Blount Partnership News and Events

 
Join us for the Bright Futures Chiropractic (1780 W. Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville) Ribbon Cutting/Grand Opening on January 30 at 11 a.m. Refreshments will be provided. Stop by and welcome a new business to the community.

Check out The Dialogue at the bottom of this email where we feature a question-and-answer session with a new Blount County Chamber member. So here we go with our 98th installment visiting with Corey Pabst, owner, of Computer Catering.
 
GET INVOLVED TO MAXIMIZE YOUR CHAMBER MEMBERSHIP
Make sure you and your staff maximize membership in the Blount County Chamber and get connected with potential customers. Connect with others by joining one of our special interest groups, volunteering for special events planning and/or receiving alerts & updates that could potentially impact your business. Not just for the business owner or Chamber representative, circulate this email to your staff and get them signed up today. Click the link to find out more.
 
JOB FAIR SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITY
Sponsorships are available for the annual Blount County job fair slated for Thursday, March 22, 2018 from 2-6 p.m. at the Second Harvest Food Bank facility. More than 55 vendors will be on site with over 600 visitors expected to attend.   Click here for the sponsorship form.

If you are interested in participating, please email Jessica Belitz at jbelitz@blountpartnership.com for more information.
 
NETWORKING TRAINING CLASS
Make plans to attend to attend our networking training class on February 6 at the Blount Partnership (201 S. Washington St., Maryville) from 3-4:30 p.m. and you'll never make a cold call again. Facilitator Raeus Jae Cannon shows you how to get the most out of the connections you strive to make. Register today by emailing Amy at alawson@blountpartnership.com
 
HR FOCUS GROUP SET FOR FEBRUARY 7
Eric Ebbert of Wimberly Lawson opens up the 2018 HR Focus Group meetings with a talk entitled "The Art of Holistic Harassment Prevention and Lessons From Fox's Carlson/Ailes Case." The meeting takes place Wednesday, February 7 from 8:30-9:30 a.m. at the Blount Partnership (201 S. Washington St., Maryville). IF you are interested in attending, please email Amy at alawson@blountpartnership.com.
 
PROMOTE AND PARTICIPATE IN OPERATION THANK YOU
Promote your business during "Operation Thank You" by sending 1400 gift certificates, brochures or business promotional pieces to us and we will distribute them during Operation Thank You.

Your Chamber constantly looks for ways to help you promote your business through the ABC theory - Always Buy Chamber. We do ask that your enclosure piece not to exceed 8.5x11". These inserts should be delivered to the Chamber no later than 5 p.m. Thursday, February 8.

If you are interested in participating, please contact Amy Lawson at alawson@blountpartnership.com or call 865.983.2241. There is a fee of $200 for insert enclosure.

Participate in the Chamber's 20th annual "Operation Thank You" set for February 20-22, 2018 and meet other business people on a one-on-one basis.

During this three-day event, Chamber members, the Chamber staff and Board of Directors will personally deliver Chamber member information packets. We invite you to join us in this three-day effort. You can agree to call on as many or as few members as your schedule permits.

If you, someone (or several people) from your business, organization or group is interested in participating, please contact Amy Lawson at alawson@blountpartnership.com or call 865.983.2241.
 
SOFT SKILLS SESSION FOR FEBRUARY
It's Your Career! That's the focus of eight free soft skills sessions offered in partnership by the Blount County Public Library, the Adult Education Foundation of Blount County and the Blount County Chamber of Commerce that are scheduled over the next 11 months.

Registrations are currently being accepted online at www.blountchamber.com for the second class entitled Building a Team set for Feb. 23.

The other classes offered include Managing People and Personalities, Free Resources for Professional Development, How to Run an Effective Meeting, Improving Your Presentation Style - Speaking, Improving Your Presentation Style - Strategies for Engaging Presentations, Making Your Social Media Look Good and Creating Infographics for Promoting Your Business.

All classes are conducted in the Blount County Library's learning lab located at 508 N. Cusick in Maryville and limited to 50 participants. A complete class description is located on the registration site. All classes run from 8-10 a.m. with networking beginning at 7:30 a.m.
 
FEBRUARY MEMBER-TO-MEMBER PROMOTIONS NEEDED
Member-to-member promotions are needed for February. Check out the new offer from Ruby Tuesday for the NFL championship game. See this and other promotions at member-to-member promotions. New offers are being posted almost daily, so check out the Blount County Chamber of Commerce Member-to-Member promotions online. This Member-to-Member Promotional Program offers you and your company the opportunity to market your products and services to the membership.
 
