entire life savings on the line to start a business, to be able to put their neck out there and provide a product or service, and constantly adjusting and honing in those skills to be able to make it work. I’m curious, in the the intros, you’re talking about the the Latin Chamber of Commerce. You had mentioned that with your the recent growth, 32% of that growth is non Hispanic business owners. And I’m curious the approach that you have to them, and especially as it comes to small business and and being able to resonate to them, to have them participate with the Latin Chamber of Commerce. What, what’s that approach been like? Because 32% that’s a good percentage, to see that growth in that segment, yeah.

Peter Guzman 17:07
And so I think that what was important was the fact that, you know, we intentionally went out and started going out to the community more, not just the Hispanic community. And you know, we have a very vibrant events programming, which is a fancy way of saying network opportunities. And so I, you know, some people use networking improperly. I think, I think networking is a science. I owe my entire very successful real estate career to networking and relationship building. And so there’s network, networking, where you walk in a room and have a cocktail and say hi to a couple folks you already know. And then there’s networking science, which is walking into a room of people you do not know, and getting to know people that you didn’t know. And so we, we have that down to a science, and that just made us grow and grow and grow.

Brandon Burton 18:23
So as you were talking, I turned around and grabbed a book off my shelf. I’ve plugged it before on the podcast, but it’s it’s titled, you’re invited by John Levy, great book. Yeah. So at the art and science of cultivating influence, and I think that should be on the mandatory reading list for any chamber to really curate a really effective networking situation. And

Peter Guzman 18:50
you know, when you combine that and I talk to young people, that’s really another passion of mine, is really talking to these young people who are still full of this innocence and inspiration and motivation. I love talking to kids like that, because if you mold that right, they’re going to be successful. And so I tell these folks how obsessed I was and am with networking and relationship building. I mean literally I came up with, and it’s not scientific, but it’s something that I drilled into my brain, because I believe in thinking to grow power, thinking to grow rich, which is another book, yeah, I convinced myself in year two of my real estate career, that every new person I met was going to turn into three transactions, three real estate deals, one way or another, either directly or indirectly. I’m telling you that it absolutely worked and continues to work and so I. What does that mean? It means I’m going to go up to people. When I go into a room, I’ll say hi to the people I already know, but it’s going to be brief. I’m going right at the people I don’t have no idea who they are, and I’m introducing myself. And that turns into transactions, that turns into deals. And so that’s that, that’s key to everything, yeah,

Brandon Burton 20:19
and that thinking gives you the confidence to make those approaches where a lot of people get in these networking situations and say, I don’t really know anybody, or you come in and get your drink, and then you have, you know, all the different sales people that are there coming and selling you insurance or whatever it is. So

Peter Guzman 20:37
that that reputation really grew for the Latin Chamber of Commerce. People now openly all around the state, talk about, yeah, it’s a must place to be. Is one of a Latin chamber events, because they know they’re going to be people of influence in that room. They know that there’s going to be people they don’t know in that room, and they’re going to come from all walks, not just Hispanic. And so that grew from, you know, 70 people to 150 people to 300 people to 500 people at a luncheon that we throw every month. You know what I mean? I mean, it just grew. And so we decided to even add a breakfast that we do monthly, where we intentionally keep that a little smaller and intimate. So that’s 50 to 80 people called desos Amigos, breakfast with friends. And it’s just wonderful opportunities. It starts there. You know, I always tell folks that want to join our chamber, because I’m brutally honest, don’t join this our chamber just to check a box because that we’re not interested in that. Yeah, we need to see value, and it’s value both ways, not just one way. And so I tell them, I’m not a magician. If you join this chamber and you apply yourself, inject yourself, you will have success. If you don’t, then don’t blame me for telling me you didn’t get a return of investment on your membership. Yeah,

Brandon Burton 22:07
I’ve, I’ve got several friends that have approached me because they know I do the podcast and I’ve worked with chambers a long time, and they’ll small business owners will approach me and say, Hey, I know you work with chambers. Do you think I should join my local chamber. Like, what do they do? I don’t know. What are you going to do? Where are you going to are you going to get involved, or do you just want to join and have some magic happen? Because you got to figure out what the mission of your chamber is. Get behind it. Get involved. Volunteer. Be a be a part of something to help build the community. And that’s where you’re going to see the magic happen.

Peter Guzman 22:41
It’s like, it’s like opening a business, right? You, you can’t just decide that you’re going to open this business, open the doors, and people are just going to come right? No, that. It takes marketing. It takes effort, right? Same thing with the chamber, but the fruits, the the return on investment can be huge, yeah.

Brandon Burton 23:01
So we’ve touched quite a bit on the networking aspect when it comes to having a passion towards small business. What are some of these other needs that you see rise to the top quite often with small businesses, to help them really get up and going and see success as they get involved with the chamber? Yeah,

Peter Guzman 23:22
a lot of a lot, if not most small business owners don’t realize that, you know that they hate politics, but they don’t realize how much politics is a part of every, everybody’s day to day life and in business as well. So what we another thing we do, really, really well is we help some small businesses entrepreneurs navigate politics, navigate the political side of you know, of getting your license of, of getting your project through Planning and Zoning, you know, finding, finding the right construction company, union, non union, all that kind of stuff. We navigate that really, really well. And so that’s a big advantage for a small business owner, because you can imagine, you know, walking into City Hall with nobody that can help hold your hand and navigate all of that can be overwhelming and can be destructive,

Brandon Burton 24:23
absolutely. And having that support, that guidance of what to do next and how to navigate those confusing, intimidating situations for a new business owner, small business owner is so crucial, and being prepared as a chamber to be able to help them navigate that is very important, exactly well. Peter, as we start to wrap things up, I wanted to ask you, for listeners who are interested in taking their chamber up to the next level, what kind of tip or action item might you suggest for them to try to implement that goal?

Peter Guzman 25:02
So you know, every every community is different, so every chamber can operate a little differently, but there’s some fundamentals that are, I think, key to every chamber success, and that is, you know, deliver on what you promise. So be careful what you promise, because you must deliver the folks are folks. You know this this how seriously I take this. My mentality of being President of the Latin Chamber of Commerce is I run a publicly traded company. The members are my shareholders. They literally write a check to this chamber, but in a lot of ways, they’re writing that check because they believe in me. I have to take it that serious. So yeah, that’s putting a lot of extra pressure on me, and I love it, and I take it very, very serious. So I want my shareholders to have value. They have a share in the Latin Chamber of Commerce. You’re going to have value. And I wake up every day thinking that way. So that sets the tone of what I’m going to do. And so I’m very focused, very laser focused on bringing value to my shareholders. That’s my members.

Brandon Burton 26:27
I love that approach and that it really just tones it down to, what do you need to do to provide value? And I mean, listen, what? I promise that’s huge.

Peter Guzman 26:38
Yeah, I’d like to provide you, you know, some fancier, long, strung out answer, but that’s the fundamental what I do. That’s the fundamental of how I think and wake up every morning. Yeah, but the the

Brandon Burton 26:51
first thing you said with that response is deliver on what you promised. And I think there’s a lot of times where chambers are really good at thinking of programs or accepting new programs that are presented to them, and things can become very overwhelming with all these things that need to be done, and just deliver on what you promise. And if you can’t deliver, don’t promise it. Don’t do it, you know, cut it out and and really focus on those things and move the needle. So I like that.

Peter Guzman 27:19
That’s That’s my approach. And I think if we start there, chambers will have success. Yeah, you have to be very careful to not turn into a social club. And you know, the the same old, same old, think outside the box. Get bold, because remember, you represent your shareholders, and they’re looking at to you for value, right?

Brandon Burton 27:43
So, Peter, as we look to the future of chambers of commerce, how do you see the future of chambers and their purpose going forward?

Peter Guzman 27:54
Well, listen, you know, there’s, there’s, I know, there’s nervousness out there in the chamber world because of artificial intelligence and and, you know, automation, computer modernization, I we look at that at the Latin chamber as all opportunities. It all it goes back to the very fundamental that I already said, but all of these tools now are going to help me deliver that with much more speed, much more accuracy. So don’t fear that. Don’t embrace you got to embrace it. If you want to exist in the chamber world, you have to embrace these things.

Brandon Burton 28:31
Yeah, I love that. So important to be able to embrace the the technologies and the changes that are coming and and, you know, I’ll say that with a caveat, because there’s some ideas that come out that they get a lot of traction and and they fizzle out, but those things that you can you get that feeling, that sense, this is going to stick, this is going to be around for a while and make an impact on business. You got to be all in. You got to learn it. You got to teach it. You got to be all in. With

Peter Guzman 28:58
the caveat for me, and you know, I’m old school, but I’m never going to change what I’m about to tell you, and that is, you can automate, modernize, embrace all those tools I do and I will, but walking up to an individual, the one On one, person to person contact, making them feel a way that AI and automation won’t be able to still makes us important,

Brandon Burton 29:29
yeah, that the human contact that person can’t replace that. Yeah, yeah. Amen, well, Peter, I wanted to give you a chance to share any contact information for listeners who may want to reach out and connect with you and learn more about your approach or things you guys are doing there at the Latin chamber. What would be the best way for them to reach out and connect? Yeah, man,

Peter Guzman 29:52
feel free to say hello. Feel free to, first of all, go to our website. LVLCC.com, LV, as in. Las Vegas, LV, LCC, as in Latin Chamber Commerce.com, uh, our phone number is 702-385-7367. My name is Peter Guzman, and I promise you, and if you call, you will speak to me.

Brandon Burton 30:16
Awesome. We’ll get that in our show notes to make it easy. If someone’s driving, they don’t need to try to jot it down that phone number. We’ll get it in the show notes. So Peter, I appreciate you spending time with us today, sharing your approach, your passion towards small business this. This should be one of those episodes that reinvigorate somebody listening and says, Yes, let’s go basics, let’s drive. What’s important, right? I

Peter Guzman 30:41
hope so, and I hope we can do this again. Let’s, let’s make this an ongoing thing.

Brandon Burton 30:46
That sounds great. I look forward to seeing what the future is for the Latin chamber and what some of these upcoming changes might be. Sounds like a plan.

Peter Guzman 30:57
Excellent. Thank you.

Brandon Burton 31:00
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Co-Workspace Initiative with Moe Belliveau

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Brandon Burton 0:00
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Our guest for this episode is Moe Belliveau. Moe has more than 22 years of experience in small business and entrepreneurial management experience including five years in retail management. Two years leading a privately owned nonprofit organization and nearly 20 years as a small business owner mode joined the chamber in 2014, bringing a unique set of skills in administration financial management, community relations, business development, grant program development and administration, economic development and collaboration with other organizations and municipalities. She embodies big picture thinking without losing sight of the details. She is currently the past president of the Massachusetts Association of Chamber of Commerce executives. After rising in the ranks of leadership. She has been a commissioner of the city of East Hampton economic development and industry commissioned since 2015, and advisor to the Hampshire County Regional tourism Advisory Council since 2014. And as served as a member of various boards across the region. She and her husband Mike live in East Hampton with their dog Pearl, and spend their free time working on the land and their farm stead, Hendricks Harvests. Moe, I’m excited to have you with us today. Here on Chamber Chat Podcast, I’d love to give you an opportunity to say hello to all the Chamber Champions who are out there listening and to share something interesting about yourself so we can all get to know you a little better.

Moe Belliveau 2:41
Well, hello, Chamber Champions. I’m delighted to be here. Thank you for the invitation, Brandon. And something interesting about myself. I don’t know if this is interesting. But I am a fiddle player.

Brandon Burton 2:55
All right, fiddle player, you don’t run into fiddle player every day, you might you might run in those circles that don’t run in those circles that fiddle player. So yeah, that’s awesome. Yeah, very good. I should have mentioned as I went through your bio, that you are the Executive Director for the chamber, the Chamber of East Hampton in Massachusetts. So that should help give some context as well. Yes. But tell us a little bit about your chamber just to give us an idea of size, staff budget, scope of work, all those nitty gritty details so we can kind of get our mind shaped around what you present to us today. Sure.

Moe Belliveau 3:33
So we are the Chamber of Greater East Hampton, located in East Hampton, Massachusetts. I our membership hovers around 151 75 200 kind of bounces around. And our budget is about 175 180. there abouts. What else do we need to know we are an office. So we’re tiny, right? So it’s, it’s myself and a part time admin person. But I like to say we’re tiny but mighty.

Brandon Burton 4:07
I love it lean and mean tiny and? Yeah. That’s right. Yes. Yeah, no, oftentimes, it’s chambers, I have to run lean and mean like that, that often will lead to some of these innovative things that are of interest to be able to share here on the podcast. So

Moe Belliveau 4:26
I like how I like to think of myself as being agile, you know, we’re not yes, so big that it gives us flexibility to try a lot of things. You know, not everything always works out. But I’m happy to say most of the time it does and get to be we can turn on a dime if something’s not working out or doesn’t serve our membership or the community or whatever. So that’s the plus side of being tiny. Yeah,

Brandon Burton 4:50
being agile and that also goes to your board trusting you and being able to work well with the board. You get too big of chamber. I don’t wanna say too big but some of the have really large chambers where they might have 60 or more board members. And that becomes tough to make quick decisions or to pivot. Yeah. There’s value there, but it’s different for sure. Yeah. Yep, for sure. So for our topic of conversation today, and you guys have been behind an initiative of creating a co workspace, their communities. So I know this is something that some chambers here and there have kind of dabbled in. And I see it as a way of really building a sense of community, usually among other small business owners and people looking to get stuff done and looking to collaborate. So I’m excited to dive into this conversation as soon as I get back from this quick break.

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Alright, Moe, we’re back. So let’s dive into this. I want to hear all about this co working space that you guys have this initiative that your chamber is behind tell us where it got its origins, what it’s about who it serves, all of the good details, the

Moe Belliveau 7:50
nitty and the gritty. So we started talking about the work hub on Union, the CO workspace before COVID hit. Yeah, we own our building here in East Hampton, which is kind of unique also, I think amongst chambers. But in in this area anyway. And so we were tossing around, you know, this isn’t really the best use of this space, you know, it’s 1100 square feet, and it’s just myself and a part time person in that space. And essentially, it was two desks in a gigantic conference room, you know, not driving an awful lot of traffic. And we just wanted to have add more life and you know, serve a broader purpose. And so we were lucky, so COVID to, to kind of propelled us into this direction in the direction of economic development. So we’ve evolved our mission also around economic development, professional development and leadership, education, technical support, entrepreneurialism, all that sort of thing. And so this kind of falls underneath that umbrella. And we consider this to be a program under the Chamber’s umbrella. And we were kicking this idea around, and we were lucky enough to we applied for a massdevelopment grants a seed grant to help us with market feasibility and design feasibility. Once upon a lifetime ago, I used to be a corporate interior designer, space planner and project manager person. And I kind of figured that we could probably maybe fit maybe 10 people in that space, various situations. And as it turns out, we can fit up to 18. At any given moment, we have a conference room, and a little phone booth so that if you need to make a private phone call, you can do that. But we ended up so we had the seed grant, and that kind of got us started. It was the information that came back from the marketing feasibility study. He was yes, this is the program, this is the project that this chamber needs to be involved with, do it do not pass go run. So the board said, Okay, let’s take the next steps. And so we were also very fortunate enough to receive another grant from massdevelopment to help us get started along with some state funding, through an earmark through our legislative team. And that kind of got us on our way. So that’s kind of a little bit of a background. But you know, when people think of CO workspace in this area, I think maybe in particular, because that’s what we have around they’re very large. And I don’t compare us to that it’s we’re only 1100 square feet, it’s again, tiny bit mighty. And it also is, in conjunction with a an entrepreneurial program, which is, we just signed on to the I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of CO starters, but it’s a entrepreneurial program, nine weeks as a licensed program, we just purchased the license. So it says they’re going in, they’re working in conjunction with each other hand in hand in entrepreneurial support. Our focus with the CO workspace will for both programs really is those folks who are in the shadow economy, those folks who are working out of their basement at the kitchen tables, and trying to give them support so they can move from informal businesses to formal businesses. Yeah,

Brandon Burton 11:33
and I think there’s in every community, there’s a, there’s a lot that are shadow businesses, as he called them, they’re operating at home, or maybe don’t feel like like they’re doing some business or bringing in some revenue, but maybe they don’t see themselves as a, quote unquote, real business because they don’t have a staff or they don’t have a building, or they don’t have a meeting space, or any of these kinds of things that might hold them back from really excelling and growing to that next level. So being able to create a workspace like this, really, I can see where it pulls them out and helps them leverage what they already have with other other people other skills, but the chamber just really adds fuel to the fire. Yeah.

