Ellen Duerr, Pampered Chef
The Cocoa Beach Regional Chamber of Commerce has truly opened my eyes to the wonderful businesses we have in Brevard County. I have lived in Brevard County since 1968 and always wanted to support local businesses and they have introduced me to so many more than I ever knew existed.
One of the greatest tools we have is the Chamber’s website. One can find out everything that is going on with the Chamber. Whether it is employment opportunities, hot deals they’re are promoting, events scheduled, networking Leads Clubs and a directory to connect with other partners, it’s all there. The nominate a business button allows us to have testimonials from our customers and further promote our business.
Being a partner in our Chamber has helped me develop so many new business relationships and friends. I have been able to promote my business through all of the networking opportunities and, in fact, the partners become each other’s sales force. New businesses starting up and joining the Chamber get a jump start to being successful. One of the best decisions I ever made was joining the Cocoa Beach Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Robyn K. Greene, Blue Sky Insurance Agency
In 2008, I joined the Cocoa Beach Regional Chamber of Commerce. I had just opened a scratch insurance agency, had no clients & knew nothing of networking. Cheryl Clark said I would meet a lot of people at the Chamber who would help me grow my business and that I could make payments on my dues.
The first Chamber event I attended was the “How to Host a Ribbon Cutting” workshop. There I met three people who would become instrumental to my success. Lee Romano teaches the workshop and the instructions include a few minutes on public speaking. Vicki Huet was the sponsor of the event and John Lipinski was an Ambassador at the time and later became my Chamber Mentor. All three have become mentors and dear friends to me, and Vicki is my business coach.
I was encouraged by my Mentor to attend every single Chamber event possible, and he also suggested I join his leads club, the Portside Pros. Through my association with the Pros, I met several Realtors and Mortgage Brokers and Home Inspectors who all began referring business to me.
The more involved I’ve become at the Chamber, the greater my business success has been. In the past ten years I’ve been honored to serve as chair of the Ambassadors, Mentors and for the past five years as Partnership Development Chair.
That few minutes of public speaking training and the encouragement of my Chamber Partners led me to create and teach a social media class at the Chamber and also for the City of Cocoa, a workshop on networking and again, for the past five years, the opportunity to lead the New Partner Orientation for 75-90 people every month. What an amazing opportunity to promote my business this has been. In 2012 Blue Sky Insurance Agency was named Small Business Professional Services Champion of the Year by the Chamber. In 2014 my agency surpassed $1,000,000 in annual premium. Because I’ve been able to build my business based on referrals, my policy retention rate is consistently in the 85-90% range.
My Chamber involvement allowed me to develop an associate agent who worked for me for four years. My Chamber contacts helped me expand my community service into Cocoa Village.
I joined the Chamber to grow my business but the most amazing result of my Partnership has been my personal growth. My dearest friends are people I met at the Chamber. They’ve encouraged me to learn and grow, to read great books, to believe in myself, to take calculated risks, and to know when to put aside work and just enjoy life. Some have led me to a deeper relationship with God and all have taught me to be so grateful for all blessings and challenges in my life.
This past ten years has been a great adventure and I know, without a doubt, that the Cocoa Beach Regional Chamber of Commerce has been the catalyst to my success in business and in life. I am grateful and blessed indeed.