** New Member Spotlight **
Hancock Herald
The Chamber and the Delaware County business community are thrilled to welcome new member Hancock Herald in Hancock!
The Hancock Herald has published continuously since 1873. It is one of the few broadsheet papers left. It is published weekly, dated every Wednesday. Deadline for ads and articles is Friday.
To learn more about the Hancock Herald, and for information about advertising and subscriptions call 607.637.3591, email hancockherald@hancock.net, visit their website at hancockherald.com or find them on Facebook or Instagram.
Please support the small businesses that support our communities! #strongertogether
|
|
First Friday : Networking @ Noon
We are all doing business in new ways and need to promote our businesses in new ways too! The Chamber is launching a new VIRTUAL member business networking event, First Friday : Networking @ Noon, on Friday, February 5, where members will have the opportunity to promote their businesses to other members in speed-dating style! Each business will have four minutes to talk about their business to promote sales, specials, or simply let other members know what type of business you operate. Referrals are the most effective and powerful way to grow your business!
To register and claim your promotion slot, click here.
This event is sponsored by Community Bank, N.A., Bank Happy!
Community Bank is a full-service financial institution with a passion for providing the highest level of service. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender, and was founded in 1866 with the goal of being a true financial partner.For more information visit cbna.com and click the ‘Find Your Location’ link at the top of the page to find the branch nearest you; or connect with a representative at cbna.com/contact-us or call 1.866.764.8638.
|
|
BOCES and Chamber Offer Business Start-Up Series
DCMO BOCES and the Chamber have partnered to offer “4 Weeks to Launch” an intensive four-week workshop for those interested in launching a micro-enterprise or freelance business.
If you have a hobby that can be turned into a business; are retired and interested in starting a residual income business, prefer business ownership to working for someone else, or are someone who has a skill, passion or talent that could be turned into a part-time or sideline venture, this class is for you!
This hands-on program has a concentrated focus on developing a business plan and will provide a road map to business success, using Growth Wheel certified business coaching that will provide participants with access to comprehensive strategy tools to launch and manage their business start-up.
Classes are Tuesday and Thursday, from 6 - 8 pm, beginning - March 2, virtually and broadcast with live facilitation at the Chamber office at 5 ½ Main Street in Delhi.
Cost is $240 per participant, and includes all program materials plus a one-year membership in the Delaware County Chamber. Scholarships are available.
Registration required by Feb. 12. For more information contact Martha Ryan at DCMO BOCES at 607.335.1292 or visit dcmoboces.com.
|
|
Third Thursday: Chamber Connects
Start your day with a productive and potentially profitable virtual learning opportunity! Stay current on what’s happening in Delaware County and the region, and learn how to effectively pivot toward a sustainable and thriving business model.
Our FREE monthly Third Thursday : Chamber Connects interactive, virtual
Q & A webinar on February 18 from 8:30 - 9:30 a.m., is a terrific opportunity to participate in a leader-led conversation focused on building a better business and better business climate!
The featured speaker for this event is New York State Senator Peter Oberacker, representing New York's 51st senate district - which includes most of Delaware County.
This event is sponsored by sfcu. sfcu is a full-service financial institution providing the tools and resources our members need to make banking easy and convenient. As a credit union, sfcu values members of our community. The sfcu mission is to offer superior service to members to empower the financial well-being of the community. Learn more at sfcuonline.org.
|
|
Action Makes the Difference
7 Actions for Creative Business Development
As entrepreneurs we are often encouraged to “work smarter, not harder.” Yet, we also know that we need to do both. We need to make wise decisions, and we must perform many tasks before our business will be successful. So how can we make an action plan that will help us do the right things first?
One way of getting an overview of what needs to be done is to divide the actions into manageable categories. Let’s explore “Seven Steps For Creative Business Development” and look at the actions that you can immediately use to take your business to a new level.
Step 1: Inspiration for ideation
Brainstorm, by yourself or with others, ideas you can implement now. I
Step 2: Research for knowledge
If you have found the right idea it is not ideation you need, but knowledge. Research by browsing the Internet, observing consumers to gain insight into the best way to design products or services, and interviews to identify customer needs, preferences, purchasing patterns, and more.
Step 3: Decision-making leads to action
Now that you have collected the ideas and gained knowledge and information from the market, it’s time to make decisions. Decision making can involve an analytical process in which you assess alternative options in more detail, make financial calculations or run a more in-depth analysis of the risks associated with a particular decision.
Step 4: Sparring provides improvements
Sparring with others about ideas can often be a shortcut to action. Improve and qualify your ideas by getting someone to review these preliminary steps.
Step 5: Testing that gives realism
You decide that your initial efforts should be to try out your idea in a real world situation because it is the best way to learn whether it will work.
Step 6: Documentation that gives conviction
Instead of testing an idea in the market, you may choose to create a thorough documentation of your idea before you try it.
Step 7: Presentations that sell
You believe that the best way to qualify your idea is to create a sales presentation of the idea even before you are able to deliver or even before you have planned every detail. Test it with current clients.
