Regions followed
My name is Ingrid Kollmann and I am the MainStreetChamber State Director for California (Ventura to the Oregon border).
I recently wrote about MainStreetChamber in the Rabbit Ceek Journal. I decided to become a MainStreetChamber Chapter President and then State Director not only because it is good business, but also because it enables me to help small businesses succeed in these difficult times. MainStreetChamber’s focus on us, small and home-based businesses owners, is just what is needed. (I own and manage a couple of rental properties.)
You're probably wondering what exactly is MainStreetChamber and what makes it different from other chambers?
MainStreetChamber is a national organization, with headquarters in Las Vegas. It has an entirely different operational model than the typical Chamber of Commerce. Membership is FREE. You'll never pay to be a Member and you'll never pay to go to any of our events, nationwide! Now MainStreetChamber has extended a helping hand to the small, independent businesses in California.
The MainStreetChamber focus is on entrepreneurs, locally owned small and home-based businesses as opposed to big corporate commerce. The primary emphasis is on networking, enabling small businesses to make money, save money and get involved in our community.
How does MainStreetChamber enable small businesses to make money, save money and get involved in our community?
Join MainStreetChamber - Greater California (http://my.mainstreetchamber.org/greaterca) and:
- enjoy a Free Lifetime Membership - enjoy exclusive FREE opportunities to promote your business to prospective clients and customers locally and throughout the nation - keep business expenditures low with FREE admission to all MainStreetChamberä events, nationwide - join the most complete MainStreetChamberä VIP Member Discount Card program in America! With over 100 national retailers and thousands of local businesses, save on everything from prescription drugs and insurance to office supplies and restaurants. - become a VIP Member Discount Provider and receive FREE advertising and FREE promotion; thereby increasing business, and getting more potential customers.
How Being A Discount Provider Works:
-
Signup as a Discount Provider (www.mscVIP.com)
-
Fill out a Business Directory Listing with a Discount for Cardholders
-
Cardholders go to the Directory, locate a Business of interest
-
Cardholders go to the Business, show the Card to get the Discount
When was the organization first formed and how did you get involved?
They've been building this model now for approx. least ten years. It was mostly focused in the Las Vegas area, with a couple of locations there, but they're now expanding. Some of our other Chapters had large Grand Openings; they've got some major markets involved but there are also real advantages in smaller markets such as the foothills where there are so many small business owners who could really use the help.
I left the corporate environment in 2003 after nearly thirty years. Moved from the bay area to Brownsville and after enjoying several years of not thinking about work, I've reached a point where I want to do something else. I knew I wanted to work with small businesses and not huge conglomerates, love networking and connecting people with one and other. This is something that I'm best suited to do.
Besides the free Membership offer through the MainStreetChamberä, there are quite a few services offered through the Chamber as well—with all these great services, how is MainStreetChamberä able to provide free Membership and still make money?
Because were a national organization and have thousands of Members nationwide were able to negotiate discounts on services that small businesses actually need and, most importantly, can afford. For example, merchant services (credit card processing), insurance (both business liability and personal health insurance) and then there's the barter network. You've got something that you want to trade for something else; no money changes hands making it a good thing for our Members. All those activities generate leads for our national and state partners who provide those services to people who requested more information about certain products/services…once revenue is generated, some of it will flow to the local Chapter, and some goes to the national office, and that's how we make money. This concept has elements of a really good Multi Level Marketing (MLM) program but its not MLM.
Ultimately, what we are trying to do however is create an environment where business owners can come together, talk about their business, find new prospects, and most importantly spend their money locally thereby supporting other local business owners!
Do people who actively participate in MainStreetChamberä get more advantages?
There's an Ambassador program. This is a prestigious voluntary position. In addition to being giving a unique opportunity to become a leader in the small business community, it could open doors for the Ambassadors own business that may otherwise be closed. When Ambassadors enroll Business Owners as Sponsors, to showcase their business to our Members during MainStreetChamber events, they can receive a share of the sponsorship revenue stream.
Our sponsors are vital to MainStreetChamberä because they make it possible for us to offer our Members, FREE Membership, FREE Networking Events, FREE Advertising, FREE Promotion and many other great benefits. Consequently, Members tend to be more loyal towards local Sponsors.
MainStreetChamber Ambassadors also get preferred sponsorship pricing and can participate in other potential revenue sharing opportunities.
When did the Northern California Chapters get started and how many Members have you accumulated thus far?
The Chico and the first two Sacramento Chapters got started in the fourth quarter of 2010 and the third Sacramento Chapter opened in the first quarter of 2011, representing a couple of hundred Members.
Nationwide we have nearly 40 Chapters as of June 2010 representing over 100,000 Members in over 14 states!
MainStreetChamber - Greater California offers an extensive amount of networking opportunities, any MainStreetChamber networking events coming up?
Nationwide, MainStreetChamber Chapters are doing different type of events (Grand Openings, “Lunch & Learn” (at restaurants), “Brown Baggers” (non-restaurant locations, bring your own lunch), and Business Mixers) at least monthly on days (Mondays/Tuesdays) when people are typically not oversubscribed. We are also looking at quarterly Business Expos, preferably jointly with other community organizations. Here's the link where you can see all upcoming events: http://mainstreetchamber.org/en/events.html
To Our Mutual Success!
Ingrid
Ingrid M. Kollmann State Director, MainStreetChamber™ - Greater California President, MainStreetChamber™ - Sacramento (530) 701-8391 mobile (530) 675-9452 fax
Do you NEED MORE Business? Become a MSC VIP Discount Provider! http://business.mscvip.com
EMAIL [email protected] or [email protected]
FREE MEMBERSHIP http://my.mainstreetchamber.org/greaterca
CHAMBER.COM http://chamber.com/ingrid-m-kollmann
LINKEDIN.COM http://tinyurl.com/2vjwy9b
U.S. ENTREPRENEUR'S BUSINESS NETWORK (USEB) http://tinyurl.com/MSCNorCal
MEETUP.COM WEBSITE: http://tinyurl.com/2awfl32
• Do something • Learn something • Share something • Change something