Moe Belliveau 12:15
And it’s, it’s exciting. So you know, it’s we’re really working on, you know, creating an innovative co working space where local professionals, they can converge foster collaboration to meet the needs of solopreneurs, freelancers, home based businesses and entrepreneurs and creating small businesses that think job growth while addressing downtown revitalization, because we’re also experiencing a piece of that going on on our street. So yeah, you mean it’s perfect,

Brandon Burton 12:48
right? So is, what’s the what’s the model look like with the coerce space? Is it? Do people pay a monthly fee to kind of use the space? Do they get it in a lot of desk? Like, what access do they have.

Moe Belliveau 13:03
So this is really exciting, because it also gives an opportunity for the chamber to offer opportunities for members as well as non member. So the membership, if that’s what you want to call it, I haven’t even really nail that down and when you want to call it out, but the membership structure is around. If you’re a member, it’s one you can have one pricing, if you’re a non member, you have another pricing, and we hope that you decide to become a member, but you don’t have to, you still have opportunity to participate and engage. And yeah, it will be more of a like a like a like a gym membership, sort of like you know, you get a key cat card, you can come and go. It will be like I think it’s I don’t know how to say this, but three days at a time. So you can be three days for 24 hours. So that’ll break it up. So that’s kind of how it’s looking so far. Okay. Yeah. And I think it’s a good opportunity to give a give a an insight look to what we’re up to what the chamber is thinking about how we’re planning for the future, because the chamber will also continue to operate out of that space. Yeah. So there will be chamber Access for All right. Yeah. So

Brandon Burton 14:28
and no, you had mentioned there’s that private phone booth in their effort of some chambers even doing like a podcast studio where they can rent that out and maybe model are there other other perks that you guys have to offer with the CO workspace or

Moe Belliveau 14:43
no, there will be there’ll be coffee, there’ll be snacks they’ll be you know, we’ll have photocopying that sort of thing. I hope I believe once I get this piece settle down, there will be a virtual office opportunity as well. So if you need an address or that sort of thing, you Yeah, we’re looking to figure that out. So lots of opportunity. Lots of opportunity. Yeah,

Brandon Burton 15:06
that virtual address I think could be a huge that could be kind of a game changer with the whole structure. So

Moe Belliveau 15:12
yeah, yeah, there’s a lot of things that I need a little details that I need to iron out at this point, because we’re looking at wrapping up construction probably within the next two weeks or so. And then furniture will be moving in. So it’s, it’s speeding up. Yeah.

Brandon Burton 15:29
So you had mentioned about the the entrepreneurial programming, the licensee has purchased. Talk to us a little bit more about that. And what the program is, he said, it’s a was a nine weeks, six weeks? Yeah, nine week program. So

Moe Belliveau 15:43
yeah, it’s the CO starters program. It’s a national program. There. I believe they’re based in Texas, I think, I think it’d based in Texas or Tennessee, I think it’s Texas. So um, and it’s a curriculum of over the course of nine weeks, which gives the participants which, which they’re called co starters, because we’re starting something together. Yeah. gives them the basics, you know, and it’s a progressive program. So, you know, so you’ve decided that you want to start a business? So what does that mean? What does that look like? Who is your customer? Who is what is your market? What is? Why is it important to have legal representation? Why do you want to talk to a payroll company, perhaps, you know, an accountant. So all of those little details, you know, cost of goods? And how do you figure that out? And what does that mean for you. And so it’s really very exciting. This is our very first cohort, and it’s moving right along, we have two more weeks left, and then we’ll have a big celebration in May to celebrate them, and they get to share with our guests what they’re up to, and what they plan on doing, and we get to celebrate them.

Brandon Burton 17:04
So I’m always curious, because for a chamber, it’s easy to focus, the businesses that are on Main Street Are those your new businesses that open their doors, and you’re welcome and do the ribbon cutting and the whole thing, but to find those entrepreneurs that really need the support that a chamber can offer, that are working out of their home that are working in the shadows, like he had mentioned before? How, what’s the secret sauce to to finding these shadow businesses, those people that could benefit from this CO starter program? And from this co working space? How do you find them? How do you attract them? What? What’s that look like? Well, that’s

Moe Belliveau 17:46
the challenge. And we have a marketing partner here. The daily handshake is that they’re going to be helping us work on that and helping to get us helping us to get the word out. But it’s a it’s an it’s a lot of excitement that’s being that’s organically arising from the community. Our board is excited and chatting about this and sharing why it’s important. Why is it important for those who, who may not even use the word cup? Right? Or, or who might not even use the customer’s program? Why is that important? Well, economic development in our city is very important in our region, it’s very important, right? It helps to stabilize a lot of things like, you know, food insecurity, you know, if you if you don’t have steady income, that, you know, a lot of things become unstable, you know, your family will family’s well being job security is also contributes with job, you know, providing jobs as these folks grow and continue to what’s the word I’m thinking of expands, but there’s another entrepreneurial word there. So the scale. So all of that’s important because of those things and the life that’s going to be driven that’s going to be participating in the light. I mean, in the work Hall, you know, it adds to the economy to the economy around us right now, utilizing services, restaurants, you know, there’s cleaners, there’s, you know, folks can just conveniently dropped in they come to work. And so all of that just ripples, ripples, ripples. And the most beautiful thing is, is that it’s not only for the here and now. It’s it’s ripples out for, you know, potentially decades. Right, right. I’m explode. It’s so incredibly excited about the CO starters program because we’ve also coalesced a team of we regional local resource. So supporters or resource team. So like the Small Business Association, the SBA, and other other local regional partners, and they’ve all come in support of that program and the work hub, so that we can be. So all everybody kind of does their own little bit of programming. And we’re not looking to recreate any of those wheels, what we want to do is try is to highlight into raise up, all of us together all of our resource partners. And so as they go through the post orders, the participants go through the program, they’re being introduced to these folks, they can put faces to names, you know, they can participate in these other programs. And then, at the end, when they’re done with all of these things, they’re not just standing there going now what? Right, because the now what team is ready for them? Yeah, who they are. And so

Brandon Burton 20:58
now what team have?

Moe Belliveau 21:02
Yes. So you know, now they know who they are. And maybe they connect and give a call to our friend, Roberto Nieves from common capital here in the area. And if, you know, maybe he doesn’t have the answer, or isn’t. They’re not ready for him at that moment. But he knows who they can connect them to. Because we have an ongoing monthly meeting and roundtable that we get together so that we can learn more about each other. That’s awesome. That’s support.

Brandon Burton 21:32
Yeah. So with this, you mentioned, you’re kind of wrapping up this first cohort. I’m curious if you don’t mind sharing, but how many business owners you have in this first round. And we have maybe some examples of where they came from how you found them. I’m just saying I get the the thoughts going with those listening of where they might be able to find some of these businesses that are operating in the shadows.

Moe Belliveau 22:00
Sure, sure. So we have six participants within our, our cohort, my goal was to have 10 We have two facilitators who are just incredible. I’m delighted to be working with both of them. And I’m a super excited for our participants, because they get to be led by these two incredible women. And and we put it out through social media, we had, you know, it was mostly social media that we put that out to, and we had, you know, quite a bit of, of applicants come in, but through that A, we ended up with six was very excited about that. And they vary, they vary. There’s a couple who have been in business for, you know, maybe a year or so. So they’ve started their venture, but realized, you know, what, I need a little bit of focus, I need a little bit more of a foundation, and then the others are in various stages we’re at in various stages of ideation. Okay, so at this point, they’ve become more clear and more more focused as to what it is that they’re trying to do and how they’re going to do it. Yeah.

Brandon Burton 23:15
So can you share with us a little bit about the facilitator aspect of it and where you find the facilitators? Do they need to go through certain training to be able to operate under the license? How does that work?

Moe Belliveau 23:27
Yep, so our facilitators, they’re both local. We have Cynthia West, who is a small business owner here. She is the owner of sonnet and Sparrow, right here in the center of East Hampton. And then we also have Angie Montalvo Greene, who is the regional director for the LGBT chamber here, who is also located there. Western Mass office is also located here in Massachusetts. So she’s on our team. And it’s amazing. So as part of the program, they are, they get a stipend for their time and their dedication. And it’s in they go through training. Yep, they’re trained by CO starters. They’re certified by CO starters. And it’s it’s the real deal. It’s, yeah, it’s not just Mo, like, oh, well, let’s just let’s, let’s build a business plan. I’m really excited about the program. It’s really amazing. I

Brandon Burton 24:29
love that that creates a team effort to in it’s not like you said, it’s not just mo reach into these businesses. This is so right. There’s curriculum, and it’s a it’s a real deal.

Moe Belliveau 24:41
Yeah. And it’s a method and it’s a logical progression, and it’s building and building and building. So that’s

Brandon Burton 24:47
right. Now, I will say at the beginning of this recording, you had mentioned the revitalization of downtown and I had a little vision that you know, maybe the chamber occupies one of those For bigger co workspace as he continued to grow and develop this thing, I could just see it snowball. So well, I

Moe Belliveau 25:06
have to say, and I’m very excited about this. But the woman who worked with us on the marketing feasibility study, she said, you know, my biggest fear for you is that you’re going to fill up so fast that you’re going to wish you had more space. Yeah. I said, Well, that’s a problem I’ll deal with when I get there. Yeah. cross

Brandon Burton 25:25
that bridge. Yeah, we’ll see. Yeah, yeah. Well, I would like to ask for chambers listening, who are interested in taking their chamber up to the next level, what kind of tip or action item might you share with them and trying to accomplish that goal?

Moe Belliveau 25:43
Oh, dear, well, you know, ah, these times in chamber, we have, I think, really worked hard. to, to, you know, what, let me back up a minute, you know, we’re living in a time, right, where they change, constant change, we had a major disruption in 2020. And, and ever since then, change has been in our face, and it’s not going to stop, it’s just going to keep on going and keep on accelerating. And chambers all over the country really rose to the occasion, and really stepped into a void, I think, which was really pretty amazing. But I also think as we move on, and move further away from 2020. Being open, and and moving forward with curiosity, and learning, where it’s just going to be constant. Learn, do learn do as opposed to once upon a time you could learn, do the thing, and then you retire. Right? But now it’s going to be now I, in my opinion, learn do learn, do learn do, and if we don’t keep doing that, so you know, learning from our, our, our membership, you know, what is it that they need, be willing to change and let go of what maybe it’s not working and take a risk to see what might right now like, this is all scary stuff. I’m like, Oh, I’ve never done this. Yeah.

Brandon Burton 27:20
Well, and the halls learn, do learn do for a chamber? Yes. So you’re going to learn, do learn, do. But also keep in mind that your members are doing the same thing, like that environment is constantly changing. And we’re in a world where the education the learning is I like to think of it as just in time learning. Yeah, you need to learn how to do a podcast, because that’s the thing. Now there’s courses, there’s ways to do that right now. Yeah, if you need to learn how to do XYZ, there’s YouTube videos, there’s trainings, there’s people, you know, mentors that you can learn from, there’s all these different resources where it used to be the hand to go and get the formal education, you learn, you do and you retire, like, like you said, now it’s learn, do learn do, and you need to constantly be able to find those resources. And hopefully, the chamber is one of those resources to keep these business members up to date on latest trends and to help them learn on demand when they need that, I

Moe Belliveau 28:19
think to being a role model, right? Leading by example. Yeah. Yeah, model it. Right.

Brandon Burton 28:28
So and that that may be leaning into the next question I have is, as we look to the future of chambers of commerce, how do you see the future of chambers and their purpose going forward?

Moe Belliveau 28:39
Oh, my goodness. What do I yay, how do I see that? I think it just goes back to the learned, learn, do and we need to be aware, and listen and hear. And if we can do that, I think we can’t be afraid of changing. Yeah. And I like to say that, you know, the East Hampton chamber is not your grandmother’s grandfather’s chamber anymore. You know, and I think, once upon it, you know, how we have been in the past served those times well, but I also think, too, that we get to a point that it’s, it’s can be nerve wracking to let go right. And

Brandon Burton 29:24
things didn’t move as fast. You know, years ago, 60 years ago, things did not move as fast. Now, today, when you mentioned the further we get away from 2020. I mean, here we are for over four years from when the pandemic started, and it’s starting to become a memory and now what we are in the throes of right now, but I think, you know, my son, my oldest son was he was ending I guess he was in his last year in middle school, getting ready to start high school when the pandemic started and now he’s graduating. And so like there’s, there’s time that’s passed. And we’ve learned a lot through the pandemic, after the pandemic, and just that changes constantly there. So we can’t be our grandmother, grandfather’s chamber, because we need to stay current and stay up to see that the times. Yeah.

Moe Belliveau 30:19
And there’s going to be, you know, there’s going to be disruption. Again. Yeah, you just don’t know when and so I think, you know, yeah, I think that, you know, and it’s just going to accelerate, you know, I’m also discovering, too, as I move along, you know, not only is the change, you know, accelerating, it’s the rules that were attached to what was right are changing as fast as the change is happening. If that makes any sense at all.

Brandon Burton 30:48
It? It does. And who writes the rules is changing, too. It’s all upside down now. So

Moe Belliveau 30:56
I think to what I’ve learned is that, you know, 2022 took the extra step, just sketch. Yep. Right. But now we get to do whatever. Right, each chamber is different, although, basic, in some ways, the same, but different per per their community. Yeah.

Brandon Burton 31:16
Yeah. But no, this has been a fun conversation. I love the the innovative work that you guys are doing with it around entrepreneurs and creating this CO workspace and training these businesses that are operating in the shadows, help them pull them out, make them legitimate, make them make them be the real businesses that have that confidence to go out there and mix and mingle with others and scale and, and there’s that word scale, scale their business. But thank you for spending time with us today, sharing your example sharing some of these trends that you guys are setting right now. And, and I can see where other chambers are gonna hop on this this type of model in the very near future if they’re not already. So.

Moe Belliveau 32:04
Thank you for inviting me.

Brandon Burton 32:05
I wanted to ask you if there’s any contact information you’d like to share for listeners who might want to reach out and connect and learn more from you? Sure.

Moe Belliveau 32:13
So you know, our website is EastHamptonChamber.org. You can always connect with me. I’m happy to chat with anyone regarding any of this. I’m at moe@easthamptonchamber.org. Um, yeah,

Brandon Burton 32:30
very good. I will get that in our show notes for this episode, so people can find that and reach out and connect with you. Thank you. This has been great.

Moe Belliveau 32:40
No, I appreciate it was fun.

Brandon Burton 32:42
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Leveraging Opportunities to Build Businesses with Danielle Fitz-Hugh

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Brandon Burton 0:00
This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.

Hello, Chamber Champions. Welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast. I’m your hosts Brandon Burton. And it’s my goal here on the podcast to introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your Chamber members and your community. You’re joining us for a special episode as part of our 2023 ACCE Chamber the Year Finalist Series.

Let’s hear from Becky Womble, President of the Bastrop Chamber to hear about her experience with Community Matters.

Becki Womble 1:03
I’ve been using Community Matters for probably six or seven years now. And in a previous life, I sold commercial printing so I can highly recommend Community Matters because it’s a complete turnkey job for any busy chamber exec and it’s a wonderful, beautiful printed product whenever you’re finished. And I just I’m very sold on Community Matters. And with a printing background I just big endorsement from me.

Brandon Burton 1:44
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Our guest for this episode is Danielle Fitz-Hugh. Danielle has served as President of the Chesterfield Chamber of Commerce since 2017. Having held over the last 16 years positions as president at the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and vice president of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce. Prior to the chamber profession, Daniel spent 13 years in the financial and hospitality industries in Charlottesville, Virginia market. She is known for bringing synergy energy and growth through her leadership at the helm of organizations. Danielle currently serves as a fellow for the US Chamber business leads fellowship and as chair of the Virginia association of Chamber of Commerce executives. She has been recognized as the nominee and recipient of several industry awards throughout her career including the 2016 chamber Executive of the Year by the Virginia Chamber of Commerce executives. Danielle’s involved locally and serving on boards of multiple organizations in her community. Danielle is an IOM graduate and received degrees from Averett University and Piedmont Virginia Community College. Danielle is passionate about youth development and spends time organizing officiating and coaching for the Chester church basketball league for 300 Boys ages seven to 17 each year teaching leadership team building and groupthink through sports. Danielle, I’m excited to have you with us today on chamber chat podcast, I’d love for you to take a moment to say hello to all the chamber champions that are out there listening and share something interesting about yourself so you can get to know you a little better.

