President's Letter

Shakespeare, RPCN, and the Moving Van

“Now is the summer of our discontent,” a quote with which all Shakespeare buffs should be familiar. All right, it’s the “winter of our discontent.” For RPCN and its colleagues, though, it has been a long, confusing summer of shifting meeting locations. 

We intend to change that. Beginning with our members this fall, and then branching out to the public in the spring … RPCN will launch a funding-raising drive. Our plan—to raise sufficient capital for a permanent, single location RPCN home! 

RPCN has been a powerful force since 1990. In that time we’ve produced great events, workshops and galas, presented talented speakers, and hosted trend talks and entrepreneur-oriented round-tables. It is time for a permanent home to house the great talent we attract. 

We will need your help. Watch this space for more details.

—Joyce Curran, President

Simon Vision

RPCN and Simon School Announce Continuation of Joint Partnership to Provide Mentors to Simon Vision Students

In an effort to increase experiential learning opportunities for the University of Rochester’s Simon School of Business (Simon) MBA and MS students, Simon developed the Simon Vision program. It is a student-run program that has a 4-5 member student team provide consulting to (typically) a local small business for 12 weeks (one semester). After the 12 week period is over, Simon may have another student consulting team take over another project for the company.  

Participation in the program is voluntary for the students and is not part of the regular Simon curriculum. There are a couple of faculty advisors who help the students run the program, and this past Spring, as a pilot program, RPCN supplied mentors to four student teams to help the teams stay focused and complete their project goals.    

Due to the success of the pilot program, Simon and RPCN plan to continue and expand the program this Fall. We are anticipating that 10 – 20 student teams will be looking for mentors to help with projects primarily in marketing, general management (financial/accounting planning etc.) or possibly operations management. There may be other areas of expertise that the teams are looking for as well.

If you have in interest in helping Simon fulfill its motto (where thinkers become leaders!) and also have experience in marketing, general management, operations, or even consulting in general (and we are the Rochester Professional Consultants Network, so you should be good there!) please let us know and we will add you to the mentorship roster. For the Fall program, we are looking for up to 20 RPCN members that would be available to meet with students biweekly over the 12-week project term. We are anticipating the program will start early in September and the projects would begin soon thereafter. Last semester the project managers met with their teams for about an hour 2-4 times. We anticipate that project managers will meet with their teams 3-6 times (most likely 4-5 times) this semester so the time commitment on the part of project managers should only be about 10-20 hours over the course of the semester.

To get more information about the project or to volunteer to be a mentor, please contact Dave Bassett (dbassett@basstat.com).

RPCN Summer Fun

RPCN held its Summer Fun event on Thursday, August 16, 2018. Our small group enjoyed a limo bus ride to Black Button Distillery for tastings and a tour. The next stop was the Genesee Brew House for a fabulous dinner. It was a great night of networking, interesting discussions, and camaraderie. 

Marketing Committee Update

The Marketing Committee is currently updating the RPCN marketing materials. We have designed an informational booklet that explains more about RPCN, who we are, and what we do as an organization. Look for these new materials on the Welcome Table at future meetings! 

Member News

RPCN president Joyce Curran will address US military liaisons at a national conference in Atlanta, GA on September 8. The topic is “Military Outreach in the Community.

Larry Berger’s Sales 101 on-line seminar, entitles “The Anatomy of a Sale” is on Thursday, September 13, 12:00-1:00 p.m. Larry writes “This seminar will show you how to sell your services without feeling bad about it.” To register, click here.

Laurie Enos of Blue Lilac Marketing Group is presenting a workshop, "The Truth About Branding," on Tuesday, September 18, 2018, for the Gates Chili Chamber of Commerce. This presentation will take place at The Legacy at Parklands, 2000 Park Creek Lane, Churchville, NY 14428. To register, click here.

Tamara MacDuff will be presenting a five-part series on Strategic Social Media for SCORE. The first session focuses on strategizing for business. Subsequent sessions will cover the use of the most popular social platforms - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn and on blogging. The five sessions will be on Saturdays (Oct. 6 - Nov. 3) from 8:30 - 11:30 a.m. at 56 S. Fitzhugh Street (in the base of Sister Cities Garage. The entire series will cost $125 for the whole series and $29 per individual session. A light breakfast will be provided and parking is free. To register, click on the appropriate link below.

For the whole series: Simplified Social Media 5 week Series

Oct. 6: Strategic Social Media
(Participants should consider the first session as "mandatory" for any of the other sessions.)

Oct. 13: Facebook & Instagram

Oc. 20: Tao of Twitter

Oct. 27: LinkedIn for Your Business

Nov. 3: Blogging: Establishing Yourself as Expert

Social Media Minute

Here are my three rules for social media success on any platform. These are the cornerstones of all the social strategies I have created and that have helped my clients raise 150% more money in a fundraising effort in 24 hours, or increase their business by 20% in 6 months’ time. They work with any industry, niche or business.

