Northern California Association of Entrepreneurs

Founded by Joel D Canfield, Sue L Canfield, and Yolanda Richardson, the NCAE is a support community, promoting self-education and cross-pollenation of ideas for entrepreneurs and those who have the entrepreneurial spirit.

At our monthly meetings, in addition to having an opportunity to network with other small business owners, we'll discuss issues we're each facing as entrepreneurs (or those with the entrepreneurial spirit who haven't taken the leap yet) and perhaps assist one another with business solutions. All of us is smarter than any of us.

Our next meeting is Monday, January 26, 2009 6:00 pm, at
Corrina's Dessert & Coffee
9205 Sierra College Blvd
Ste 100
Roseville, CA 95661

Topic: TBD (possibly the use of Twitter)

Please invite anyone you think would add to or benefit from these meetings.

Previous Meetings

Monday, December 22, 2008 6:00 pm

We discussed seven reasons to survey your customers and using SurveyMonkey.com.

Monday, November 24, 2008 6:00 pm

This month's topic was Blogging for Business.
Presented by Sue Canfield, Awesome Assistant

October 27, 2008

Thank you Clare Price for your presentation on Referral Marketing. Her hand out Seven Steps to Referral Gold can be downloaded here. Clare discussed:
3 Keys to Successful Referrals

  1. Staying in touch
  2. The image you project
  3. Your message

September 22, 2008

This month we met at a new venue: Corrina's Dessert & Coffee owned by the Kistler Family. When we first met the Kistler's, we were impressed with what they had accomplished and asked them if we could hold one of our meetings at their place and ask them some questions about business. We all enjoyed it so much that they've agreed to let us use their place every month for our meetings.

Corrina's has been opened since February 2008. It's been Paul Kistler's dream to open the coffee house since the early 90s. He, his wife Corrina, and their two grown children, Brianne and Joe, own and run Corrina's. We asked the Kistlers how they manage as a team since they are all family. They admit it has been challenging but they have succeeded. Watching them all interact together that evening it was obvious every member of the family enjoys what they are doing and get along well. They did emphasize the need to define each person's role early in the process to avoid some of the challenges of working together as a family.

When asked what challenges they faced when starting the business (other than working together as a family), they mentioned staffing. They did overstaff to begin with, but things have settled nicely. Another challenge was financing. Paul advises avoiding the SBA unless you already have experience running a business.

The Kistlers hope to open a second location in about 3 years. They are working on getting a website up. Paul recommends to those wanting to start their own business to read everything about business you can.

Starting in October 2008 small local wineries will hold wine tastings at Corrina's. Yes, they have a wine bar! It's a great place to go, read quietly in a corner, visit with the owners, and just feel comfortable. That's right, the Kistlers say they aren't selling coffee; they're selling comfort!

We look forward to next month's meeting at Corrina's on October 27, 2008.

We also welcome new attendees: Randy Miramontez, Photographer, Ruth Perryman, Quick Book Specialist, and Keith Huggett, CPA

August 25, 2008

At our August meeting Jenifer Klaus presented information on tax deductions, specifically mileage and home office deductions. Everyone in attendance received a free mileage log, compliments of Klaus Financial. Print a PDF of the handouts on auto and office. Thank you Jenifer!

We welcome new to the group Janie Johnson of Future Leaders Now, Cassi Brazil of Aflac, and Van Haas of Probe Information Services, Inc.

Bobby Graves of Send Out Cards says to watch for Send Out Cards to be featured in the October 2008 issue of Success From Home Magazine coming out in September. Bobby recently attended the 2008 Send Out Card Convention in Utah.

Join Joel D Canfield as he celebrates the release of his newest book, The Commonsense Entreprenuer. Saturday, October 4th, 7:00-9:00 pm (PST)
It's A Grind
7451 Foothills Blvd
Roseville, CA 95747
There will be live music by the Bill Walker trio.

July 28, 2008

We want to thank everyone who attended this month's meeting. We welcome new faces this month including Aron Brock of Assured Health, Betsey Williams (visit her website to find out about her Professional Women's Success Circle teleclasses), and Chris and Jenifer Klaus of Klaus Financial (Check out their payroll services).

Our chosen topic for the month was 'The One Page Business PlanŽ '. A. Michelle Blakely discussed the importance of having a business plan, the need to write out your vision statement, mission statement, and core values, and Power Partners. A Power Partner is a business that provides products or services that compliment your business. Contact A. Michelle Blakely at 866-927-5888 for more information.

