The Abilene Chamber of Commerce

Business EXPO

2011-03-09T12:31:00.000-06:00

The Business EXPO is a great opportunity to get your business out in front of 7,000+ people in the local community! The theme this year is "when it happens in Abilene...it stays in Abilene" what a great promotion for ibuyBIGCOUNTRY! When you spend money in Abilene it helps pay salaries, helps our educational system, and more.

WHAT: Premiere Business to Business event in Abilene. Annual showcase of businesses. Opportunity to showcase products, services and network with other businesses. Approximately 200 business and organizations have booths. (sponsorship opportunity)

TARGET AUDIENCE TO ATTEND: Businesses and consumers. 7000 attend each year. $$$$ FREE $$$$ tickets -while supplies last- are available through any Chamber member business. Tickets at the door are $5.00.

WHY: Showcase local business, promote buying goods and services locally, business networking. Silent auction of local goods and services.

WHERE / WHEN: Abilene Civic Center (indoor only) on March 23rd from 9 am to 5 pm!

CONTRACT: Member “early bird” base cost is $275 per 10X10 booth. See sample contract for details.

COMMENTS: Booth Space sells out each year, so establish your position on annual “wait list” ASAP. No direct sales. Immediately following Business Expo is a “Business After Hours” to include announcement of both “Business Person of Year” and “Corporate Star” awards.

CONTACT: Vicky Smedley, Director of Membership / Business Development Email or call (325) 677-7241

Hispanic Business Council

2011-02-04T15:22:00.006-06:00

HISPANIC BUSINESS COUNCIL

OBJECTIVE: Facilitate the advancement and participation of Hispanic businesses by promoting education, training, advocacy and networking. Build a bridge between Hispanic and non-Hispanic businesses and consumers.

PROGRAMS:
Business Mercado: Annual event targeted to showcase businesses and services to area Hispanic consumers. This is a great opportunity to reach out to the Hispanic community with your product or services. There are booth spaces available yearly as well as other sponsorship opportunities are available!

For more information about sponsorship contact Kathy Lee at 325-677-7241 or email klee@abilenechamber.com

Café Con: Monthly A.M. networking at a small business location to explore challenges and share experiences of small business owners. This opportunity is a great way to network with other members of the HBC while learning about other small businesses in the area.

Luncheons: Gatherings held at Chamber member restaurants on a monthly basis in order to build relationships. These luncheons provide yet another opportunity to be involved in the Chamber's Hispanic Business Council!

Seminars: Presentations on topics of interest to successfully grow all businesses.

The Hispanic Community is important to Abilene and business in general. Get involved in HBC and help build a bridge between Hispanic and Non-Hispanic businesses!

There are many great opportunities within the Hispanic Business Council! To get involved or for more information contact Kathy Lee Director of Member Services at klee@abilenechamber.com or call her at 325-677-7241

Abilene Business Council

2011-02-03T14:51:00.001-06:00

OBJECTIVE: Create a community entrepreneurial atmosphere. Develop business growth through education. Increase awareness of businesses. Recognize and honor outstanding businesses and business people.

PROGRAMS:

Business EXPO: What a great opportunity to showcase your business to over 7,000 people! The tickets are available for FREE at any chamber business so attendance is always great (If people choose to pay at the door it will be $5)! This opportunity is great for networking and getting the news out about your business. ibuyBIGCOUNTRY is highlighted in this EXPO, when it happens in Abilene...it stays in Abilene. This EXPO is so popular that it sells out every year! If you want to get a booth and you haven't had one before you'll be landing on the wait list and receiving a call if a spot opens up, I must tell you though, get on that list!

·         Buying Here Saves YOU Money: Buying locally saves YOU money by keeping money in the local economy that ultimately pays wages! TRADE WHERE YOU ARE PAID.  Local Sales tax stimulates the local economy by building and maintaining community infrastructure, paying for essential community services (fire, police, etc), investing in bringing new business to the community and helps offset real estate tax and service fees. ibuyBIGCOUNTRY

·         **Business Development – Seminars/Workshops: We provide these in partnership with local businesses to promote educational and assistance seminars/workshops. Connect businesses and individuals with ways to promote their local business. Sponsorships for these seminars and workshops are available!

Luncheons/Breakfast: "What can the Chamber do for YOU?" Focus groups to obtain feedback and build business relationships. These are excellent opportunities to tell the Chamber what would help you and your business do well! Take advantage of the opportunity to get involved in these luncheons and breakfast!

RECOGNITIONS:
·         Business Salutes: Recognize a business with less than 100 employees that have exhibited staying power, created jobs, shown innovation in product / service and contributed to the community. These businesses are given the honor of being recognized formally by the Chamber and the community as a whole. They are the businesses that have provided lasting jobs, a great service or product, and have done so for an extended period of time.

