Getting Connected

In addition to the advantages membership offers any small business, there is a growing trend toward the creation of special homebased business committees and councils within chambers of commerce. Heidi Sammons, marketing and membership manager with the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce in California, says the growing number of homebased business owners inspired her to establish homebased business committees in the Anaheim and nearby Cerritos chambers in 1994 and 1993, respectively. "In Cerritos in 1992, for example, I found that 50 percent of all new businesses in the city started in homes," Sammons says.

The types of homebased business programs established vary widely. Some, like Sammons', are targeted to homebased businesses, while others simply focus on small and new businesses, many of which also happen to be homebased. Some require membership in the chamber; others, like the Business Growth Network run by Virginia's Richmond Area Chamber of Commerce, offer business owners a chance to grow into membership.

At the Business Growth Network, participants meet twice monthly for two years to get tips on subjects such as marketing and sales. They can also attend the quarterly chamber of commerce socializing and networking event, even though they aren't members.

"Network members may also participate in the chamber's annual trade show," adds Robinson, who says the primary purpose of the network is to build companies. After two years, an entrepreneur must either join the chamber or drop out of the network.

In New York, the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce has created a homebased business council within the chamber, which meets regularly to provide networking opportunities and programs useful to homebased business owners, says chamber vice president of communications and government relations Jo Ann LeSage.

"We formed a separate entity because we felt the need to address issues homebased entrepreneurs face that no one else does," explains Helen Volk, the council's chair and one of its founders.

"I joined the chamber to deal with the isolation and to get involved in the business community," says Volk, owner of Beyond Clutter, an organizational training and consulting firm. "As homebased business owners, we can easily work at home [alone] for hours, and we don't have those [social or business] connections normally found in an office setting. The chamber gives me both of those.

"When I initially joined the chamber, there wasn't a homebased business council," adds Volk, who says the council enables entrepreneurs to further explore unique issues such as how to stay motivated, maintaining discipline, and knowing when it's time to stop working.

Other signs of the movement toward homebased services: At the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce, vice president of small-business development Sonya Buckner says there are plans to institute a CEO Roundtable program for homebased businesses this year. And some organizations, such as the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce in California, have created special reduced-priced membership categories for homebased businesses.

This article was originally published in the February 1996 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Getting Connected.