http://www.openforum.com/articles/how-it-works-groupon?extlink=em-openf-SBdaily

• Imagine being where there are like-minded individuals who are ready and willing to build relationships to make the business community stronger.

• Imagine being where you have access to key decision makers in the business and political arena.

• Imagine being where your friends are happy to see you every time.

Well, that’s VIA! VIA is the place to be.

If you’re new to VIA or maybe have been a member for a while but you haven’t fully explored VIA, let me give you some insights into the members of VIA.

• The VIA Board is committed to the success of the organization and is a “roll-up your sleeves” board. You will find Board members on every committee and you will find them to be the premier Ambassadors of VIA.

• There is a wide array of committees, so I’m sure you’ll find something that speaks to you. Depending on our needs and programming, we’ll creating short-term committees, but here’s a listing of our standing committees:

Member Experience

Marketing

Programs

B2B Regional Expo

Community Education/Connecting to Success

VIA STAR (Student partnered with local businesses)

• We partner with others to provide members with actionable events from monthly luncheons to business education classes.

• There are countless opportunities to build connections with others face-to-face. How? Well, through the luncheons, Get Acquainted breakfasts, Meet the Board event, B2B regional expo, VIA ROCKS!, and Business in Action breakfasts.

• There are other non-face-to-face ways to connect with others via telephone, email, Facebook, and LinkedIn. If you haven’t checked out the conversations on LinkedIn, stop by for a visit.

• Finally, we’ll serve as your “business matchmaker”. If there is someone you want to meet in the business community, let us know and we’ll do our best to make it happen!

Now, if you need more convincing that VIA is THE place to be, I invite you to contact anyone on the Board or comment here or visit us in the virtual world. Let us know why you think VIA is the place to be!

Diana Meyer
Chairwoman of VIA Board
President, Meyer Marketing Intelligence
661.254.6141
dmeyer@meyermktg.com
http://www.meyermktg.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/dianameyer0217
http://meyermktg.wordpress.com
http://www.facebook.com/meyermktg
http://www.twitter.com/dianawm

It is hard to believe that it is now the end of November, and December will come and go as quickly as the year has.  Time flies when you’re having fun!  That’s exactly how I feel about the work I do for Southern California Edison and the Boards I serve on, especially VIA, a key organization in the Santa Clarita Valley that continuously has educated and provided solutions for business success through our monthly information, education and advocacy.  

When I first joined the VIA Organization and the Board in 2006, it was specifically because of I had heard this was the organization which has existed for over 30 years and has made exceptional contributions to the Santa Clarita Community.  It is an organization with an exceptional reputation, and does not compete with other organizations; it simply has a mission that continuously delivers to its members.

VIA’s Committees  have contributed to my knowledge of this community and have been a very important element of staying informed on legislative updates, environmental issues/concerns, transportation updates, educational programs, etc.  For a company such as Edison, it is key and very important to stay connected and informed, and in particular to stay engaged and be a member of the decision makers in the community… VIA has provided this and more!

2011 has been a very important year for VIA and one that has set the tone for the years to come.  VIA has had its share of economic problems, as have many other organizations and businesses, however, because VIA is comprised of folks who care, who give, and who contribute to the betterment of our Santa Clarita Community, VIA has grown and is strong.  VIA brings forth very successful programs such as the B2B Expo, the Gala, the monthly luncheons, Connecting to Success, and other.  I just want to compliment VIA for making a difference and for staying committed to its mission.

I look forward to VIA’s continued growth and advocacy!  Way to go VIA!

Anna Frutos-Sanchez
Local Public Affairs Region Manager
Southern California Edison

Get More Done In Less Time = Eat That Frog.

If you are like me, you are overwhelmed with too much to do and too little time. As you struggle to get caught up, new tasks and responsibilities keep rolling in, like the waves of the ocean. Because of this, you will never be able to do everything you have to do.

For this reason, and perhaps more than ever before, your ability as a leader is to select your most important task at each moment, and then to get started on that task, get it done both quickly and effectively. To help you and others be more effective and efficient, we must remember the story about frogs!

Mark Twain once said that if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long. Your “frog” is your biggest, most important task, the one you are mostly likely to procrastinate on if you don’t do something about it. It is also the one task that can have the greatest positive impact on your life and resultsfor you and your organization.

The first rule of frog eating is this:
If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first.

 This is another way of saying that if you and those you lead have two important tasks before you, start with the biggest, hardest, and most important task first. Discipline yourself to begin immediately and then to persist until the task is complete before you go on to something else.