·         Business Person of the Year: These are people that have had a significant impact on the local community and have had long term business success. Nominations are made to elect the business person of the year, they are then recognized at  the close of Business EXPO during Business After Hours.  What a great way to tell the community about someone who is doing a great job in business! We are currently accepting nominations! You can go to www.abilenechamber.com and click on the nomination link to get the form!

Corporate Star Award: Annual award to a local business with more than 100 employees. Recognizes sustained community support, promotion of quality of life and business excellence. The corporate star is also recognized at the close of Business EXPO during Business After Hours.

There are many great opportunities within the Abilene Business Council! To get involved or for more information contact Vicky Smedley Director Membership Business Leadership Education and Workforce Development at vsmedley@abilenechamber.com or call her at 325-677-7241**

Agriculture Committee and Texas-Farm-Ranch Wildlife Expo

2011-02-02T12:47:00.002-06:00

Objective: Forum for agricultural producers, agricultural related industries or anyone interested in agricultural, wildlife management or natural resources to share innovations, ideas and information.

PROGRAMS:

Farm and Ranch Club Breakfast : Monthly breakfast with Agri-business based presentations on the 2nd Friday at 6:45 AM
Texas Farm-Ranch-Wildlife Expo (TFRWE) Annual regional venue providing an opportunity to showcase many aspects of Agri-business and wildlife management.

The Agriculture committee is a very important program to Abilene and the surrounding communities! Agriculture makes $41 million dollars a year, the main products are: Cotton, grain, sorghum, wheat, oats, pecans, fruit, and truck crops.

The TFRWE is put on each year for people in the AG industry to reach out to a target market within a 100 mile radius, those being: business and rural consumers. OVER 4,000 people attend each year! What a great opportunity to have your business seen by the AG community! This also helps to support our local AG community by buying local - it doesn't get much better than that!

You can still have a spot at TFRWE!!! Click this link or contact Debra at the Chamber!

Monthly Breakfast!

This breakfast starts bright and early at 6:45 the second Friday of each month! This is an exceptional opportunity to eat good food, and network with other people in your local AG community; all while learning!

If you are interested in the AG committee feel free to Contact: Debra Huntley, Director of Military Affairs and Special Projects dhuntley@abilenechamber.com or call (325) 677-7241

Wake up Wednesday Cancelled until further notice

2011-02-01T10:20:00.004-06:00

Abilene Chamber of Commerce --- Wake Up Wednesday! for February 2nd has been
postponed pending another date……

Building your business in 2011

2011-01-05T09:07:00.001-06:00

Was your New Year's resolution to build your business in 2011? If so Harvard Biz put out a great article on starting with social media. Then return, reenergize, and reinvent, a great start to January! They also have a great article about a pricing strategy to save brick and mortar stores! The final article to start 2011 off right is resolution 2011: Make your strategy coherent.

2011 is a great year for businesses, you have so many resources at your finger tips, from technology, to a very strong and financially stable baby boomer generation.

So, we'd like to know what your 2011 goals/resolutions for your business are! Add them to a comment below!

ibuyBIGCOUNTRY,
Ci'ara

5 Tips for Using Colleges to help boost business

2010-12-30T09:13:00.000-06:00

With so many universities and colleges in Abilene (You can find a list HERE) it's a great place to start looking for ways to boost your business! Score.com has listed 5 tips for using colleges and universities to help build your business! See below:

5 Tips for Using Colleges and Universities to Help Your Business

Volunteer your company to be a business school case study. You’ll learn much about your company in the process and get good ideas for the future.
Obtain management and technical assistance from one of more than 50 Small Business Development Centers. Abilene has one on 500 Chestnut!
Participate in special programs. Many colleges and universities sponsor venture capital forums, entrepreneurship centers and family business programs.
Work with the business school to offer internships to graduate students. In fact work with every school within the university!!
Find out what expertise is on a business school’s staff. You may find just the right person to hire as a consultant or serve on your board.

Brought to you by SCORE, America's small business mentors, at www.score.org.

So get out there and get your business moving!

ibuyBIGCOUNTRY!

Ci'ara

Abilene Holiday Deals!

2010-12-17T15:46:00.002-06:00

Happy Holidays!

To help out local members of the BigCountry, post your holiday deal you've seen or are having right on our forum! You need to select "new topic" you don't have to log-in or register to use the service!

Go to the forum here!

Remember, in this holiday season, ibuybigcountry!

