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The Morning Call — November 15, 2004
OUTSIDE GROUPS OFFER HELP — AND A CHANCE TO GIVE BACK
Q: As a busy small-business owner, I’m having a hard time making myself stop work to get out in the community. What benefits come from getting involved in outside business organizations?
A: When she moved to the Lehigh Valley and purchased her first business, a franchise, Tina Hamilton decided for the first time she needed to get involved to learn about her new community and to meet friends.
Since then, she has sold her first business and started a new one. That has made her realize the benefits of being involved with the community.
As a new company, with a new concept, just getting people to listen was a challenge, she said. "Thanks to all of my contacts from being involved in the Chamber of Commerce and other trade associations, people not only listened, they truly wanted to help me," she said.
Hamilton owns InterSource Inc. a hiring management firm for small businesses.
"Because of my involvement, I know many of the major business leaders in the Valley whom I might never have known otherwise," she said. "These individuals truly wanted to help me succeed and have contributed quite a bit to my success."
Hamilton said she also has many sources to tap when she needs a vendor or a referral to a vendor, which has saved her business wasted spending and prevented "vendor nightmares."
For instance, she recently came up with a business concept that seemed like a great idea to her, but she had to be certain. So she first contacted the Small Business Council of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce breakfast meetings," she said.
She also conducted her own market survey. "I contracted 35 companies for their opinions and feedback on the service I was planning to provide," she said.
Most of the information on those companies came from the Chamber of Commerce directory or the Eastern PA Business Journal directory.
"The survey was incredibly valuable to the start of my business. Obtaining appropriate names and deciding on which companies to call would have otherwise been a huge burden if those directories were not available," she said.
Those contacts helped generate revenue for her business and helped her find affordable space, among other things.
In turn, she has become involved with community groups such as the chamber’s Executive Women’s Council, which offers a program for students at risk and associations such as Turning Point and United Way.
"One of the most rewarding aspects of being involved is the opportunity to help others," she said. Those activities offer an opportunity to give back to the community. "That makes everything else I do worthwhile," Hamilton said.
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