Although it’s so much easier to push off the “ugliest frog” in favor of fighting fires and cleaning up all the odds & ends and easy fixes, I think that frog eating should be my goal!

Andrea McAfee

Controller

Bayless Engineering & Manufacturing

From “simpletruths.com”, motivational and inspirational gifts, I got a glimpse of something I found useful and wanted to share.  It also reminded me of an earlier post by Scott Capistrano.  This is from a book entitled,  “The Nature of Success”.

“The root for ‘motivation’ is ‘move’, and movement is change.  Ask yourself right now… Am I moving forward or am I standing still?

Do I have a career that I love?  …Do I have a healthy lifestyle?  Is my energy level, my attitude, where it should be? … Is there an activity I’ve wanted to pursue?

Truthful answers to these and other questions will tell you whether you want, or need to change.

A cautionary inner voice will tell you not to rock the boat, to stay on the path of least resistance, but your heart is telling you otherwise.

Listen to your heart.  Filter out the old static and tune in something new.  Challenge your assumptions, identify and study people already doing what you want to do.

Read books and listen to tapes that will motivate you to break away from the notorious “comfort zone”.

Confront your fears.  When one is unsatisfying day just blurs into the next – your life is begging for a change.

Change can truly be a wonderful gift.  It can recharge your emotional battery and nourish your soul.  Just do it!  Choose change and let it make a positive difference in your life.”

– Mac Anderson

Maybe this particular message appeals to me because like some of my business colleagues,  I am making changes AND want to know we have some company!

The second reason was because the survey was preceded (by a few days) with a note from the president of the company.  Now I realize that it was probably a form letter, BUT… this guy wrote just as if we were standing in the same room and he was genuinely pleased that I’d chosen his company.  He was hopeful that my experience was satisfying and that I would tell him all about it.

Since then, I’ve received another ‘letter from the President’, this time from a different company and for a different reason.  It was less personal and it felt like a form letter.  Guess it would take an expert to discern the difference, but there definitely was one.

The lesson for me is that if I’m going to take the time to enhance my business image by sending personal notes to my customers, I need to make sure to hit the mark.  As in my experience, the first letter was very impressive and the second was very forgettable.  Wish I could tell you exactly what the appeal was (or wasn’t), but all I know is that I’ll be paying attention to whatever goes from my desk to a customer’s IN box.   I’d rather be talked about than forgotten.

So what precipitated this thought?  Well, it seems to me that since day one of the formation of Status Not Quo, every day has been dynamic, challenging, and mildly stressful due to constant change.  Granted, most of our challenges have been positive (i.e. either fall under “opportunity” or “character building” lol). 

 However, as I reflect today (I’m writing this on a Monday), I admonish myself to “Never get comfortable”.  I constantly challenge other business owners and our clients to continuously reinvent themselves, or stagnate and get left behind.  While this is always our focus, it is hectic.

 The entire year of 2011 at SNQ has been crazy busy due to a move – consolidating and moving to a corporate office.  We went from completely virtual and decentralized, to a mix of the two with stronger centralization. 

 However, not one week after I sat down at the new office, we were faced with the potential of an incredible opportunity to move into two new areas of software development by absorbing/merging with another firm.  This will expand us into a multi-office company, and very possibly into needing an international presence in South America.  Talk about Distributed to Centralized and back to Distributed (insert rising stress meter here)!

 My point is to be thankful for change, and embrace that uncertainty.  Granted, many times it stems from a negative challenge – but we must still view those challenges as opportunities to change, leverage, reinvent, and grow.  The day things start getting boring around here is when I will really start to stress.  Take a well deserved break this weekend, but when you return on Monday, challenge yourself and get outside of your comfort zone.

 Scott Capistrano

Status Not Quo

http://www.statusnotquo.com

John Silver

Director of Career Services

ITT Technical Institute, Sylmar Campus

So what’s your company philosophy and why?  Are you enduring long recruitment cycles as you look for that “perfect” fit or are you taking the approach of increasing the skill levels of your existing employees through formal training, on-the-job training or a mixture of both?

Joe Klocko

Director, Center for Applied Competitive Technologies

College of the Canyons

http://www.theworkbuzz.com/dress-code/6-guidelines-for-your-summer-work-wardrobe/

Check it out and let me know what you think. And of course, stay cool out there my friends. It is gonna be another hot summer in Santa Clarita.