Ci'ara

All about Kim Bachmann Baker, her family, and our tree

2010-12-14T10:01:00.003-06:00

That's our tree! In fact, that's all that glitters thanks to Kim! I asked Kim to answer a few questions about herself, her family, and how she chose the name for our tree.

Read the interview below!

Tell us a little about yourself:

37 years old, lifelong Abilene resident..... Graduated from Wylie in 1991 and went on to study theatre at McMurry University. Have been on stage at McMurry, HSU, ART and ACT.

Married to husband, Chris, for 13 years. Proud parents to 7 year old Brenden Baker. Last month, Brenden was awarded the Grand Prize winner of a trip to Morgan's Wonderland (an amusement park in San Antonio designed for special need kids, adults and their families. Brenden has one of the rarest forms of dwarfism (short stature), will be 8 this month and is 26 inches tall and weighs about 18 pounds.

Tell us a little about the job that you do:
For 3 and a half yrs, have been the Office and Box Office Manager at Abilene Community Theatre. My love of theatre started when I was about 10 yrs old. My dad was (and still is) active in ACT. I enrolled in the children's classes at ACT and took them all the way through high school... Over the years have been on stage at ACT (most recently in June for the production of Boeing-Boeing), worked backstage, been Assistant Director and volunteered in several other capacities until becoming an employee in 2007. Favorite part of my job is getting to interact with our wonderful patrons.

What is your favorite holiday season tradition that you and your family enjoy?
Watching the movie, POLAR EXPRESS, with Brenden. And our new tradition we started this year with Brenden, the popular. "Elf on a Shelf".

What is on your wish list this holiday season?
Thinking big: a new car.... But honestly, happiness and good health for the new year.

What made you come up with the name "All that Glitters" for our tree?
The picture was of a beautiful tree and that name had an air of elegance to it.

If you could pick a name for YOUR tree, what would it be and why?

TLC--- because it is in daily need of repair...We got Brenden a kitten a few months back who manages daily to climb the tree, knock off ornaments, ribbons etc... Each morning we never know what we will have to put back up on the tree... Is like decorating it every day again... Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Brenden:

Speaking of Brenden, check out Kim's favorite video of him here!

What a great experience that will be for Brenden! I know he and his family will have a GREAT time :)

For winning Kim received some Chamber goodies and a printed picture of the tree she so graciously named!

Thanks Kim!

Remember this holiday season, buybigcountry!

Ci'ara

Good News in Abilene! -Business SERVPRO

2010-12-08T10:04:00.000-06:00

Award-winning business supports Abilene community

If there is anyone who can handle a loose pipe, burning house or heavy water damage all in one day, it is the staff at Clear Fork Enterprises/SERVPRO of Abilene. The owners, Clifford and Wendy Densman, have a lot to be proud of when it comes to their local fire and water restoration business.

Adding to that list is the “Business Salute Award” given by The Abilene Business Council of The Abilene Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber’s Weekly Connection newsletter states, “The award is given to businesses in the area who have shown the ethics and quality of customer service necessary to succeed in today’s marketplace.” The Densman’s received the award at an official Redcoat Ribbon Cutting on Sept. 1, 2010. The ceremony was held at the SERVPRO offices located at 4573 FM 18.

‘We being the chamber want to honor our local businesses,” said Vicky Smedley, director of membership business leadership education and workforce development.

“We normally do three or four a year along with a businessperson of the year.”

Clifford Densman worked with his father, Glen, at the age of 12 cleaning up construction areas and removing nails. He said he then worked as a carpenter during summers at his dad’s construction and home remodeling business. He has had the opportunity to work in on-site-related fields such as housing, remodeling, construction as well as spent time as a Seabee in the Naval Reserves.

Clifford Densman purchased the SERVPRO franchise in 2007 to help Big Country residents with water mitigation as well as give them and the insurance companies a convenient place to call for renovation services. The company employs 32 people and has won multiple awards such as “Rookie of the Year,” “Millionaire’s Silver Award” and “Chairman’s Bronze Award.”

Clifford Densman said he is proud of the company’s accomplishments and could not have done it without his team.

“They are the true heroes for making the motto of SERVPRO possible,” Clifford Densman said.

Wendy and Clifford Densman said they have enjoyed being a part of the Abilene Chamber of Commerce and appreciate the support that the chamber has shown.

“The chamber does a great job of getting our name out there,” Wendy Densman said. “We try to attend their functions and meet as many business people within the chamber. They are great for advice and always have activities where we can meet other business people. “

The high-school sweethearts know how to handle a mess at any time. Wendy Densman says that working at SERVPRO has given her and her husband a chance to truly reach out to the Abilene community.

“There are times when people lose almost everything they own,” Wendy Densman said. “It’s nice knowing that you can be there for someone during their time of need.”

