"Embracing the entrepreneurial spirit since 1998"
March 2013                                Biz Buzz
Vol. 15, No. 7
In This Issue
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Recipe
Announcements
President's Message
Reports
Member Profile
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2012/13 Board of Directors


Vice President

Past President
Larry Summers

Membership
Nancy Farey

Marketing

Program Director

Web

Newsletter

Secretary

Social

Treasurer
New Members

Olaf Hinrichs 
Gordon & Kathleen Turner 
 
Robert & Debbie Clandening  
Custom
Cupboard

By Dawn McRae, Custom Gourmet Chef

 

Caramelized Onion Dip

 

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

4 small onions, chopped

1/2 shallot, finely chopped

2 sprigs fresh thyme

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp coarse salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tbsps mayonnaise

1/2 tsp celery salt

 

Procedure

1. Heat oil in heavy-bottom pan or Dutch oven heat oil over medium heat. Add onions, shallot, and thyme. Let cook until onions are very soft and caramel in color, 20-25 minutes, stirring frequently and reducing heat as necessary.

2. Add vinegar and Worcestershire sauce; let cook until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper; remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

3. Meanwhile, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk together cream cheese, sour cream, and mayonnaise until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add cooled onions and celery salt; stir to combine. Transfer to refrigerator to chill at least 2 hours and up to 2 weeks; serve with fresh vegetable sticks, flatbreads, or baguette slices.

 

Servings: 16

Yield: 2 cups

 

Do you have a  

kitchen question?

info@Custom 

GourmetChef.com 

Announcements
 

Call out for donations... 

As one of Highland Secondary School Interact Club's fundraisers they are hosting a variety night at Highland on Thursday, April 18. Funds will be raised through admissions and a silent auction.   

Their project this year is Free the Children's clean water initiative in Kenya. Every twenty five dollars raised is enough for one person to have clean water for life.

 

If you are interested in providing an item, service or gift certificate for the evening's silent auction please contact Sarah Brune (on behalf of Josie Brune). Don't forget to include a business card and value of your item.

 

 

 
  
President's Message 
   

I would like to remind all members of three very important events the HBSBA is hosting.   

 

The first event is our Annual HBSBA Awards Night on May 2nd.  This year we are also celebrating our 15th Anniversary as an Association in the Comox Valley. You will be receiving nomination forms for your choice for Business of the Year, New Business, Merit Award and Members Choice Award to name a few.   To help the Awards Committee I encourage you to fill out a form as well as  the form "Toot Your Own Horn".  Tell us about yourself and you may find yourself a recipient of one of these Awards.
   

Next, the CVHBSBA's 2013 AGM is scheduled for June 6, 2013.  Please note that according to the provisions of the BC Societies Act, the Board of Directors are required to give notice of any proposed changes to the Official Policies that govern the Association at least 60 days prior to the Association's Annual General Meeting.  Members will be asked to vote on these changes at the AGM and are welcome to voice their concerns to any member of the Board of Directors.  Be on the look out for the information on the changes.

 

Finally we will be participating in this year's Canada Day Parade.  This is a fun day to promote both the organization and our own businesses.  As your Community Events Director, I will be keeping you informed as time goes by on the theme for this year's parade and will be asking for a small committee to help with the planning. 

 

Donna Clairmont 

Clairmont Custom Drapes and Design 

250-339-6785 - Email
Directors' Reports
 
Membership Report 
The Membership Committee encourages all members to pay their dues when they are received via email notice. Our association depends on these annual dues to pay for the monthly meeting venue as well as other expenses such as post office box, insurance, etc.  You can pay at a General Meeting or mail your payment to the PO Box address as our Treasurer checks this box on a regular basis.

We encourage all members to come to our meetings.  We always have good speakers plus networking opportunities before & after the meeting.  We also remind our members to make guests feel welcome. It is important to the health of the HBSBA that we attract new members to our organization - invite newcomers to sit with your group, answer their questions and explain the benefits of membership.    

A reminder that we have created a binder for member business cards. This binder is always on the table at our meetings. We encourage you to look at and  use this as a reference for referrals within the group. Please check to make sure your card is in the binder.

