Are you involved in a business trade organization or local business groups?

[tranguyen]

Hey Seller Community 🌟 

As we get into the swing of 2023, I'd love to learn...

Are you involved in a business trade organization or local business groups? If you are, what are the benefits for being involved?

Feel free to share some information about the groups you are involved in your replies below! We look forward to reading more about them.

[DiamondServices]

I’m  a entrepreneur. I have 4 small businesses 2 DBA.  I’ve started multiple. Branding accounts and helped many become entities. I enjoy graphic art and web design and I’m currently enrolled for a bachelors in Graphic Design w Concentrate on Web Development and design.  

[GandGPaleo]

I belong to two entrepreneur coffee club groups as well as the local Chamber of Commerce. I'm fairly new to the area and most of the time I've been here, has been under Covid so I didn't have very many friends or any business contacts. When I decided to start my own business last year, I knew I needed to know more of the local business people and other entrepreneurs so I could learn from them.

From these groups, I've found my marketing company and I'm starting to get to know other business people and for them to get to know, like, and trust me. 

[Hailey]

That's really interesting! Congrats on your marketing business (I'm a marketer too!). From the coffee clubs, what do you find you get the most out of them? Just the networking or do you discuss common problems and get solutions from other entrepreneurs in the group too? Would love to know more 

Also, what are your feelings toward the Chamber? I know when I ran my business, joining the Chamber was a strategy for me with SEO (being featured on their credible website) and also to get discounted rates for events. Do you feel you gain a lot from your chamber?

[GandGPaleo]

I'm not a marketer, sorry that language was confusing. I found a marketing person for my business which is baking and selling Paleo breads and treats at the local farmers markets. 

The coffee clubs are both networking and talking to other entrepreneurs to find out what to do and what not to do.

The Chamber has been a step in the right direction. It mostly gives me and my business credibility and I'm getting to know other businesses that I may work with in the future.

[Hailey]

Honestly, paleo breads and treats sounds way more enticing than marketing anyway haha Congrats on finding a network of entrepreneurs and local business who are helping you build yours 🙂 

[phillipsrw]

We are a member of a small group of likeminded business in our town. We meet monthly for coffee to discuss the challenges and opportunities. It's really helpful from sales leads and collaboration opportunities to knowledge on government grants, support and initiatives. We share worries, concerns and just about anything if it helps our fellow business thrive. 

[Hailey]

That group sounds amazing! How did you hear about it/ create it? 

[JUYBoutique20]

I'm in a few groups but I only have one that I pay a yearly fee in.  They provide marketing content monthly, classes on all things business related, all the trends for each season, weekly podcasts, a whole community of wholesalers, etc.  Definitely worth it.

[Hailey]

WOW that paid group sounds really awesome. What is it called? 

Also curious what you find valuable from the non-paid groups?

[GandGPaleo]

If you have a SCORE or Mercy Corps office in your area, they provide free and discounted classes, webinars, and mentors to help you with your business.

[Anthem]

We have two businesses in very different industries. Coffee (thanks to all of you having your group meetings at locally owned indy shops, it means a lot for them and for the community when compared to supporting corporate-owned businesses - off that soap box) and Dry Cleaning.

For coffee, we are part of a Facebook group that shares lots of information about how they reach customers and deal with daily issues.

With dry cleaning, we are part of a national and regional membership-based group that advocates for the industry. When well run, these groups can create tremendous value for your organization. I suggest you get involved when possible. There are weekly zoom meetings with folks from all around the country sharing problems, challenges, wish lists of growth ideas, and others pouring information over them to help achieve whatever they are working on. It's possibly the most supportive industry of piers I've ever worked in. 

Locally, I find chamber membership keeps us involved as long as we are actively engaged on committees such as economic development, government affairs, etc. These keep us in front of the community, and more folks choose our shop to have their meetings because our involvement keeps us front-of-mind. It also keeps us aware of business community concerns so we can influence the conversation where helpful in creating a friendly business environment. Lastly, we invest in long-term planning at the city level to do our part in helping the community understand what vibrancy looks like and how to incentivize the intentional development of community assets that increase vibrancy rather than focusing on unsustainable growth, expansion, or replication of services already available. 