Clifford has been a basketball and football official for the past 10 years. Wendy spends her time traveling to games and supporting her families’ activities. They are involved in Big Country sports and youth sports and are members of Zion Lutheran Church, where Clifford serves as an elder.

Clifford and Wendy Densman are also are actively involved in the Abilene community. In 1975 Clifford and Wendy Densman met at Abilene High School and were married in August 1978. Outside of work, life kept them busy as they raised their two daughters, Brittany Densman-Roes and Chelsey Densman. Both were born and raised Abilene and were All Conference athletic stars at McMurry University and Howard Payne University.

Brittany Densman graduated from McMurry University. She was assistant women’s basketball coach for four years at McMurry and is now head basketball and cross country coach for Baird High School. Chelsey Densman graduated from Howard Payne University and is currently head softball coach at Early High School.

To learn more about SERVPRO, visit http://www.servpro.com/.

Written by: Whitney Puckett

To get your business featured, send us some good news about you! We have over 1,000 page views a month on our blog, get the word out about YOUR business!

-Ci'ara

$100 Giveaway? Can it be?

2010-12-02T14:54:00.000-06:00

2010 GIFT CARD GIVEAWAY!

In conjunction with the Mall of Abilene we are giving away a $75 Mall of Abilene gift card to current members and a $25 gift card to non-members for checking out our new website! Take a look around, we've made every effort to make it as efficient as possible for you to find the information you're looking for!

Membership has its benefits! This is the perfect time to enter in to win some extra cash for the holidays!

Click the image below to register*!

Winners will be announced on December 10th, 2010!

Thanksgiving is over, weigh-in on our blog!

2010-11-29T13:19:00.002-06:00

Using Fourquare to boost your consumer base

2010-11-23T10:17:00.000-06:00

Foursquare was created to enable the sharing of someone's location with the rest of their network. There are other networks that do this such as Gowalla, but foursquare claimed the edge when it started offering great ways for businesses to interact with their customers using the application.

(To get a basic overview of the foursquare application please click here.)

For businesses foursquare has an excellent feature: Deals. Deals are essential to today's modern shopper. Now you can just pull out your smart phone, scan a bar code, and see the cheapest price for the item you're shopping for online. That doesn't help the local community nor the local businesses. So in order to combat this situration businesses need to become tech-savvy, yes even the mom 'n pops need to become tech-savvy. Using foursquare to display a deal will substantially increase the number of visitors to your area. See that "special nearby" yellow button over there? That could be YOUR business, and I guarantee you, if it's not your's it'll be someone else's.

So how many people are using foursquare?

"The New York City-based company, founded in 2009, has raised more than $21 million in funding and currently has more than 4.5 million users" (Venturebeat.com)

Like I've said before, the majority of the world is now using social networking. Now if you're not on foursquare some people will not go to your business...why? Because they want a badge, a good deal, or maybe they just have "app loyalty". Whatever the case you should allow yourself to be overlooked by any consumer, especially if all you need to do is create a foursquare profile.

Here's how to do that:

1) Sign up for an individual profile on their website.

Don’t create a profile for your business. Create a profile for yourself. Sign up. Do not skip the option to upload a photo. You will not accrue “Badges” if you do not have a photo, nor will you become a “Mayor”. Do not use your logo. At this point, the power for businesses on FourSquare is in the individual profile.

Now, something very important. You must sync your FourSquare account with your business’s Twitter account to get a username [@NonprofitOrgs becomeswww.foursquare.com/user/nonprofitorgs]. Please note that you can change Twitter accounts at a later date, thus your are not locked into a FourSquare username. This also hints at how fully integrated FourSquare will be with Twitter. Love that. Love Twitter.

2) Search for your business.

There is a 90% chance that your business is not going to come up in search results, thus select “Add Venue” and follow the steps below:

1. Enter the name of your business… correctly. Don’t enter in all lower case. For Example, “Moxie Cinema”.

2. Enter the address. FourSquare requests that you use abbreviations for streets and avenues. Cities should be spelled out. States and countries should be abbreviated in CAPS:

431 S. Jefferson Ave #108

Springfield, MO 65806

3. Enter your business’s Twitter ID.

4. Add the Tags “locally owned” and “green” and “socially responsible”, etc. as well as any other Tags relevant to your business. The default is that all Tags appear in lowercase. Very important: Add the city and state of your business as a Tag. It doesn’t make a difference in searches on the website version of FourSquare, but it does in the iPhone App version!

When the steps above are completed, here’s an example of a correctly added venue:

http://foursquare.com/venue/436782

3) If you have a smartphone, download the FourSquare App and then Check-in to your business venue.

