NO MEETING NEXT WEEK!  Enjoy your holiday weekend.

Member Spotlight
This week's spotlight is Nick Carr.  Please keep this member top of mind this week for referrals. 

Membership
It was announced that Carole Weishaar has resigned from MABE.

In the News

• Unemployment  is down.
• Anyone in MABE on the Forbes top 10?  Lady Gaga anyone?

What does MABE need to do to be better?  What is missing? 

• Dave Crissman - I never looked to this group for leads.  I get so much out of it in other ways.  I just can't imagine not coming as it is part of my routine.  But I understand people going through changes/new time commitments and finding it necessary to leave.
• Althea Bussert - Wow! There are a couple of us that have been members 20 years.  It is a part of my life.  There are so many of us that were so passionate about MABE but dropped out for one reason or another.  And life does go on after MABE.  When we joined in the beginning we were all in the same situation in our businesses.  But now there is a new generation in the group with a drive to test all these new technologies.  The older members are in a place where they are content with where they are at, near the end of their business cycle.  I don't think the group caters to the two different groups in MABE.  Something had to have been done right make this group last as long as it has.  We have our ups and our downs like any other entity.  But we need to be proud of where we have been, what we have done and not be negative.
• Erin LaGrassa - I see that change.  More dynamic, more changes, new blood.  Also, I am not hear for the leads.  It would be very unfortunate for me if they older generation left because I learn so much from them.  This is what makes MABE great for me.  I think we need to have both groups. 
• Robert Busch - I come to MABE for two reasons.  The majority of people here come to me so "hell yes I come for leads!"  But I also come for the shared knowledge.  I would have never put up a website if it wasn't for MABE.
• Joe Burr - I think it is a real challenge to the board to find a common ground for all the members.  There are lots of other leads groups out there.  For my personal perspective, getting together for small group discussions and sharing of knowledge is why MABE stands out and why I come.  We do need to have more social gatherings to bring us closer.
• Sandro Menasci - I come here to learn and to share my knowledge.  A lot of the things that have been discussed lately have been discussed in the past.  I don't think the newer generation realizes that the older members do have a lot of experience to share because they have been there.  I have made a lot of friends here.  I will keep coming as long as I can.  And it goes beyond helping in business.
• Terry Schnelle - In the short time I have been coming I have come to appreciate the interaction and sharing.
• Nick Carr - I like the interaction and the learning.  Yah, the leads are great but the information I have learned has made me a better manager.
• Joe Zingale - If I came for leads I would have been gone 13 years ago!  I look at MABE as a group of friends and colleagues that reach out to each other.  Some times you have to be an angel.  Some times you need an angel.  I think we spend too much time spending too much time analyzing ourselves and being critical.  We have been around a long time.  The businesses in here are very dynamic and the group has to be dynamic.  If you don't accept changes you will fail in business and you won't last in MABE.  We have a wonderful group.  I love embracing the change.  You get out of something when you put in to it.  If you don't feel you are getting anything out of MABE than it is you.  You have to participate, get involved.
• Jeff Sutherlin - I honor the wisdom in this group.  I love to come and learn from members that have been there already.  I do care about leads/business but I come for the knowledge.  As far as change, why can't we hold on to what we had AND accept some change.  Change is necessary.  I think this group is doing a lot of good things.  I see a lot of value in the group.
• Tim Green - I was brought in because it was a leads group.  But once I got hear it became much more for me.  When a house gets old you need to remodel, add fresh paint, etc.  Some concept for the group.  Now it is not for the leads.  It is better for to get the knowledge than to get the job.
• Chris Curran - I certainly echo a lot of what Althea and Joe said.  We may spend more time looking in the mirror than is necessary.  There are times I get in the car after a meeting and think I will never get that hour back.  But you have to take the good with the bad.  I have teetered on the brink of leaving.  But I have decided that I am going to stay out of the way and let the group run itself.  I come every Friday morning just to remind myself that I am not alone in this world.  And we talk about things you can't talk with others about.
• Don Ellis - We have always had these turmoil's.  But at this point, I feel comfortable with this group again where I can feel I can let my heart out.   I think we are getting better.  We have lost good members and that is hurtful.  But as we get to know each other (new members) we get back to all being friends, talking from the heart and sharing.  I appreciate that we are not always structured.  I can learn more from you people than from a speaker lecturing us.  I am happy to be with this group.
• Brad Green - I don't join groups.  I have done business the same way forever.  But since coming here, this old dog is learning new tricks and looks forward to coming.
• Ryan Bohlander - To have a dynamic for me to meet with other professionals is good for me.  Meeting people...friends...and growing is the true value.  There is future value too because there are services in here I have yet to use and relationships I can build.  I am glad there has been good feedback on the meetings.  I try to get variety.  Try to reach the different groups.
• Joe Hesch - I have never thought of myself as being old but as I look around the group I am one of the older ones now.  What was important to me as president was to have the historian position on the board because they do have so much to offer.  The last few members that have left, although they came to meetings, they were never on the board.  They did not get involved.  You do get out of it what you put in to it.  If you have contributed, now is your chance.  We have four board positions coming open soon.  Althea don't go!
• Stacy Hyder - I initially came in for leads as I had just started my business.  But they are not the reason anymore.  I come for emotional health, the smiles.  What causes me the most anxiety is my attendance and feeling stretched to thin at times.  But I don't want to leave.  There are very big lives going on outside of MABE.  We need to keep that in mind when we see people slipping.  It would be a shame to lose the knowledge from the older members.  Criticism about the group should not be seen as negative.  It should be seen as constructive. You can always get something from every meeting.
• Mark Menasci - When I joined I did not know what to expect.  I get some leads but I don't care about that.  I just like coming and hanging out.  It is helpful.  Great knew ideas.  I don't mind getting up early on Friday!  It is strange to see members that have been here 15-20 years and all of the sudden they leave.  I hope that people will speak up if they are bothered by something.  You won't like every topic.  You can't please all the people all the time.  Change is inevitable but we don't have to change the fundamentals of the group.
• Robert Busch - It used to be the responsibility of the sponsoring member to talk to the member they sponsored if their attendance was bad to make sure they were OK and to work out any issues.
• Don Ellis - We used to keep personal information, birthday, anniversaries, personal addresses.