[Doran]

I've joined a few local organizations over the years but never really found any helpful.  Most had expensive membership fees and just wanted a ton of free services.  These days I just stick to informal things and my local neighbor businesses.  

[QuokkaCoffee]

I've joined two local Facebook groups catering separately to baristas and restaurant staff. The moderators do a fairly good job of weeding out spam and they function essentially as job boards, but it does end up being a place where people vent a lot about customers, which has never sat well with me.

For anything more involved, I can always reach out to the equivalent of our local chamber of commerce and get some constructive responses. A couple of years back, they helped negotiate our lease so I wouldn't have to shell out thousands of dollars worth of legal fees. 

And to be perfectly honest, I find a lot of validation from the Super Seller forum. Getting a sense of how people are performing internationally has always been more useful to me than the echo chamber that local Facebook groups end up becoming. YMMV. 🤷🏻

[sugarlab]

I just ended my tenure as President of the Ventura Chapter of NACE, the National Association of Catering and Events. I was actually president for 4 years instead of the typical 2 year term due to COVID. We had a few of our board members who switched careers during the pandemic. Networking is a big perk of the association; I know my business would probably do well in the wedding and events space without being a member, but now I get to nurture personal relationships with other wedding business owners and professionals. It's great having that face time, even more so when a venue has a change in personnel! 

I've thought about joining Chamber but I just worry I'm going to get hit up to donate stuff all the time. I'm not sure how much benefit I would get out of it. 

[DinaLRosenberg]

I used to be very involved in our local chamber- on the exec board and even the President. I found it to be more volunteerism than something that helped my business... what I learned is that not all organizations are equal and not all are worthy of your time.

[Anthem]

Agreed, some lessons can be harder than others, and choosing organizations to support (and how) is one of the hardest. The key is knowing what the organization's purpose is and knowing your purpose for involvement. 

I've found many organizations I enter in hopes of growing my business falls flat. Mostly because my focus is me, my expectations are grounded in what I will get out of it. In contrast with recent years, I increasingly focus support toward organizations that align with my desire to impact the communities I'm part of. My purpose for engaging is to look for ways I can learn and contribute. I almost always get more than I expect. I engage more with fewer expectations for personal/business gain, learn more from others, and eventually find opportunities where my experiences add value.

Organizations more directly aligned with the industry of your business do seem to reward more learning and growth from others sharing their experiences which impact personal/business growth. Whereas, local efforts, such as the chamber, rarely provide expectation-matching value when approached from a gain mentality. That is not their purpose. Rather, they seek to improve the climate for all involved, and as a byproduct those not involved often benefit. The chamber, for instance, is not there to reward membership with business growth. They are there to advocate for a healthy and vibrant business environment. With active involvement, many businesses will benefit from other members choosing to support them more often. I suggest that is a happy byproduct of hard work, good corporate citizenship, and dedicated engagement (for the benefit of others) rather than the objective. 

[PartyManiaMD]

Honestly I used to be part of our local chamber of commerce. The mixers and events were alright but often it was just a lot of "solutions" trying to sell us CC processing or insurance or payroll. Very little of it seemed to be other local brick and mortars looking for solutions. Mileage may vary but we don't even join the big industry buying groups anymore because they have just gotten too expensive for what they offer.

I do keep in touch with other local business owners informally to see how they're doing and we do inhouse trades to keep costs down.

[Dionhardeman77]

Not right now 

[pigsnoseinn]

We are a part of a few at a national level we are part of the Federation of Small Businesses which is great for legal advice, financial expertise and to represent small businesses in an our government.

At a regional level we are part of Food, Drink, Devon which gives marketing help and they also evaluate our business to enter into an award that showcases the top Devon food businesses.

We are also part of the nationwide caterers association that help UK catering companies become totally compliant by developing all the company policies, risk assessments, food hygiene, staff training and also legal advice. 

[ReginaRMT]

No I do not belong to any such groups. My brother does with his business in two different cities here in Canada, Regina and Calgary chapters. He has tried many times to get me involved, I know they provide group insurance plans as well as referral based incentives of some kind. I'm not 100% sure on any more info.