Meeting Schedule
September 3 - No meeting due to the Labor Day weekend
September 10 - Member Spotlights
September 17 - New board takes over
Member Spotlight
This week's spotlight is
Joe Zingale. Please keep this member top of mind
this week for referrals.
Membership
Mike Seifried of Valley Wide Health Centers visited our group
this morning. Click
here to view his application. He has been practicing in
the Valley since 1995. He is friends with Joe Hesch and
several other MABE members. He has been hearing about MABE for
10 years and now that there is an open he is looking forward to
joining. His company has 9 valley wide locations and 18
doctors. They take care of sports injuries and muscular
skeletal pain. They know the scope of their practice and do
not go beyond it. They will tell you the truth and do an
excellent job. They put the patient first They take all
major medical insurances but cash over-the-counter is good too.
Financial Report
Nick Mawrenko is working on some charts that he will share with
the group soon.
Social Report
What happens at MABE happy hours stays... You know the
rest.
Board Update
Elections were held today but first one nominee gave his
speech...
Mark Menasci - I have been with MABE for a year now. It
has gone by so fast. I am flattered that I was nominated.
I would like to do my part. I enjoy coming. It is the
best part of my Fridays. It has really helped out. I am
open to new and old ideas. I promise to do my very best job.
Please welcome our incoming
board members: Ryan Bohlander and Mark Menasci.
Thank you to our exiting board members: Erin LaGrassa and Don Ellis
(moving to historian position).
The new board will meet after the regular meeting on September 10th
to determine board positions.
Today's Program:
3-Minute Commercials
(Continued from last week)
embers answered one of the following three questions:
1. What was your initial ‘core’ business and what is it now?
2. What is the most drastic change in your business over the last
year?
3. In a 2 minute commercial tell us what your business
does/provides? Not the history – what it does/provides exactly.
Dave Lathrop - When I started 14+ years ago
the core of my business was helping people buy new and used cars.
But then I started selling for people because they were not happy
with trade-in values, etc. Now that has become my core
business. People don't like selling themselves and having strangers coming to their house.
Lawyers use me to help clear estate property. I can appraise
the vehicle, show
the vehicle, handle the title transfer, place the ads...most every
part of the process.
Althea Bussert - My business started doing large commercial weavings for bank buildings, etc.
The clients would ask for interior design work. That lead to
model home work and eventually full interior design work. My
education is in art. I work with contractors and
subcontractors. I do my own drawings. I come in at the
very beginning, working with the client. I can change the
whole character of the home even if that involves knocking out
walls. My window shade business has completely dropped off so
now I focus on custom draperies.
Chris Curran - I started out working as
an associate for a big law firm. Being at the bottom I got the tough, lousy jobs.
I cut my teeth on cases that couldn't get resolved easily.
When the company broke up I went with one of the partners and
experienced working with a smaller firm. I
was terminated on Christmas eve...which I completely deserved.
I started my own practice over 13 years ago. There have been a
lot of highs and lows. My core business is now insurance
coverage disputes. I spend most of my time litigating who is
going to get what. I differentiate from my colleagues by the
way I do things. I spend more time at kitchen tables with
clients than in conference rooms. I talk to people in plain
language. I tell people the truth.
Guy Sawyers - Bob has been his imaginary
partner for 20+ years. Because of health issues, he has had to
limit his work. This means I am not working long hours and it has been
a challenge to adapt. Fortunately my clients have been very
understanding.
Don Ellis - We opened our doors in 1981. Back
then our core business came from snowbirds, average age 100-years
old. It become evident that needed to bring that average down
(Customers died too often - and it wasn't the food!). We recently remodeled to look more modern
in an effort to attract a
younger crowd. We have branched out into banquets and
catering. Its a nice change.
Bob Becker - In 1984 I started buying
commercial real estate but never really made any money. The
core business became leasing my own properties. I got my real estate
license and started do residential and commercial work. I
enjoyed doing commercial more. Both markets have changed
drastically. Residential continues to declines. Banks
are not even putting properties on the market. Now commercial
is dying. You will see more vacancy signs in strip
centers to come. Commercial will get worse. Who knows
what will happen on the residential side. The industry has
completely changed. I have never seen commercial or
residential this bad.
Tim Green - I started in Arizona in 1986.
At that time our core business was doing customs and tracks.
We had ac crew of 100 guys.
When things started getting bad I got my commercial license and
diversified into refinishing work. We also go out a lot further.
The pricing going out is so low. I've been bidding houses for 30
years and I don't know how to do it anymore.
Janice Jaicks - I started out teaching water
aerobics. I found I was really good at. Then I started
teaching swim lessons. I had a knack for it. People
started asking for private lessons. That became my core
business but
I quickly burned out from all the driving and doing all the work
myself. I became incorporated
and hired instructors. I realized in October of each year my money
would run out
because the work was seasonal. I had several diff certifications in in physical fitness so
I began training instructors which helped even out the cash flow. 10 years ago
I began renting space in
health clubs and started offering lessons there. Due to the
economy
people would rather pay for group lessons than the more expensive private
lessons. I am still
passionate about the business.
Nick Carr - We handle all kinds of insurance
from auto to home to commercial. I started in the business 15
years ago. I originally planned to go to law school but
instead took a job offer with American Family Insurance. I
eventually branched out on my own. The biggest change over the
last few years is the dramatic drop in uninsured motorist claims.
I am
not sure if due to legislation or the economy.
Barb Luther - An intellectual property lawyer sounds like
something you would never need. But companies are waking up to
the fact that their names are becoming diluted. There is a
little know rule regarding "confusingly similar" property.
You may spend thousands of dollars to build an image only to have
someone sue you over it. I can help with patents copyrights
and trademarks. I can help you protect your
business. Come to me for my opinion of ahead of time.
Nick Mawrenko - We work with business clients, outsourcing
basic payroll and HR administration. It is
all about compliance and staying out of trouble. Companies
grow and find they need help administrating. People
come to us when they have a problem. Using our service is
often less expensive than hiring a qualified person at $80K...or even
a less qualified person at $40K. Most
people don't realize how much they are actually paying. I can
do an audit, ask the right questions and find where you are giving
away money. The cost to a small business for
HR compliance is roughly $1500 per employee each year. We can do it for a
lot less.
We are not done yet! To be continued at our
next meeting on September 10th.