Business owners in National City are prospering.
The National City Chamber of Commerce’s Business Rendezvous Group started in June 2015 with a few members.
Today the networking group has more than 37 participating members with two separate groups meeting twice a month. One of the groups meets on the first and third Thursday of the month. The other meets on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month in the chamber’s boardroom.
The purpose of the group is to increase business for all members through networking and word of mouth.
Chris Butcher, 50, who successfully used the same networking resource to increase business when he was a member of the Orange County Chamber of Commerce, brought the idea of the group to the National City Chamber of Commerce.
He noticed the National City Chamber of Commerce had lots of networking opportunities with mixers and other events, but they did not have an actual networking group where chamber members met regularly. So he pitched the concept of the Business Rendezvous Group to National City Chamber President Jacqueline Reynoso.
Convinced that this would be beneficial to members, Reynoso approved the group for the chamber.
Butcher joined the National City Chamber of Commerce in March 2015 and after a year of his membership he now sits on the chamber’s board of directors.
“I wanted to find a chamber where I could come in and network and assume some leadership opportunities and make a difference,” he said.
Butcher said the Business Rendezvous Group differs from other networking groups in that it has the right balance between being fun and relaxed and talking business.
“It’s a benefit that the members need and it’s worked out so well that we get new members to sign up at the chamber every month because of the group,” he said.
“They want to network, they want to meet people and they want to connect and this group allows that. We meet, we learn about each other, we connect each other to [business] opportunities.”
He said the group is not about a business owner coming and pitching their product and then expecting to get a lot of business. He said it is about building relationships. The National City Chamber of Commerce in turn benefits because the group serves as a recruiting tool. Only chamber members can join the group.
Butcher, a former high school chemistry and physics teacher, left teaching in 2000 after teaching for nine years to pursue a career in sales and business. He said the transition from one industry to another was difficult but networking eased the transition. He now works for a telecommunications company that provides Internet, telephone and technology services to companies.