Foursquare is available for the iPhone, Blackberry, Android and Palm Pre. Download the App, Check-in, and then on the next day, Check-in again. At that point you become the “Mayor”. More Mayor strategies, To Dos, and Tips next week!

(Instructions from: Retired blog: smallbusinesstechnology)

Now go set up deals! HERE

So go get on foursquare, start using deals, and maintain, gain, and retain customers!

Remember, we're all doing our best to buybigcountry!

Ci'ara

We're giving away $100!

2010-11-18T12:29:00.000-06:00

In conjunction with the Mall of Abilene we're giving away $75 dollars to current members and $25 to non-members! So feel free to click the giveaway page up there at the top or just go to our website!

Hurry though, the promotion is only going from

November 17th - December 10th!

Good luck!

Ci'ara

Creating a Social Media Brand for your business on Facebook

2010-11-17T13:41:00.001-06:00

Chances are you're one of 500 million active Facebook users. Facebook has a great list of their statistics here. To highlight some of them

"There are over 900 million objects that people interact with (pages, groups, events and community pages)

Average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events

Average user creates 90 pieces of content each month

More than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each month."

If that doesn't prove to you that you need to have a strong and successful Facebook branding I don't know what will.

Allfacebook.com wrote an incredible article on how to brand your Facebook for your business: here. It describes how to market, how to "sound". Specifically eye catching was this quote:

"Affluent consumers are slowly gravitating to social networking, specifically Facebook. However, simply creating a Facebook presence alone just doesn’t cut it." (allfacebook.com)

Who doesn't want affluent customers to come into their business? Not many people.

So what is the best way to use facebook? Well according to an article by Forbes:

"While Twitter is super for defensive branding initiatives, Facebook is a great forum in which to engage consumers in a more significant way, to share more and to get them to share more of themselves in the process." (Forbes)

Facebook is a gateway into the "community" of the world, especially as the growing demographics are 40-60 year olds, who also happen to be the most financially stable of the generational groups.

So get online and engage with your customers, if you need help feel free to comment or shoot me an email!

ibuybigcountry,
Ci'ara

Creating a Social Media Brand for your business on Twitter

2010-11-15T16:03:00.001-06:00

Twitter and Facebook are both great avenues for producing great results as far as business branding goes.

First off designing your twitter page: here

"Why are background images so important?
Twitter backgrounds offered a way to integrate your branding to allow your Twitter profile to match your website or other media properties."

Gaining Followers: here

"You can't have a successful Twitter page without a significant* number of followers. "

* Significant to some (say 30,000) may be different than for a small business just wanting a close network of say 45. It's up to you to define your social media desires.

Unique Twitter uses: here

"From pitching your followers and rewarding Twitter loyalty, to keeping a trained eye on the Twitterverse, targeting smaller communities, and adding metadata to tweets, here are some unique ways to use Twitter in your social business strategy."

Another great option is to entice people to "follow" you by having twitter only deals such as "whisper this word and get a free X" whatever it may be. That will show your followers that there is a benefit to following YOU on twitter.

Great examples of business on twitter: here and here

Again, social media is important to your customers and it should be important to you too!

For now, ibuybigcountry

Ci'ara

Questions? Ask below!

Social Media and Business

2010-11-12T15:46:00.004-06:00

Do you have a personal Facebook or Twitter page? A page where people can check up on your activities? Does your business have one? If not, why? Your business is where you make income and social media seems like it's here to stay. Abilene has roughly 120,000 residents, Facebook however, has 300 million and Twitter 18 million as of 2009. Reach out to people that may be coming in from the other corner of the globe and happens to be looking for the best store in Abilene; that's YOUR store isn't it? Well, bring people in by getting on social media networks.

Here's a great guide for getting started on Facebook: mashable.com/guidebook/facebook/

Here's a great guide for getting started on Twitter: business.twitter.com/twitter101/

If you've already created social media accounts, great! Are you using analytics to track your progress? If not I suggest you start now. Try running campaigns as well to drive traffic to your social media and your website...not to mention your store!

The world is getting more social with things like Foursquare, Facebook Places, and Gowalla. Get on these networks as well and post coupons to get people in your doors or on your website!

More information is available here

Questions? Post your comment below and I'll do my best to answer and give you more resources.

Remember, ibuyBigcountry!

Ci'ara

Good News in Abilene!

2010-11-03T14:44:00.001-05:00

Abilene's economy is in the top 25 for small U.S. cities! This coupled with the article about the cost of doing business in Abilene equals good news!

Feel free to read the article below by the Abilene Reporter News for an in-depth analysis:

http://www.reporternews.com/news/2010/oct/25/abilenes-economy-is-in-top-25-of-small-us-cities/

iBuybigcountry!

