Leads & Introductions
Members introduced themselves and announced leads and thank
you's.
Member Spotlight
This week's spotlight is
Dave Crissman. Please keep this member top of mind
this week for referrals.
Meeting Schedule
Coming up...
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April 23 - Small Table Topics and Tim & Brad
Green, All About Painting
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April 30 - Lakee Hesch, Loan Factoring
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May 7 - Nutrition, Exercise, ‘Intro to Small
Group’, Contest Rules, Testimonials on Success
There will NOT be meetings on the Friday's before
Memorial Day or 4th of July.
Main Program:
MABE Guest Event
Thank you to all the members that brought guests today.
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Nick Mawrenko brought two guests today.
Ruth Irvin acts as a CFO for small companies. She helps
businesses take control of their financials and train
entrepreneurs. Barb Luther is a lawyer specializing in
intellectual property. She helps protect names, ideas and
businesses.
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Roman Okonowski brought his son Greg as a guest.
They work together providing all kinds of insurance needs for
small businesses.
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Dave Lathrop introduced Wes Richardson. He
works with health care facilities providing cost consulting and
equipment planning.
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Erin LaGrassa brought her friend Ann. She
owns a dance studio in Gilbert. She helps kids and adults
learn about the art and get fit.
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Melissa Matthews brought Scott Nasiff as a
guest. His company is a full service marketing and
advertising company. They help small businesses work with
their existing customers and also increase business with new
customers.
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Herb Stokes guest Ken Sherman of
www.goprolocal.com. They specialize in bringing online
business to offline companies. They can help you with
search optimization, social networking, and more.
Buddy Lunch Reports
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Stacy Hyder - Sandro Menasci - Joe Hesch
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Lin Schmelzer - Phyllis Prater - Andrew Jensen
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Nick Mawrenko - Denver Johnson - Carole Weishaar
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Chris Curran - Dave Lathrop - Joe Burr
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Guy Sawyer - Jake Ulrich - Dave Crissman
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Bill LaLonde - Jim Bache - Bob Busch
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Fred Vandervort - Joe Zingale - Mark Menasci
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Erin LaGrassa - Don Ellis - Bob Becker
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Ryan Bohlander - Roman Okonowski - Melissa
Matthews
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Steve Chilton - Herb Stokes - Janice Jaicks -
Althea Bussert
The "buddies" gave brief reports about their lunches
(for those that did them :-{ ). They were asked to mention one
personal item and one business-related item. Those that did
meet had some very interesting conversations.
Question of the Day
It is being reporting that the economy is recovering.
Are you seeing this in your business? Is business improving
because of the economy or because of something your are doing
differently?
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Erin LaGrassa - We have hired new employees
which are helping us grow. We are also expanding into a
different segment of the industry which is helping.
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Dave Lathrop - I am seeing that things are
polarized. People need a vehicle but they are stuck
because they don't have many options. I also see the other
end of the spectrum with people that have great credit and they
are just now thinking about making a purchase. But there
is not much happening in the middle.
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Ryan Bohlander - I have noticed enrollment in
higher end day care centers is up. Parents that were laid
off pulled their kids out and watched them at home or put them
in less expensive day care. I think this is an indicator
that things are improving.
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Roman Okonowski - We have not seen improvement
but we typical trail the up and down swings. We are
seeing more automobile insurance policies which could be a
positive indicator.
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Joe Zingale - The maintenance part of our
business never really slowed down. Once your landscape in
you have to maintain it. Our construction business is
about half of what it was 2 years ago. It is still very
slow. We have to get more creative and expand our scope.
He has a son that works as an intellectual property lawyer and
he is very busy. I see this as a positive indicator of
economic improvement.
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Sandro Menasci - Last month was a very good
month for us. More people are fixing there cars. I
think people were also putting off repairs until they got their
tax refunds back.
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Herb Stokes - We rely on contracts and we just
signed a new contract. But we rely on parents income so
time will tell how well we do.
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Dave Crissman - The water heater end of our
business has grown because we focused on it. It is our
"sweet spot". We are not necessarily profitable in that
area but we are busy because of our competitive pricing.
We are adapting to harvest what people are willing to spend
their money on.
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Jake Ulrich - Arizona's market in general took a
much more dramatic hit than other areas. So we should
expect a much slower recovery. From a banking side of
things, I have seen a positive outlook on things. Probably
in the next 6-months we will see rising interest rates.
The market is up. Indicators show things going in the
right direction. Unemployment will always lag.
Business can operate profitably on a small staff.
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Don Ellis - 2008 and 2009 where bad years.
We are up 1% this year. Lunches have picked up, the less
expensive meal. But it is an improvement.
