Membership Updates
We have a new honorary member, Steve Stahl. He is the
commander of the Mesa Police
Department, Red Mountain District.
Mark Menasci made his official visit this
morning as a potential member. Part 2 of his membership
application will be posted later today. Members will then have
until Wednesday, August 5th (3 business days) to make any final
objections. If there are no objections, he will be invited to
join our group as a member.
Reach Out and Touch Someone
If anyone know
a member that hasn't attended in a while, reach out to them with a phone call.
Let them know we would like to see them at the meetings.
We had 15 absent members this morning. Only 7
had communicated that they would be gone. Please remember to
email Melissa if you will miss a meeting so it can be documented as
excused
(melissa@mabe-online.org). No verbal communication
please.
Notable Mentions
-
Have you visited Mike Whalen's website lately?
He just launched a big section. Take a look!
http://www.newlinetrophy.com
-
Bob Busch doesn't know what is going but the last
two months have been record breaking at his business.
-
Althea Bussert apologized for not being around.
Her husband Jim has not
been doing well. He was recently diagnosed with kidney cancer.
Please keep them both in your prayers.
-
Steve Chilton's daughter Toni is involved with a
group that is hosting a free informational seminar on self
defense for women of all ages. The details have been
posted on LinkedIn and Facebook. 1-in-3 women get attacked
once in their lifetime. You need to know what to do
if approached. Space is limited so signup right away.
-
Dave Lathrop sent members a questionnaire about
his company/services using Survey Monkey (http://www.surveymonkey.com).
The service is free, easy to use, quick to set up, and the
responses are completely confidential. He recommends other
members jump on board and solicit feedback this way.
Getting Connected
Stuart Schindler and Melissa Matthews had a LinkedIn success
story that they shared today. Are you LinkedIn?
Featured Program - Janice
Jaicks
Janice moved here in '78 from Buffalo, New York and she
has never looked
back. She has three kids - two daughters and a son. They
are all in
their 20's. Janice loves these ages. They have more of a friendship thing.
After moving to Arizona, she started taking water aerobics
classes.
One day the instructor asked if she wanted to teach it and she said
"sure, why not". She
really enjoyed it and got lots of compliments. It just grew
and grew from there. She started by teaching in backyards.
She was going crazy
with business and driving all over the Valley (hence Waterworks on
Wheels). She also offers swimming lessons at several health clubs
in the Valley. To supplement her income during the slow season
she started having fitness workshops. This has become an
annual event.
In the 90's she "got official". She became incorporated,
got insurance, started advertising and
started hiring. She was still teaching, but mostly managing.
She is moving out of her home office and into an office space that
she will share with her daughter Erin's company. She is very excited about growing and expanded.
Advertising in local papers has helped her in the past but now
85-95% of people say they found her on the web.
Teaching is very rewarding. Her company teaches
swimming lessons for kids ages 10 months to
10 years old. It is incredibly challenging to teach older
children and even more so with adults. She developed her own program
that is fun yet focuses on safety. Her philosophy is to
combine
several safety techniques in a positive environment. They have
at most a 4-1 ratio. How long it take to learn depends on many variables - fears, anxieties, coordinated, cooperative,
learning disability, attachment to mommy.
What does customer service means to her? Calling people back
within 24 hours. It is crucial. Some businesses just don't care about that
anymore. Janice spends a great deal of time talking to parents about goals and
expectations. She truly cares and has concern for both the child and parent. Its
her passion to make
them safe and help them learn. Her business is very personal
and she take
a lot of pride in that.
She has between 6-12
instructors during the year. Her instructors are topnotch. You don't have to be licensed but there are
certifications she requires. She won't hire anyone that doesn't
have a minimum of 3-years experience with young ages. And then
she trains with them for 10-20 hours depending on how quickly catch
on. She periodically checks in on them at the pools. She
always learns something new by doing this (good and bad). She cares about
her staff. She treats them
the way she would want to be treated. She feels like she is a good
boss. That karma all comes around. That's the way she tries
to run her business and live her life.