Danielle Fitz-Hugh 3:39
Yeah, thank you so much Brandon for having me and Hi to all of my chamber family. Across the country we do become our own little family and lean on each other for support and help when we need it. We will send out a lifeline so hi to all of you guys that I’ve sent lifelines to over these many years. And I think the last question was something interesting although you mentioned it in my bio, so most do not know that I coach and referee and run a basketball league and so I will tell you what my husband says is I get a whole new wife for about three months every year because you put on this you know this different hat when you are shepherding and pouring into you and leading them to learn team sports and work together and come up with something that’s called this game of basketball so it’s it’s it’s I don’t know any and I run and I do it for boat mostly boys, but 98% are all boys. And at least in the mid Atlantic region as best I know I might be the only woman running traditionally all boys in this league. I’ve had a few people reach out to me. So that’s pretty unique, although outside the chamber industry that we’re talking about today. You

Brandon Burton 5:00
Yeah, no, that is unique. And kudos to you for doing that. I know, I got a glimpse this year my wife took on being the volleyball Commissioner for our volleyball league in our community. And there’s a lot of work on the back end of that. And if you’re, you know, putting on the league and coaching and doing it all and that’s it’s a lot of work beyond your your day job. So

Danielle Fitz-Hugh 5:23
yeah, I don’t coach as much anymore. But I do love to referees. Yeah.

Brandon Burton 5:30
Well, tell us a little bit about the Chesterfield chamber give us an idea of the size of your chamber scope of work staff budget, just to kind of give us an idea of perspective wise, before we get into our topic today.

Danielle Fitz-Hugh 5:44
Yeah, so the Chesterfield chamber. Next year, we’ll celebrate 25 years. And we’re just around a little under 600 businesses that are members of the chamber and about a half a million dollar budget annually, I have four and a half employees, that includes myself, and we break our staff up because all chambers are very different and kind of how they lay out their work. We have a salesperson or business development manager, then we have someone that handles our marketing, and events programming. And then we have a member relations person, which is really a retention position that works with our members and making sure they’re using the benefits. We’re on a tiered membership level. And so we make, we should make sure that the investment level that they want to use is being taken care of. So they renew, and then a bookkeeper and myself.

Brandon Burton 6:40
Yeah, that engagement aspect is so huge with me, each part is important. Don’t get me wrong, but is there’s nothing worse than it’s time to renew. And they say I didn’t get anything out of the chambers. You didn’t take him. Right, right. Right. Right. So making sure they know, everything the chamber has to offer and really get the full value out of it that

Danielle Fitz-Hugh 7:01
that’s exactly right. That’s exactly right.

Brandon Burton 7:03
So are you guys primarily traditional chamber during doing a tourism economic development? What, what kind of work are you involved with?

Danielle Fitz-Hugh 7:11
Yeah, so we don’t do traditional tourism or economic development. However, I serve on our local EDA, so I’ve kind of got this two part hat that I wear here in the Commonwealth. And so in our county, you know, I work we work really closely with our locality in a variety of ways. You know, we clearly in all of my communities have been this way, you know, we want to be partners with our local economic development, our regional economic development engine and statewide so that they can get businesses here. And we can take care of them because we want to make sure that we provide opera opportunities for our community to work and live and do business here in Chesterfield.

Brandon Burton 7:59
That’s great. So I am looking forward to our conversation today and our back and forth and setting this up, I can tell you have a passion for helping businesses build and be successful and, and really building strong businesses throughout your community and, and we’re going to be focusing our discussion today around leveraging opportunities to build businesses and tapping into some of Danielle’s experience and I’m sure some stories that she’ll be able to share with us that hopefully, it’ll be very relevant to other chambers that are listening today. So we will dive in deeper in that conversation as soon as we get back from this quick break.

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Brandon Burton 11:29
All right, Danielle, we’re back. So as I mentioned before the break, today, we’re talking about leveraging opportunities to build businesses. So I know just from some of your background that you shared with me that this is something that’s important to you, as it should be to any chamber executive, right? That should be kind of a passion for us to see, see the businesses in your community thrive and grow and, and really enhance the lives of people throughout your community through successful business. But I would love to hear from your perspective, what type of approach you take when we talk about leveraging opportunities to build businesses.

Danielle Fitz-Hugh 12:11
Yeah, so I really look at it as a two fold of education. So we have community that may or may not be in the background, understanding the day to day need for businesses in our community. And so every community out there has a little bit of that nimbyism that not in my backyard, don’t build it here kind of thing. And that’s not unusual. But I look at businesses, you know, I’m going to reference something and I should give credit, I’m going to give credit to Greg Fairchild, who used to be at the Taylor Murphy Institute at University of Virginia. So he has this theory around whales and dolphins as it relates to business. And so whales would be something like Amazon coming into your community. We just recently announced Lego coming into our community. So it’ll be the first Lego manufacturing facility in the country will be here in Chesterfield. And as they’re coming on board, you know, that will be a large development. I mean, again, who doesn’t want Lego in their community, right? But there are other types of big whales, right? And so I look at the big whales of yes, we need the big whales, but it is really the spool of dolphins that create the community. And those spools are dolphins are your mom and pop T Shirt Company that’s making you have a branded shirt on Brandon. That’s chamber chat. It is your commercial cleaning company that needs to go out there and get contracts. That’s your caterers, it’s your retailers? Those are your businesses right in your community that need the larger employees, larger companies so that they can build a full lifecycle of an opportunity of business opportunity. And so when you think of, Okay, do we want Lego or Amazon in our community so that we can have auxilary businesses then come? Because you don’t want a business desert? I’m sure many of our listeners have driven through a community and you’re going well, where’s the enterprise that there was some big business that left but if you have one whale or two whales in your community, and then you build 50 6600 Dolphins, when that one whale might leave, you still have all the dolphins. And so for me, what really creates opportunity is helping all those dolphins figure out how they can plug in, how can they get their next contract. Are they certified do Do they need to get MBE certified, swim certified, I mean, all these different things to make them the best candidate for their next piece of business.

Brandon Burton 15:09
Right? I love that analogy with the whales and dolphins and, and really in today’s environment, these dolphins can support these whales, you know worldwide really? I mean, that’s exactly right then tap in and get them educated and connect them. It helps having a big whale in your community for sure. But it’s not a deal breaker anymore, right? Like, that’s exactly right, and be very healthy, even without the whale in the community. Yeah, we’re seeing that in a neighboring community to where I am right now, where Universal Studios has announced that they’re bringing in a kind of a smaller scale, like a kid oriented theme park. And you know, for the city, it’s a huge economic development win, right? I mean, you’re bringing in a lot of tourism dollars, you’re bringing in a lot of jobs employment. But the whole idea of not in my backyard, there’s neighborhoods that back right up to that, and I, I can empathize with them. Like, I don’t know that I’d want a theme park in my back. But all the dolphins that that will bring that that will feed that that will really sustain that city for a long time. There are some trade offs and of course, infrastructure that needs to go along with it and the whole nine yards. But

Danielle Fitz-Hugh 16:25
yeah, I mean, infrastructure, education, I mean, money for schools, I mean, every community wants to have the most money going into school budgets, right and localities or are funding those budgets at a high level and in business helps that, right. So nobody wants their home taxes, you know, to go up or their business taxes to go up. But I mean, but the more enterprise you have in a community, the more opportunity to lower your household costs. But it also helps communities have sustainable employee employment. So that, you know, your wife has time to go out and volunteer as Commissioner of a volleyball group. You know, if you’ve got to think and struggle about how to keep the lights on, then you don’t have the time to go out and volunteer, and, or even have the resources to support or sponsor teams, and so forth. So we really look about look at it as an opportunity to provide community so that they can go back and build their community. So we like to say, we build business. So you can build a community

Brandon Burton 17:36
like that. I like that a lot. So I think as far as these whales go, for a large part, and I’m easy to talk about Amazon’s and Lagos and they, they kind of have the business part figured out, right? I mean, if we can create a welcoming environment to welcome them to our community, more power to us. But I see us focusing more of our attention on the dolphins Suzy talked about making sure they’re plugged in and trained. Can you talk to us more about your approach with these dolphins and how you go about finding the NA, I mean, we’re using this as a kind of a parallel, but these dolphins are the smaller businesses support bigger businesses and support your community. So how do you go about finding them learning about what they need addressing those needs, just the the day to day grit, I guess of what it comes down to is supporting these businesses?

Danielle Fitz-Hugh 18:28
Well, in our community, we really are about building relationships, and building a community to help you grow organically. So, you know, we really preach the match message of inclusiveness from a business perspective. So our small businesses, which we you know, most communities are small businesses, you just hear more about the large businesses, right. So you know, our smaller businesses, we really are working to make sure that they’ve got their financial house in order. And if they don’t hear the tools through our programming to help them keep their financial house in order, especially when they’re going out after contracts. I mean, really understanding sort of that cash flow model that, you know, you may not be getting paid the same week, because you’ve got to invoice and are they net 30. Net 45, that 90, you know, depending on how they’re working with their contracts on being able to leverage lines of credit so that they can offset that cash flow, demand and stay open and pay employees and that sort of thing. And then building their long term marketing and branding strategy. And through some of our, you know, member partners on what that looks like. So, yes, you have the contract now, but let’s look at what’s down the road for six months, two years, five years from now. So really working with businesses and phased approach So that zero to two year phased approach, you know, the entrepreneur who has a passion who started the business who’s hustling. And you know, I, like I love an analogy killing what they eat when you’re hustling as an entrepreneur. So they’re in the market, and they’re running on that little hamster wheel. So we work with them on building capacity. And then okay, they’re making some money, they’re ready to kind of take that next leveraged approach. And then you’ve got kind of those two year to five year businesses who nail can go after some significant contracts of business for the long term and put some things into place. And we really want to, you know, launch their businesses. So by the time they get to that five year mark, that they are the name that comes up in conversations when thinking about their services, their goods, their products, and the next piece of business that’s on the table. And so we work really hard with our chamber member partners on that education so that they can build not just the business today, but really a sustainable lifetime business.

Brandon Burton 21:07
Right. So I know, as businesses join the chamber, they join for a variety of different reasons, right? Maybe it’s just what they see on the surface, you know, maybe they have a friend and they hear about your Gala. And they really think that’s anything or they’re in it for networking or whatever. So you have this member engagement person on your staff to help share with the full array of services are? How besides having that member engagement person? How do you make sure people are really fully participating? Or at least knowing about everything that you have to offer? And how do you offer some of these things? So some of the education some of the you had mentioned marketing and branding, branding strategies? Are these in person kind of seminars? Are they? How do you what’s your approach?

Danielle Fitz-Hugh 22:02
So So Brandon, I might disagree with you just slightly, I might say businesses join for one reason. And that’s to make money. Sure. And the other pieces is how we deliver that. And so for us, we deliver it in a phased approach. So, you know, Brandon at chamber chat, decides they want to join the chamber, they’ve heard amazing things as you all do about your chamber. And they do and they decide to pull the trigger I’m going to join. So what our onboarding looks like is you’ve joined, we now team you up with an ambassador, which is pretty traditional, across our industry, that Ambassador is a member just like you are, who now walks you through all the things that they think are important for you to get involved with. And they stay with you for a year and build this tight community of relationships with you. They meet you at events, they talk to you about different programs, and really create a roadmap for your engagement, and things that you can do, because we do more than just what one member would want. And I tend to tell people all the time, you can’t do everything, because you got to do other pieces of your business, but really work with them on building that roadmap. And then at about the 90 day mark, my member relations person, my engagement person, you know, sets up a meeting with them, and says, Hey, because we’re tiered, which means you don’t just join the chamber, you join and you tell us how you want to engage with us? What value of engagement Do you want. And so based on how you’ve said, when you’ve invested on how you want to engage with us, our member relations person is saying, Hey, you said networking and marketing is important for you as a new business, because you’ve got to get your name and brand out there were 90 days and we still have some pieces that you haven’t done yet. Let’s schedule them for the next nine months. Because sometimes what will happen is a member will join. They forget the thing that bought them to the chamber. Or they only do that one piece, we have a 200 person luncheon every month. So it’s like putting on a gala every month. And so a lot of members join because they want to come to that one that one event. But we do so much more that our member engagement person will say, here is your list of 30 benefits, you know, whatever that list is, let’s go ahead and schedule them for the whole 12 month of this annual investment. That way, you’re not forgetting about your membership. We’re key and we’re also making sure that we keep your brand in front of our members for the whole year versus delivering all the benefits in the first 90 days, six months, four months, whatever that timeframe is so we’ve the engagement person really works with each member on those benefits and getting them across messaging for the whole 12 months of their annual investment lifecycle.

Brandon Burton 25:09
I think that’s a brilliant idea to sit down and say, here’s the main things that would be of most value to you, let’s get them on the calendar, let’s make sure you show up, let’s make sure you participate and be fully engaged, you know, to the extent of what you need for your business to succeed, to meet those expectations.

Danielle Fitz-Hugh 25:28
And we do have, and we do have, like many organizations, we do have some automation that we can do with that to some sort of like a drip automation, to remind certain tiered levels, that these things are coming up, we’ve got some concierge service, and that related to our member engagement person, so much like a concierge at a hotel would work with the hotel guests on making their reservations for the theater, or the next show, we have some concierge services built into our memberships. So at certain investment engagement levels, larger companies are whales, right? They might have someone that manages all of their benefits at that company. And we have some concierge services that allows them to work with us. They’re not going into the system, they don’t have time to log in. We take care of all of that for the for them.

Brandon Burton 26:25
Yeah, that’s so smart. As you’re explaining how you guys approach this, I see all these little rabbit holes that I can go to, for example, and we don’t need to go way down this road. But as your member engagement person reaches out and is helping to plan out the year with each of these members. Is the idea of sponsorships for any of these events ever brought up? Or does that responsibility fall on somebody else within your organization, or just I’m sure people listening here, this is great to schedule this out. And you can give them the opportunity to sponsor you know when or do these things?

Danielle Fitz-Hugh 27:06
Yeah, so we take a little different approach to sponsorship, we actually work with a national company called Why GM, Jason EB giving him a shout out. And we run sponsorship once a year for the whole year. And here’s the reason why we work with our members to match their need to fit in front of the right audience with the opportunities that we have. And it also creates space where we’re not going back to members several times a year going, Hey, we’ve got this program. It’s amazing. Do you want to sponsor we make one ask, we talk about what their marketing budget is for the chamber, we work we have volunteers that help us with this campaign. And then we take their marketing budget, much like we do their investment benefits, and spread them out for the year, we take their marketing budget, and spread out opportunities for the full year. So we’ve been doing this for three years. And it really does do an additional piece is that chambers are not chasing money to find the sponsorship to do the work that they want to do that our members are really telling us in front of the year. What are what things are important to them with their checkbooks, they’re sponsoring the things that make sense for them. So if you’ve got this program that you’ve been holding on, you’ve got you know, the sacred cow that you’ve been holding on to, and no one is sponsoring it and you’re trying to beg people to sponsor it during your campaign season, then, baby it’s not what your members want. I mean, members talk with their money. Yeah,

Brandon Burton 28:43
no, that’s very true. As we start to wrap up here, I wanted to ask any tip or action item that you may have for listeners who are desiring to take their chamber up to the next level? What might you suggest for them?

Danielle Fitz-Hugh 29:01
Yeah, I would say you know, the retention part, right. Everybody focuses on sales, getting the new members, everyone focuses on sales. I’m a defensive coach. I believe that if I can keep you from shooting, I don’t have to worry about how many shots you make. Right? That’s right. I believe that if I can keep you in. I don’t have to worry about getting the new the new are gonna come. Yeah, right. So so for for for me that one tip is think about how you strategically organize your teams. Because we know we’ve heard it for decades, that it takes less to keep a member than it does to recruit a new member. So we flip the funnel on upside down and we put the funnel of the retention because then if you’re working on retention, you all of a sudden have 600 Cheerleaders that are saying, come join this organization. And so for us, we’ve turned the ownership to the members, it is their chamber to grow. It is their responsibility to refer. Yeah, and we are at 5% referrals on our new members that come in. And so, I mean, that makes my salespersons job easier because it’s a warm clothes, right? We’re not going and doing cold calls anymore, right? There’s a new model out there. So we are so referral base, because we’re telling the members, if you want more people to market network build relations, to bring them to us. If you’ve enjoyed your membership, and you’re getting benefit from it, refer your friends refer your other referral group connections to our chamber. And we’ve built that way.