Ci'ara

Business Mercado!

2010-10-19T10:50:00.004-05:00

Business Mercado

The Mercado was a huge hit! Great entertainment, food samples, and 83 vendors! Everyone was provided a punch card to have completely punched by the end of the day for a grand prize drawing of $250 worth of Famous Daves and Taco Bell! The winner of this awesome prize was Crystal Holliday from Abilene Nursing and Rehabilitation Center!! Congratulations!

There was also a prize drawing for a wonderful gift basket provided by State Farm Insurance and Financial Services! The winner was Joe Marcikese with Double Diamond Signs! Congratulations!

Families were coming and going from 9 a.m. til 4 p.m. checking out the booths, hoping for a door prize, and listening to some mariachi music and being entertained by the Ballet Folklorico! The day had an overwhelming feeling of enjoyment by all who attended. Not to mention everyone got a great shopping bag with Business Mercado provided by First Financial Bank and WTU Retail Energy to remember the great time they had!

What an excellent opportunity for business to reach out to customers at this festive event!

1-Stop Auto Insurance
AT&T
A-Town / Hi-Tech LP.
Aaron's Sales & Lease Ownership
Abilene Habitat for Humanity
Abilene Independent School District
Abilene Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
Abilene Public Library
Abilene Regional P-16 Council
Abilene State Supported Living
Alliance for Women and Children
Ambit Energy
American Commercial College
American State Bank
Arrow Ford Mitsubishi, Inc.
Arroyo Catclaw Digital
BBVA Compass Bank
Battles Home Improvement
Big Country Transmission
Care Inn
Cisco College
Communities of Abilene Federal Credit Union
Communities in Schools of the Big Country
Courtyard by Marriott
David's Body Shop/Al's Towing
Double Diamond Signs
Dove Funeral Home
Elliott-Hamil Funeral Home & Garden of Memories Cemetery
Elmwood Memorial Park & Funeral Home
Famous Dave's Legendary Bar-B-Que
First Abilene Federal Credit Union
First Financial Bank
Lawrence Hall Abilene
Hendrick Health System
Hilton Garden Inn of Abilene
Hispanic Leadership Council
HispanicAbilene.com
HispanicLife Media

JS Design/JS Diseño
KTXS-TV/KTES-TV/CW Abilene
KWKC/KZQQ/KKHR
Kent's Motorcycles, LP
Kinder Hearts Home Health, LLC
La Cantera Garden / La Villa Custom Homes
"Latin Rhythms"
MSN Homecare
Mr. Gatti's of Abilene
New Life Temple
O.S.I. Security
Olivia's Seafood
Outreach Health Services
Peak Performance Rehabilitation & Wellness Center
Prime Time Family Entertainment Center
Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center
Rainbow Fashion
Ray's Transmission & Automotive
Reliable Tax Service
Renew Home Health
Rosa's Café #21
Salon NV
A Sense of Bride
Small Business Development Center
Ronnie Smith Transmission
State Farm Insurance - Samuel Garcia
State Farm Insurance - Risha Sanders
Stovall Realtors - Gloria Padilla
Suddenlink Communications
Texas State Technical College West Texas Abilene
UniFirst
United Supermarkets, Ltd. #547
Verizon Wireless
West Central TX Workforce Board
WTU Retail Energy
XStream AutoClean

Abilene is moving up!

2010-10-06T13:28:00.001-05:00

What a great city Abilene is! Recently a study was done by the 2010 Kosmont-Rose Cost of Doing Business survey and Abilene was named one of the top 10 cities to do business in America base on cost.

For more information the Abilene Reporter News has a full article here.

The study shows the rest of the country what many business people in Abilene already knew, this is a great place for business. Our unemployment rate is 6.7 compared to Dallas' 8.4 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Add that to the low cost of doing business and you can see that Abilene is a great choice!

Not only is Abilene a great place to do business it's also a great place to visit! We moved up from the 12th spot in Texas to the 11th!

1 Dallas‐Fort Worth‐Arlington 21.3%

2 Houston‐Baytown‐Sugar Land 17.4%

3 San Antonio 14.1%

4 Austin‐Round Rock 9.9%

5 Corpus Christi 3.9%

7 Lubbock 2.7%

8 Amarillo 2.2%

9 College Station‐Bryan 1.8%

10 Waco 1.7%

11 Abilene 1.7%

12 Killeen‐Temple‐Fort Hood 1.6%

13 Beaumont‐Port Arthur 1.5%

14 Tyler 1.3%

15 El Paso 1.2%

Rural Texas 17.5%

Source: D.K. Shifflet & Associates; Office of the Governor, Economic Development & Tourism

"Abilene moved up a notch as the 11th most popular leisure destination in Texas, according the Office of the Governor, Economic Development and Tourism. In 2004, Abilene made the Top 10 but changes in reporting added MSA’s to the mix and Abilene tied for the 12^th position. “This is good news, especially with the economy affecting local tourism. It is a citywide effort to market and promote Abilene as a tourist destination. Travel and tourism, consisting of business, group and leisure travel, generates $329 million into our economy”, says Nanci Liles, Executive Director of the Abilene Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The ACVB is responsible for promoting Abilene as a convention and tourist destination. Bring your next meeting, reunion or event to Abilene!"

