Letter from the Editor

Welcome to 2009! I hope that you’re settled in after the Holidays and snow days, and ready to get back to business. As bailouts for small businesses and individuals are unlikely, professionals are becoming more creative in tackling their revenue shortfalls.

Do you have a plan? Have you availed yourself of the myriad offerings available to Club members? The schedule is packed. In February you can be motivated to “Find Your Strengths”, explore the economic role of “Optimism in Entrepreneurs,” partake of easy relationship building during the Open Table lunch or at the new monthly Business Alliance After Hours, and finally end the month at a showcase Business Expo event.

If you noticed more activities than usual, than grab a seat and hold on! 2009 launches new class offerings and ways to connect with your fellow BA partners. The feedback from the 2009 Kick-off event was amazing. In case you missed it, you now have a chance to post your events for others to see, (see eCard below,) our new logo was introduced, and the BA Navigation Classes were rolled out.

These 1-3 hour classes will be agenda driven, take-it-and-use-it training. We are partnering with Wake Tech and Industry leaders like IBM to present this training. If you have a topic suggestion, email it to leeheinrich@nc.rr.com.

Remember, success during challenging times is absolutely possible. Now is the time to be even more aggressive and take strategic steps to propel your business. Market more. Understand internet-based social networking and strengthen core business relationships. Focus on what you can do and find new niches to create business solutions no one has ever thought of before. In order to begin, you have to take a first step… so start moving!

Beth LaSasso

Editor, Business Alliance

February Issue 2009

View Past Issues Here

View the BA Directory

Become a coach now!

Happenings

February

Business Alliance After Hours

Join fellow Business Alliance members monthly on the 2nd Wednesday for a little after-work relaxation in the newly renovated Caps Grille!

 

 

Finding Your Strengths

Wendy Scott, Certified Association Executive, founder of Association and Board Consulting Services and National Account Manager for Experient, challenges us to ask why we spend so much time carrying out tasks that just really aren’t from our expert place when we could advance our cause so much more radically by playing to our STRENGTHS. Of course, we’d have to know our true core strengths and practice featuring them in our goal setting and action plan - and that means we’d actually need to do goal setting and make an action plan. In this interactive workshop you will start the process. Wendy will facilitate activities for you to begin to:

• Identify and focus on your personal strengths
• Develop a realistic goal setting program and meaningful action plan
• Structure accountability and assessment during plan implementation

Optimism, Economics & Entrepreneurship

Professor David Robinson, the Will and Sue Gross Distinguished Research Fellow at Duke's Fuqua School of Business, (and winner or finalist for the past three years of Teaching Excellence Awards) will speak on the economic psychology of entrepreneurship. His presentation will draw on research he has conducted through large scale economic analysis, through small scale surveys, even from studying people's real life behavior at blackjack tables in Las Vegas. Definitely of value as a stand-alone presentation, this also is a perfect continuation to our StrengthFinders programs. It's sure to afford us yet more reasons to hone our strengths. It promises to be an exciting discussion!

Business Alliance Open Table

Join other Business Alliance Partners and Associates for a casual lunch and free ranging conversations in the Main Dining Room at the Capital City Club.

 

 

 

Winter 2009 Business Connection Expo

Exhibit or Attend!

Exhibit: Complete an Expo registration form (found on your Club website under Business Connection Expo) and send it to Jeanelle.Leach@ourclub.com.

Expo information is available on the same page.

Attend: Spa services, jewelry, fashion, amazing gifts, travel and leisure, health and beauty products, fashion eye wear, home décor, business consulting, business services including printing, IT, financial, insurance, real estate and more from 60 plus exhibitors

March

Business Alliance After Hours

Join fellow Business Alliance members for a little after work relaxation in the newly renovated Caps Grille!

 

 

Business Alliance Open Table

Join other Business Alliance Partners and Associates for a casual lunch and free ranging conversations in the Main Dining Room at the Capital City Club.

 

 

Resilience in Challenging Times

Elinvar CEO Patti Gillenwater is bringing a panel of highly credentialed executive coaches to the March Business Alliance program luncheon for a presentation and discussion centered on “Resilience in Challenging Times”. Elinvar’s two decades of experience in providing top talent for executive and mid-level management positions has taught the importance of leadership presence, a collaborative corporate environment and alignment of objectives to produce great business results. This is even truer in challenging times, but sometimes all of us could use a little jump start or focus concentration in these directions. Coaches, business leaders, and especially entrepreneurs who wear many hats will want to attend this program!