Brandon Burton 30:57
Yeah, those are great points. And I love the idea of focusing on retention. And if you keep them for the long term, and over time, your membership fees will increase naturally. And your membership continues to grow, because they’re getting value and bringing people in and just the overall health of the organization continues to get stronger, and you’re not focusing on, you know, like you said, killing what you eat, just constantly going after the next one. And each week, you’re able to grow in a healthy and sustainable way. So that’s a great model you guys are following. I like asking everyone I have on the show, as we look to the future of chambers, how do you see the future of chambers and their purpose going forward?

Danielle Fitz-Hugh 31:44
Well, I think we will continue to be innovative. Chambers look different today than they did five years ago. If they don’t look different today, they didn’t make it through the last three years, right. And so we’ve got to continue to take risks, our businesses demand it, and we need to follow their direction. So for instance, when businesses had to, you know, open, chambers need to open so we can service them. And I know, you know, we were made open during this past three years, we look different, right? So we are not stuck to traditional models of what work has to look like, because our businesses are not stuck to traditional models of what work needs to look like. So I think using industry as the model, our chambers across the country need to take the lead because they’re able to shift so quickly. And so should our chambers be able to do there’s no more well, we’ve always done it that way. Okay,

Brandon Burton 33:01
yeah. And there’s a being able to be flexible and make that shift, follow the lead of your members, there’s coming out of the last three years, there’s a lot of, you know, innovations that allow for you to be more productive, to be able to service your members better to be able to connect with them, whether it’s a zoom call, whether it’s a you know, Cal a scheduling, you know, mechanism or app or something ways to connect, that we you know, three, four years ago, we weren’t using on a regular That’s exactly right. And now it really allows us to get a lot more done and be a lot more efficient and in the end, you know, serve our members in a better way. So great, great insight into the future. Thank you so much. Yes. So Danielle, I wanted to give you an opportunity to share any contact information for listeners out there who would like to reach out and connect and learn more about how you guys are doing things that are in Chesterfield, what would be the best way for them to reach out and connect with you?

Danielle Fitz-Hugh 34:01
Yeah, so we’re pretty all of us are pretty active on all social media. You can find us at ChesterfieldChamber.com on social media, we are Chesterfield Chamber VA and as in Virginia, because there are a couple other Chesterfield Chambers in the country. And so since this is a podcast, I’ll make that notation that we are Chesterfield Chamber VA, just follow us like us, you know, follow us on Instagram. And we’ll if you message us there, we will message you and contact you back. Also on LinkedIn, I mean, we are crazy LinkedIn people in our community. So and I will say we also host Blitzer, which is, you know, one of these new pandemic platforms. And so we open it and so occasionally I’ll get businesses from all across the community across the country that will come into it and network because business does not have borders.

Brandon Burton 34:53
Absolutely. Yeah. As we talked about earlier with those dolphins supporting whales outside of your community. So how All right, very good. Well, I appreciate that, Danielle, well, we’ll get your contact information in our show notes for this episodes, people can find it there. But feel like we’ve had a great discussion today brought a lot of value and perspective. And I’m sure listeners are taking some notes and things that they can implement and discuss, you know, making some changes to be more productive in and serving the businesses and their community to build stronger businesses and in turn a stronger community. So thank you for being with us today and sharing your experience and insights.

Danielle Fitz-Hugh 35:32
Thank you for having us.

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Keeping Local Dollars Local with Donna Novitsky

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Brandon Burton 0:00
This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.

Let’s hear from Becky Womble, President of the Bastrop Chamber to hear about her experience with Community Matters.

Learn how you can partner with Community Matters, Inc. to produce your next Chamber Directory, Community Guide or Map.

Our guest for this episode is Donovan ski Donna is the co founder of Yiftee Donna has combined her interests in local community building and her interests in high tech to co found nifty to bring profitable business to local shops and restaurants. Yiftee has grown to more than 500 communities now 15,500 merchants and helped to keep $45 million local to help small businesses just the last three years. Prior to giftee. Donna has led several startup companies and worked with top tier venture capital firm. She teaches entrepreneurship at Stanford University and frequently speaks on topics related to entrepreneurship and women in business. Donna holds a BS and industrial engineering with distinction from Stanford University and a Harvard MBA. And Donna, I’m excited to have you with us today on chamber chat podcast, I’d love for you to take a moment to say hello to all the chamber champions that are out there listening and to share something interesting about yourself so we can all get to know you a little better.

Donna Novitsky 3:05
Thanks, Brandon. And hello chamber champions. It is such a pleasure to be here. I’ve really enjoyed meeting many of you at the ACCE show and on zoom over the year, last few years. But let’s see something interesting about me. Well, I guess depending on how you count them, as As Brandon mentioned, I’ve been in tech. So Yiftee is my third or my 19th. Startup. out right. So I guess you could say I’m an entrepreneur at heart. My dad taught me that word when I was 12. And it kind of stuck. So I love starting new things and helping others do so too. So I end up doing a lot of coaching and mentoring of young people, which is super fun, because they’re always challenging me to learn new things.

Brandon Burton 3:58
Right now that is that is interesting. I like getting these little facts about people. And I’m sure we could dig in deeper on on how you count those businesses that you’re part of starting. Well, before we dive into our topic for today, why don’t you take a few minutes and just tell us a little bit about Yiftee what Yiftee is kind of the purpose the vision with it. And then we can dive in a little bit deeper on on how it all works.

Donna Novitsky 4:24
Okay, great. So we launched Yiftee over 10 years ago, and for the first five or six years, the business went through the typical startup rollercoaster. In 2018. We did the first what we now call community cards. And I’ll talk a little bit more about that in a minute. But then the pandemic hit in 2020. And many chambers were worried about losing all their small businesses and they were looking for ways to help their members and we happen to have a solution for that. So calm cards as We call them took off. And as bright as Brandon mentioned, were in more than 500 communities and 15,000 local businesses. So I guess you could say we got here with hard work, a lot of stubbornness and even more luck, because who would have predicted a pandemic? We’re a small team. We are 100% remote and our headquarters in the Bay Area. And we have teammates in California, Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina, Florida and Puerto Rico. So we’re all over the place just like you guys.

Brandon Burton 5:35
Awesome. Now that definitely gives a good introduction to what Yiftee is, and I’m excited to get in a little deeper on it as we settled on our topic for this discussion. Today we are going to talk about keeping local dollars local. And as I mentioned in your bio, you guys have helped keep over $45 million local for small businesses and communities across the country. So I’m excited to dive in deeper on this learn how the program works and help tell chambers how they can help keep dollars local in their community as soon as they get back from this quick break.

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Raquel Borges 8:28
What if you could keep holiday shopping local this year? Launch a community card with Yiftee. And you can. Hi, I’m Raquel from Yiftee. Yiftee works with over 500 chambers, main streets, cities and downtown associations providing custom branded electronic gift cards that can only be redeemed at your local businesses. This program is free for you and your participating businesses. And if you sign up now, you’ll watch your local businesses thrive this holiday season. Email sales@yiftee.com to learn more, that’s sales@yiftee.com.

Brandon Burton 9:08
All right, Donna, we’re back. So tell us what with Yiftee How does it work? You’d mentioned these comm cards. So what is a comm card and how does it work and how does it lead to keeping dollars local?

Donna Novitsky 9:23
Okay, a comm card or community card. It’s a digital gift card and it is branded for a city town or neighborhood and can be redeemed exclusively at the local shops and restaurants in that area. So shout out to Spartanburg South Carolina chamber who was our very first chamber customer back in 2018. Followed by Lake Zurich, Illinois, Niles, Illinois and DeWitt, Iowa. If you’re out there thank you guys. Chambers often make the program a member benefit because they Control specifically which merchants can participate in it. It’s kind of like next generation chamber checks. But we do all the sales, customer service technology and financial management. And our chamber partner in each community promotes the program and recruits the merchants. So it’s a real partnership with the chambers.

Brandon Burton 10:23
So what does the recruitment look like as the chamber goes out to recruit businesses to participate in it? Is their marketing material that’s provided as their scripts is their coaching that goes along with it? What does that look like?

Donna Novitsky 10:36
Oh, that stuff. So in terms of getting the program up and running, we all they have to, there’s no cost. First of all, for the program, the chambers don’t have to pay anything. And the merchants don’t have to pay anything to participate. And it’s backed by MasterCard. So any merchant that takes MasterCard can participate in the program, and there’s no special equipment or integration with their POs that they need. So all they have to do is sign the agreement. And then we’ll have their portal set up within 24 hours. And we start sending lots of materials, there’s a four week launch program with lots of materials. So we’ll give you the copy to recruit an email to send an email message out to your members to invite them to the program. And then when you’re ready, we send what we call an activation card to the merchants, which is a 10 cent prepaid MasterCard, they process that they get the dime. And that registers their POS with us. And that’s how we limit the cards to be used exclusively at your members businesses. So we’re providing a lot of information along the way. Honest, to be honest, the long pole in the tent in terms of getting the program running is, is recruiting the merchants because they are just super busy. And you got to get their attention. So

Brandon Burton 12:05
Right. So in your experience over the years of launching these community card programs, is there an ideal time of year? Or does it depend on the community? Or how did how do you see the most successful timing maybe as far as rolling out a community card?

Donna Novitsky 12:22
Well, as you guys might know, gift cards are the number one requested holiday gift. So that means that your merchants are probably paying more attention to gift card programs at the holidays. So the ideal time to launch it takes about four weeks to launch in general, you can do it faster, but would be probably around September, October, because that’s when your merchants are starting to think about gift card programs. And you’ll it’ll be easier to get their attention. So we do six months worth of business in the month of December. So Oh, wow. By far the high point of the year for for the gift card business.

Brandon Burton 13:15
Yeah. So can you talk to us a little bit more about the digital gift, gift card aspect of it. So it’s a digital gift card in nature. So how does that work? Does it go on their phone? How do they do the transactions? How do they make the purchase? How does that? How’s that all of that structured?

Donna Novitsky 13:32
Right, so this is an all digital program. That’s how we can do it without any cost to the chambers or the merchants. So there’s no little plastic cards. The way that it works is people you’ll have a website where that we host for you, but it’s branded for your community, so you don’t even see it on that website. It’s all about your local community. And people you put a link on your chamber page, a button that says buy our community gift card, and go there to buy the gift card. And it’s just a really simple process that they go through to buy that card online. They can either send it to whoever they want to send it to through email, or they can print them out. So if they want it put it in somebody’s holiday stocking, they just print it out and put it in the in their holiday stocking. Then the recipient will get that either on a piece of paper or through email. And they take it into the shop. When it’s by eat if it’s on paper, they can also save it to their phone with a QR code. And they take it into the shop or the restaurant and show their phone to the say one of your merchants who is participating in the program. They will process that MasterCard, it’s a MasterCard so that merchants gonna process it like a like a phone order. So they would enter that the code from the MasterCard, MasterCard immediately validates that transaction And they know they’re gonna get paid in their normal nightly settlement with all the other credit card transactions from that day. And then the balance on the phone will change. So if you had a $25 card and you bought a cup of coffee, now your phone’s gonna say you have a gift card for $21. And I could go next door to the next shop and get my nails done or buy something in a boutique. So it’s multi use card, just like a MasterCard gift card, but it only works at your members stores.

Brandon Burton 15:31
Yeah. So I see, you know, similarly, I’ve got kids in high school, and every year that football team does their little, they do a fundraiser where they’re selling coupons to local businesses, and, and this year, they went digital with it. So it’s on your phone, you got to go show, if you go to the restaurant, it’s not nearly as high tech, you’re literally showing them the screen. And then they go manually enter it and it’s done. But I see this as being much more valuable in the fact of you have $1 amount that’s fixed with this gift card with this community gift card. And then you have your list of vendors that you can go spend it on whatever you want with any of these vendors, right, like you’re not limited to redeeming, you know, $5 off after a $25 purchase or anything like that. It’s not a confined it’s an actual cash on a card,

Donna Novitsky 16:23
right to build just like any other gift card, but it works at multiple different stores. And you know, until the money runs out on the card.

Brandon Burton 16:31
And then is all the list of vendors is that just kept up to date on the website, or is that within? How do the users of the gift card keep up to date on who’s participating? Yeah, we

Donna Novitsky 16:43
maintain that. So if a merchant if a new merchant joins your chamber and they and you want to add them to the program, they will automatically show up on the website once they run their activation card. And the all the people with cards out there in your community can just click on the card itself, scroll down and see all the participating merchants so it’s automatically updated.

Brandon Burton 17:07
Okay, so as a chamber rolls out a community card program, who are the typical people who are buying the gift cards and why?

Donna Novitsky 17:18
Well, that actually we had some surprises on that. So of course, when you think gift cards, do you think consumers so there’s a healthy chunk of consumer business of the people who buy cards, but also where a lot of our business comes from is bulk purchases. So again, if you have chamber checks, you know you sell a lot at the holidays from local businesses who buy them for their employees so they can keep their money in the community. Well, that has happened in spades with this program so schools will buy them for all the teachers in the school. Kent State University bought 10s of 1000s of dollars for their faculty of the Kent Ohio card. We’ve had Spartanburg had their local hospital buy cards. Frankfort, Kentucky and Riverdale Park Maryland have government programs for low income families where the government funds cards for these families and all the money stays in the community. Realtors and developers in Mountain View California give them as welcome gifts to new tenants and homebuyers. A nonprofit in Bullock, Arizona buys them for their volunteers, employers in Detroit and lots of other cities buy them for employee reward programs. And of course, there are huge corporate orders or holiday gifts. So that was we didn’t understand when we started this company that things you learned that about a third of the 180 $9 billion US gift card market is corporate purchases. Before this program, all that money was going to the big box stores and E commerce like Amazon and Starbucks, right? So now those organizations have a way to keep their dollars in the community. And that has been a great opportunity for us

Brandon Burton 19:23
that really turn the light on in my head going through that explanation because especially at the holiday time, a lot of these major employers, a lot of them are going to be big supporters of the chamber financially, you know, maybe some of the major investors, but they also have a lot of employees in the community. And around the holiday time it’s a normal thing to see whether it’s bonuses or some kind of a gift or maybe they give you know Amazon gift cards or Starbucks gift cards like you’re saying and if they can make that shift and say here’s a community gift card that you can use it any one of these men ders, that’s listed in the community. And instead of sending all of this, you know, purchasing power to Amazon, let’s keep it in our community and have it keep turning over, you know, time and time again. That’s very powerful. So I’m curious it with an individual chamber running their community card program, are they able to keep track? Or is there like a running total of how much money they’re keeping in their community?

Donna Novitsky 20:26
Yeah, there is. So we give them they can run reports anytime they want. As I mentioned earlier, they have a portal and you can log into your portal and run a report and see everybody that has purchased cards, and their how much the dollar value of the card and how much remains on the balance of that card. And they actually have marketing rights to that information. So if you have a chamber newsletter, you could add them to your newsletter or something, you know, contribute to building your community. But my favorite report is the gifts redeemed report. Because in that report, you can see every single transaction that was spent at each merchant in the program, so I could see that $4.27 was spent for a cup of coffee at the local coffee shop, I could see that someone went to a boutique and spent $92. So I can’t we don’t tell you who had the coffee or went to the boutique, that’s a privacy issue. So we don’t share that information. But for your members, you have reports of exactly how much business you have walked into the door in their stores. So yeah, program, you can really show the value added.

Brandon Burton 21:42
Yeah. And there’s really there’s no cost or no downfall really for business to participate to if you’re that local coffee shop or retailer. There’s, there’s no downside to it, it just gets access to more people coming in and to be able to get a report from the chamber saying we’d sent X number of dollars to your business over the last year, whatever the timeframe is, that can be pretty powerful, and and create that stickiness factor with your members with your with your chamber. Yeah, so I can imagine, you know, over the 500 communities that you’re working with, and over the years, that there’s probably been some pitfalls in rolling out a program. What are what are some of these things that you see that maybe get overlooked? Or maybe assume maybe something’s too easy? What are some of these pitfalls rolling out? The community card program?

