The Roving Entrepreneurs Travel through time

Thank You Hurricane Irene

I’m recharging my devices on day 7 without power at a local coffee shop.  I started thinking about all the new experiences of this past week.

I could go on about the inconvenience this has caused, but I started to think about all the benefits of this past week.  Benefits I wouldn’t have appreciated or maybe even noticed if I had all the “Conveniences” that I have come so accustomed to.

1. Dark nights enabled our family to sit together,  talk, laugh and relax

2. Candlelight is wonderfully soothing

3. Honed my organization skills (can’t get much done after the sun goes down)

4. Sitting in a coffee shop for a couple hours while I wait for everything to recharge

5. Sunlight is amazing

6. Exercised all week (makes the cold water more bearable)

7. Found that people were very willing to help where they could A very special thank you to:

• The Lodge at Cold Spring for providing emergency meeting space

• Healthtrax for the hot showers

8. Creativity and resourcefulness became a way of life.

• Came to appreciate what free Wi-Fi really meant.

• A cooler can hold up to 2 days’ worth of food

• A grill is used for more than cook outs

     9.  My refrigerator is spotless.  There are some things that cannot be put off, I’d been meaning to get this done for weeks.  OK this isn’t exactly what I had in mind, but it hasn’t been this clean since it was new.

Sometimes gifts come to you in the strangest form.  I will go back to enjoying the conveniences of life shortly, but glad this week showed me another view.

 

The Roving Entrepreneurs: Finalists on a Game Show

Social Media Best Practices for Financial Services Professionals

Webinar:  Social Media Best Practices for Financial Services Professionals

Somebody Thought of That

Real Results:  Maximize Your Relationships with Strategic Partners

Solutions can be as simple as one minor tweak; an outside perspective can help us make those subtle changes. Below is a real solution implemented by a business owner. Challenge: How to maximize relationships and results with Strategic partners. Solution: Create an exclusive leads group Here’s the twist You are the center of this group.  You promise to exclusively refer all clients in need of their service to them.  They make the same promise to you.  In time when relationships and rapport have been built other members of the group can promise to do the same for one another.  In the meantime, all participants are promised to you, and you to them. To help keep one another top of mind in between meetings create a questionnaire that assesses the needs of your clients.  Each member reports back each month on the results. Results: Increased productivity, on going referral sources, better relationships. Application: Identify 4 – 6 strategic alliances that you know like and trust to serve your clients.  Create a schedule (monthly is best), keep the group committed by providing a steady stream of referrals. Such a group does exist, and has been thriving for nearly a year. Leadership has its pressures and privileges, The E Circle may have the answers you’ve been looking for.

Benefits of peer advisory boards

Business Mentors: Set Up Your Own Advisory Board

Posted on November 26, 2010 by William Taylor

If your interested in learning more about Business Mentors: Set Up Your Own Advisory Board.

Your support team. You cannot do it ALL on your own! Whether you are the boss, the owner, a trusted employee or an interim supplier, we all need support from somewhere. The question is how to get the relevant support that you need; where does it come from and how do you find it?

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Congratulations to our 2010 Award Recipients

Voted in by their peers, these 3 Business Owners will be honored at our annual Holiday party December 14.

The Entrepreneur Circle Champion of the year:

This award goes to The Entrepreneur Circle Member that went above and beyond the call of duty to help out others.
1. Accessibility to members in need of advice
2. Mentoring
3. Support

David Wood

David began his career in Financial Services as a Financial Advisor in 1989. After several years it became apparent that his natural leadership skills were emerging as he began to work with more advisor’s. In 1998 David moved his firm to Glastonbury where he provided office and staff for seven advisor’s, and supervised 10+/- additional representatives. His commitment to his branch office & drive to succeed gained attention of his then Broker Dealer, Washington Square Securities, Inc, (WSSI) later acquired by ING, and was very well recognized & respected. In 2003 the decision was made to our current broker dealer, National Planning Corporation.

Memberships:

• Member of the Financial Services Institute (FSI)
• Member of National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA)
• Member of the Financial Planning Association (FPA)
• Member of the National Planning Corp President’s Advisory Council
• Member of The Entrepreneur Circle
• Glastonbury Chamber of Commerce Executive Board Member – Major sponsor and loyal supporter
  of business members in the community
• Member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA)

Recognitions:

• Recognized by The Glastonbury Chamber of Commerce as Chairman of the year – 2010
• National Planning Corp “President’s Award” – 2005
• President of non profit Clothes Make The Man, a program of Positive Momentum
• Recognized by Hartford Business Journal as 1 of 40 under forty – 2000
• American Cancer Society recognition and appreciation award for Involvement
  by being the Corporate Sponsorship Chairperson 2000

The Entrepreneur Circle Member of the Year:

This award goes to The Entrepreneur Circle Member that achieved/exceeded their business goals for 2010.
1. Demonstrated business growth
2. Accomplished set goals
3. Innovative thinker
4. Persistence/Drive

Bill McCloskey

Founder of Stateline Senior Services has a wealth of experience having served over 5,000 senior citizens in Connecticut and Western Massachusetts over the past 25 years.