Participate. Smile. Be Positive.

Today's Program - Question of the Day
If there was one moment or time in your life that you could relive, what would it be?

• Erin LaGrassa - Every summer we went to sailing camp.  It was a phenomenal time in my life.

• Joe Zingale - September 28th, that is the day everything big happens. Sold garbage company.  Bought fiercest competitor and became best friends.  My mother-in-law passed away and found out wife pregnant. 

• Sandro Menasci - The summer my wife and I started going out.  And when I opened my first business.

• Nick Mawrenko - Moving to Arizona.

• Jeff Sutherlin - Playing little league as a kid.

• Nick Carr - I wish I could go back to talk to my late mother-in-law.  Nobody affected me like she did.

• Tim Green - Watching my son progress in little league.

• Chris Curran - Representing an emotional case for a fire fighter.  We changed her life when we won.

• Don Ellis - When I came home from Vietnam.  I was relieved.

• Brad Green - Talking with my mom.

• Ryan Bohlander - Completing a marathon.

• Joe Hesch - I would like to go back in time and actually when a high school football game.

• Stacy Hyder - The day I met my current boyfriend, my rock.  He has been a phenomenal best friend. December 23rd which was the calmest day I have ever had.  Then all hell broke loose....

• Mark Menasci - Having conversations with my parents about life.

• Andy Jensen - The day I died.

• Dave Crissman - The day I joined MABE. 

• Althea Bussert - My first trip to Vegas.  I felt like a queen! When my daughter got married in Greece and all of my loved ones came.

• Joe Burr - Living on Concordance Street.