Donna Novitsky 22:38
Yeah, life happens, right? Go. So honestly, the hardest thing about the program where the snags can happen is on the merchant recruiting side, you know, you think it makes so much sense, because it’s all upside for them, it doesn’t cost him anything, and we’re going to drive business in the door, but they are busy. And this is something new, and it needs to be explained. So sometimes that takes more time than the chamber anticipated. And it just doesn’t happen. Or it doesn’t happen as quickly as they wanted. So that’s one thing to be prepared for. And we’re always upfront about that. The cool thing is, as we and then I guess I would say the other thing is, you guys in chambers wear so many different hats, right? So the program will get launched. But then you’re off to planning, you know, the labor day parade or the Halloween festival or whatever is happening next, because there’s never a dull moment in the chamber. So the focus on marketing the program locally in the community wanes, and then the community forgets about it. So what we’re doing is, since we’ve been able to grow, I’m beginning to have started hiring some people on the 50 end, to help out our chamber partners and help them recruit some of those bulk purchasers or do some local marketing for them, or even help recruit those merchants. So as we grow, we will continue to be able to put more resources into ongoing sales of the cards and training and recruiting of merchants.

Brandon Burton 24:16
Yeah. So the thought just came to me as I say, for example, a chamber says we want to do a community card program. What is the onboarding process? Like? Do you try to get a certain number of vendors on board with it? So there’s some value as you start selling the cards or where’s that balance where that trade off is like Okay, now it’s time to turn this on and start selling the cards.

Donna Novitsky 24:39
Yeah, it’s a chicken and egg thing, isn’t it? Right? You need merchants you need card buyers. So we always say for the merchants. The best way to recruit is every community has two or three trendsetter merchants, you know the ones who are out there ahead of the pack and the other merchants really respect them generally So you start with those guys. And then they can help you recruit the next wave, we’d like to say we’d like to see around 15 to 20 merchants on the program at launch. And that’s plenty. And then it just grows from there. So they can get added in over time as as they figure out what’s going on in want to jump on board.

Brandon Burton 25:21
So that definitely makes sense. And there are those trendsetters and those individuals in the community that have some influence that that can bring others along with them. So great strategy. As we start to wrap things up here, I wanted to ask, I’d like asking if there’s any tip or an action item you might have for chambers who are listening, who want to take their chamber up to the next level, what what piece of advice might you have to offer?

Becki Womble 25:50
Let’s see. Well, there’s

Donna Novitsky 25:53
one more aspect to the program that I wanted to make sure and cover, which is which was also I mentioned at the beginning that we got here through a lot of luck. This is another part of the luck piece. So since 2021, when the US federal government issued $350 billion to the cities all across the country, 19,000 cities, and in the American rescue plan act, some of that money is still floating around out there. It doesn’t have to be spent until it doesn’t have to be allocated until 2024, or spent until 2026. And a lot of those dollars have found their way to this program. As a bonus program. So for instance, buy $100 card, get a free $50 card. And that is a win all the way around. Because to the merchants, they’re going to see it’s going to triple the grant money, right? To the consumer, they’re getting free money. And also to the merchants, it’s driving foot traffic into their stores, which is what they really need long term is the community shopping there and developing those new shopping habits. So I just want to throw that out there. Because I probably should have mentioned it when you asked about who buys the cards, because that has driven a lot of purchases lately.

Brandon Burton 27:22
Yeah. We also want to circle back to that.

Donna Novitsky 27:25
Yeah, we also have seen some programs sponsored by banks or realtors will sponsor bonus programs. So while it while that’s still that money is still available, it might be worth speaking with your City Office of Economic Development to see what might still be out there on allocated.

Unknown Speaker 27:48
That’s good. Yeah.

Donna Novitsky 27:50
So back to your other question of what to think about now? Well, you know, of course, I would love to, we’d love to chat with you and see if this kind of a program would be a good fit for your community. So that would be the next step, I guess.

Brandon Burton 28:05
Yeah. Well, and as many of you know, EFT is one of the sponsors of chamber chat podcast and the shows only here because of the sponsors that keep it going. So love for you to reach out and check out EFT and see if it’s a good fit for your community. But Donna, I like asking everyone I have on the show, as we look to the future of chambers of commerce, how do you see the future of chambers and their purpose going forward?

Donna Novitsky 28:34
So like, as I mentioned, we attend various chamber events like the ACCE and some of the regional ones. And it’s clear to us that chambers are really community builders. They bring residents, merchants, employers and city government together for the betterment of the community from a business point of view. And this program is something that we think is that is truly actionable and provides measurable results to the Chamber’s members, both for the employers who purchased the cards and the merchants who redeemed them. So I just see chambers can continuing to do what they do, which is, you know, build their communities from a business point of view. And hopefully, we can be a tool that helps them do that.

Brandon Burton 29:25
Awesome. So why don’t you share with everyone how they can reach out and connect. If you have any other questions about how the community card programs work, and how to get in contact with your team and get things started in their community. What would be the good next step or where would you point them to?

Donna Novitsky 29:42
Sure Yiftee.com and you can sign up there for a demo. We do them three days a week. And usually there’ll be a couple other chambers or sometimes main streets or downtown’s on the demo, which is super fun. It’s like little zoom party we have. And everyone gets to hear each other’s questions. And I love the collaborative nature of this community of chambers. It’s such a joy to work with people. And from there, you’ll get plugged into me or probably you’ll meet Raquel or Tyson on my team. And they’ll be doing a live demo. So you can ask all your questions. And we go from there. We’re happy also to do webinars or demos for your board of directors or whatever helps you.

Brandon Burton 30:33
Yeah. So another question I thought of Do you ever see a chamber and a Downtown Association, Merton to come together in a program like this to really leverage the the impact they both have all the time? Awesome, good deal? Well, I’d encourage everybody to reach out and and check out the demos they offer the FDA offers and just you know, explore it, see if this is a way that you can help keep local dollars local in your community and make a bigger impact as you and your chamber continue to build your community. Donna, I appreciate you coming on with us and spending time with us today on chamber chat podcast and, and I hope a lot of people take you up on the offer to check out what you guys have to offer in their communities.

Donna Novitsky 31:22
Thank you so much. And thanks to all the Chamber Champions out there for what you do. It’s amazing.

Brandon Burton 31:27
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Addressing Challenges Facing Businesses with Rick Wilson

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Brandon Burton 0:00
This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.

Hello, Chamber Champions. Welcome to the Chamber Chat Podcast. I’m your host, Brandon Burton. And it’s my goal to introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your Chamber members and your community.

Let’s hear from Becky Womble, President of the Bastrop Chamber to hear about her experience with Community Matters.

Learn how you can partner with Community Matters, Inc. to produce your next Chamber Directory, Community Guide or Map.

Our guest for this episode is Rick Wilson. Rick is the President and CEO of the San Diego Regional East County Chamber of Commerce, and has been since 2019. Rick comes from a 16 year career working at the YMCA organization in a variety of different roles from facility manager to executive manager. He’s an active Rotarian, and is involved at different levels with several local organizations and board of directors. But Rick, I’m excited to have you with us today here on Chamber Chat Podcast, I’d love to give you a moment to say hello to all the Chamber Champions that are out there listening and share something interesting about yourself so you can get to know you a little better.

Rick Wilson 2:37
Well, thank you, Brandon. And it’s exciting to be on the show here. And hello, everybody out there. All those interested in what goes on at chambers of commerce. And again, my name is Rick Wilson. I’m the President CEO for the San Diego Regional East County Chamber of Commerce. I’m very excited to be on here today to chat a little bit about what’s going on with chambers of commerce, especially here in Southern California and hopefully, some great storytelling on will help you guys moving forward on some of the things you’re looking to do as well. But a little interesting about me. Born and raised here in Southern California, I went to school for a little bit in Australia for about a year as well as in Virginia, of when I was in high school and then went to college at UC Santa Barbara. And then was lucky enough to come back to San Diego to work for the then San Diego Chargers. And that was a great experience for seven seasons traveling on the road working in coaching and working in the business department. But since then, I’ve moved on was at the YMCA, As Brandon mentioned, and now landed over here at the East County Chamber of Commerce for about the past four years and really excited to continue to help our business community.

Brandon Burton 3:38
That’s right. And you you came into the chamber world at just the right time get about a year of experience under your belt before they really put you to work, right?

Rick Wilson 3:47
Yes, sir.

You know, got hired in May of 2019. And about March of 2020. We all experienced the same thing and stay at home orders and the 100 year pandemic and there was no playbook for anybody on what to do during 100 year pandemic, especially for Chambers of Commerce. So we definitely rolled up our sleeves and dove into it and just went after it. Absolutely. But tell us a little bit about the San Diego East County Chamber just give us an idea of you know where you’re coming from. So things like the size of the chamber staff budget scope of work you’re involved with. And that’ll kind of set our table for discussion. Great. So yeah, the San Diego Regional East County Chamber of Commerce was founded back in August of 1912. So we are now in our 100 and 11th year of operations here at the chamber. So that’s quite a few generations that have really looked at our chamber as the go to resource in that community, whether it’s business related or not. And we definitely really love that and appreciate that and want to keep that up our staff size. We’re fully staffed. We have five employees. And we have two longtime volunteers one for about four years and one for about 11 years now. And that’s really helped us out our budgets, just over half a million just

over 500,000. And we’re looking to continue to grow our membership is right around 600 members. And so we’re looking coming out of the pandemic continuing to grow that we had a great program and a great plan going in 2019. And then as I mentioned earlier, the pandemic hit and for everybody, it just kind of changed the way we did business, but really excited about what the future holds. And as a chamber of commerce, we want to be that resource in our community to help everyone out.

Brandon Burton 5:26
So I know it’s in the name. So the San Diego Regional East County team, what all the do encompasses geographically?

Rick Wilson 5:35
Now, that’s a great question. So well, first off, I’ll start off by saying that as a chamber of commerce, we don’t really see boundaries or barriers. We’re a global economy. So we’ve gotten members in other states here in the United States, Northern California, and then obviously a lot in Los Angeles in Southern California, but we are in San Diego Regional East County Chamber of Commerce. So if we had borders, we would say we go as far east as Borrego Springs as far south as Spring Valley as far north as Poway and as far west as La Mesa. But we do things all over San Diego County, we partner with tons of chambers of commerce here in San Diego. And the whole goal of that is to bring our businesses together, it has nothing to do with poaching, membership or anything like that. We kind of believe that, you know, the rising tide lifts all ships so we can work together as chambers of commerce, we can help the business community even more, and that’s really what we’re looking for. So as a Regional Chamber, we’re not just regionally for each county, but we are regional throughout San Diego County doing everything we can to help.

Brandon Burton 6:33
Okay, I know that that makes a lot of sense. So I appreciate the the extra explanation of the name, right?

Rick Wilson 6:40
Yes, it is a little bit of a sentence. Yeah.

Brandon Burton 6:43
So as we get into our discussion for our topic, today, we settled on the idea of talking about how chambers can really be a resource and a help for businesses who are facing struggles and some of those struggles that businesses face. So we’ll dive deeper into this discussion as soon as they get back from this quick break.

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Donna Novitsky 8:43
Hi, everyone, Donna from Yiftee here with another fun fact about small businesses. Did you know that there are 77 million people working in small businesses in the US? That’s almost half of the entire civilian workforce. But I know that you already know the value of local businesses. That is why we created community cards. They bring revenue to your members’ businesses that today is leaving your community and going to national brands and e-commerce companies. In addition to consumers we see schools, hospitals, city governments and companies buying community cards in bulk instead of buying big box store and online gift cards. Community cards keep local dollars local. For more info come to a demo or email us at sales@yiftee.com. We look forward to meeting you back to you Brandon.

Brandon Burton 9:37
All right, Rick, we’re back. So leading into the break there we introduce the topic for our discussion today being addressing challenges that are facing businesses and specifically how a chamber of commerce can help with addressing some of these challenges and and I think it’s kind of an inherent thing for Chambers of Commerce to be involved with being problem solving. versus their community. But as we approach this discussion, what what are some of those things that are maybe top of mind for you when it comes to a chamber of commerce helping businesses that are facing certain struggles?

Rick Wilson 10:13
Absolutely. Well, first off, thank you, Brandon, the Chamber of Commerce exists because of so many businesses that exist in our society, right? We are in a capitalistic society. So Chamber of Commerce has are here to really help businesses small, medium, and large size. And some of the challenges that we’ve been seeing over the past year and a half, two years coming out of the pandemic, obviously, is workforce, getting employees, I would say, the middle of 2021, coming out of the pandemic wooden restrictions kind of lifted up was definitely a challenge. Definitely, in Southern California, we saw, restaurants half empty, and they’re not serving the other half, because they can’t get enough employees, cooks, waiters, you name it. And so a lot of stores or retail, or manufacturing, or anything that we can think of have struggled with getting workforce. So as a chamber of commerce, we are definitely working with the Workforce Partnership in San Diego here, working with the Economic Development Council, working with government, local agencies, to make sure that we are doing what we can to help get that workforce back into our society back into working, that really is the machine that makes everything go. And so Workforce Partnership is incredibly important workforce development work with, like I mentioned, all those agencies, that’s been really big for us, and we’ve not arrived, we are still looking to do that, I would say we’ve gone from getting bodies in there to now really needing to look at incredibly qualified people getting back to where we were pre pandemic. So looking for those qualified applicants now and really getting them placed into our workforce out here in East County and throughout San Diego County. So that’s, that’s one of the big topics that we’ve seen.

Brandon Burton 11:49
Yeah, so the workforce issue, I think it’s taken on a whole different approach, a whole different issue, you know, coming out of the pandemic. So before, I think, you know, we’d see jobs shift from one region to another, or different states, navy, whatever political climates or incentives there are for employers to be in certain places, but the pandemic when everything shut down, and people kind of got creative in different ways to bring in an income, and especially those in the service industry, if they weren’t, you know, super high income earners to begin with. And maybe they’d created their own side gig or side hustle that became something. I mean, it just really created a different need and that time of their own employment, but then it leaves a huge void today, right? So as we look at trying to help with the workforce issues, is that something you guys are seeing there in the San Diego area? How, how are you trying to approach it to fill that void? I’m sure others are looking at a similar situation.

Rick Wilson 12:56
It’s a really good point, we have seen coming out of the pandemic, a lot of people who were employees of organizations, nations looking to kind of go on their own. And so we’ve had a lot of people come into the chamber of commerce, and we’ve worked with the Economic Development Council to help them start a business are starting to realize to during the pandemic, that a brick and mortar isn’t the be all end all that you know, it really expose the fact that those who were not comfortable with people working from home, for the pandemic, really were forced to see this results. And as many saw, you’re getting the same production, if not more, with some of those people working from home, which has really, you know, allowed. The word I’d like to use this pivot, we talked about that a lot during the pandemic is businesses looking outside the box re looking at their business model. You know, what if I use an example of one of our local companies here was heavy, a barbecue place, heavy seven days a week in their restaurant pandemic happen, they changed their business model pretty quickly. And they jumped all over the fact that all of our hospitals, and all of our health care, were starting to feed their people on a 24 hour basis, because remember, during the pandemic, and people working 12 hour shifts, 15 hour shifts. And that pivoting of that model for that restaurant, just as little restaurant completely blew them out of the water. They’re doing better than they’ve ever done. They’ve looked at their model. Now they rent out their facility three days a week for parties and events. It’s less staff that they need to put on the front end with not sharing what’s going to come in and able to load up their staff or catering their chefs. So pivoting was really one of the biggest things that we worked on during the pandemic to try to think outside the box to help businesses think of something different and individual employees who were unemployed during the pandemic, who maybe didn’t fall into the wonderful PPP program, working with them if they wanted to start a business on how we could get this going, especially during the pandemic and we’ve seen some really great results with that.

