“Showing appreciation is a natural and important part of building business relationships,” says Merley Greenidge, owner of Celebrate Sweetly. “People do business with people they know, like, and trust.” Strengthening those relationships requires some effort, which is why businesses turn to Celebrate Sweetly for thoughtful, personalized gifts to mark special occasions and to thank employees and clients.

To join the 10am meeting on April 15, click here. 

Next on the program for April 15 is a 5-minute presentation from meeting sponsor Merley Greenidge, owner of Celebrate Sweetly (or as her friends and clients call her, "the Gift Whisperer"). We also look forward to a presentation by our own Jim Nagy of Sprocket Websites, who will talk about "The Customer Journey." Don't miss the April 15 meeting at 10am on Zoom. In the meantime, share your impressions of the Spotlight Sponsorship program to make Synergy membership the best it can be!

March of 2020 began over 365 days ago, and some of us feel like it never really ended. As we move into a new calendar month, though, it's a good time to try to shake off that perpetual-winter feeling and look forward to what April has to offer.

No joke: We will have a 10am Zoom meeting on April Fool’s Day, and it will be sponsored by Harriet Cohen. She is serious about the work she does with her Training Solutions clients, and we are seriously interested in hearing more about her background in business management. But in the spirit of the holiday, we will pepper this article with some unbelievable facts about Harriet; see if you can spot the ones that just have to be a prank.

Some small business owners, freelancers, and entrepreneurs are old pros at working from home, but the rest of us had to quickly adjust to this new normal last year. We cooked up marketing plans at the kitchen table or strew spreadsheets on the bedsheets, doing our best to keep business humming while dealing with our kids and our partners also being home all day long. Maybe it got better and you now run a productive home office and a happy household. Or maybe that chaos of last March became routine.

We live in a digital world, now more than ever. With our meetings held virtually, our documents instantly shareable, and all our devices synced with each other so we never miss a notification, it’s easier than ever to collaborate with partners and clients worldwide. But when technology evolves daily, it’s hard to keep up. Business Computer Associates LLC is where California businesses turn to stay savvy, connected, and most importantly, safe.

We enjoyed catching up with each other and learning about the nuances of the gig economy at our 1st Thursday meeting this week. Thanks to attorney Jeff Boxer for his presentation, and to Kurt French of Thousand Oaks Plumbing for sponsoring our meeting.

Our 3rd Thursday meeting is March 18, where we'll hear from Harriet Cohen of Training Solutions, who has tips for being more productive when you're working from home. The meeting will be sponsored by Frank Bettag of Business Computer Associates LLC. See you there!

If you've ever debated hiring employees or delegating to independent contractors, Thursday's speaker should clear things up.

Los Angeles attorney Jeff Boxer will give a presentation on the Gig Economy at our March 4 Synergy Business Connections meeting, which will take place at 10:00 PST on Zoom. Jeff practices in labor and employment law, and he has seen what can happen when employers and employees don't understand how the gig economy works. 

Synergy membership was a no-brainer of Kurt French. As the man in charge of business development, marketing, and customer service at Thousand Oaks Plumbing, joining a networking group was top priority. “Thousand Oaks Plumbing was simply too good to be too quiet as they’ve been,” says Kurt. 

We had a jam-packed meeting last Thursday! Not only did we get to hear about Yashica Budde and Smash RX in our usual member spotlight, but we also learned about business development and tax preparation from Steve Freeman of Freeman & Associates Accountancy Corporation, AND we discovered that our opinions can shape the future of Thousand Oaks as the city lays out a General Plan for the next 25 years.