As this time of year approaches, your Chamber starts its planning for the incoming year. The Nominations Committee is in process of reviewing expiring terms and will present a slate of new Director nominees to the Board in the Fall.

If you are member of the Chamber and are the decision maker for your business and have leadership qualities that can help take the Chamber to the next level, let us know.

While Workforce Development is at the forefront, we also have a few more opportunities to help businesses with issues affecting your bottom line.

At the beginning of the year, Chair Annette Wray and I sought out small business owners for a kickoff session of the new Business Development committee.  The RRCC created a partnership with SBDC and 10K Small Businesses to bring two dynamic sessions to the River Parishes.

One in the summer, was “Pathways for Growth,” designed to help small business plot and analyze a growth curve and examine issues and trends affecting growth.

The next session which was a piggyback to the “Pathways” was “Financial Forecasting for Growth.” In this session, attendees would Construct financial statements to successfully lead and manage growth opportunities and review the fundamentals of financial statement design to ensure a common understanding between you, your staff, your accountant and potential capital providers.

Both of these sessions provided great content from reputable sources to help small businesses learn how to grow to the next step.

Attendance wasn’t the best, but the ones that attended felt as though their time was used efficiently as they were able to walk away with valuable info to help them work “on” their business, rather than “in” their business.

As with lots of organizations, volunteerism is always a challenge. We appreciate that aside from work, people also have families and other commitments they must adhere too that goes hand in hand with such.

I am interested to learn more on what motivates business people when it comes to volunteerism. Please feel free to reach out to me via phone or email to share your insight as we plan for 2017 to make it most beneficial for you as business owners.

Another lunch n learn will be hosted Oct. 12 regarding the 2016 Legislative Session tax update. Postlethwaite & Netterville will be present to answer questions related to income and franchise tax changes and explain how the suspension of exemptions and changes to the Industrial Tax Exemption program will affect our local area.

Seating is limited to the first 25. Contact the Chamber at 985-359-9777 to register or get more info.

As mentioned in a previous article, the Chamber’s Membership Directory & Community Resource Guide is in the planning phase of being updated. Not only will this publication serve as a great marketing tool for Chamber members, but will also serve to promote the services and amenities of the Region as a whole.

We want local industry and business to share this with employees passing through that may want to know more about the River Region.

If you’re not a member yet, but want to have your business included in the guide, contact the Chamber today to get signed up.

Also, if you’re a current member, are you using the new mobile member app? Contact Janine at the Chamber to find out how to get access.

This is an added new benefit to help keep you connected with the who and what with your Chamber.

Have you liked us on Facebook yet? Help us reach 1000!

Thank you to our past and current members for believing in the mission to “Grow, Strengthen and Unify Businesses in St. James, St. John and St. Charles parishes.”

We look forward to helping you grow!

Chassity McComack is executive director of the River Region Chamber of Commerce. Email her at Chassity@riverregionchamber.org or log onto riverregionchamber.org.