Brandon Burton 14:50
Yeah, so yeah, I guess that’s that’s a whole nother aspect of the the workforce issues all the money printing and all the money that got put into the system and I Um, stimulus checks and things like that that made work optional for people for a time. Or give them that flexibility to explore the opportunities to so yeah. What are what are some of the other challenges that you see businesses facing that a chamber of commerce can help with,

Rick Wilson 15:18
especially coming into 2023, two of the big things that we’ve been seeing is obviously, the supply chain, we all hear about this challenge that’s been happening. And then obviously, inflation. So with inflation, you know, businesses looking at their total package, what they’re offering, you know, most that we know how to increase pricing, depending on what service it is that they have, or what industry they’re in, as our chamber of commerce worked really hard coming out of the pandemic, and in 2022, really made some great strides. We were able to as a decision this year with our board of directors to not raise our pricing for our membership, do the fact that everyone is it totally makes sense to do it. You know, this is the time that you can argue and say, Yes, but if you’ve been able to do some really great things and make some really great decisions that have benefited you financially, as an organization, we’d like to turn that around, and give that back to our members by being able to say for 2023, with the inflation going up, and pricing going up and everything being like it is we’ve been able to hold our pricing at membership for 2023, which we’re incredibly proud of. And we’ve been getting incredible feedback on that, knowing that in 2024, we will have to look at an increase, but we just we’re talking at the end of 2022. What can we do for our members as they go through supply chain issues, inflation workforce challenges. So we’re really proud of that. And if you know, organizations are able to do that, whether through grants, whether through donations, whether it’s due just smart strategic and what you’re doing with your events as a chamber, you know, that’s a great way to give back to your members without actually taking it out of your pocket.

Brandon Burton 16:56
Right. So I think those are two key things that the chambers can can work on. And I think that we see a need across the country with both supply chain and inflation. And I commend you guys for being able to take a look at your budget and say we don’t need to raise price. And I’m sure your members appreciate that. As far as addressing the needs of the members, I mean that that’s one way of addressing that the inflation, but are you guys providing any feedback or data or anything as far as inflation goes? Or to be able to provide resources with supply chain issues? At what’s the approach on those two things you guys are taken?

Rick Wilson 17:37
Yeah, partnerships are very big for us at this Chamber of Commerce, we feel like we are able to reach more and do more by partnering. So when you’re talking about data, yes, we work with several groups here, not only in East County, but throughout San Diego County to keep our eyes on what’s going on with the economy. And so with related to inflation, what kind of data can we push out what kind of suggestions, so we’re not the be all end all as a chamber, the more partnerships we have, the more research verses we’re able to give to our members and non members just in the entire business community. So really, partnerships are what’s big. And so working with those groups, we can give those resources out. One of our big partners, and I think for most chambers is the Economic Development Council. They work on a lot of similar items that we do. So we try not to duplicate what we’re doing, we try to work together to make sure that together, we’re pushing out those resources to the community. So we’re very proud of that. And also continuing to work with other chambers really makes that partnership with other outside agencies much easier. Because we’re all trying to do the same thing. We’re all trying to help the business community. And it’s not a competition, it’s really about if, if the business committee is doing great tax dollars are rolling in coming back to your city in your county, it just makes a better place where we all work, live and play. And that’s what we’re really our goal is to go towards, right.

Brandon Burton 18:56
So the thing that comes to mind, you know, oftentimes, chambers are very involved with important work, you know, and oftentimes, they’re not seeking the credit, you know, the the partnerships, it doesn’t matter who gets the credit, necessarily, as long as the work gets done and information gets out there and everything. But at the same time, it’s important for people to understand what a Chamber of Commerce does, right. So there’s that definition of what a chamber does. So I’m curious as you guys work to address the needs, the the issues that are facing businesses, obviously, it’s best to have, you know, success stories, you know, individuals who are telling others that word of mouth spreads. But are there other ways that you guys are trying to educate the community about the work that you guys are involved with, and specifically with sharing some of these success stories of helping businesses overcome obstacles?

Rick Wilson 19:52
And that’s a great question. I think that’s probably one of the number one challenges most chambers have is pushing out the information and the resources on what they do. I think most people will think they know what a chamber of commerce, I probably have exactly one of those before I got the job. And then when you dive in, you realize that, yes, it is about the business community, but in that respect of the business community, how are you going about helping them. And in my opinion, there’s multiple branches on this tree of how you get to that success. So like, we talked about partnerships are partnering with government partner with leaders in your community, partner with big organizations that are looking to give back to the business community. So there’s multiple ways that you can do that, obviously, during the pandemic, we had program grant programs that came out in the county, the states and the cities that we all live in work in. And that was kind of a band aid to help, you know, get to a certain point. But it really wasn’t a solution. It was really about talking with other groups and making sure that we’re working to be successful, and not just saying, we as an organization know what is happening, we need to get a vibe of what’s going out throughout our county. And that is the best way to get those results and get those two people or organizations or businesses that we work with. Could you follow up again, with the second question? There’s another part to that question?

Brandon Burton 21:10
Yeah, that’s a good question. Mainly about just how you guys go about sharing the success that you guys create for businesses and beyond the word of mouth of businesses that have been impacted, telling others? How are you sharing the message of what a chamber does? And specifically with addressing the challenges that face businesses? And a great,

Rick Wilson 21:35
that’s a great question, and I appreciate you kind of falling back up with that. So for us, you know, when we look at, yes, social media, that’s where people live, right? So social media is incredibly important that we’re, we’re pushing out the word, a lot of people are using Twitter or Instagram to find out their information, we know a lot of our media, really still follow Twitter, that’s really kind of where they get their information. So we’re pushing out as much as we can on that we have a weekly newsletter that goes out to over 2500 businesses, but we only have 600 members. So we know the business community has their eye on what’s going on with us. And we want to help. And when people find themselves in an alignment with what we’re doing, then fantastic, they can join our chamber. But our goal is really to help the business community. And so looking at these opportunities, success stories. I mean, there’s lots of them, I think of stories that we constantly tell people and educate, reach out to the chamber when, when you have a question, we can probably help you. And a lot of it is businesses with permitting and cities in the areas that they’re in. Well, we’re working with all these cities. So we can call in sometimes it’s just as easy as the permit is ready. But someone didn’t press the button within that city organization, because they’re so busy themselves trying to get things done. And Souplantation was a huge organization here in San Diego that died in Southern California during the pandemic. And we have a business owner who’s bringing that back and working with the city to bring that back. And people are very excited about that. And I’ll just share one little simple story on that is, she also is running a different business in there until she can bring Souplantation back. So she didn’t want to take the big signs down there on a 30 foot pole, the ones on the buildings. And if you’re not running the business at the time, you need to do that. But there’s also a clause that you can also put a wonderful canvas over it. And so she went from oh my gosh, this is going to destroy my business to oh, I can just have put a canvas over it until we get Souplantation open again. So working with your chamber communicating with your chamber. That’s the biggest thing, the more we hear from our businesses, that voice of what’s going on, the more that we can push that towards government write letters to the state, work with local entities, you know, deregulation, you name it. But when we hear from our business, community, especially our members, that’s the biggest thing. So one of the big tips I would give to anyone listening out there is reach out to your chamber, your chamber is there to serve you. And I know that it’s very difficult, you’re running your own business, you don’t have a lot of time to be engaged. But I used I like to use the analogy of a gym membership, right, we all kind of have a New Year’s resolution, we get that gym membership, we put it in our front pocket, but we never go to the gym, not to say that you can achieve your goals. But it might be a little bit more difficult to achieve your goal. If you don’t go to the gym. Well, if you join the Chamber of Commerce, the chamber is going to do everything it can for you, it’s going to mark it for you, it’s going to reach out to you it’s gonna have touch points, it’s going to share resources. But if it’s not hearing from you, and it’s not engaging with you, it’s harder for that business to achieve its goals. So my suggestion always is try to be engaged, try to be involved in Do not hesitate reaching out to your chamber, they have more resources than you would think.

Brandon Burton 24:34
Yeah, that’s great advice for business owners. So maybe I will shift that it says a good tip for business owners. What tip or action item might you have for a chamber that’s listening that would be interested in taking their chamber up to the next level? So

Rick Wilson 24:51
they I love this question. This is one of my favorite answer is that chambers definitely in their areas is you know the the environment in the communities that they’re serving. He will be strategic on that. But for us, the bigger picture is we’re all inclusive. We care about everyone in the business community. So for us, it’s not about getting our membership to 1000 by next year. And what are we doing strategically to do that? If we’re pushing out that information, and really being all inclusive, when I say all inclusive means that you’re willing to partner with other chambers, you’re not we’re afraid about another chamber, oh, they’re talking to someone on the side and taking my member. That’s if that’s what’s happening, then that chamber is not really driving and doing what it’s supposed to what it’s supposed to be doing is collaborating, working and bringing all these resources to the business community. So the first thing I would suggest is, open your doors to all chambers, try to partner with mixers, any opportunity that you have. Look at that we have a meeting next week, we have our women in leadership luncheon that we’ve been running now for 21 years. And there’s a huge group here in San Diego called mana, which is Latino business women in that group has 400 Women in that association. Well, we want to see what opportunities there are for our very successful event that has over 600 people that attended every year, we want to partner with other groups to find out what might we be missing. So always be as a chamber be open to hearing other ideas, doesn’t mean that you’re going to move forward on every idea. But we’re that crazy chamber that believes if we throw 100 things on the wall, and one or two stick boy, we are going in the right direction. But if we don’t vet those opportunities, if we don’t look at that opportunity, then we’re going to kind of be the same chamber that we’ve always been. And we are a chamber that wants to be innovative. Were the first chamber of commerce in North America to have a personal assistant robot that Tammy robot that you’re starting to see in airports, restaurants and things like that. So we want to be leaders in our community, we want to be innovative, if and the only way to do that is to open our doors, and work with as many organizations, government agencies and chambers of commerce as we can so that we can all succeed. So in my vision, if the chambers in San Diego County, which is about 30, or 40. If they’re succeeding, then we’re all succeeding than the entire business community. So be open to working with other chambers of commerce. And there’s incredible ROI for that.

Brandon Burton 27:09
Awesome. So circle back, tell us about that personal assistant robot. Everybody’s all over AI these days, right? Yes. What can this robot do for you.

Rick Wilson 27:22
So interesting. Back in 2019, when I got the job, I met a gentleman who was a member of virtual reality for Main Street. So he kind of saw the technology, which is kind of already here. But he wanted to help chambers kind of grow with that. So we started a program called chamber innovators that did okay. But really, when the pandemic hit, chamber, innovators, all of a sudden became one of the number one programs in San Diego, we’re putting, excuse me, we’re putting it on virtually once a week. And we have people all over the nation with innovative business practices, innovation with technology. And so we had a lot of members throughout San Diego County that were members of other chambers jumping on this free program, and really started driving us in that technology innovation Avenue. Coming out of the pandemic, we had the opportunity to get one of these Tammy robots. And so if you walk into our office, the first thing is you’re greeted by the robot, it will welcome you. We bring it to all of our events. So it’s like anything else, you got a program and for whatever you wanted to do. But we had all our sponsors that are big EC honors event that we just had last week. And all the sponsors love that, that is robots talk, going around and talking about the sponsors. And, you know, it was definitely just a different way of looking at things. And as time goes on, we’re seeing airports restaurants using these not to replace employees, but to really use it as an additional tool to make the organization more efficient and better. And I’ll give an example. I was just at a restaurant three weeks ago, where when you walk up the person that greets you and says oh table for four great, they send the robot to take you to where which sends a message to the waiter that now your table for is ready and the robot sat you down. And the restaurant we weren’t at didn’t have the robot serving. But I have seen that. And so the personal robot assistant is really an assistant, it’s not a replacement of any employee that we have is to really build on what we’re doing and become more efficient in what we do. Plus technology’s kind of cool. So everybody does like it.

Brandon Burton 29:18
That’s right. Yeah, that reminds me, I was at a Chick fil A in in Texas, a small town in Texas. And we sit down and they had to have these robots that would bring the food to you. So they’re taken at the counter, put the tray on this robot and they would go right to your table. And it was pretty slick. I mean, everybody’s in there just watching the show, right? Technology is cool. But so does this robot. Does it collect any data, or is it just delivering data? How is it interacting?

Rick Wilson 29:50
Yeah, so so far, we have one of the first models that came out, t Mi, Tammy. And so there’s all kinds of new ones like I’ll just segue real quick into there. There’s ones that it’s, uh, the, the stamp, I guess you could call it is a refrigerator. So if you had one at home, you would still need to stock it. But you could call on your robot anytime to bring you a beverage or anything like that. And for us, it’s not collecting data, it’s you program it to do anything and everything that you want. I do believe that that is the future. And I’m sure some of the newer models that have come out do have that it’s an evolution. But the first model that we got out really has one little platform that we put some waters on, it greets our members when they come in or non members. It shows them a few things in our lobby or business cards, you know, materials of our members, sit them down in our conference room and let them know someone will be with them right away. Then it goes to each one of our offices until we say hello. Oh Rick’s not in hope someone else is not in this person’s in and lets them know that someone’s there. So it is helping us being more efficient. But right now, we’re not using it as a data collection. We’re putting information into it, depending on what day it is what event it is that we have going on. But mostly Monday through Friday. It’s a it’s a welcome robot that welcomes people when they come in. And what I wanted to have happen is happen, people who walk in, they walk out and word of mouth is Have you been to these County Chamber recently, they’ve got a robot in there. And so that’s kind of one of those spread of word where people just want to come in the postal workers now don’t just drop off the mail, they want to come in everyday because they want to be greeted by the robot.

Brandon Burton 31:26
That is great. Any any of these things that can draw that attention and positive positive comments? That’s great. So I like asking is another good segue I like asking everyone I have on the show, how do you see the future of chambers and their purpose going forward?

Rick Wilson 31:45
That’s a really great question. I’ll just say this, if chambers aren’t innovating and thinking outside the box, they could get left behind. If you’re doing it the way it was 1015 20 years ago, exactly the same, you might get left behind with all the innovation that’s coming out. So my suggestion is that what we’re doing is looking at all the tried and true practices that still do work, yet open to all kinds of opportunities to look at what the future has, as technology gets better. As as partnerships grow as bigger, or organizations are looking to partner with smaller organizations Chamber of Commerce are ripe for that. So continue to look for partnership opportunities, continue to try to partner with chambers of commerce, and be open to innovation and new ideas that really is what’s going to continue to take chambers to the next level. Because we are not going to be the same in our community, especially after the pandemic. So looking at business models, really looking at the way we do things, the way the business community operates, be flexible and right along with them to help them achieve their goals.

Brandon Burton 32:54
I like that. And I think look into the future. Some of those things that are on the horizon right now, obviously, is artificial intelligence. Already, a lot of buzz around that. But also look at things like blockchain and NF T’s and the business models that go along with that, because it’s going to change the way a lot of businesses operate. And if as a chamber, we need to know, you know, how do these things work?

Rick Wilson 33:20
Correct. And to your point, AI, as well as augmented reality is starting to become really big. If you went to our website, you’ll see, about two years ago, we had created a virtual Chamber of Commerce. So you could go to our chamber of commerce, virtually, you could go into different rooms, different lobby areas and get services and get stuff that would traditionally be on our website. And now we’re starting to see an augmented reality avatars that are walking around you create your own avatar, and building Chambers of Commerce is our businesses or, gosh, what do I even say like, imagine a conference but you’re you’re you’re you’re in downtown San Diego at the wonderful conference center, where you’re doing it 100% virtually don’t have to actually fly out and get a hotel, you can be a part of that. And we’re starting to see that becoming reality. During the pandemic, we did a couple job fairs like that, that were incredibly successful, where we weren’t sure how people would react to having a little avatar and go into different rooms and sitting down and having interviews virtually. And we didn’t know how it worked. But we had about 350 participants in that and it was incredible. And so I think it’s the more that you do the stuff in technology, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, you name it, the more comfortable you get into I am someone who’s not a techie. And so for me, it’s like I get the concept. I want to be innovative, but I’m not your leader. That’s gonna say this is how you do it. Here’s, here’s all the logistics. But I tell you surround yourself with people that do you know what’s going on that are leaders in that industry, and they can hold your hand and take you with them to because for us, we’re one of the chambers in San Diego they’re looked at as Wow, look at all this innovation but it’s Because of the partners that I have, is why we’re there. It’s not because of myself, I wouldn’t know the first thing about that stuff except saying that looks super cool on the screen. That’s

Brandon Burton 35:10
great. So Rick, I like to give you an opportunity to share any contact information for listeners who would like to reach out and learn more about how you guys are doing things at your chamber, and maybe addressing some of these challenges that businesses face, what would be the best way for someone to reach out and connect?