Navigation Class: To Be Announced

BA Member Announcements

(Please send submissions to bag_editor@yahoo.com)

BA Member Steven Dieckhaus was quoted in a January News and Observer article by Mary Cornatzer tiltled, Buying a home with nothing down is possible. In a paragraph on qualifying for a mortgage “Steven (Steven Dieckhaus, with AmericaSelect Mortgage in Raleigh,) assured me you don't have to be poor to qualify - income just can't exceed 115 percent of the county median - and you don't have to live way out in the country.” “Dieckhaus says he tells his fellow brokers to find out where their clients want to live, and if it's not within USDA territory, to draw some squiggly lines to illustrate how small a distance out they'd have to look to qualify.”

Wendy W. Scott, CAE, has been selected to speak at the American Society of Association Executives 2009 Annual Conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in August. A Certified Association Executive, Wendy is the owner of Association & Board Consulting Services and National Account Manager with Experient, assisting companies and associations in finding sites for meetings and events throughout the U.S. and internationally. Wendy is a member of the CCC Membership Council and active in the Business Alliance in which she will be the facilitator for the February Navigation program.

Daniel Trimpey, president of Page Progressive, LLC would like to announce the launch of the new Montie Design website! This website utilizes a sophisticated content management system and sports some pretty spiffy effects utilzing AJAX technology. Montie Design is a leader in industrial design in the Triangle.

New Members

September / October

• Healing Waters Med Spa, Kelli Todd (Spa Services)
• The Perfect Purse, Lynn Morris Carter (Gifts)
• York Properties, Justin Mascho (Associate Partner)
• Wearever, Janine Scurfield (Clothier)
• Dragonfly Designs, Dawn Shaw (Jewelry)
• Take Shape For Life, Athena K. Delmontie (Health / Counseling)
  

November / December

• Robert G. Smith, CPA, Becca Smith (Accounting)
• Avon, Pam Alterman (Beauty & Skin Products)
• Mary Kay, Hope Owens (Beauty & Skin Products)
• T.A. Cook Consultants, Larry Olson (Consulting Services)
• SmartMoves International, Katie Gailes (Consulting Services)
• Xango-Raleigh, Cindy Poole (Health / Counseling)
• New York Life Insurance Co, Frank E. Leggett, Jr. (Insurance)
• PBM Graphics, Dawn Shaw (Marketing)
• York Simpson Underwood, Cindy Poole (Real Estate)
• RMS Network Services, Patricia Adkins (Communications & Telecom)
• J Braren & Associates, Inc., John Braren (Business Management Software)
• NAI Carolantic Realty, Daniel Marquardt (Real Estate)

January / February

• Lets Dance, Dick Raymond (Arts, Music & Entertainment)
• Searchlight Enterprises, Andy Standen (Real Estate)
• Security Force, Inc., Ralph Gregory (Arts, Music & Entertainment
• Marrins' Moving Systems, Robert Marrin (Moving & Storage)
• The Total Spa Escape, Christine Engelbrecht (Beauty / Spa Services)
• McNamara Properties, Stephen Votino (Real Estate)
• Global Telecommunications Inc., Bill Moore (Consulting Services)
• d'essense, Donna Tate (Beauty / Spa Services)
• Office Suites PLUS, Karen Barlow (Professional Office Providers)
• Jani King, Ricky Arrington (Janitorial Supplies)

BA in the Community

(Please send submissions to bag_editor@yahoo.com)

Fishy the SHRINE Clown! AMRAN’s 2009 Clown of the Year is Noble Steven Dieckhause. Originally from Waynesville, MO, Fishy, wife Hala and their two daughters have lived in the Raleigh area since 1987. When he is not working as a senior loan planner and mortgage broker, Fishy enjoys clowning around putting smiles on faces of kids big and small. Fishy’s daughters, Deena, age 13 and Amanda, 11 also known as Tweedledum and Tweedledee, enjoy clowning and accompany their dad at a number of events each year wearing matching clown costumes. Steven is a member of the Capital City Club Business Alliance, North Raleigh Rotary Club, Millbrook Masonic Lodge and Grace Lutheran Church where he is past treasurer and a member of the Church Council. Fishy has also been AMRAN Clown’s Secretary Treasurer for the past two years. True to his clown name, Steven enjoys fishing for Blue Catfish as well as cooking, bargain shopping and watching football games. Fishy’s other interests include collecting baseball cards, coins and stamps.

Editor Bio

Publisher Bio