Jim Horan wrote the book The One Page Business Plan. His book can be purchased at Amazon.com. Visit his website to see sample business plans and learn more. You can download a MS Word One Page Business PlanŽ template.

June 23, 2008

We want to thank everyone who attended this month's meeting. We welcome new faces this month including Mikkel Moller, A. Michelle Blakely, Mary and Dave Konigsmark. Mikkel owns OCM Consulting and has an intern program for small business owners. Michelle Blakely owns Simplicity, Inc. and is a personal business manager. Mary is an aesthetician and owns Nature's Perfect Face. She will be moving her business back to Roseville this summer.

Our chosen topic for the month was 'Your Greatest Business Challenge'. Since Mary will be moving her business, the greatest challenge she is facing at the moment is getting the word out about her business in a new area. We discussed the value of word-of-mouth marketing. Joel suggested that Mary read all of marketing guru Seth Godin's books. Links to his books at Amazon can be found at Joel's website.

May 19, 2008

A variety of subjects were discussed including using online email marketing software and networking sites.

April 28, 2008

Topic: What's Your Secret to Doing Business?

We discussed questions such as:

  • What do your critics say about you?
  • Why do your best customers do business with you?
  • What do customers say about your business regularly?
  • What ability do you have that you are most proud of?
  • If a newspaper were to write a story about you, what would it be?
  • Why do new customers do business with you?
  • Why should someone buy from you?

Yolanda discussed the last question, why should someone buy from you? She noted that as small business owners, we have two ready answers. One is that our customers can deal directly with the boss. There is no red tape to go through in order for a customer to talk to the person who can really help them.

The second reason a customer should buy from you as the small business owner is you know what they need and can provide it. Of course this means you need to be able to discern what the customer actually needs and then follow through.

Often a customer has a difficult time making a decision. We can assist in the decision-making process by making it easy for our customers to make choices: don't have so many they feel overwhelmed. Sometimes it's best to make the choice for them since you are the expert and know what they need.

At May's meeting let's each bring a business challenge, decision, or goal we are facing and we can discuss how to overcome our challenge, make that decision, or reach that goal.

Read more comments about our meetings at Eventful.

I have attended the last two NCAE meetings and I have to say that even though I know most of the things we talk about, talking about them is refreshing and makes me take steps that are important to get my business where I want it to be. If you have a small business and feel like you'd appreciate some support, come join us. We're still a small group and you'll have your chance to express yourself!—Alexis

March 24, 2008

Topic: Decision-Making Concepts

This month we reviewed the topic of setting and reaching goals. Alexis had written his goals down on paper and shared with us what he had already accomplished. He's found that writing down tasks to complete is helping him reach his goals. Read Alexis' blog about goals. Joel, who is writing another book, realized his need to set goals for completing each chapter and section of his book. He plans to bring his timeline for reaching these goals to the next meeting. Just knowing that everyone will be asking him next month what his timelines are helps hold him accountable to reach those goals.

We all agree that when we don't reach a goal we tend to think of it as a failure. However, Bobby made the point that instead of viewing these as failures, we want to view them as opportunties. When we step back and examine why we didn't reach a goal, we may realize that we just need to adjust the goal a bit.

We also discussed Decision-Making Concepts. The power of the small word 'why' was discussed. Sometimes when asked why we are making a particular decision, we realize that the real reason is something completely different, or that we don't want to make that particular decision after all.

One business decision being faced is how to determine if a substantial financial outlay up front is justified by the long-term benefits. A tool to help determine Return on Investment (ROI) will be brought to next month's meeting by Yolanda to assist in that decision-making process.

Read more comments about our meetings at Eventful.

What topics would you like to see discussed at our upcoming meetings? If you have a specific business decision or challenge you want help with, let us know.

See you in April!

"Your topics seem to be core topics of interest."

"It was a great eye opener...I'm looking forward to the next meeting and I shall bring my goals, written down!"

February 25, 2008

Topic: Setting and Reaching Your Business Goals

This month's discussion revolved around setting and reaching your business goals. The need for a plan with specific actions items and deadlines was emphasized. A worksheet was provided to put goals down in writing with specific deadlines. For those that want to find some accountability in reaching their goals, the NCAE offers assistance to help you stay on track.