There is no recipe for how you begin or end. It is up to you to prioritize tasks according to your temperament and intuition. It is not even necessary to complete all seven stages of the business development process.
Suggestions for the next step
• Assess what type of action you need to take next.
• Create a series of lists of activities you will implement in each of the seven steps.
• Go ahead.
Action beats planning any time.
* Authored by Ray Pucci, president of the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce and David Madié , Founder and CEO of GrowthWheel, a visual toolbox and cloud-based platform used by business advisors to help business owners make decisions and take actions.
|
|
2021 Tourism Grant Funding Available
The Delaware County Tourism Advisory Board is now accepting applications for funding under the 2021 Tourism Promotion & Development Grant program.
This program will provide funding assistance to eligible applicants for projects that seek to attract visitors to Delaware County and enhance the overall tourism industry.
Applications must be received by the Delaware County Department of Economic Development or postmarked by 5 pm on Friday, February 19, 2021 (Emails will not be accepted).
The Tourism Promotion & Development Grant program is funded through revenues raised through the Delaware County Hotel Occupancy Tax.
Since 2017, funds raised through the occupancy tax have been utilized to support 163 projects that promote and increase tourism in Delaware County.
In 2021, there will be four categories of awards; Promotion/Marketing, Community Celebrations, Capital Improvements, and Arts & Culture.
Previously funded projects include: improving signage for hiking trails, renovations to historic properties, local and regional marketing activities, the development of promotional materials and support for artistic, cultural and community events that seek to attract visitors to Delaware County, and other projects seeking to grow the tourism industry.
|
|
Chamber Check - In
Chamber staff have been hard at work for members this week! Upcoming events include a virtual event on Friday February 5 at noon, join us for another FREE virtual business networking event First Friday : Networking @ Noon where Chamber members will have an opportunity to promote their business to other Chamber members in speed-dating style! Register for our up-coming FREE virtual Third Thursday: Chamber Connects on February 18 from 8:30 - 9:30 a.m., where featured speaker NYS Senator Peter Oberacker will conduct a Q & A about business-interests in the upcoming legislative session. For more information and to register visit delawarecounty.org.
|
|
Do You Have What It Takes To Be a Leader?
Leaderful Delaware, an initiative of the Chamber, is seeking people committed to community service who would benefit from strengthening leadership skills while developing a personal professional network.
The 2021 Leaderful Delaware program is currently accepting applications for its eight-month curriculum that begins with virtual classes in March 2021. Up to 20 individuals can participate and half-day sessions will meet virtually twice monthly.
Participants will learn about critical issues facing Delaware County and the Catskill Mountains region through lectures, discussion groups, personal introspection, and panel discussions featuring current community leaders. The innovative curriculum is based on scientific theories of organizational and community leadership. Leaderful Delaware offers an alternative to the traditional model and calls on leaders to be concurrent, collective, collaborative, and compassionate. Strategies include effective facilitation, dialogue skills, active listening skills, managing conflict, intercultural competence, leadership styles, and peer coaching.
Candidates will be selected based on their:
- Commitment and motivation to community service.
- Previous community service or desire to become involved in community activities.
- Interest in public service and desire to learn more about public policy.
- Potential to advance to a leadership position within their companies.
- Commitment to remain in Delaware County.
Preference will be given to Delaware County residents but non-residents are encouraged to apply.
Applicants should be sponsored by a business or a community leader and provide references. Tuition, payable by a sponsor or a participant, is $300, and includes all materials and fees.
|
|
Chamber Online Learning Center |
|
As part of the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce ongoing initiative to respond to member needs, an online learning center has been opened to help businesses meet their training needs in three key areas:
- Leadership, Management, and Supervisory Skills
- Sales and Customer Service Skills
- Human Resource Compliance Skills
In a self-paced, online learning environment, your staff can learn and enhance various skills including how to create a productive working environment, effective delegation, conflict management, working in a remote environment, working post-COVID and much more.
Sales and customer service modules focus on handling client or customer attitudes and objections, negotiating styles and effective sales negotiation and the dos and don'ts of effective customer services.
Human resources modules include diversity and inclusion training, micro-inequities, process of stereotyping and methods of exclusion, among other topics.
Each module is priced at a reduced rate of $45 per person.
|
|
Annual Sexual Harassment Prevention Training |
|
 |
The Chamber has partnered with New Haven Consulting Group, Inc. to provide our members with an online “Preventing Sexual Harassment" workshop that meets the requirements of the new law.
This program is available at a Chamber-member reduced price of $20 per participant.
|
|
|
|
The Delaware County Chamber is a private, non-governmental, not-for-profit membership organization. We believe that healthy communities begin with healthy businesses. By focusing on key areas–community and economic development, advocacy, tourism promotion, and business engagement–we partner with municipal leaders, community organizations, and local companies to present a unified voice of business for the improvement of our communities. |
|
|
|
5 1/2 Main Street
Delhi, New York 13753
Give Us A Call: 607.746.2281
DelawareCounty.org
GreatWesternCatskills.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
