“Confessions of a Serial Visitor” (How Joining the Cobb Chamber of Commerce Impacted My Business)
Posted By cls on March 29, 2010
Yes, I confess, I would frequent chamber events. I knew the rules… You are allowed to visit a few times but eventually you would need to join. So I would lay low for a few months and then pop back up again. What was the deal? Why was it so hard for me to take the leap? Oh yeah…the cost!! Having been a fairly new entrepreneur, the cost associated with joining seemed out of my reach. So I continued to pop in and out, trying really hard to stay under the radar, but visible enough to make new contacts. It worked for two years until one day I was sitting in a Chamber meeting and I listened to all the referrals that were being past. I watched how the members interacted with one another. Then I read the calendar of events that were taking place that month for Chamber members. I began to think about how much more effective I could be if I were an ACTIVE member and was able to utilize all the tools the Chamber had to offer for business owners. I joined that day. The representative was shocked as he had been calling me for months and I would continue to say, “I can’t afford it right now”. What I didn’t know then was that I could not afford NOT to do it. Since joining the Chamber, my business has grown tremendously and I have more than recouped my annual fee requirements.
The relationships I have made have been amazing. Let me give you an example; I met a business coach through networking at the Chamber. He encouraged me to develop a niche. “Become the expert”, he said. So in an effort to find my niche, I visited the resource center at the Chamber. What an experience!! I sat down with the coordinator and we talked about my business, and about my goals. Based on the information I shared with her she ran a demographics report that helped me pin point my target. It gets even better. Through a leadership program the Chamber offers, I had the pleasure of meeting the Planning Division Manager for Cobb County Community Development. We sat down and I shared with him the information I received from the resource center and he took that information and created a geographical map that pin pointed the greatest concentration of my target market.
I am most grateful to the Chamber for all the opportunities they have made available to me. I can’t believe the time I wasted visiting, when I could have been building a stronger business.
My name is Erica Parker and I am a Proud “paid in full” member of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce.
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