One attendee shared her goals and shared with us what she does to keep her goals in front of her at all times. She prints our monthly goals and puts them everywhere: in her planner, in her mileage log, on a board in her office. Another suggestion is to break your goals down into the smallest possible steps. It's helpful to have monthly goals in addition to yearly ones.

We hope to discuss 'Decision Making Concepts' at our March meeting. Another future topic may be 'Surrendering Control: When You Should Ask for Help'.

January 28, 2008

Discussion was lively at this month's meeting as Michael Storz, branch manager of River City Bank in Lincoln, joined us. The majority of the discussion focused on customer service. Though excellent customer service is necessary in a small business, the bank manager pointed out that in the banking industry, customer service alone is not enough to get new business. The point was made that it is important to go beyond what your customer expects.

Small business owners who want to excel in customer service need to ask their customers, "What can I do for you?". Your customer does not want to hear, 'that's company policy' or 'call me back on Monday and I'll see what we can do for you'. Don't make your customer do the work. Offer an alternative. Ask 'what CAN we do?'.

Everyone agreed that we each want to have a sense of belonging, a sense of recognition, to feel important. When we can give our customers that sense of recognition and feeling of importance, it generates loyalty. Get to know your customers by name, send them a personal thank you, give them a way to connect to you.

We'd like to have an in-depth discussion of how to market your business at a future meeting so put your thinking caps on.

November 26, 2007

Tonight's discussion focused on rehiring: the concept of moving a current employee to a new role within the company.

It's obviously best to hire the right person the first time. At times, though, it becomes obvious that this isn't the right role for them. They have talent, but it isn't being used to the fullest potential.

For example: one member noted that, while at a client's site she noticed an employee doing data entry by hunting and pecking at his keyboard. He had an enormous backlog, in a position which should have had none. Talking with him, she realized that he was intelligent and articulate, but as a data entry clerk he was seriously miscast. It was recommended that he be moved to a position where his verbal talents could be useful.

Rather than firing an employee you've spent time and money hiring and training, why not see if they could be rehired in a different role? Perhaps they were hired because they were a good fit for the company, but not this particular role. Much better to salvage the investment in an existing employee, than to start again from scratch.

"Thank you so much for the meeting today. I was charged and energized...to the point that I started to do the one thing I am most afraid of, write. Thank you for the inspiration and the support."

October 22, 2007

In our discussion this evening one member mentioned, in line with last meeting's discussion of a job to pay the bills while pursuing your dream, that she'd been offered a very nice position with a generous salary. She also mentioned that she immediately felt physically ill and couldn't stand the thought of taking a job that could conceivably prevent her from pursuing her real vocation.

A number of points came out of the ensuing conversation.
1. When you're chasing a dream, you don't know when opportunities will arise. Keeping your eyes on the prize means not making other arrangements that could even potentially interfere with it. When the repairman is coming to fix your cable, you don't make plans to leave the house between 8 and noon. Whatever you need to do gets done at home because just like opportunity, you don't know when the cable guy is going to knock. A job that would place physical, emotional or temporal demands which would prevent her from launching her dream if the appropriate opportunity arose is untenable.
2. Turning down a good paying job with a stable large company could be viewed negatively. But she had already been reminded by others that what this really showed was her extreme confidence in her vision.
3. The conflict she felt about turning down the job emphasized the point that her confidence is in her vision, not herself.

From there the conversation went off on tangents regarding parental praise, ghosts in our head and confidence boosting activities. In the spirit of ready, fire, aim, we're going to create a brief seminar focusing on our various areas of expertise and use the reaction to the seminar to help fine tune our focus and direction.

Our first meeting was held on Monday, September 24th at 6:00 p.m. The discussion focused primarily on how entrepreneurs can meet current needs (particularly financially) while pursuing long-term goals.

For those of us having trouble paying the bills while we pursue our dream, the point was made that it's okay if a job is just a job. Entrepreneurs are so used to the idea of giving all you've got at the office that 'having a job' means 'giving up my dream.'

It doesn't have to be that way; a job can be a tool to pay the bills while you stay focused on your long-term goal. Otherwise, you're basing your decisions on that lump of fear in the pit of your stomach. Lumps of fear aren't as smart as you are; don't let them call the shots.

Take a job you can enjoy, but that you don't have to take home with you at night. If part-time will pay the bills, even better. One step beyond that, find something that will provide training/experience that supports your big-picture goals.