January 12, 2015

DCR Welcomes New Intern to the Team

Hello everyone, my name is Luke Hammer and I am a senior at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota. I am pursuing a degree in Marketing and will be graduating this summer. I love spending time with friends, playing basketball, and listening to music. Living the first 20 years of my life in Los Angeles, the last year and a half in Minnesota has been quite the experience! Even though I have only been in Minnesota for a short time, I have fallen in love with this freezing cold, tater tot hot dish loving state and plan to spend the rest of my life here. I'm thrilled about my opportunity to intern for the Chamber and hope to grow in my real world marketing skills, as well as learn from the staff at the Chamber. I'm looking forward to meeting all of you and learning more about you and your businesses!

Promote Your Business at the 2015 womEn's conference

The planning has begun for this year's 2015 womEn's conference! Here's what you can do to get involved:

Place your promotional items in our conference bags! All you need to do is provide us with 200 of your promotional items and we will do the rest. This is great marketing for your business, with over 150 women attending the conference each year. Just drop your items off at the DCR office or leave them with one of our staff.

Donate to our wine pull and market your business! We are looking for donations for our wine pull for this year's conference. All the profits from this part of the event go towards the 4 $500 scholarships we are giving young women in the community. All you have to do is donate bottles of wine valued at $10 or above and attach your business card. Click here for the easy form. Not only is this a great marketing opportunity for your business as well, but it is a fun way to get involved with the conference! Just drop your donations off at the DCR office during regular business hours.

Committed to business... for YOU.

DCR Announces Top Legislative Priorities

DCR Chamber is working on your behalf to ensure your business interests are represented at the Capitol during this upcoming legislative session. Several priorities have been identified to focus our efforts to ensure the Dakota County region remains a competitive place in which to do business. To date, they include:

Personal Income Tax: Reduce tax burdens for pass-through entities
Workforce: Produce graduates in workforce demand areas
Health Care: Enact practical reforms to MNsure
Transportation: Build business community consensus on a 2015 policy
Workers' Compensation Reform
Minimum Wage: Opposition to Automatic Escalator

Learn more about the 2015 Policies. If you would like to be added to a specific Policy Interest and Action Group for one or all of the policies, please contact Vicki Stute at 651.228.9201. We need your support and voice.

January's Breakfast with Champions to Feature "The Ideal Guest Experience"

Having a great Guest Experience is no longer a luxury that only

Sponsored and Hosted by Argosy University

large businesses can deliver. It is a survival tool in today's market and the only true competitive advantage.

Join us for this month's "Breakfast with Champions" that will feature guest speaker Don Thorpe of Shared Experience Consulting, who will be leading a workshop in growing and expanding your business. Don will speak on how to successfully create the business you want, improve the results, and increase your income and business/life balance.

Don will also speak on the IDEAL Guest Experience, which covers introducing, designing, executing, aligning, and leading. The IDEAL Guest Experience is a comprehensive, holistic approach that any business can use to improve the experience for customers or guests. Start today; make your business the obvious choice of the guests in your market. Click here to register for this great event!

Business Owners Roundtable 2

Due to a high level of interest in the program, your Chamber is looking to start a second Business Owners Roundtable. Business Owners Roundtable provides fellow business owners with a forum to develop successful business strategies, engage a sounding board, and hear new tactical ideas from peers. They promote open exchange of ideas through group discussion and individual expert presentations.

The Membership requirements for the group include:

1) Must be a member in good standing of the Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce.

2) One member per industry is allowed in the group (non-compete)

3) Meetings are held one time per month. Attendance is required.

4) Active participation is required.

5) Confidentiality is essential to the group.

If you are interested in being a part of a second Business Owners Roundtable, please e-mail Kate with your industry, company name and employee count. Openings will be filled on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Events Calendar

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
12 11:30 a.m. Speed Networking Luncheon	13	14 8:00 a.m. ChamberNet Two Noon ChamberNet	15 11:30 a.m. the womEn's circle	16
19	20 Noon Meet the Chamber	21 7:30 a.m. Business Owner's Roundtable 8:00 a.m. Farmington Coffee Break	22 7:30 a.m. Breakfast with Champions	23
26	27 8:00 a.m. West St. Paul/Mendota Heights Coffee Break	28 8:00 a.m. ChamberNet Two Noon ChamberNet	29	30
2	3 8:00 a.m. Rosemount Coffee Break	4 4:30 p.m. Why Not Wednesday?	5	6 7:30 a.m. Legislative Breakfast Series

Did You Know?