So not only can you see some strong businesses, you can also enjoy traveling to Abilene. Something to share with your customers via social media may be "http://travel.state.tx.us/getattachment/b97aa63d-f568-4bdb-9ad2-8618e596b3ea/TOP-MSA-2009-RANK.aspx" that will link directly to the study I referenced above. So go ahead and share the link via twitter or facebook!

We at the Chamber welcome any references or links you may have to encourage businesses in Abilene. If you have any please comment below, tweet it to us, or facebook it...and if you feel so inclined you can email it as well.

That's all for now, until next time, ibuybigcountry!

Ci'ara

New Design ~ ALOT Afterhours ~ Ribbon Cutting

2010-10-05T10:00:00.001-05:00

Check out the new design! Feel free to click around on those links up there to take you to the other sites we use on a regular basis.

Abilene Leaders Of Tomorrow (ALOT) Afterhours:

Is this Thursday 5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. and Star Hyundai 200 South Clack Street. Plan to attend this year's Oktoberfest Celebration and bring a guest. Great networking, food, and drink!! Sponsored by Star Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep-Hyundai. RSVP by Wednesday 12:00 noon to klee@abilenechamber.com! They seek to connect, empower, and engage leaders of tomorrow.

Ribbon Cutting:

Heart and Sole - University Place/Mall of Abilene! Come out to the Chuckie Cheese location at 10:00 a.m. to celebrate the ribbon cutting of the heart and sole walking group around the mall of Abilene!

Reminders:

Don't forget the Business Mercado is coming to the Abilene Civic Center on October 16th! This is an excellent opportunity to have a booth (email Kathy Lee for availability here). Or you can simply attend. Approximately 75 businesses will show their products to the growing Hispanic market within Abilene. 2,000+ are expected to attend the event, this is a great opportunity to gain some exposure in the Hispanic market. Networking at this event will be immense. So stay tuned for more information as the event nears!

Until next time - ibuybigcountry!

Ci'ara

Highlights from the Banquet ~ Bucketheads grand opening ~ Business Mercado

2010-09-28T15:24:00.001-05:00

Banquet Highlights:

Ambassador Glassman with University
Students

Wow is all I can say about the banquet, Baack's fForists did a great job with the floral arrangements and the wonderful food was catered by Copper Creek. The night began with Dyess AFB Honor Guard presenting the colors, followed by the national anthem sung by Twyla Foreman. Our outgoing chair Ron Butler gave his comments about the past year and welcomed our incoming chair John Russell to his position. Guest speaker Ambassador James K. Glassman of the George W Bush Institute. He spoke of the 4 principles of the institute: Freedom, Opportunity, Responsibility, and Compassion. Abilene's citizen of the year was named - Tucker Bridwell. His family was there to watch as he received his award.

Congratulations to Mr. Tucker Bridwell. Abilene's citizen of the year!

Bucketheads:

Tomorrow at 1:00 pm Bucketheads is having their grand opening at the mall next to El Chicos! They have crosses, jewelry, t-shirts, fundraising opportunities, and much much more! You can see a sample of one of their crosses over there on the left, they are hand crafted and designed.

I promise you'll never become bored looking around the store! There are so many creative designs and artfully wonderful gifts for yourself or someone special!

So come see the Redcoats and the wonderful people of the Bucketheads cut the red ribbon tomorrow at 1:00 pm!

Business Mercado:

The Business Mercado is coming to the Abilene Civic Center on October 16th! This is an excellent opportunity to have a booth (email Kathy Lee for availability here). Or you can simply attend. Approximately 75 businesses will show their products to the growing Hispanic market within Abilene. 2,000+ are expected to attend the event, this is a great opportunity to gain some exposure in the Hispanic market. Networking at this event will be immense. So stay tuned for more information as the event nears!

Thanks for reading, and until next time...buy bigcountry!

