- Get to know other proprietors in the local business community
- Develop close relationships with local businesses
- Provide and receive business referrals as an outcome of networking
- Keep up-to-date with issues affecting business within the local community
- Gain valuable insights and useful strategies from guest speakers
- Access information about other events and training opportunities
Benefits such as these are particularly important to small business owners who would otherwise fall outside the information and networking circles readily available to larger business concerns.
Business networking groups provide an opportunity to promote and market products and services and are an ideal involvement strategy for proprietors who:
- Have recently commenced operation and need to develop contacts
- Work from a home office and welcome the opportunity to mix with others
- Don’t employ many staff and prefer to network with smaller businesses
- Seek to develop relationships with industry service providers
- Generally want to improve knowledge and skills to support business growth
A popular audience participation segment at club meetings is the Business Card Exchange - members exchange business cards with fellow small business club members with the intention of developing close links and gaining referrals.
The strong alliances that both Shellharbour City Small Business Network and Wollongong Small Business Club enjoy with organisations including AusTrade, AusIndustry, Illawarra Business Chamber, Australian Industry Group, Illawarra ITec, as well as State and Local Government organisations underpin valuable support extended to Illawarra based small businesses.
When and Where:
Meetings are held: Wednesday monthly - schedule for 2007 is as follows:
20 Feb; 19 Mar; 16 Apr; 21 May; 18 Jun; 16 Jul; 28 Aug; 17 Sep;
15 Oct & 19 Nov (Christmas Meeting – members are invited to bring a child’s gift for the Mayor’s giving tree).
Time: Start: 5.15 for 5.30 pm
End: 7.30 pm
Venue: Seaspray Function Centre
Junction Road,
Shellharbour NSW 2529
Cost of attendance:
FREE
- Light finger food is provided free of charge.
- Funding is kindly provided by Shellharbour City Council with the assistance of the Department of State and Regional Development.
- Meetings are co-ordinated by Council staff with input from a volunteer management committee. Ideas and suggestions are welcomed.
All Welcome
To ensure you receive notification and to facilitate RSVP you need to ensure you are recorded on the network’s database.
Member Feedback
Some members who are involved in the network have said…
‘the Network has created a real sense of a business community in Shellharbour City.’
‘I started coming to the meetings saying I was in business, but I had no clients. Now I have clients.’
Contact
Jane Robinson
Economic Development Manager
Shellharbour City Council
Tel: 02-4221 6041 Fax: 02-4221 6097
Email: jane.robinson@shellharbour.nsw.gov.au
When and Where:
Meetings are held: Normally first Tuesday monthly (exception
Nov 08) - schedule for 2008:
5 Feb; 4 Mar; 1 Apr; 6 May; 3 Jun; 1 Jul; 12 Aug; 2 Sep; 7 Oct; 11 Nov & 2 Dec
Time: Start: 5.15 for 5.30 pm
End: 7.30 pm
Venue: Rydges Hotel
112 Burelli Street
Wollongong NSW 2500
Cost of attendance
FREE
- Light finger food is provided free of charge.
- Funding is kindly provided by Regional Development Australia Illawarra in conjunction with Department of State and Regional Development and Wollongong City Council.
- Meetings are co-ordinated by RDA Illawarra and Illawarra Business Enterprise Centre (ITeC). Ideas and suggestions are welcomed.
All Welcome
To ensure you receive notification and to facilitate RSVP you need to ensure you are recorded on the club’s database.
Member Feedback
These are some comments from members…
“As a first timer, I thoroughly enjoyed the meeting last night – and what a great networking environment!”
“There has been great benefit in finding out first hand who & what is out there to help me in business, and also the referrals that have come my way through the networking opportunity.”
Small Business Directory
The Illawarra Business to Business Directory is a service available to all members. It allows for greater knowledge of other members products and services, and promotes interaction which will generate commercial activity within the region.
By entering contact details along with a categorization and description of your business services you will be able to reach out to the continually growing fold of club members. You may search for particular products and services provided by fellow members by selecting from the categories listed. Future development will allow for an expression of desire for a product or service to be listed, and for vendors to communicate and quote, via the directory.
The Directory is a valuable marketing tool and provides a terrific opportunity for small businesses to enter the developing and critical arena of e-commerce at no cost. It is also a great way of supporting other local small businesses.
If you have attended the Small Business Club please feel free to add your business to the directory by simply completing the “suggest a link” form by clicking here.
Would your business benefit from sponsorship?
If you would like to investigate the opportunity to publicly promote your business at club events and/or through club communications and to gain prominent recognition of your sponsorship we would welcome discussions with you. Promotion can include the display of your material on meeting tables as well as on your own display stand. The availability of a 20 minutes time slot on the agenda for you to deliver a profile and presentation of your business is also a sponsorship feature.
As well as serving to provide valuable promotion of your business, sponsorship of this nature will help the RDA Illawarra to recoup function and catering outlays on a “cost recovery” basis.
Contact
Lee Cooper
Regional Development Australia Illawarra
87-89 Market Street, Wollongong NSW 2500
Tel: 02 4227 4500 Fax: 02 4227 4700
Email: lee@rdaillawarra.com.au
