Spring 2011
Welcome to the first Patriot issue of 2011, and to my first message as BABC President. I am certainly honored to be serving such a truly great organization, and while wishing you every possible success in the year ahead, I would also like to share with you one of my goals for this year - to foster and encourage more communication with you our members. It is after all your individual participation that keeps the BABC OC vibrant and growing. Last year under the excellent leadership of John Kuykendall and the dedicated work of the board of directors, our Executive Director Valerie Blackholly and many volunteers, the BABC OC welcomed a good number of new members and enjoyed an enviable turnout at our events. Considering our challenging economy, this was no trivial feat! During the coming weeks I would like you to let us know what we can do as an organization to further help your professional development and business objectives. What services can we best provide to help you reach your goals? Communication is of course a two way street, the board of directors and I will be reaching out to you, and we in turn ask that you keep in touch with us, call or e mail with your thoughts...we really do value your opinion. I believe the strength of the BABC OC surely lies in the diversity of its membership and the strategic relationships that develop from that diversity. One of the distinguishing continued on page 6...
ontributions to C sh ti ri B g n ti ra
California
Celeb
British celebrities Anthony Hopkins, Eric Idle, Helen Mirren, Zandra Rhodes, Jane Seymour, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Michael York, Consul General Dame Barbara Hay, Ambassadors Nigel Sheinwald and Robert H. Tuttle are members of the BritWeek 2011 Honorary Committee and for the 3rd consecutive year our own BABC OC Executive Director Valerie Blackholly and BABC OC Board Member John Gibson are serving as the Orange County Representatives to the BritWeek 2011 Committee. What is BritWeek you may ask, well BritWeek (it’s actually more than a week, it runs April 26 – May 11, 2011) celebrates British contributions to California. During BritWeek all kinds of events such as sports, fashion, car rallies, plays, concerts, film screening, business mixers, pub and restaurant socials that have British connections are celebrated in Los Angeles, San Francisco and of course, Orange County. 2011 plans for the OC include a Royal Wedding Reception at South Coast Plaza showcasing British food, music, fashion and cars, a BABC OC Golf Tournament, special themed pub nights at the Olde Ship, Santa Ana, and an International Film Festival with British films. Visit the BritWeek site www.britweek.org for information or check the BABC OC site www.babcoc.org for updated news on local BritWeek events.
Inside this issue: “It doesn' t get much better than this,” said BABC OC President John Miller of his networking opportunity with recently rejoined BABC OC member Ralph Rodheim (Boat Rentals of America). The duo met aboard one of Ralph' s electric Duffy boat rentals on the water at Newport. Note: looking for a new place to liven up your next business meeting or company outing? Contact Ralph@rodheim-marketing.com www.boats4rent.com
Introducing New Members BABC Conference 2011 Facebook Do’s And Don’t’s Members In The News Know Your Customer Add Value To Your Business Relationships Has Your Business Card Gone Social Yet? Calendar Of Events
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Welcome New Members! Please say hello to these new BABC-OC members and introduce yourself to them the next time you see them at a mixer or event
Kareem Barghouti & Solomon Tesfaye Co-Founders - Stingy Campus 909-815-4547 www.stingycampus.com E-Mail: solomontesfaye@stingcampus.com kareembarghouti@stingycampus.com StingyCampus.com is a new online college marketplace that exposes businesses to college students. Businesses have access to their large student user base by providing listings to their Jobs, Housing, For Sale and Rewards categories.
Neil Brandom, Principal - Brooks Street (949)-833-0222 www.brooks-street.com E-Mail: brandom@brooks-street.com Brooks Street is a fully-integrated real estate company with offices in Newport Beach, Walnut Creek, and San Francisco. They manage a diverse range of projects including brownfield remediation, urban infill, adaptive reuse, mixed-use, and master planned communities. Their debt and equity relationships include some of the most prominent and active institutions in the United States and Canada.
Nathan Cromeenes, CFO/Gift Design Consultant - Belle Paquet (949)-365-0658 www.bellepacquet.com E-Mail: nathan@bellepaquet.com Belle Paquet is a gifting company catering to social and corporate event industries. The name Belle Paquet derives from the French words Beau Paquet meaning “beautiful package”. They specialize in personal, faceto-face, expert consultation to find you the highest quality gifts. They provide guest favors for parties and weddings, welcome packages for destination weddings, and business gifts for corporations.
Chris Gayde, Healthcare Group Director - Hunter Wise Financial Group (949)-732-4114 www.hunterwise.com E-Mail: cgayde@hunterwise.com Hunter Wise is a specialized investment banking firm providing the highest quality level of institutional financing, merger and acquisition, divestiture and advisory services, for small to medium-sized public businesses, as well as selected middle market, privately-held company.