-Ci'ara

URGENT! WE NEED PLAYERS - Tennis and Golf

2010-09-27T11:50:00.001-05:00

WE NEED PLAYERS - Tennis and Golf

Friday, October 1, 2010

Busted Putter (Golf) Tournament: Diamondback Golf Course,

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon sign-in; 12:00 noon shot-gun start

$50 per MAC player/ teams of 2 "blind" paired with teams of 2 Dyess members

Busted Racquet (Tennis): Rose Park,

12:00 noon - 12:30 p.m. sign-in; 12:30 p.m. matches start

$25 per MAC Player/matched by skill level with Dyess member

Registration closes , Tuesday, Sep 28, 2010

To register contact Debra Huntley at the Chamber 677-7241,

Travis Brown (Golf) at 338-8778, or

David Jones (Tennis) at 627-7229

2010-09-24T16:39:00.000-05:00

Business After Hours:

Congratulations to the winners of the prizes from the business hours held at Abilene Dental and Advanced Chiropractic & Spinal Rehab!

$50 Cash – Doug Hodel, Doug Hodel Photography
C.W. Roberts, TxStar Directory Company
Donna Birchum, Ben E. Keith Co. – Beverage Distributors
Jennifer Kon, Global Secutive
Glynn Walker, State Farm Insurance
Wayne Barnett, RE/MAX of Abilene
Dalton Boyd, Chaparral Roofing and Hedy Fackelman.

Thank you to everyone that came out and had a great time. We want to extend a special thanks once again to Abilene Dental and Abilene Advanced Chiropractic and Spinal Rehab, their generous sponsorship made the great evening a success and provided plenty of networking and conversation. We look forward to seeing you at the next event!

Hispanic Business Council Luncheon:

Our Annual Sponsor:

Come network during lunch at 11:30 a.m. this Tuesday, September 27, at the Center for Contemporary Arts - 220 Cypress Street. We'll learn about the Center, have a chance to see the exhibits and also learn a little about theUnited Way of Abilene. Cost $5 - RSVP to Kathy Lee atklee@abilenechamber.com

Sponsorship is Available for future luncheons, for more information click here.

Busted Putter Busted Racket Tournament:

Friday October 1^st 12:00 P.M.- 8:00 P.M.

Players are still needed!

Golf!

If you play golf, like golf, or are even slightly interested in golf sign up! It’ll be a great time of play, and don’t worry; everyone is grouped according to skill level. So you don’t have to be a professional to come out and have a great time! *There will be a meal following the game.

Tennis!

So you really aren’t much of a golfer? That’s ok, some of us prefer a racquet over a putter! So come join the fun, play a great game and have some time after to unwind over a meal!

Busted Putter (Golf) will be @ the Diamondback Golf Course (1200 Shotgun Start)
Busted Racquet (Tennis) will be @ Rose Park (1230 Start)

This event is open to ALL…….. Deadline to sign up to play is September 28^th

For more information or to sign up contact Travis Brown (Golf) 325 338-8778 or David Jones (Tennis) 325 627-7680 or Debra Huntley @ the Chamber 325 677-7241.

Sponsorship Opportunities are still available ~ Call Debra @ 325 677-7241 for more information.

The Abilene Chamber of Commerce

Business EXPO

Hispanic Business Council

Abilene Business Council

OBJECTIVE: Create a community entrepreneurial atmosphere. Develop business growth through education. Increase awareness of businesses. Recognize and honor outstanding businesses and business people.

Agriculture Committee and Texas-Farm-Ranch Wildlife Expo

Wake up Wednesday Cancelled until further notice

More about the Chamber in 11 posts

Building your business in 2011

5 Tips for Using Colleges to help boost business

With so many universities and colleges in Abilene (You can find a list HERE) it's a great place to start looking for ways to boost your business! Score.com has listed 5 tips for using colleges and universities to help build your business! See below:

5 Tips for Using Colleges and Universities to Help Your Business

Abilene Holiday Deals!

All about Kim Bachmann Baker, her family, and our tree

Good News in Abilene! -Business SERVPRO

$100 Giveaway? Can it be?

2010 GIFT CARD GIVEAWAY!

Thanksgiving is over, weigh-in on our blog!

Using Fourquare to boost your consumer base

We're giving away $100!

Creating a Social Media Brand for your business on Facebook

Creating a Social Media Brand for your business on Twitter

Social Media and Business

Good News in Abilene!

Abilene's economy is in the top 25 for small U.S. cities! This coupled with the article about the cost of doing business in Abilene equals good news!

Feel free to read the article below by the Abilene Reporter News for an in-depth analysis:

Business Mercado!

Abilene is moving up!

New Design ~ ALOT Afterhours ~ Ribbon Cutting

Highlights from the Banquet ~ Bucketheads grand opening ~ Business Mercado

URGENT! WE NEED PLAYERS - Tennis and Golf