Forty-five percent of Americans make New Year's resolutions. The top resolutions are: get organized, to spend less and save more, to stay fit and healthy, and to quit smoking. While nearly half of all Americans make resolutions, 25 percent of them give up on their resolutions by the second week of January. Source

What's your New Year's resolution?

Tweet us at @dcrchamber to let us know!

Local Focus: Find Out What's Happening In Your Community

West St. Paul City Council meets January 12 - see the agenda.

Eagan City Council Work Session meets January 13 - see the agenda.

Farmington Planning Commission meets January 13- see the agenda.

City of West St. Paul to Hold Open Meetings

City of West St. Paul- In an effort to increase community involvement on important issues, the City of West St. Paul will be holding Neighborhood Meetings in January.

Topics of discussion will include the Robert Street Improvement Project, Harmon Park renovations, and an upcoming 3-year project to prevent storm water from entering the City's sanitary sewer system. There will be time set aside for questions as well. Click here to read the full press release.

Wed. Jan. 14 - Ward 2

Heritage School (121 West Butler St. West St. Paul, MN 55118)

Thurs. Jan. 22 - Ward 3

St. James Lutheran Church (460 Annapolis Ave. West St. Paul, MN 55118)

Tues. Jan. 27- At Large

City Hall (1616 Humboldt Ave. West St. Paul, MN 55118)

Your Membership: It Isn't Personal!

Your Chamber membership doesn't only belong to you; it belongs to your entire company! Each membership investment is based on the number of employees your location employs. Because of this, anyone at your office or facility is welcome to utilize the membership. As a member, you can send as many or as few employees as you'd like to an event. All or some can be involved in a committee and everyone can receive the Weekly Update. These are only a few of the many benefits EVERYONE at your company has access to. Questions? Contact Member Services Manager, Kate Bowen.

New Members

We welcome the following new members!

Taco Andal�

18500 Pilot Knob Road

Suite A

Farmington, MN 55024

Contact: Bryce Wilson

Taco Andal� (ON-duh-lay, like what Speedy Gonzales says!) is a new fast-food restaurant opening soon off Pilot Knob on the north end of Farmington. Offering take-out and some limited dine-in, we expect to reach most of our customers through delivery. While still honoring the classics, we aim to specialize in unique and exciting tacos and burritos (and churros!) with a focus on fresh ingredients- nothing canned and foods only frozen when other alternatives aren't available. We also intend to use as many locally sourced ingredients as possible. Our goal is to open in February.

Member News

News on what's happening with our members and in the community!

Congratulations to Mike Ferber, DCR Chamber Member who works with Can-Do-Canines, for raising a puppy into such a successful assistance dog! The dog, Fred, attended many Chamber meetings with Mike and we are proud to recognize Mike for his outstanding work and contribution to those in need.

Congratulations to the Eagan CVB, who will be receiving the prestigious "Shop America Salutes Innovation (SASI) ONE GOLD Award" from Shop America Alliance. This is the national organization's highest award and will be received at the end of January in Washington D.C.

McAlister Marketing: registration is open now for the "11 Steps to Business Success" Workshop, beginning January 14th. If you're looking to grow your business, become more operationally efficient, and increase revenue, this workshop is perfect for you. Join experts in the field of Business, Operations, Marketing, and Finance, to learn how to set your business up for success. The registration is open now, seats are limited, DCRC members eligible for discount. Contact Joal McAlister for more information at joal@mcalistermktg.com.

Congratulations to Roz Peterson, Cerron Commercial Properties and past chair of your Chamber's Board of Directors. Roz was sworn in last Tuesday as a newly-elected member of Minnesota's House of Representatives for District 56B in Dakota County.

Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce

1121 Town Centre Drive, Suite 102

Eagan, MN 55123

651.452.9872

STAY CONNECTED