Zack Bates, CEO - Private Club Marketing (949) 257-5616 www.privateclubmarketing.com E-Mail: zack@privateclubmarketing.com Private Club Marketing is an international marketing and communications company, headquartered in Orange County, California. The company is currently run by Founding CEO and Creative Director, Zack Bates. Private Club Marketing provides traditional advertising and specialized agencies and marketing services (SAMS) to national and multinational private clubs and luxury resorts.
Richard Lane, President - Human Resources Strategies, Inc. (909) 621-5222 www.humanresourcesstrategies.com E-Mail: rlane@humanresourcesstrategies.com Human Resources Strategies, Inc. is a Human Resources Consulting Firm that provides general HR and compensation consulting. It was founded 1992 by Richard Lane on the principle of high quality consulting at low overhead rates. The company has significant experience in helping Japanese and other foreign companies develop HR programs in the US. Contact Richard for a quote.
Kieran McGarrell - Omega Consulting Group (949) 230 6993 E-Mail: kieranm@omega-group.com With many years experience as a CFO for multi-national companies, Kiernan now offers financial consulting services with a particular emphasis on restructuring, bankruptcy and due diligence research for investors.
If you know of a potential BABC-OC member – please contact Valerie Blackholly and she'll be happy to follow up. valerie@babcoc.org (949) 472-2221.
The Impact of Innovation BABC Conference 2011
May 11-13
San Francisco
BritWeek 2011, the largest annual UK-US Festival held in the Once a year, the BABC brings together members of all its 25 chapters throughout the US and UK at its Annual Transatlantic United States. Business Conferences, for a 2 day program of high-level The agenda will feature a broad range of top business leaders business discussions and networking with business executives and thought-leaders, from both sides of the Atlantic, with actively involved in transatlantic business. particular achievements, experience and expertise in the field innovation, in sectors ranging from technology, biotech and This year’s Conference, ‘The Impact of Innovation’. will be held of the environment to the creative industries, finance and law from May 11-13, 2011, in San Francisco - along with Silicon Valley, the hub of global innovation. It will be held in the For more details, and to register, please visit our conference historic Fairmont Hotel, and will be the concluding event of website: www.babcsf.org/2011-babc-conference/
What Not To Do On Facebook According to a report released by Consumer Reports Magazine (www.consumerreports.org) there are many things that we do without much thought on Facebook that we should be more careful about - here' s a few things to consider:
Holiday Merriment BABC Style
Using a Weak Password - Avoid simple names or words you can find in a dictionary, even with numbers tacked on the end. Instead, mix upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and symbols. A password should have at least eight characters. One good technique is to insert numbers or symbols in the middle of a word, such as this variant on the word "houses": hO27usEs! Leaving Your Full Birth Date in Your Profile - don' t make it easy for identity thieves who could use it to gain more information about you. If you've already entered a birth date, go to your profile page and click on the Info tab, then on Edit Information. Under the Basic Information section, choose to show only the month and day or no birthday at all. Overlooking Useful Privacy Controls - Limit access to only your friends, friends of friends, or yourself. Restrict access to photos, birth date, religious views, and family information, among other things. You can give only certain people or groups access to items such as photos, or block particular people from seeing them. Mentioning That You'll Be Away From Home - That's like putting a "no one's home" sign on your door. Wait until you get home to tell everyone how awesome your vacation was and be vague about the date of any trip. Letting Search Engines Find You - To help prevent strangers from accessing your page, go to the Search section of Facebook's privacy controls and select Only Friends for Facebook search results. Be sure the box for public search results isn't checked.
Lots of smiles and fun at the BABC OC holiday luncheon this past December…don’t forget to save the date for this year – Friday December 9th.
See more BABC event photos at www.facebook.com/BABCOC?v=photos
MEMBERS IN THE NEWS Andrew Lewis, MBE - Consul, Head of Trade & Investment Group. The Queen’s 2011 New Year’s Honours List named BABC OC Member Andrew Lewis, Consul and Head of Trade & Investment, Los Angeles, the recipient of the Member of the Order of the British Empire. The Most Excellent Order of the Andrew Lewis British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V. Andrew Lewis manages the UK Trade & Investment team in Los Angeles, and he is quick to acknowledge the teams’ tremendous performance, noted Andrew “The team that I manage is consistently one of the highest performing UKTI teams in the world and over the years has helped more than 150 companies grow operations in the UK, creating thousands of new jobs while at the same time supporting thousands of UK companies with their market entry strategy to the United States.” Andrew also acknowledged that UKTI and the BABC OC enjoy a very strong strategically beneficial relationship because both organizations share a vision and strategy that is very closely
aligned. Cooperation between UKTI and BABC OC on events, mixers and introductions to companies such as Allergan, Broadcom, Quest Software, Tesco’s Fresh & Easy and Experian to name but a few, have benefited from this close alliance. Said Andrew, “Our government Ministers still talk about the luncheon hosted by the BABC OC for the visit of HRH Prince Andrew that drew record attendance and sold out in 48 hours.” We applaud Andrew on his well deserved honor and look forward to continuing our fine collaboration with Andrew and his team. Josh Teeple, Crowe Horwath LLP. Congratulations to Josh Teeple, CPA, CFE,CFF, CISA,CITP, who is featured in January’s OC Metro CPA Issue. OC Metro describes a CPA as the ‘businessman’s superman’ and prominently featured on page 46 is our very own BABC OC Board Member Josh Teeple, (Crowe Horwath Josh Teeple LLP. www.crowehorwath.com josh.teeple@crowehorwath.com). Josh also serves as the Executive Editor of this publication – ‘The Patriot’.
KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER! by Peter Bohenek, President, Rhythm Interactive and BABC OC member. When Rhythm Interactive engages with clients, we typically look at many facets of their business to determine the best solution to meet their needs, however, there are generally two important topics we focus on. They are business goals and customer needs. These two pieces to the solution puzzle are often the most difficult to make fit and work together. In our findings, clients typically know what they want, but have no clue as to what their customers' needs really are (although they usually think they know).
how many leads and opt-ins they want to generate or how much they want sales to increase by. They will expound about their current marketing efforts, associated costs to date, online display ad spends, and in some cases actually have results information. However, when it comes time to identify their customer' s needs, they usually can' t tell us much or almost everything they do tell us, turns out to be false.
This is why customer or user data is so important. To attract and engage new customers or even retain existing customers s important to them, Almost every client engagement begins with gaining an under- you must understand them, know what' This involves user standing of a client' s business goals. They typically know what and most of all what they want from you. research, which can involve surveys, customer journey they are trying to achieve, which in most cases, boils down to mapping, interviews, focus groups and several other methods an increase in sales, leads, opt-ins or some form of customer get the insights needed to “walk in the shoes of a customer.” engagement. Often times clients get more granular and tell us to continued on page 6...
Tod Myerscough, Financial Advisor Executive Editor: Josh Teeple, Crowe Horwath LLP. (714) 668-1234 josh.teeple@crowehorwath.com Managing Editor/Contributing Writer: Debra Shrider. (714) 990-6619 debshrider@yahoo.com Art Director: Kenneth Slidders. (714) 779-5451 kkssaa@roadrunner.com Advertising: Valerie Blackholly, BABC-OC. (949) 472-2221 valerie@babcoc.org
(949) 859-2945 24422 Avenida de la Carlota Suite 400 Laguna Hills, CA 92653 Merrill Lynch Wealth Management makes available products and ser vices of fered by Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, member SIPC, and other subsidiaries of Bank of America Corporation. Investment products: Are Not FDIC Insured
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...continued from cover
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Know Your Customer! characteristics of the BABC is that we not only have tremendous networking events locally, but as members we also enjoy international exposure due to our unique relationship with the British Consulate in LA and in particular the UK Trade and Investment Group. All this in addition to joint ventures with many admirable Orange County organizations such as the World Affairs Council, Orange County Forum, Orange County Innovation as well as notable local charities. It is our relationships with these and other impressive entities and individuals that elevate the BABC OC beyond the typical business chamber or networking organization.
User research is the only way to get a view from the outsidein to really understand what' s going in the mind of the customer.
Once this information is identified, categorized and rated in terms of most important to least important, objectives and tactics to reach business goals can be defined and developed. This process helps define the approach to social media efforts, content requirements, marketing campaigns, touch points, website interface design, images, videos, customer service, the best approach to generate sales, etc. All of these potential touch points will be more effective when We have a wonderful calendar of events planned for this year, informed with real, verified user wants and needs. and I greatly look forward to seeing you at our business meetings and social events. These are great opportunities to The bottom line is that user research is the only way to truly understand customers and then create channels to reach build strategic relationships and lasting friendships, with a them in ways they respond to and ultimately appreciate. healthy dose of good fun along the way! Take the time to learn about and know your customer and you will prosper in ways that you never imagined.
John Miller 2011 BABC OC President & Broker Associate, Prudential California Realty Phone: 949-735-3093 jsmiller@pruoc.com
Guinness • Murphy's • Murphy’s Red • London Pride • Abbott Ale • 6
Voted Best Neighborhood Pub - OC Weekly
Over 20 Beers on Tap 20 Plus Single Malts Big Screen Premier League Soccer (Santa Ana Only)
“You'll be a Stranger Here but Once!”