 

If you have old photos of any events at the HBBA over the past 15 years, please contact Marg Szafron as she will be converting all the old photos to a slide show on DVD that can be used as a promo for our group. 

 

Hope to see you all at the March meeting.  If you would like to apply for the Membership Director position, please see Marg or Nancy.  It is not a difficult position, but does require that you can manage a small database on the computer in order to keep track of our members.

 

Marg Szafron/Nancy Farey 


Program Report 
Our March 7  meeting will feature a presentation about "Fraud Against Businesses." An officer from the RCMP will discuss business fraud, and Bob Wells, owner of My Tech Guys, will focus on internet fraud. Both will provide tips to business owners to minimize the risk of being victimized. 

 

Passwords, software updates, PCI compliance, security cameras, access to info (email, Dropbox, backups), and "social engineering" are among the topics to be discussed.

 

There will also be a brief spotlight presentation by HBSBA member, Dennis Richardson. Mr. Richardson is the area representative for Canada Purple Shield, the leading provider of financial solutions for families pre-planning and pre-paying for funeral arrangements in Canada.   While the company is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, Mr. Richardson is celebrating his 35th anniversary in the financial industry. 

 

Sean Murphy  

       

  

Website Report

Hope everyone found the little instruction I gave at the February meeting helpful. Just to remind you that I have put a pdf copy of the instructions on the website under Members.  

 

Just a little clarification about the menu items. Menu items with a drop down list have information at their top most level. Think of the Contact Us. There is no drop down menu, so you just click on Contact Us. Another way to tell. Just hold your curser over the menu bar and it will light up on every level that has a page.

 

Speaking of the menu bar, I have done some rearranging of the menu items. Here are the changes I made:

  • Members has been moved to the far right side of the website as this is where Login usually would appear. It now only contains the Resources and Login page.
  •  FAQ has been moved from under Members to the About menu.
  •  A new menu item has been created called Business Directory and it contains all the member lists and a new list was created - Business by Member's Name. So now we have lists by member's name, by business name and by type of business. This is also where the monthly featured business will reside. It will still have a quick link along the right sidebar.
  •  The Facebook link was moved off the Contact Us drop down menu and is only available as a quick link item on the right sidebar.

I'm hoping that all these changes make everything easier to navigate around the website. If you have any ideas on what else you think should be on the website, please let me know.

 

So go ahead, get on the website, set up your profile and start posting your business related information. And, don't forget to use our Facebook site as well.

   

Ginny Alliston

Ginny's Graphics & Web Design

250-941-2665 

 

  

Newsletter Report  

Please send in your submissions for the April newsletter by March 21. Of course submissions are accepted before the deadline! 

  

Calling for content...

Do you have any hot tips that you would like to share with your fellow members... marketing, graphic design, social media, technology, money managing, health etc. or what have you learned over the years for your business to succeed?  Submission accepted any time. Everyone who contributes will have a link to their website.

 

Sarah Brune  

Inner Harmony Healing 

250 331 3228 - Email    
 
 
Member Profile
A business card is drawn for this feature

Dennis Richardson is the area representative for Canada Purple Shield.  He has been assisting clients in the Financial Industry for over 35 years.  He has worked as a trust company manager, as an investment advisor for BMO Nesbitt Burns and as a Financial Planner with BMO Bank of Montreal.  Dennis has been a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) since 1991 and has a current membership with the Financial Planning Standard Council as well as being a Certified Pre-planning Consultant. (CPC)  Dennis and his wife, Hildy, moved, to the Comox Valley eight years ago, from Saskatoon, where they were lifelong residents.  Dennis is an active member of the Rotary Club of Comox, the local Kinsmen-K40 Club, and a Director on the Board of the Comox Valley Child Development Association.

 

Canada Purple Shield is the leading provider of financial solutions for families preplanning and prepaying funeral arrangements in Canada.  Canada Purple Shield is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year.  Dennis works with all the funeral homes in the area to provide information to clients wishing to prepay final arrangement thereby eliminating this stress to their family and freezing the cost of future funeral pricing.


Dennis Richardson

250-339-7403  

[email protected]