Special thanks to Dr. Catherine Pratt, Resident Assistant Professor, PLU School of Business.
​
If you are interested in participating in the 2024 Business Leadership Academy, please contact Carlos Ortiz: carloso@tacomachamber.org.

​Most individuals and business owners are quite familiar with the usual services that an accountant can provide – tax preparation, audits, and standard bookkeeping services. What you might not already understand are some of the ways that an accountant can help you before you’re in a position of needing help for stressful or negative reasons.

1. Trusted Partnership
   Accounting is a complex language of business, and an accountant is much like an expert “translator” in the business world. They serve the role as a trusted partner - able to assist in a variety of ways including bookkeeping, tax, audit, financial reporting, consulting, etc. The best accountants will be your biggest cheerleader, maintain your best interests, and develop a long-lasting relationship with you and/or your business.
   
   
2. Strategic Growth
   If you’re a new business owner, consulting with an accounting professional can allow you to focus on your strengths, while they focus on the accounting. Outsourcing the CFO or Controller-level of work or hiring an accountant allows you more free time to focus on other business-related matters. Although hiring an accountant can be costly, the cost is an investment into the success of your business. Engaging an accountant provides valuable insight into the most efficient ways to boost income while driving down costs.
   
   
3. Tax Preparation
   For most, the mention of taxes seems daunting. Most public accountants provide tax services like tax/estate planning, tax filing, and of course, tax return preparation. Tax accountants keep up with the ever-changing tax laws to provide deduction maximization and search for additional tax benefits when applicable, knowing for certain that you have the support of an expert well-versed in the laws.
   
   
4. Personal Investing
   Whether you’re a first time or experienced investor, an investment accountant can aid in managing your investment portfolio. Examples of an investment accountant’s specialized work include staying current with regulations for reporting/management purposes, as well as tracking your returns on investments. Hiring an accountant can help individuals to get more ‘bang’ for their buck.
   
   
5. External Auditing
   ​External auditors give your financial statements an extra boost in quality and credibility. An audit will essentially measure the health of your business for internal and/or external use. External auditors will work with you and your financials to detect possible areas of weakness and areas for improvement in your business practices. Contrary to common auditor stereotypes, auditors want to see your business succeed by providing reasonable assurance that fraud is being prevented and government compliance is being followed in the world of business. They are not to be feared! 

It may seem like advertising and marketing are two concepts that share exactly the same objective. In fact, they do have the same objective: alerting consumers to products and services being sold. Marketing and advertising have many things in common, but there are some differences.

Comprehension of these differences and similarities will help any business or organization with their strategy for customer and audience acquisition.

Marketing
Marketing is a process that involves design, creation, research, and data mining about how to best align the idea of a product or service with the target audience. This gives the company top-of-mind awareness and name recognition. Marketing can be expensive but really should come first.

How Do You Market?
Marketing involves research and analysis. This involves studying audience response and creating language and design that will best influence your target audience. Certain groups of consumers respond better to images and words than others. Slogans and mission statements that best communicate the “message” of the product are essential to marketing. Marketing strategy can be broken down into the 5 P’s: product, place, price people and promotion.

What Is Advertising?
Advertising is the literal process of making a product and service known to an audience. It is the description used to present the product, idea or service to the world. This generally entails advertising campaigns in the media. An advertising campaign uses creative positioning in the media. Advertising must be timely and used in a specifically strategic way. It should always have a call to action.

Understanding the differences between marketing and advertising helps companies maximize their budgets, teams, and market reach. But you aren’t in it alone—contact MadCap Marketing to utilize our marketing and advertising experience.

Original Source

1. O.M.G. One Main Goal 
Set one simple goal for yourself before each meeting, event or conversation with a prospective business partner. “Meet two people that also manufacture widgets and see what makes each one unique”

2. M.M.M. Meet Mingle Memorize
When entering a room make sure to smile and make eye contact with people.  Be courteous to those who may be greeting you. People tend to watch doorways to see who is entering. You don’t want their first impression of you to be bad. A huge part of successful networking is managing your actions and expressions. It is also important to not become so involved in a conversation that you do not have time to meet someone new.  Take a mental note of the key points of the conversation or something special about the person you spoke with. 