Rick Wilson 35:28
Yeah, so I’m pretty transparent on everything. I’ll give you my email address, which is rickw@eastcountychamber.org. Our website is eastcountychamber.org, you can contact us here at the office 619-440-6161. And I want to be here for any chamber, I’ve learned a lot from other chambers, people who have been CEOs for 2025 years and Chamber of Commerce’s throughout the United States. And I want to be that reference and resource as well. And I’m sure whoever contacts me, I’m going to learn from them as well. We continue to learn from each other continue to evolve and grow our chambers of commerce, they’ve come a long way from 100 years ago. And as businesses pivot, and as they look at new ways of doing things, looking at their business models, we as a chamber need to be flexible as well and coming right along with them, hearing their voice and sharing that with our local government.

Brandon Burton 36:21
Absolutely. And that’s why we do this. That’s why we encourage people to reach out and connect and build that network and learn from each other. So thank you, Rick, for joining us today on chamber tap podcast for sharing your experiences. And it’s been a fun conversation and something that hopefully in re energizes those that are listening to do that important work at their chamber, and especially when it comes to facing those difficult challenges that their business members are facing. So thanks a lot for for being with us today.

Rick Wilson 36:51
Well, thank you so much, Brandon, for the opportunity to be on chamber chat. What a great opportunity to share resources, but also let everyone know that we are here to help and we want to learn as well. So if you have something incredible and innovative that you’re doing, I would love to learn about that as well. But thank you so much, Brandon. Great to be on chamber chat.

Brandon Burton 37:08
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Chambernomics with Don McCoy

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Below is an auto-generated transcription of my conversation with Don McCoy. Because this is auto-generated there are likely some grammatical errors but it is still a useful tool to search text within this podcast episode.

Feel free to join our Chamber Chat Champions Facebook Group to discuss this episode and to share your own experiences and tips with other Chamber Champions.

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Introduction

Brandon Burton 0:00
This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.

Now, your host he would like to hear what your biggest obstacles are. Right now are your chamber. He’s my dad Brandon Burton. Hello, chamber champions. Welcome to the chamber chat podcast. I’m your host Brandon Burton, and it’s my goal here on the podcast to introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your Chamber members and your community.

Our title sponsor is Holman Brothers Membership Sales Solutions. Let’s hear from Diane Rogers, President and CEO of the Rancho Cordova Area Chamber to learn how the Holman Brothers have provided value for her.

Diann Rogers 0:47
As a medium sized chamber, we recognize that it’s absolutely critical to have a well qualified and well trained membership development person. Holman Brothers trained that person, recruited that person then they even trained me on how to manage that person. We’re grateful for the support we got.

Brandon Burton 1:01
You can learn more about Holman Brothers Membership Sales Solutions by visiting holmanbros.com.

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Guest Introduction

Our guest for this episode is Don McCoy. Don is the current president of the Fulshear Katie Area Chamber of Commerce in Texas and he has been since its inception in late 2013. Don has played a vital role in growing this local chamber from only a handful of businesses to becoming one of the fastest growing chambers in Texas with over 600 business members. Don is a seasoned marketing professional who brings over 40 years of experience to the table. He is an idea guy who excels at marketing, project management promotions, public relations and event planning. He has the proven ability to mastermind and lead creative teams energized clients and the ability to achieve objectives in an effective manner. In addition, Don is and has been an accomplished actor, director, producer, spokesperson, Master of Ceremonies and motivational speaker. He’s appeared in directed and produced several movie and television programs. He can be heard saying I’m really famous, but nobody knows it. Dan is a graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University with a major in management, marketing and a minor in Spanish. He speaks Spanish fluently and he’s lived and grew up in Venezuela, Mexico, Scotland, England and Iran. He’s also travelled extensively throughout and around the world. He currently lives in Cinco Ranch Katie, with his three legged Husky Wyatt. Don, I’m excited to have you with me on chamber chat podcast today, I’d love for you to take a moment to say hello to all the chamber champions and share something else interesting about yourself. That’s a great bio.

Don McCoy 3:24
Well, thank you very much, Brandon, it’s a real pleasure to be here. And i i Hello chamber champions out there, I hope today we can give you some nuggets of knowledge that might help you in any way, shape or form. I think you kind of hit all the highlights there i i guess probably some of the things in my background, everything you’ve ever done. And I will tell you this, regardless of where you came from, when you used to say you were an actor, it used to be a really what restaurant you work at, because it’s not necessarily a full time job. But you have seen me you just don’t realize maybe you have but meaning a lot of celebrities direct your lifetime and being in that type of business and even waiting tables. You know, sometimes you’re wondering why why am I doing this or, well, God has that plan. And, and I have found that everything I’ve experienced in my life up to this point, has led me to this job as a chamber, CEO and president. I use all those skills somehow, some way, whether I’m in front of people, I mean, I used to be the king of medieval times performing in front of 1000s of people nightly, and you get used to crowds and and as a chamber. Executive, you need to be able to have that way to ad lib skills to communicate with large, large groups of people or this the ideal person. And sometimes our job Brandon requires a little bit of acting skills, you know, you got to look interested you got to pretend you’re interested in what you’re hearing. and you know all the myriad of questions us chambers get all the time. And it’s important to that person they are they wouldn’t be asking but to yourself behind the scenes you made one. What do you call me about a category or tree for? Yeah, no, yeah. But I always say look at students use it over acting. And always provide a solution, whether I can get the cat out of your tree is inconsequential. But if I can get someone to call or someone that will definitely help you that you can mention my name, and it gets you through the gatekeeper a little bit, then you become a real key person, which we’ll talk about later have influence in your

Brandon Burton 5:38
community. Yeah, like that. I like that response. Before we get into our topic, tell us a little bit about the Fulshear. Katie area Chamber just to give some perspective where you’re coming from, you’d mentioned about 600 members in the bio, but tell us about the staff budget type of work you’re involved with and things like that.

Don McCoy 5:57
Right? Well, right off the bat. It’s, I’m glad my team is in here to hear you say staff, we don’t use the word staff we use. We’re all one team. But it was in late 2013, that this community had a number of businesses, but they felt they weren’t being representative. So representatives. So they wanted to start a chamber rather than being a business division of another chamber. And so I just happened to be at the right place the right time back visiting here at home and my brother had moved out here to Fulcher and Fulshear. Katie, it a lot of people will say we’re out. We’re west of Houston. But I like to tell everybody, Houston is east of us. And they’ll make themselves to start right. That’s right. And, and we weren’t just the Fulshear chamber, but Katie’s and other town, and we have just grown exponentially. This area is a very high growth area. And maybe that’s why our phone is starting to read even more and more. But there it is high net worth high growth. Look it up. It’s crazy. I mean, our town is, I think the second safest town in Texas, I have to do the shout out my brother happens to be the police department Captain here. So

Brandon Burton 7:09
he’s doing his job, then.

Don McCoy 7:11
Yeah. So we started out with just a handful of businesses. And then you know, we kind of picked the low of the low hanging fruit and me not knowing really, I knew what chambers did. But I wanted to make something that was truly different. That was tangible, that was a benefit to the members, and really bring something to the table. And so we did that, and we’ll talk about that a bit. But it started growing and going and it Swilly on personality, there was no cliques, people sit, this is sort of different, I go to the meetings, I feel different. Everyone is welcoming. And I’ve put in a thing called BFF. You know, the best friends forever, we had a we call it a B Fulshear. Friendly. And we kind of stole that a little bit. And then we say, you know by Fulcher and it just started to take off and people gravitated to it and nothing helps you better than word of mouth. And now we’re at 630. Members. And you know, I’m just was naive at the time, even up to this point and going, Okay, we want to reach a it’s not the amount of numbers, it’s the quality of members you have. And, you know, I understand the 630 is a large chamber. Okay, I mean, now that I’ve gone through IOM and everything, I get it, but in the beginning, I don’t know, I’m just trying to help people. And our budget runs anywhere about about 400k a year. So we’re still the least expensive chamber in the area when it comes to your dues. We are on the not tear does. We’re just you got one level, second level third level. Yeah. And, you know, at 325 a year to be to I tell people, we’re never cheap. I hate that word. But I tell folks, we’re the least expensive marketing dollar you could ever spend. And you’re in anything that you do to get your business noticed, noticed and recognized. Because you’d go out and spend money, companies on advertising and things like that. You’ve got to educate what a chamber really brings to the table. Besides being the representative at the table of government, we also offer a lot of tools to really help your business get a foothold and an inflationary times during COVID We were met with all those same challenges, and we continue to grow. So I think that’s a real testament to really focusing on what the needs of your members truly are rather than what yours are internally. He’s right

Brandon Burton 9:49
yeah, so I can tell you’re a marketing guy, you know, just the way you rephrase cheap to be in the least expensive marketing spend. Yeah, yeah. And it’s uh, yeah, There’s a lot of value in that. So that’s a, that’s great. But here’s

Don McCoy 10:03
what’s crazy, you know, Brandon, we we’ve started out with just me. And then I hired another person. And then we had a third person now just had a third person, retire the God bless her and she doesn’t have to. So now it’s back to two of us. And I never thought I mean, we’re finding how to be more efficient and reliant on the technologies that are available to us to manage a 600 plus chamber with two people, it becomes a bit of a challenge, but we’re doing it so don’t negate what the technology can help you.

Brandon Burton 10:36
Yeah. Now I can imagine and I like your introduction to the chamber world, you kind of had blinders on, you know, I don’t care so much what others are doing. I just want to go help people and I do it the best way I know how and it’s really taken off and served served you and your members very well. So that’s. So for our topic of discussion today, we settled on the topic of chamber nomics. So we’ll we’ll dive into what that means and everything as soon as we get back from our quick break.

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Don, we’re back. So chambernomics. Tell us okay, what is chambernomics mean to you as you, as you look at that word, it looks like a word that that’s been made up. So what does that mean to you? It looks like a blend of economics. So I

Topic-Chambernomics

Don McCoy 14:13
gotta give a shout. Rachel, who’s our VP of membership? She’s the one that we were just talking about, you know, training and Euro chamber 101. And a lot of chambers have, you know, when you join the chamber, here’s what you learn how about chamber and what it can do for you. And she came up with this chamber nomics. And I said, that’s, that’s beautiful. And so immediately, I went right to Google, I mean, the GoDaddy and I, it’s available, I bought it. So we own chambernomics.com. And, and then we coordinated that with our back office, software provider, chamber nation. And I now represent chamber nomics. And what that means to us is dedicated to we explore all kinds of issues and ideas relating to your Business, the economy, the community, it’s all written right there at the top. And I’m reading off of it. And, you know, it’s sort of I’m an idea guy, and it’s just an Idea Factory on how to what other things can I bring? Or can we make that or make our businesses really want to be in the chamber? And as we say, in chamber world, you know, those golden handcuffs? You’ve heard that before? Those are the things that if I leave, if I leave the chamber, I lose this. And then so it’s a real retention tool. Now we use chamber that is on a nationwide basis, the Chamber nomics is teaching them how we can you help their business get better. And there’s a lot of links in there that you can go look at and things like that, and chamber nadex.com. Now locally, I use chamber nomics as a as the name of our training. And so we do a chamber nomics class, the first and last Tuesday of every month at a different restaurant, and we eat first, and they happen to have a private room. And then we have video, and I get on, and I show everyone, hey, here’s how you upload your flyer for your upcoming event. Here’s your press release. And when you submit your press release, it goes out to all of our media contacts through our software. We just teach them all the different advertising tools and how to upload your video because sometimes, people learn in different ways. And people learn learn one on one, they also learn by watching a video of something on how it’s done, which a lot of people do and then people learn in a classroom setting. So the chamber nomics locally is our classroom setting. And, but our goal is to teach all of our members what our system does. Now, it’s really some people get a little scared of technology. And it’s not hard. And I say just kind of dive into it, bite it off a piece at a time. But if you do absolutely nothing with our back office system, we’re still creating tremendous search engine optimization for you and you’re getting ranked higher brand that go up. But if you stopped doing, you’re ready, but I’d say I had one number that came in the other day, it was called the Delaney. It’s an assisted living facility that’s in our chamber. And they had forgotten to change the management, but they had to say marketing person, and their traffic capture page that we make for them. It’s called a marketing landing page. In addition to their website, it complements it fell off, it went away. Well, she did a audit on her presence on social media. And they had dropped to the third page on Google without all the ads. And she said, what happened? And they said, Well, you used to have this traffic capture page that was doing a lot of work for you. And since it went away, you fell. Immediately, they popped back on and now they’re back on the first page on searches for assisted living in our area. So it just shows you there’s real power in a lot of online presence and digital presence and

Brandon Burton 18:00
talk to us more about the traffic capture page. So that’s built in with within this chamber nomics program or chamber nomics is really just telling them what all you have to offer kind of a platform of doing that,

Don McCoy 18:12
right. Yeah, chamber nomics is really telling them all we have to offer, but the traffic capture page is really a, you know, a, it’s a system that takes in, you know, you can go to a website and of any business and you get kind of lost because there’s a lot of information there and you don’t know quite where to go, okay. But the traffic capture page is something that is simple, easy, very quick. And if you want to go to their website, from there, you can get links to it. But it is search engine optimized, you can control what kind of photographs you put in there, you can put your catalog page in there, we offer a commission free checkout system, I’ll show you even our chamber, we even have a mobile app that’s very interesting that if you go scan a QR code, this kind of is our chamber. But this everybody gets one of these

Brandon Burton 19:08
I know it’s a little thin, every member gets their own app for their own app, their home address.

Don McCoy 19:13
And all of this takes you to your to your website about you, they can call you from here, they can message you from here, they can even share their business card, I can click this right here and let you scan that QR code and my information will drop into your phone. Nice. These are small, small little tools that are that are so available that you can do on your own or through our back office system. I got to sing their praises. But what happens with our system when you join our chamber, it takes us 10 days to put together your your your marketing system. And we build about 12 pages of stuff about your business. And we take it all off of your website and what we know about you and what you filled out in your app. application, and then you can go in and refine it. But if you don’t do anything, you’re still getting the benefit. So

Brandon Burton 20:07
cool. So what about it’s not as common these days, but every now and then I’ll come across a business that doesn’t have a website yet? Is there still a way of building out those pages to give those members a digital footprint?

Don McCoy 20:19
You know, thank you. Yes, absolutely. Because you would fill out the pertinent information, our team will go get photographs of that we’ve already paid for their, you know, their their commitment, or they

Brandon Burton 20:32
call the stock images.

Don McCoy 20:34
And we own some of the stock images, but we, we examine your business, and we build your traffic capture page. And what’s really cool, is, if you have a URL about your business, but you don’t have a website, you can have that URL point to the traffic capture page. Okay. And then a lot, a lot of our members just use that as their as their website, because it works.

Brandon Burton 21:00
Right. That’s great. So, you know, I think I think initially, maybe when, when Google and the stronger search engines started to roll out, I’m sure there’s some chambers out there that maybe felt a little bit threatened that people could just go to Google and find answers they’re looking for. And rather than seeing that as competition to the value proposition, you have you actually you guys are leaning into it, and saying, let’s provide a lot more information. So doing a lot of the legwork for your members, so they can show up better on search engines, and were like a bigger bang for their buck.

Don McCoy 21:36
It’s even during the pandemic talk about coming up with ideas. You know, we couldn’t go to trade shows for a while. I mean, there was none existing. So what did we do, we went and created a virtual tradeshow booth, which we still have an existence now. And you can it looks just like a table, you have a video insert in the bottom that people can watch, you can go and click here to schedule a calendar meeting or get on their zoom call. And you know, and a lot of our business say, Hey, if you’re interested to learn more about us and want to meet later, just go to my virtual tradeshow booth and, and fill out the information and watch what we do. And then we’ll get in touch with you that way. So it’s always sitting there working for you as a, as a tourist center of your business basically, right? That is awesome. And video and video is now the way to go to I mean, coming from a film and TV background. I mean, nowadays, video is so simple to put up. And then we make it even simpler in our back office, all you got to do is click here, your camera on your on your computer, and you can talk about your business. And that is and then throw into that those key words. And I will tell you just a hint. Any pictures you’re starting to put up right now, any videos, you always see that alt text at the bottom of that, you got to start filling that out. Because just a word of warning that there’s a lot of lawyers out there going after websites and things that if you’re not ADA compliant on your social media or on your website, meaning Language Hearing and alt text for your pictures, you can be sued. And that’s crazy. And so we offer that as well. We have a buttons all over our website where you can we can translate everything we do even on our mobile app, we can translate it to any language in the entire country and let you listen to it in that language.