LIVE MUSIC Thursday, Friday, & Saturday Nights 8 - 11:30 pm (Santa Ana Only) www.theoldeship.com Join us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter 1120 W. 17th St., Santa Ana CA 92706 714.550.6700 709 N. Harbor Blvd., Fullerton CA 92832 714.871.7447 Emai l: admi ralnel son@t heo ldes hip.com
• Harp • Bombardier • Old Speckled Hen • Magners •
• Stella Artois • Fullers ESB • Smithwicks • Belhaven Scottish Stout • Spaten
Bass • Blackthorn • Belhaven • Boddingtons • Newcastle
How can you add value to your business relationships? Do you think networking is a viable business strategy for getting referrals? Or do you believe that referrals are just coincidental to networking and it isn’t something you can count on to consistently garner more business? If you focus on the specific people who gave you the referral, rather than the process and relationships that allowed it to happen, then it's unlikely you will consistently get more business from networking. Repeatability and building relationships are factors in building a strong networking foundation. Networking is not about reciprocity - who is giving what to whom, but rather it’s the process of meeting people, staying in touch, building trust and patience…lots of it.
compassion with your business partners are things that are going to give you the edge. If you hear of a business opportunity that would be wellsuited for a referral partner, in other words, not your kind of business, passing on that type of ‘extraneous business’ to others in the form of a referral will eventually attract more prospects who want to work with you – when you do good things for others, those good things have a way of making their way back to you – even if it’s from a different person or group of people.
In today’s world even the most successful business people are challenged to understand how to maintain their value as professionals in the face of rapidly changing times. Until recently, business people could survive for years without advice or connection skills. But now the world is moving at warp speed, and many of us struggle to keep up.
Ivan Misner, bestselling author and founder/Chairman of BNI a professional business networking organization and dubbed the ‘father of modern networking’ by CNN says, “When it comes to networking, there is no coincidence about referrals. They are the inevitable cumulative result of the day-to-day activities of relationship-building. And even though those efforts can't be measured as easily as cold calls, the results are far more powerful.”
So how do we add value to what we bring to the table? How can you be a value-added resource for the people in your business world? Tim Sanders Author of Love Is the Killer App, suggests that the act of intelligently and sensibly sharing your intangibles - your knowledge, your network and your
So I encourage you to share your knowledge and your contacts with others in your sphere of influence and help them build their networks, you just never know what will find its way back to you!
Has your business card gone social yet? When’s the last time you revamped your business card? Does it have your social media information included? In today' s business world we are connecting on many levels, but what' s the point of having a LinkedIn profile or a Facebook Fan Page if people don' t know you have one, or where to find you. Here' s an example of how a business card strategically designed to include social media might look.
If you’re thinking of getting your cards reprinted contact BABC Member Michael Wolf, a digital print solutions provider, for a quote. www.wolfdps.com (714) 491-0500 michael@wolfiesprint.com. Mention you are a BABC member to receive a discount.
Jane Doe Chief Executive Officer Email available janedoe@abc.com Phone available Direct: (714) 123-3456 Cell: (714) 321-6543
ABC Company
123 Main Street Anytown, USA map http://www.abc.com
Social Media http:// www. linkedin. com/ janedoe http://twitter.com/doe http://www.facebook.com/jane.doe
An easy way to save $50 Did you know that if you refer someone to the BABC OC and they join as member, you earn a $50 credit against your next membership renewal? - how cool is that!
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Your Portal to Orange County
Scheduled Events as of January 2011 This is just a sneak peek at some of our upcoming events. Date:
Event:
Venue:
Feb 12
Valentine’s Dinner Dance
Pacific Club
Feb 17
Young Executive Mentor Lunch with Supervisor Bill Campbell Costa Mesa
Mar 30
Annual General Meeting
April 28
BABC & WAC Dinner with Sir Eldon Griffiths
April/May
BritWeek OC:
Mastro’s, Costa Mesa.
April 27 - Newport Beach Film Fest showing British movies April 30 - Royal Wedding Reception. Music & Fashion Show gala event in Jewel Court SC Plaza May 1 - Barrett Jackson Car Rally 1PM – 4PM May 5 - Golf Tournament – Tustin Ranch Month long celebration of special events honoring BritWeek at the Olde Ship www.theoldeship.com May 11-13
BABC Transatlantic Conference SAN FRANCISCO
Jun 12
Garden Party
Montage Laguna Beach
July 28
European Mixer
Newport Beach Country Club
Dec 9
BABC Annual Christmas Lunch i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i
Visit www.babcoc.org regularly to view our updated calendar and to register for events and pay online, or contact Valerie Blackholly, Executive Director. Phone (949) 472-2221 e-mail: valerie@babcoc.org