The Importance of Follow Through in Business

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Any business, but especially small businesses, which make up the backbone of this country, are often viewed as only as good as the word of their people. I have tried very hard for us at the Liberty County Chamber/CVB to not start programs we don’t finish and not to break a promise, real or implied to others. We have actually streamlined our processes in our organizations to keep the amount of new things to a minimum, as more and more is added to our plate every day, and we can only do so much, six folks strong, even with active and engaged boards. We try to do what we do fantastically, without fail and polish, tweaking and changing what is necessary to make our already outstanding programming better.

We hesitate (and agonize) before making an announcement, especially on social media, that we are beginning some new thing, because once that word is out we feel duty bound to make sure we are delivering, as we should.

So in this week’s blog I thought I would offer a brief history of the programs we do have, along with their length in existence because we don’t just create and then discard ideas, we stick with them, grow them, shine them and evolve them. But on the flip side here are some as well that we’ve tried that just haven’t worked, some for a year and some for 12 years, and we’re realistic enough to know that if it doesn’t work we should just stop doing it, so we have.

• Leadership Liberty-we are graduating our 14^th class in June 2018. This adult leadership program was formed out of an initiative by the Governor of Georgia and the University of Georgia. We operate the certified adult leadership program for Liberty County.
• YALL-we are graduating our 12^th class in May 2018. This youth leadership program was developed out of a County Retreat 13 years ago and originally fell under the umbrella of the Liberty County Health Department when they had adolescent health programming. The program itself was created by a collaboration of the City of Hinesville, Liberty County Board of Commissioners, Liberty County Health Dept & the Liberty County Chamber of Commerce. Since that time it was moved to us totally, and we have been proud to facilitate it, using curriculum developed for youth leadership initiatives by the University of Georgia. We were actually asked to present at a UGA Leadership Conference this year on the program but had to decline due to timing.
• Workshops-we have hosted workshops every year that we have been around. That’s 42 years as of May 2018, and counting. Some we teach, some we bring in facilitators and some we have spent thousands of dollars to have college level professors come into the community and lead.
• Membership Appreciation Low Country Boil/New General Welcome-has happened for at least as long as I have known there was a Chamber in Liberty County, so 20 (cough) years. Our chance to let our hair down, mingle, network & eat great food. Had formerly been held as a welcome to the new 3^rd ID General every fall, but now we don’t get a new General each fall, but we honor the tradition nevertheless.
• Christmas Parade-this is year 22 of the Illuminated Christmas Parade. This annual holiday favorite brings 15,000 people into downtown Hinesville to watch as 80+ entries march past full of holiday cheer.
• Liberty Magazine-we’re on year 8 of producing a community quality of life piece that we can all be proud of! We use these all over the county, and we also ship them all over the world. We print 10,000 each year and get rid of every one!
• M2M Discount Program-another one of those, that I can quasi remember has been in place for at least 10 years, but it’s most likely longer. This robust discount program allows members to share discounts with each other and currently has over 90 discounts available!
• Strategic Planning on Fort Stewart-We are invited each year (at least for the last 7) to participate in this planning as our input, opinions and resources are valued by the leadership on base.
• Strategic Planning Countywide Retreat-We have participated in this for at least the last 12+ years, bringing new ideas to the table, facilitating cohesion and tackling community-wide issues.
• Strategic Planning Liberty County Board of Education-This is another we are proud to be a part of for the last 7 years.
• 3^rd ID Day at the Capitol-For the last 4 years we have organized this endeavor with Rep Al Williams as a way to bring Fort Stewart to Atlanta. Honoring our service men and women on the House floor, sharing the economic impact of the base and more.
• Shop Local, Shop Liberty Committee-An ongoing effort for the 7 years and even before that by another name, we have a concerted and organized effort to encourage you to shop here!
• Website– our new website launched in 2014 and hasn’t turned back since. This robust piece of internet real estate takes some serious work to maintain with as much up-to-date info as we can pile on it.
• LIVE in Liberty– Started in July 2017 as a livestream on Facebook where we run thru the week of events upcoming in Liberty County. It has expanded some since that time to include guests who talk about upcoming events and averages 1500 or so views per week, some more & some less. Clearly of value to those who watch!
• Southern Cooks-We started our live cooking show on Facebook in 2015, featuring a local chef or really good home cook almost every month. Another popular thing to watch, we are able to showcase the diversity of food available in our community, as well as highlight local talent!

Now this is not counting things like: Business After Hours, Progress Through People luncheons, Eggs & Issues, Backyard BBQ, hosting Legislative Hearings, ESPLOST, TSPLOST, SPLOST, Hail/Farewell Events for 3^rd ID Leadership, Ribbon Cuttings, our App…. and on, and on.

What didn’t work:

• Christmas in the Park-after 12 years we are admitting defeat. We have tried everything from a Monday to a Wednesday to a Saturday and there doesn’t seem to be a magic potion for this event. We have decided to focus our efforts & resources elsewhere & instead this year we will host Santa at the City of Hinesville Tree Lighting event on Thursday, November 29^th.
• Employer Round Table-we tried this last year, wanted to do it quarterly, the first one was poorly attended and then it just kinda got lost in the shuffle.
• Small World Festival-believe it or not this used to be a Chamber event, which was before my time, however, it got to be too much for the Chamber staff at the time to handle so the Hinesville Downtown Development Authority took it over & they’re doing a great job!

What’s new this year:

• EZTexting-we are implementing a text system that will allow members to sign up for reminder texts! This is NOT a group text and there will be no responses from 500 of your nearest & dearest.
• UNDISCOVERED Liberty-new this year as of January, we started this live web series to highlight some of those undiscovered locations in Liberty County. So far we’ve seen Cay Creek Wetlands Interpretative Center and Dorchester Academy. Both episodes have been very popular so we’re looking forward to the rest of the year!

 

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-Leah Poole, CEO for the Liberty County Chamber of Commerce & Liberty County CVB

The Right Blend Blog is written by two different authors employed by the Liberty County Chamber/CVB. As we are able, we rotate weeks and each writes about our individual experiences, opinions and let our writing reflect our personalities and creativity. All content provided on The Right Blend blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site.