Brandon Burton 23:33
Wow, that is impressive.

Don McCoy 23:36
It’s pretty cool. It really is

Brandon Burton 23:37
sent you mentioned earlier something about having the importance of having a strong digital footprint.

Don McCoy 23:43
Yeah, yeah, it sounds this. This is something that is really cool. And you guys can look it up anywhere. There’s a lot of companies out there that do what is called key person of influence. And this is something I’ve really latched on to here at our chamber. And what our goal is, is to make every member in our chamber a key person of influence in their industry, and have a true Omni presence on digital, Omni presence. And what this is, every industry has an inner circle, every industry has one, you know even the chamber world brand and has an inner circle. And and these are people of influence. These are people you look to and they whatever they say I mean, I don’t know if anybody knows Pat McCoy out of Idaho, but I fell in love with him at my first IOM a year. And I still stay in touch with him and I treat him as he owns chamber mentor.com Great Guy gotta follow his blog. And, you know, he influenced me, to me, he’s a key person. But what we’re going to start doing is we’re going to have a rather than a leadership type course, we are instituting how to become a key person of influence. And this is something we’re doing here in the Houston area and we hope to expand nationwide with you A couple of folks that I’ve gotten in tune with, but our first one is in November, and we’ve partnered up with the United States, Mexico Chamber of Commerce, us. If anybody wants to check it out and get more deep into it, we’re at kp O, I got VIP. And that means key person of influence that VIP keep KP Oli, and it’ll explain everything there. But you know, we’re always in a state and someone wants said the biggest room in the world is the room for improvement, you know. And so the other thing if you don’t, and this is about a $4,500 course, and it’s going to we’re going to do this, what this will do for you is it will, it’ll read people will regard you after this course, they’re going to regard you as a high value individual, I want to meet that person, I need that person to come talk to my business or whatever your business is, you could become the expert in ice cream, if you have an ice cream store, because when they go search ice cream, you’re everywhere. You’re Who is this guy, and then you’ll get VIP treatment anywhere in the world. I kid you not, my friend has his website called speaking Dubai. And he goes to Dubai all the time he gets invited, he’s going to curse out. And he’s the one that’s helping us put this together. And then you get opportunities out the wazoo presented to you all the time,

Brandon Burton 26:22
you get asked to come on podcasts and stuff like that.

Don McCoy 26:25
Exactly. Yeah, you’re right. And you know what this for me is a another digital asset that’ll be out there. And we even have a questions on our website that you know, am I getting what I what I’m worth? Am I getting paid for whatever you take this, I took this question or take me 10 minutes to do it. And I scored a zero. I thought I was pretty good. You know, hey, I’m in the movies. You can find me on IMDb, but But it’s pretty eye awakening. So we do pre event coaching and all this. And if you’re interested in more about it, I’d be happy to hook you up. But it’s, this is the way to go. And even on our website at Fulshear katie.com. I invite anybody to take a look at grow and protect and when you go to grow and protect, that’s an app that we now have. It cost our members a whopping $1 for an entire year to have access to over 250 lessons and courses that will help you be a better business person. I’m talking how to how to make your LinkedIn and world class. I mean really how to do it. And these are all like 15 minute lessons with a video attached to it. There you go. Yeah,

Brandon Burton 27:43
that’s right. Okay, got Frank’s card. He’s on my radar to be yes. So he’ll be on to talk more about grown protect.

Don McCoy 27:50
And I’ll leave it I’ll leave it there. But I’d say Frank is also part of our KPI KPI. He’s part of the key person of influence. And Frank before and he’s 77 years old, and doing what he did on cybersecurity. And this man is such a key person of influence in cybersecurity, he gets they call him out of Dubai say, would you come over and talk to our company, they fly into Dubai, he spends a week there and gets paid for it.

Brandon Burton 28:21
So so this is interesting. So there’s the aspect of helping your members become key people of influence. But how about for chamber executive? How about for somebody establishing their career in the chamber world? How? How should they go about being a key person of influence?

Don McCoy 28:40
I will tell you this is probably one of the most important things because in your in your, in your world, or your community. You need to be that person that everybody looks to for ideas and solutions. I mean, the mayor, the residents, I mean, you really can’t you should not be able to go to any restaurant without talking to somebody, I made a comment. I went to a gala last night. And it was for a local charity. And I went to go get a couple of drinks at the bar down there at the other end of the of the room. And I was bringing a friend back one. And by the time I got back the ice had almost melted. He says Where have you been? I said it took me 20 minutes to walk from the bar all the way across the room because I kept getting stopped by a number of people. But that’s awesome. You can work that. And so if you become even starting out if you’re going to IOM or if you’re going to be ACCE conference or the Texas chamber or any of these executive conferences, make sure you get pictures of yourself talking to the keynote speakers and and create a file on your desktop that has you just drop pictures in there. And then anytime you want to put those up on the internet or put them up on your Facebook and things like that Google loves that new information. So it is thing. And so you put your name with it and attach it to that event, tag yourself. And then you start to become the key person of influence. It’s not that hard, but you’d be surprised you as an executive are in the presence of greatness on a regular basis, whether it be with your look, your governor, your mayors, your representatives, you know, any number of people, even local business people that are well respected in your community. Go out, take them to lunch, get a picture with them, you know, everybody, let’s do a selfie. Okay. I mean, that’s what makes you look at this guy. Look, Brandon is probably got 1000 You probably got 1000 pictures of yourself with notables? Right. Yeah, lots

Brandon Burton 30:41
of them. Yeah.

Don McCoy 30:42
I mean, when I was in the film business, I always got a picture with me and Robert Duvall, Liam Neeson, me and Patrick Swayze. And that and you know, so when I go on auditions, you know, and Oliver Stone sees all the my resume and these pictures before the digital world, but it was actually in my in my portfolio. It was, Wow, you’ve been around, you know, a lot of people that I know. And so there’s a certain sense of confidence and people, it’s what we call pre suasion. If you’ve used that coin, I love the coin these words, and pre suasion as a way that before anyone needs you. They’re already persuaded to liking it, say, and to me, that that, that is half the battle because people judge you within about the first one minute of meeting you face to face. I met Brandon at what we run into each other, but we never really actually met till tccc. Yeah, yeah, and Rocco. And you know, and it’s busy, and we’re all doing our thing. But we connected we finally connected now, I think he’s a great guy, or I wouldn’t be here. Hopefully he likes me too. All right.

Brandon Burton 31:51
That’s right. But

Don McCoy 31:53
he knew about me already, somehow, some way I kind of already knew about him. So I was already pre slated to be interested in Brandon and the Chamber chat. And I asked, How can I get involved and help out. So that’s how this comes, comes to play. And then if you can teach yourself, your team that you work with, and let them they’ll be key people of influence, give them the power to make decisions on your behalf. Nothing can be even if they make a mistake you learn from and grow from it. But give your team that power to do it. And they’ll come in and say and be excited, guess what I did today? And you go, man, that’s fantastic. Oh, no, we got to correct that. But it’s okay. You know, it doesn’t hurt. So executives, start, start looking at this grow and protect, start learning how to be tell your story, tell your chamber story, tell your own story. Because a good friend of mine, Jack working at one day, you’ll get to meet him. He’s a fantastic sales guy. He wrote a book called Life as a sales call. He’s really a good book. And he likes to say that most businesses and chambers, were always concerned about ROI, return on investment. And that’s okay, that’s cool. It’s necessary. But what we got to really concentrate on is our O R. And that’s the return on relationships. And if you don’t have a relationship with everyone in your community, you’re always gonna suffer. So always think of that return on a relationship again, what am I gonna do about the cabinetry, okay, why are you even asking me that, but I’m very interested. And now guess what, I’m a hero to that person. And they will talk my they will sing my praises wherever they go. So I’ve got another salesman working for me out

Brandon Burton 33:44
there. That’s right. Yeah, I like how you came back around to the cabinetry. And your example of how we met at TCC. That’s, that’s perfect. Because I had heard about you, I knew some of the stuff you were doing your chamber, you’d heard about me, we made the connection. The one thing we didn’t do is get a picture. So next time we’re with each other, we gotta get a picture. And

Don McCoy 34:07
now I’m gonna sit here and I’m gonna screenshot talking right here. And this is what I’m doing right now on my in I’m doing it right here. A big smile. Brandon here. Yeah. I got it now.

Brandon Burton 34:25
Person one next time. So as we start to wrap up, though, I wanted to ask you if you have any tips or action items based on anything that we’ve covered today, for the chamber listening who’d like to take their organization up to the next level, what would you suggest? Well,

Action Item/Tip for Chamber Champions

Don McCoy 34:41
you know, I and I know a lot of the thing is, the status quo is all I mean, you’ve probably heard it a million times is Think outside the box. My team has got a sign on the front of my door hanging above my door. It says Don has another idea. and whether they’re good ideas or bad ideas, it doesn’t matter. Clear your cash every now and then of your ideas, because that’ll let new ones come in. But get them out there. And whether it’s it doesn’t have to be the whole ball of wax. But if it’s just something in that idea that might spark someone else to take it to another level, do it. Don’t be afraid to throw your ideas out there for fear of looking crazier, you know, but when you come from the acting world, you know, you act and you are foolish, sometimes on stage or whatever you do, and you just have to throw that caution to the wind. And people will start to respect you as an idea person. And I think it’s highly, highly important that you continue to improve yourself and find things like this key person of influence, or this grow and protect or just get on YouTube and start watching TED Talks. If you have a little issue, maybe talking to pub in the public. There’s tons of things in ideas and tips. back I’ll give you one right now. Small tip. You ready? Yes. My glasses, say this. But back when I was in film school, Adam Roark was one of my teachers. He was a real famous actor with Hells Angels if you’re older, but me and Lou Diamond Phillips, we’re in the same class together Alibaba guy, right? Yeah. And so he said, there he goes, You know what the difference between a good actor and a bad actor is, and we’re all sitting there going? Experience. He said, eyebrows. Eyebrows. What do you mean by eyebrows? The tip he gave us is watching TV ever go see a bad movie and an actor or even you’re talking to somebody their face never moves. They’re just remembering their lines. And I’m gonna tell you about my chamber, my chamber is best and you need to be part of my chamber. And then you just give that whole thing. But he said if you move, you’re good actors and good salespeople, and people who are passionate about what they do, their eyebrows will move just a little bit before they say anything. So hey, let me tell you about my chamber see it because what that is, so consciously, is telling the listener Hang on, I’m about to say something pretty important. So they automatically tune in to you, if you just move your eyebrows just ever so slightly. Some people do it naturally. Some people have to think about it. But if you watch people on podiums, nothing against our state representative yesterday, but he was the emcee of the gala. But he was sort of deadpan. But if your face is animated, and move your eyebrows just ever so slightly, you You are now persuaded somebody to listen to.

Brandon Burton 37:34
Right? I like that. Now everybody listening is thinking about their eyebrows and what they’re doing. And yeah, I think of the rock. Right? He does that one. Yeah. And it gets your attention. So

Don McCoy 37:46
there you go. And don’t and please don’t think that, Oh, I’m over exaggerating my eyebrows, it will come naturally trust Dan. But if you truly believe in what you’re doing, and find a good software, program, whatever works best for you. But be aware, there’s a lot of software’s out there that work for you, in chamber management, but as to help you manage your database. I like mine, because it not only helps me manage my database, but it also helps have tools for my members to use. And to me, that’s the most important part of it. And some of you may be Richard scalding from time to time he said he was at the event and everything. And he lives in Texas now. So I got him to move from California.

Brandon Burton 38:28
That’s right. And he’s he’s one of the sponsors of the show. So if you want to plug it, you know, Chamber Nation,

Don McCoy 38:34
well, I promise you, you’ll never meet a nicer guy and his wife and his whole team. He’s one of those guys that I brainstorm with. And I say, hey, if your software could do this, that would be awesome. And he goes, let me see what I can do. And sure enough, he came out with it. I mean, we it’s our plaque system. I won’t get into that. But that’s what is so cool about having somebody that you can, whether it works or not get the idea can make it happen. You know, in film and TV, I used to edit on beta Ubaid, remember beta tape, or film years ago, and I didn’t know how to work the editing machine. But I knew the guy that did and I said, I know you can do this. So I want you to make it look like this. Yeah, he doesn’t. So you always need your producer director and then you need the guy. Because as somebody once said, as patent lawyers said, CEOs like us right here, we are working 1015 20 years in the future. Okay, but you need a team that is working in the hearing now your see Oh, getting the job done here in the present. So try to keep that perspective to

Brandon Burton 39:45
like that. That is great. A great tip right there. Speaking of those lines, as we look to the future of chambers and their purpose going forward, how do you see chambers and their purpose going forward?

Future of Chambers

Don McCoy 39:57
Well, I’m gonna say they, a lot of us, a lot of them need to change and get with it. Okay? Come into the future and embrace the technology. Because it’ll it’ll, it’ll run right past us so fast, you won’t know what happened. The entire world is going to this is this is this is the world and, and, and if you can’t reach my chamber here or call me or find me or whatever, even Voice Search, I’m people voice search, I am now searchable by voice. And people are using that. But the future of chambers are to still represent your businesses at the table of government, don’t lose sight of that. And to be the community key, whether they call that the kid the last 10. Because if you become that important, and if the chamber went away in your community today, would your community fill it? Yeah, they should. So be that be that chamber of influence in that connector, and that catalyst and the champion for the community, but in the future, embrace all these new technologies coming along, because that’s going to set you up for tremendous success. And as some people retire out of the chamber world, and it happens all the time, technology can replace some of those things and make it easier for the new folks coming in. Because imagine, I don’t know what the average age of a CEO is, in chamber world, I really don’t, that’d be interesting to find out what but I mean, if you’re not up on technology, the next generation, the millennials, in the whatever’s there, whatever their names are, that are highly technical oriented with the Snapchats, and the whole things. They’re the ones that are going to take over in the chamber world, and they’re not gonna want to start at square one. That’s right. They want to see you already have a presence on Facebook, they want to see you have the tick tock, they want to see you have all this other stuff. And that’s going to attract really great talent to your team. That’ll make you even more successful. Don’t be afraid to be the idea person, the executive, but look for that talent that can come in here and work your social media to the enth degree and it’s nothing to them. And you’re sitting here going, what do I do? What is this? That’s where you got to go. Because it’s, it’s important. It really is at 63. I never thought I’d be well versed in but my mother is 83 and she can work Facebook like a charm. It’s unbelievable. So

Brandon Burton 42:30
awesome. I love there.

Don McCoy 42:31
Yeah, just get out there and do it. It’s easy. Yeah.

Brandon Burton 42:35
So Don, what would be the best way for any listeners to reach out and connect with you if they want to learn more about anything you’ve shared? Or how you’re doing things? Their culture? Absolutely.

Connect with Don McCoy

Don McCoy 42:45
My email and my, my phone number is at chambernomics.com. And that’s, you could always call the chamber here and ask for me. I’m very accessible. My phone number is is on the chambernomics website, you can find me on Facebook, Don McCoy facebook.com, forward slash Don McCoy. Go in there and make me your friend, LinkedIn, I try to use it all. I tell you, and if you try to message me on Facebook, what’s at email, and I wish if somebody out there can find the technology to write if you’re if you know that if I get a message on Messenger, WhatsApp, email, this this, and it funnels into one app. You’ll make a million dollars today, I kid you not. But just reach out, give us a call. I’ll call you back. And I’d be happy to walk you through or answer any questions you might have. I’m, I’m here to not only help our businesses, but to help you and which helps America live or not. I’m a big patriot. And this country is fantastic. And we still have the freedom to do business. And so let’s do it. That’s the commerce there’s another website for you called letsdocommerce.com.

Brandon Burton 44:06
Well, I will get your contact information in our show notes for this episode. But this has been a fun conversation. Hopefully it’s percolating some ideas and people listening and take something and run with it at your chambers back at home. But Don, thank you for thank you for being with us today and providing so much value. My pleasure,

Don McCoy 44:24
Brandon, keep doing the good work you’re doing you are a blessed individual, to the community and to our to our community here in the chamber world. And likewise, if there’s anything I can do for you, Brandon or anybody out there, thank you, God bless you all for what you’re doing. We know it’s a tough job, but, uh, keep up the good work and you’ll be blessed every day.

Brandon Burton 44:46

Brandon Burton 44:58
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