Bills dedication to the senior community is evident in his 25 years of experience. He has undergone the completion of a 22 part program of study in financial, physical, emotional, and personal issues of aging. This continuing education helps Bill provide relevant and current advice to clients.

Background: Bill graduated from Eastern CT University with a bachelor degree of science in economics. He lives with his wife Wendy and their four children Kate, Elizabeth, Billy and Garrett. Bill enjoys golf, Tea Kwon Do and coaching youth sports.

The Entrepreneur Circle Entrepreneurial Success Story:

This award goes to The Entrepreneur Circle Member that has demonstrated the most entrepreneurial spirit.
1. Most creative idea
2. Followed their business/plan
3. Turned a concept into reality

John O’Brien

Having been a practicing attorney for the past 22 years, John O’Brien is a principal in the firm of CT Trust Counsel, engaged in all aspects of estate planning for both simple and complex estate. John is a member and contributing author to Wealth Counsel, a group of approximately 1,000 attorneys nationwide concentrating on estate planning; a member of the National Association of Elder Law Attorneys; the American Bar Association Section of Estate and Probate Law; the Connecticut Bar Association Section of Estate and Probate Law; and the Connecticut Bar Association Section of Elder Law. As an estate planning attorney, John was also directly involved in getting the Pet Trust Legislation through the General Assembly in October 2009.

John is also presently the Secretary of the Board of Trustees for the Montessori School of Greater Hartford as well as the current President of the Wethersfield Chamber of Commerce. To balance his busy and civic life, John likes to spend his time with his family visiting all of the wonderful museums in Connecticut. Additionally, he enjoys sailing and tennis.

Event Details

For Immediate Release: Connecticut Based Technology Company Announces Sponsorship of Entrepreneur Organization

For Immediate Release

Contact: Mike Keiser                                                                           November 16, 2010

860-781-7005

mike@theecircle.com

Connecticut Based Technology Company Announces Sponsorship of Entrepreneur Organization

Glastonbury, CT (November 16, 2010) – An East Hampton, Connecticut based technology company, Now It Works, announced today that it will become a corporate sponsor of The Entrepreneur Circle, a Connecticut based organization that offers peer advisory boards and educational opportunities for business owners, presidents, and CEO’s.

“We are thrilled to have such an innovative, emerging company take part in helping us provide additional programs to our members”, stated Mike Keiser, Co-Founder of The E Circle.   “We’re really looking forward to forging a lasting relationship with Now It Works”, he went on to say.

Chris Meacham, president and founder of Now It Works said “being a business owner myself, I saw the value of helping other business owners get the best answers and the best ideas that they can find. Becoming a sponsor of The E Circle was one way that we could give back to the business community and build strategic alliances with a number of high quality businesses”.

Now It Works’ sponsorship helps to provide further educational opportunities, expert speakers, social opportunities and the ability to learn from fellow entrepreneurs.

About Now It Works

Now IT Works offers computer networking services with fixed fees and response guarantees to the small businesses, IT departments and home offices.

All services are run under the corporate philosophy, Resolve It. No Excuses (RINE).  RINE is used to always give client requests ultimate priority, along with a near-sighted focus to move the request towards completion.

Other services include IT and Cloud consulting, as well as Business Continuity, Email ID Protection, Voice over IP and Always-Running-Networks.

About The Entrepreneur Circle

The Entrepreneur Circle runs Peer Advisory Boards (Roundtables) for business owners.

Roundtables are small groups of business owners that meet to discuss mutual issues and concerns they face in the running of their businesses in a structured, confidential, “think tank” type forum.

In addition to the Roundtables, they offer continuous educational opportunities and connections to potential Centers of Influence.

Check Out Our Latest Video

We took footage from a recent flight to Ocean City and one of our original songs and created a fun video about The E Circle. We hope you enjoy.

Somebody Already Thought of That!

Solutions can be as simple as one minor tweak; an outside perspective can help us make those subtle changes.

Below is a real solution implemented by a business owner.

Medical offices have been doing this for years

Challenge: Busy office, with lots of detail work to accomplish.  Staff capable, but too many interruptions in the day, not working as efficiently.

Solution: Close office for lunch everyday from 12:00 – 1:30, calls go to voice mail (message letting customers know what time office will reopen),  allowing staff to take a lunch break and allot 60 minutes to work uninterrupted.

Results: Increased productivity, calmer and happier staff, increased profit

Application: Schedule times in your day to work without interruption, let your clients know (in your voice mail message) what times you will return calls and email.

Leadership has its pressures and privileges, how can we help?