Here's how it works:
1. Submit a PDF of a service, product or discount you'd like to offer to the Chamber membership to jmuir@blountpartnership.com. Be sure to include an expiration date.
2. An email with all the promotions will be sent out on the final Monday of every month to our member database.
3. All promotions will be posted on www.BlountChamber.com
 
REMEMBER TO SHOP LOCAL
Think local first + Buy local when you can = Being a local!
 
More local businesses mean a stronger tax base and more efficient use of public services as compared to nationally- owned stores entering the community.
 
Find what you're looking for in the Chamber Directory.
 
GOT AN EVENT OR NEWS? WE'D LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT
Is your organization hosting an event in the community? Submit it here on our community calendar. If it's a tourism event or any good news about your business, please send it to us. We'd love to share it with the community.
 
REMEMBER WHEN
Topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week in 1989 was "Two Hearts," by Phil Collins. The song was written for the 1988 crime comedy film Buster. Both promo-singles of the film, "Two Hearts" and "A Groovy Kind Of Love", topped the US charts. Two Hearts won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.

Events

 

Jan. 29-Feb. 4

 

 

Feb. 5-11

 

 

Save the Date

 

January 30 -- Bright Futures Chiropractic - Ribbon Cutting/Grand Opening
February 20-23 -- Operation Thank You 
February 22 -- Coffee Club at Quality Financial Concepts
February 23 -- State Legislative Briefing

You can access the entire calendar here to see other community events and submit your own.

Premier and Presidential Partners

The Dialogue

This feature is a question-and-answer session with a new Blount County Chamber member. So here we go with our 98th installment visiting with Corey Pabst, owner, of Computer Catering, who love helping others and conquer their electronic device challenges.
 
Describe what Computer Catering does. Technology has quickly become a necessity in our society and we are here to keep Blount County residents up and running. We offer computer and laptop hardware and software repair. iPhone and iPad repairs as well as many other mobile devices. We use only premium parts and quality repairs. We sell and repair Computers of all makes and models including Windows, Apple, HP, Dell, Asus, Lenovo, and pretty much any other brand of device you can round up. We stock PC's, Laptops, Tablets, and Custom Built Computers of all price ranges to ensure we have something to fit everyone's needs and budgets. We proudly offer 12 Months Interest Free Financing and Free Layaway.
 
How did you get started? After working for others and seeing it all done "wrong" I decided that I would offer service to others in a field that we all need help from time to time, and I have learned and experienced for years. My drive to help others, combined with the need for honest help in a field where it is hard to find came together to create Computer Catering.
 
What is your background? Daily use as a child, teen, and young adult. I tinkered with taking apart and putting back together everything I could get my hands on. My first job dealing with computer repair was while working at Staples. I was hired to stock paper, but after befriending some of the PC techs, I began to learn from them and self explore the field ultimately earning my position as a tech alongside those who taught me. Then I moved on to work for an independent Computer Repair company in Knoxville, TN where I was quickly promoted to General Manager. After learning a bit about the industry, and how much the average person is at a disadvantage to large companies I decided to take my new knowledge of Business Management and Administration from college to "do it right".
 
Who is your mentor? My wife Pamela has been an amazing supporter through all the rough patches that come with trying to start a new business. After getting up off the ground and getting to a point of needing some more help, I was able to bring in my best friend from high school, Brandon who has kept things running smoothly and has the same "no matter what we will figure it out" attitude that I have.
 
Describe your customers. Our customers range from individuals with almost nothing to their name to Businesses with dozens of employees and everyone in between. Our goal is to be personal with our clients to really know and understand what their desired end result is.
 
What impacts your business? The technology industry is a roller coaster ride in and of itself. One small detail about something can quickly cause a huge shift in the computer and tech field. Many times this is a global configuration and one issue in another country can have a huge impact on prices for a certain component such as Memory chips.
 
Name three things you wish you knew when you started. 1: How much it would actually cost to start a new business. 2: Where to find the best deals! 3: What the most valuable form of marketing is.
 
What do you enjoy about your business? Knowing that I have control over how problems are handled to ensure that nobody is taken advantage of. Today there are too many instances of greed. It does nobody any good, and harms everyone. Treat others how you would like to be treated and you will always generate more worth than you require. At Computer Catering we enjoy helping everyone and taking on new challenges every day. Our goal is to provide the best service to every customer. We want our customers to be treated like the VIP's they are. We give each and every customer 5 star customer service.