The Apex Chamber: The Peak of Great Opportunity

I was in a meeting recently, when the owner of a small business I often frequent complained to me about the lack of things her local Chamber does for her business. She also commented that being in the Chamber is not a great value to her and her business . She plans on leaving it when her membership renewal comes due. She stated to me that there are absolutely no benefits from a Chamber membership. Now, this is not the first time I have heard of unhappiness with one’s local chamber. But this is the first time I want to tell you about why she is wrong.

I respectfully and politely disagreed with her comments and I told her that the local Chamber of Commerce is often the best vehicle for business opportunity. This is what I said.

As a current four business member of the Apex Chamber of Commerce (Kiwanis Club of Apex, Woomer Insurance and Financial Services, T.O.P.S Club of Apex, and VTR Consulting LLC) I have a unique opinion of my Chamber, both as a profit-driven small business owner and as a non-profit organization member.

Without a second thought, my Chamber, the Apex Chamber of Commerce, is where my businesses need to be. The Apex Chamber offers many opportunities for growth. It offers continuing opportunities to participate in the community. It offers key opportunities for business success. With an outstanding website www.apexchamber.com and an excellent business public directory, the Apex Chamber is a continuing investment with very large professional and personal return.

Morning and evening networking events create even more opportunities for meeting the people you need to meet to help your local business grow. Joining the member supported committees within the Chamber give you not only a communal sense of accomplishment and participation, but a straight and true focus of making businesses better.

But it is up strictly up to you. You must make the most of what is offered. Opportunity is an action word. The Chamber is what you put into it. It is a conduit for so many things. And there are many additional byproducts that are benefits for growth. For example, the byproduct of an effective and well established Chamber is a stronger local economy. Another byproduct is having all of our businesses on the same page under the same umbrella moving forward in a tough economy in the same way. Success is a team sport. “We” are always stronger than “me”. An ancient African proverb states this: “no person is truly a person until they are with other people.” This is the true purpose of a Chamber filled with opportunity. The Apex Chamber of Commerce is the principal vessel of local business prosperity through participation.

Finally, here are some things I know the Chamber is not. The Chamber is not an extension of your marketing department. It is not an organization that automatically makes your business more successful. It is not a profit making apparatus. The Chamber is simply what you make it to be. The Chamber works full-time setting up success. But it does not create it. It puts into place the professional opportunities to help you grow. The Chamber is only as successful as the businesses it supports.

In my view, the best move any business can make is to be a visible and contributing member of the local Chamber. Let’s hope this business owner stays in her chamber and makes it a little better.

May I Have Your Attention Please! Part Two

Apex NC

With constant stimulus all around us, add in the voluminous amount of instant information we have access to 24-7, we can get overloaded very quickly. Remember that ADD thing I talked about in Part One, ALL DATA DUMPED. We just have too much to pay attention to, to pay attention.

If you are like the majority of us, you need to get your business message out there and have it heard and hopefully remembered. I firmly believe we must get noticed to be successful today. I also believe that it is NOT who you know. It is NOT what you know; it is who knows you!

Everything is relationship. It is all things. Everything human starts with relationship. To steal and change a phrase, all success is local. Look at Inside919. We are family in here, not with DNA, but with commonality.

Look at Twitter. It is also a friendly, helpful place. If you are friendly and helpful on Twitter, you get followers. If you are friendly, helpful, and funny, you pick up friends on Facebook.

So use these three sites as social tools to get the message out. You will not stand out until you get out (there).

Blogspot. Word Press. Slingshot. Merchant Circle. There are numerous other places to get noticed as well. The more people who know you, your product and services, the better they know your message. Cut a video with Alex Ferguson of Inside 919 and get your human message out. Use your smile, voice, and actions. People love to see who they might work with. Join LinkedIn. Most importantly, be active in the sites you belong in. Ask Pat Howlett of Inside 919 to consider you as a sponsor. Join the Chamber of Commerce. Join a community service group like the Kiwanis. Join networking groups. Meet someone who you really would like to meet for breakfast once a month.

Know you are "googled" before you are met... I think that's a good thing. Success is a numbers' game.

There is an African Proverb that goes something like this: no one is truly a person until he or she is with other people.

So go to bed tonight having smiled, helped, and supported just one other person. Do it again tomorrow. Over time, this action creates reaction. And one day, you will not only be successful, but you will be relationship rich.

And you will own a powerful message of service.

And you will have our attention!

Be A Career Entrepreneur

Apex, NC... 6-11-09

Everyone has ideas. Our brains work 24-7-365. But getting those ideas to evolve into action that results in success is one tough cookie!

Think out of the box, the car, near the fridge, at your friend's house; it is critical to think out your plan.

A Career Entrepreneur takes ideas, creates action, and makes results. It is up to you. You are the only one who truly gives a dang about your success. You are your own brand. You are the business. Finding opportunities in a challenging economy is critical. If you have an idea, WRITE IT DOWN. I do not care if it is at 3 a.m. A lost idea is useless. You will act on a written idea much faster than one that is rolling around in your skull.

Failure is the avenue for the implementation of ideas. Yep. You have to fail to succeed. What? You are reading it right. I want you to screw up. Success is never easy. My hero is Thomas Edison. Did you know that Edison failed more than you have? He messed up some big stuff. But he was persistent and LEARNED from the error of his ways. If not for Mr. Edison, your quality of life would be way different... Movies would not exist for gosh sakes.

If you are reading this you are in transition. So put that personal business plan together immediately. Be a career entrepreneur even while sleeping, and fail, fail, fail your way to success!

I have.