One of the things that is not covered in Marketing 101 is how beneficial it is for most businesses to be active in their local Chamber of Commerce. Okay..I already hear the moans and groans from some readers whose experience with the Chamber is much like the local country club, but hear me out before you let a 20-year old experience seal the deal.

I wonder if you share an experience I have had—when I meet someone and the connection with them is so strong that I find myself wondering why it took me so long to come across them. Surely someone with whom I see so eye to eye should have been in my circle for decades. Of course, it occurs to me that “decades ago,” I may have not been fully baked and wouldn’t have been the person I would have to be to hit it off so well with the person in question…and the same probably goes for them as well.