1. Be Human. Show off your human side, be transparent. Did you mess something up for a client? Share it. The other business owners out there want to know they are not alone and your clients/prospects will appreciate your human side. In addition, you get to show how you own your mistakes and, more importantly, how you fix them when they happen. Share your messy desk or your inside out shirt you wore to the home office. (I did that once … not pretty, but made great conversations.)

2. Be Consistent. This is the rule everyone breaks. Everyone. Yet being consistent with quality content gets you more reach, more reactions and more clicks on your calls to action. Here’s the secret – YOU define consistent. Is it once a week? (I don’t recommend that – but it’s what works for you and your community) Is it 5 times a day? (Let’s not get crazy. Again, though, it’s about you.)

3. Be Active & Helpful. Always give great advice. Share relevant articles that your community wants to know about. Sharing someone else’s point of view shows you know how to find people smarter than you and aren’t afraid to share information. If you are curating – that means you are giving your own opinion of an article -  you now have content to re-purpose again and again - always with a fresh insight. Let your community see you as the expert you, and the business community as the resource & collaborator they need to work with. 

While my past results can’t guarantee future outcomes, I do promise you that you will see almost immediate results if you work these rules into your strategy. See you in the social sphere! 

—Tamara MacDuff, Now Digital Marketing

Five Money Moves

1. Establish a budget. Simply sit down and write down your monthly cash flow. A budget will not only keep you organized, but it will force you to take a hard look at any unnecessary spending habits.

2. Start building up an emergency fund.

3. Diversify your investments. The younger you are the more aggressive you can be.

4. Build and protect credit. Regularly monitor your credit score. This will help catch mistakes, or fraud, but even more importantly, it will keep debt management at the forefront of your mind.

5. Think ahead. It is easy when you’re just starting a career to focus only on building an emergency fund, or contributing to your 401K plan. But think ahead and consider estate planning, creating a will, or looking into a life insurance policy. No matter how young you are, it’s always beneficial to have an advisor and to have a financial plan in place.

—Tina Rohring, Financial Services Professional 

RPCN Video

Watch the new introductory video here.

RPCN Podcast

To listen to an RBJ podcast in which RPCN's David Powe and Laurie Enos talk about our great organization, click here.

Upcoming RPCN Events

Visit our website to register for any of these events.

Of Interest

Learn to Soar 4.0
SCORE Rochester
September 5, 2018 
8:15 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Monroe Golf Club
FREE. Register to attend.

RocGrowth Candids
September 5, 2018
5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Downstairs Cabaret Theatre
FREE. Register to attend.

How You Can Acquire New Customers and Retain the Ones You Have
September 10, 2018 
5:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Three Heads Brewing
FREE. Register to attend.

What's new at the library?

• Ruth found some pamphlets and articles, some of which were written by Ruth herself. These will be added to the RPCN vertical files.
• Michael Van der Gaag donated some books to the library and the Enhancing Human Capital program.
• Tina Rohring has joined the Library Committee. She will be putting together a notebook with members' business cards and brochures. So, make sure we have your latest information.

Help Wanted!

RPCN is looking for a volunteer Barista to be responsible for managing the morning coffee operation when we hold events at Five Star Bank. The position involves managing the supplies, brewing the coffees, and cleaning up after the meetings. You would need to be at Five Star at 7:30 am twice per month and be able to stay for cleanup until approximately 9:45 am. This would be a great experience for someone interested in understanding their clients in the foodservice industry. If you are interested, please contact Bob Manard at pastpresident@rochesterconsultants.org.

Volunteers Needed

Your help is needed to staff the RPCN Exhibit Table at the ASQ-RS Conference (American Society for Quality - Rochester Section).

Pick a 2 hour (or more) time slot between 7:15 AM & 4:00 PM that works for you.

This is a good way of spreading the word about RPCN and to recruit members. It’s also a good networking opportunity for you. You’ll greet visitors at our Table and tell them about RPCN and the benefits you derive from being a member. RPCN handouts will be available. There will be another member(s) working with you. I’ll follow up with more info.

Please email Bob Lurz ASAP to volunteer to help staff the table. If you’re attending the conference as an individual, think about taking a turn at the RPCN table.

Advertising Opportunity

RPCN creates and distributes a calendar ad sheet every 2 months. The calendar ad sheet is distributed at each of our meetings, so approximately 150 to 200 people see your ad each month!

Ads are inexpensive and support RPCN. The cost to advertise is $20 for 2 months (member price) and $40 for 2 months (non-member price). The deadline to get your ad in the November/December 2018 calendar ad sheet is Friday, October 19, 2018. Sign up for your ad here.

New members

We want you!