3. W.H.A.T.  What is your Industry, Hobbies, All about them a little about you, Tell me more…
The best questions are ones that are not a simple yes or no. “Who’s your ideal prospect?” “What is your greatest accomplishment this year?” “What do you do in your free time?” Not all conversations need to lead to a sale. Building a connection with someone that has similar interest can lead to stronger connections that are not just sales based. 

4. V.A.L.U.E. Volunteer, Align, Listen, Understand, Engage
Add value to all relationships. Give freely of your time, connections, knowledge, etc. and expect nothing in return. What are you amazing at that they may need help with? Who do you know that can help solve their problems? Be known as a resource and surround yourself with people who are valued resources as well.  

​5. T.H.E.M. Their Method Every Message
There is nothing worse than the promise of a follow up that never happens.  Set a realistic expectation and keep true to your word. Set aside time each week on your calendar to follow up with people you just met and to foster the relationships you already have. It is imperative to ask for their preferred contact method: email, mail, text, fax, LinkedIn, cell or office. Adapt to their preference, it’s about them and not you. When connecting make sure you send a message about a conversation that you would like to continue or why you want to connect. Follow up regularly so that you don’t become forgotten.    
 
Most Importantly:
Be yourself. Be bold. Be Daring. The worst that will happen is that one person may dislike you but ten others will adore you. Build your own tribe. Surround yourself with people you adore. It makes work so much better.  If we all drank tea there would be no Tequila.

The South Sound Summit (S3) began last year as the Chamber’s reimagined Annual Meeting. Our Board of Directors, in conjunction with the Chamber’s 2021 Strategic Plan, had a vision to move away from the traditional annual meeting luncheon by creating a forward-thinking, interactive event where the best and brightest innovators, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders could gather to speak about how to advance business in the South Sound, providing more value to sponsors, speakers, and guests.
 
This year we saw over 500 attendees join us at the Greater Tacoma Convention for a half day conference.
 
The event kicked off with Chamber President & CEO Tom Pierson discussing some of the Chamber wins from our 2018 fiscal year including the launch of the Manufacturing Industrial Council, the Chamber’s #NoHeadTax video in response to Seattle City Council, and Sue’s Tech Kitchen. Sue’s Tech Kitchen was a travelling interactive STEM-fueled adventure aimed at getting youth, especially young girls, involved in TECH and STEM. Sue’s was the passion project of Randi Zuckerberg, who was our keynote at last year’s South Sound Summit. Tacoma was the only location selected on the West Coast to host Sue’s (beating out Seattle and San Francisco) and that conversation began because of Randi visiting Tacoma for S3. 
 
That’s what South Sound Summit is all about. Starting conversations, inspiring, engaging, connecting, and collaborating, to make the South Sound the best place to do business in Washington State.
 
After the 15-minute opening, guests were able to customize their experience.
 
In the main ballroom, attendees heard lightning talks called, “Influencers of the South Sound.” These 15-minute TED-type talks saw our region’s visionaries share their ideas and expertise on how to elevate the South Sound community. The speakers included Dr. Ali Modarres, T’wina Nobles, and Congressman Derek Kilmer (visit www.southsoundsummit.com for the full lineup).
 
Alternatively, some guests chose to attend breakout sessions known as “Tactical Business Solutions,” where topics including HR, marketing, and tech, were designed to provide practical business applications.
 
Keynote Speaker was Mitch Lowe, co-founder of Netflix and MoviePass CEO. Mitch spoke about disrupting the market; if you are not innovating and staying ahead of your competition, you will get left behind.
 
Throughout the day guests were able to stop by over 40 business expo booths to connect with other businesses. The evening wrapped up with an “Elevation Celebration” with cocktails and hors oeuvres set against the biz expo backdrop.