Using Your Chamber of Commerce!

Hello Again,

Did you know there are more than 50 chambers of commerce in Utah? I haven’t even started counting how many there are in Idaho. Chambers of commerce play key roles in planning for economic growth, legislation to protect all sizes of businesses, networking local businesses and bringing new business to our communities.

Chambers can have a broad base of members or a specialized base of members. The key for you is to find the right one or two that best reflect your values and meet your needs. It is also important for you to take part in meetings, not just pay your dues and attend the social events. Never think your business is too small or too large for a chamber of commerce. We are all affected in some way by the changing dynamics of the economy on both a local and national level.

Express your opinions. Join forces with other businesses to enable your chamber of commerce to best represent you and your peers on business legislation or planning the direction of your community.

Read on to learn more about just a few of our local chambers of commerce.



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Small Biz  Partners & Resources

- SCORE -- Provides counseling to small businesses

- Ogden SCORE - E-mail
ogdenscore158@aol.com

- Salt Lake SCORE - Chapter 0049
310 South Main St., N. Mezzanine, Salt Lake City. Phone: (801) 746-2269; Fax: (801) 746-2273; Email: mallen@slcscore.com

- Wayne Brown Institute -- Runs the oldest and most successful non-profit venture accelerator program in the country, helping technical entrepreneurs from every social economic level raise money for their businesses.

- Small Business Development Centers
-- Provides counseling and training to small businesses.

- Small Business Administration -- Provides information about small business (Click here for Utah SBA)

- Utah Micro Enterprise Loan Fund -- Provides counseling and funding for small business

- The Pete Suazo Business Center -- Provides counseling and training for Hispanic/Latino business

- Utah Business.gov -- Provides online access to Utah Government services; one stop shop business registrations

- Export.gov -- Provides information on how to export your product.

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The Benefits of Membership

Chambers of Commerce Open Doors, Provide Exposure to Businesses

When Sebo Marketing set out to redesign the Provo Orem Chamber of Commerce’s Web site, company President Bruce Rowe didn’t realize the job would also get him all of the connections and perks a chamber membership offers local businesses. Now a chamber member, Rowe says his affiliation with the Provo Orem Chamber of Commerce has opened doors to business partners and given his marketing company exposure he could never achieve on his own.

“It adds to the credibility of our small and relatively new company,” Rowe says. “We joined the chamber because we think it’s the right thing for business owners to do, and if each member felt that way, every legitimate local business would benefit.”

Now when Rowe’s business has a need, he always turns first to the chamber’s member directory to “see what members have to offer.”

From multicultural chambers of commerce to those serving the largest Utah cities, the network of chambers across the state offers businesses a chance to stay connected, gain exposure and continue company development.

“You’re joining an association of fellow businesses and helping to protect business, to build the economy and to increase the effectiveness of your own business,” says Michael De Groote, director of communications for the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce.

As Utah’s largest chamber, the Salt Lake Chamber is a regional group with more than 1,800 businesses as members, or about one-third of Utah’s workforce. Those companies all get a chance to network with each other at events ranging from golf tournaments to the Business to Business Expo.

“As a new business in Utah, we have been a member of the Salt Lake Chamber for one year and found it to be one of the most effective ways to get plugged into the community,” Brian Parrish of ThinkBox marketing says on the chamber’s Website. “The events that are provided have been invaluable to us as we grow. As we have attended these events we have been able to establish quality business and personal relationships and have more than paid for my yearly membership.”

According to Anna Rose Johnson, public relations director at the Provo Orem Chamber of Commerce, those networking possibilities are the No. 1 benefit from joining one of the many groups around the state. “Networking with business leaders provides not only good business relationships, but personal ones as well,” she says.

In addition to networking, Johnson says the exposure through chamber publications is a top benefit for companies looking to earn recognition. Members of most chambers, for example, are listed in a membership business directory and on chamber Web sites.

And while a chamber membership gets the word out about expanding businesses, it also puts resources at employees’ fingertips to continue learning while growing. Seminars, monthly luncheons and business resource centers all help guide Utah’s business owners through the obstacles of running their businesses.

At the Salt Lake Chamber, for example, the Women’s Business Resource Center started in 1997 to help women enter the mainstream business market via counseling, training and mentoring.

“Besides being a morale booster for a small, ‘just-getting-started’ business, we were amazed at what we were able to accomplish in such a short amount of time,” Barbara Vineyard of Wasatch Woman Magazine writes of a Women in Business Conference. “We were able to finally touch base with many people that we’ve been struggling to get in contact with during normal business hours.”

With a mission to “stand as the voice of business,” the Salt Lake Chamber also serves as an advocate. Like other chambers, the Salt Lake group works to lobby for business-friendly laws and “free up the wheels of free enterprise,” De Groote says.

During the current legislative session, for example, chamber leaders will push for healthcare reform to benefit business owners and for programs such as the Utah Science, Technology and Research Initiative (USTAR) to create high paying jobs.

“We champion community prosperity, meaning the community is something we focus on building up,” he says.
 

Global Utah Newsletter

The latest issue of World Trade Center Utah's sleek, new Global Utah newsletter features a story about the Utah visit of John Bruton, European Union Ambassador to the United States and former prime minister of Ireland, who was in Utah last week to further strengthen the strong business relationship between the EU and Utah.

Annual Economic Report

Utah’s economy remains one of the strongest in the nation and its prospects for 2008 continue to be optimistic, despite a slowdown nationally. That’s the word Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman received last week from his Council of Economic Advisors in its 22nd Annual Economic Report. You can read the highlights of the report in the latest edition of the Economic Review, from EDCUtah.