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The Chamber Advantage: Advocacy, Access & Impact with Kristina Park · The Confident Entrepreneur With Jennifer Ann Johnson

• 0:36
  Jennifer Johnson: You've probably heard of Chambers of Commerce, but do you really know what they do?
• 0:40
  Jennifer Johnson: These powerhouse organizations are the unsung hero of local economies, fostering growth, advocating for businesses and connecting entrepreneurs and opportunities.
• 0:51
  Jennifer Johnson: In this podcast, we'll explore how Chambers of Commerce shape local business landscapes, the vital services they provide to members, from networking to professional development, real stories of businesses that have flourished with Chamber support, and the impact of Chambers on policymaking and community development.
• 1:09
  Jennifer Johnson: Whether you're a seasoned business owner, an aspiring entrepreneur or simply curious about what makes your local economy tick, we will give you valuable insights into this essential organization.
• 1:21
  Jennifer Johnson: Today, we welcome into the studio Kristina Park.
• 1:26
  Jennifer Johnson: She is the CEO of the Greater Naples Chamber.
• 1:29
  Jennifer Johnson: Thank you so much for having me.
• 1:31
  Jennifer Johnson: I am so excited to dive into this because I know a lot of people are like well, yeah, doesn't every town have a chamber, but I don't know what they do.
• 1:40
  Jennifer Johnson: Are they like the welcome wagon People?
• 1:41
  Jennifer Johnson: I don't know what they do.
• 1:41
  Jennifer Johnson: Are they like the welcome?
• 1:42
  Kristina Park: wagon Right, right.
• 1:42
  Jennifer Johnson: Like people honestly may not know.
• 1:45
  Jennifer Johnson: So, before we get into that, what is it that inspired you to become part of the Greater Naples Chamber?
• 1:53
  Kristina Park: Absolutely so.
• 1:54
  Kristina Park: I've always been an advocate for business.
• 1:56
  Kristina Park: I grew up watching my father's an entrepreneur right, running different kinds of businesses from all different types of industries, so I've always supported business owners and community growth and development.
• 2:06
  Kristina Park: Right, we're a community impact organization, and so what attracted me to the greater Naples chamber was the this, this community, is something so exceptional, right, and I heard that before I moved.
• 2:14
  Kristina Park: I'm seeing that and experiencing that now that I've relocated here, which has been a rather recent, recent, but there's so much opportunity ahead to support these businesses.
• 2:23
  Kristina Park: It is well known it is named the top place to live in the USA just this last year for so many amazing reasons.
• 2:30
  Kristina Park: So how do we protect and preserve what makes it so special as we grow?
• 2:33
  Kristina Park: And so I think just the opportunity to support the businesses that make up our ecosystem and drive this community forward again while we protect and preserve and grow wisely just really intrigued me about the opportunity to relocate here.
• 2:49
  Jennifer Johnson: I'm glad that you said grow wisely, because not a lot of people, I think, would connect the dots that a chamber.
• 2:57
  Jennifer Johnson: That's part of what they do.
• 2:59
  Jennifer Johnson: They make sure that the community is growing responsibly and thoughtfully to make sure that it's not a smattering of things.
• 3:10
  Kristina Park: Right, right.
• 3:10
  Kristina Park: And so we have three pillars of our organization.
• 3:14
  Kristina Park: We have our economic development efforts, called the partnership.
• 3:16
  Kristina Park: We have the chamber of commerce and our member services that we provide there, and then we have leadership, call your foundation.
• 3:22
  Kristina Park: So our all of our programming that goes along with fostering leaders and developing leaders in our community.
• 3:27
  Kristina Park: And so the, the, those three work directly in concert with one another to produce the leaders that are going to be driving our economic development and supporting our member businesses.
• 3:36
  Kristina Park: Right, so they work totally in concert.
• 3:38
  Kristina Park: But, to your point, it's so important to understand, when you're making a decision, how does this impact this part of our community, that part of our community?
• 3:44
  Kristina Park: So all that we can do to educate and understand, because we are able to move forward collectively and collaboratively when we understand those impacts.
• 3:53
  Kristina Park: So we sit right at the nexus of all of those opportunities to help educate and move that needle forward right, lead collaboration and curate consensus towards where we're headed.
• 4:05
  Jennifer Johnson: So you touched on leadership and it sounds.
• 4:08
  Jennifer Johnson: It's so intriguing because I don't know if other chambers have this, so I want to expound on that a little bit.
• 4:13
  Jennifer Johnson: But the leadership program yes.
• 4:15
  Jennifer Johnson: So the leadership program fosters the growth of these leaders that then fall into place throughout your community.
• 4:22
  Jennifer Johnson: Do other chambers have that, or is that just inherent to our chamber?
• 4:26
  Kristina Park: They do so it's not always under a chamber of commerce.
• 4:29
  Kristina Park: There are many chambers that do host something of this nature, and they just have varying degrees.
• 4:33
  Kristina Park: What is so intriguing and exceptional about the Leadership Collier Foundation is they're offering it at many different levels.
• 4:40
  Kristina Park: We've got our high school program, designed to make sure that those that are headed to college understand the beautiful parts of the community, even if they're from here.
• 4:47
  Kristina Park: They may never have known, so they want to come back and return and bring their talents back home once they finish their studies.
• 4:53
  Kristina Park: We've got our Associate Leadership Collier for our emerging leaders and we've got our traditional Leadership Collier program and we partner with the Greater Naples Leadership who's for our seasoned professionals in the market and so having so many layers, and then you incorporate the leadership skills development components as well through our leadership lunches and some leadership training opportunities that we have.
• 5:12
  Jennifer Johnson: So, yes, many chambers may have them, but I the the how robust this one is to service such a variety of audiences and really recognize that true leadership skills development starts early, and let's just foster that spirit throughout and I love that, because starting out young with somebody I mean, I moved here, obviously, when I was a lot older, but a young kid not knowing what their community offers and you're showcasing that for them how cool is that?
• 5:42
  Jennifer Johnson: Because then they can go.
• 5:43
  Jennifer Johnson: Oh, I can see where I can fit into this economy or this community once I graduate from college or once I graduate from high school.
• 5:52
  Jennifer Johnson: It helps them plug themselves in a little bit better.
• 5:56
  Kristina Park: Well, and having the diversity of perspective so that we're shaping an inclusive community right.
• 6:00
  Kristina Park: I mean, we're not just servicing the CEOs of major corporations that may sit in a boardroom leading certain initiatives.
• 6:08
  Kristina Park: It is all of these ages that we're trying to ensure that we're creating a livable community for, and so we call them our emerging leaders, our leaders of tomorrow, but they're leaders of today.
• 6:18
  Kristina Park: They're leading in their circles of influence, and our job is to just help give them the toolkit necessary to allow them to be the best possible leader in our community.
• 6:27
  Jennifer Johnson: That is so great.
• 6:28
  Jennifer Johnson: You're fostering this growth so young.
• 6:30
  Jennifer Johnson: Now, how has your vision for the organization evolved since you started, because you haven't been here for that long, but how has it changed and how are you seeing?
• 6:41
  Kristina Park: things.
• 6:41
  Kristina Park: So I just think, managing opportunity I mean there's so much opportunity within those three pillars of how they again work and orchestrate with one another and then what this community needs may be what these community needs are Again, protecting, preserving what makes us special, deciding where we're headed.
• 6:58
  Kristina Park: You know, Chambers of Commerce can have mission creep.
• 7:01
  Kristina Park: I saw interesting right.
• 7:03
  Kristina Park: If you've ever seen Lion King, they hold up.
• 7:04
  Kristina Park: You know everything in the light touches.
• 7:06
  Kristina Park: Is your job description right?
• 7:07
  Kristina Park: I mean the Chamber of Commerce.
• 7:08
  Kristina Park: We get calls for everything.
• 7:10
  Kristina Park: I'm sure you do, because you're the go-to.
• 7:12
  Jennifer Johnson: We're the go-to.
• 7:12
  Jennifer Johnson: You're the welcoming committee to the town Sure and so that's part of it, right.
• 7:23
  Kristina Park: And so because we're recognized as that nexus of all things.
• 7:24
  Kristina Park: But we don't have to provide all those services directly, necessarily.
• 7:25
  Kristina Park: We have to be that central hub of resources, right?
• 7:28
  Kristina Park: So this morning I had an opportunity to work with our Small Business Development Center, based out of FGCU.
• 7:33
  Kristina Park: Talk about a fantastic resource, and so why would we duplicate, why would we try to step into a space where we're not the absolute experts?
• 7:40
  Kristina Park: Let's partner with those that are, refer back and forth.
• 7:43
  Kristina Park: So ultimately, I think just we're creating some dynamics about what I would say is our ecosystem and our atmosphere.
• 7:50
  Kristina Park: Who are we, what do we provide directly?
• 7:52
  Kristina Park: And then who is in our atmosphere that we can help partner, collaborate, form those partnerships with?
• 7:58
  Jennifer Johnson: to refer back and forth Right, it creates the biggest impact and, like you said, not duplicating efforts for certain.
• 8:07
  Jennifer Johnson: So how do you, as a chamber, measure your impact that you're having on your community?
• 8:16
  Kristina Park: So it's qualitative and quantitative right.
• 8:17
  Kristina Park: I mean we're.
• 8:17
  Kristina Park: We want to see membership growth because we recognize that we're providing value to more and more on a consistent basis and continually growing that membership.
• 8:22
  Kristina Park: But engagement is a huge part of that too.
• 8:25
  Kristina Park: Right, you can write your check and never show up and send it every you know, and there are some businesses that that is their desire.
• 8:29
  Kristina Park: They want to invest in an organization like ours that they recognize is doing this work full time to move that needle forward.
• 8:35
  Kristina Park: And so engagement looks different for all of our members but seeing that we're providing programming that they find is valuable, creating and fostering meaningful connections in the right types of settings and showcasing our member businesses.
• 8:48
  Kristina Park: So it's a combination of both quantitative and qualitative.
• 8:50
  Kristina Park: We get that through survey work and a lot of anecdotal and then often, you know, I think our best note of success is when we get those referrals from existing members who are happy and satisfied and seeing value in their membership and saying to others you've got to go where I've run to get value.
• 9:07
  Jennifer Johnson: So, on that note, success stories, yes, of people that have worked with the chamber, been chamber members, you know.
• 9:15
  Jennifer Johnson: Can you share one with us Like, oh man, there's so many, to narrow it down.
• 9:19
  Kristina Park: Well, I mean, I think that the first two that come to mind.
• 9:20
  Kristina Park: So one is a connection, one is a resource element, right?
• 9:22
  Kristina Park: So we had a digital marketing firm and a tech company that were able to team up and create better visibility for both of their organizations because they were stronger together, right.
• 9:31
  Kristina Park: And then we have stories, like I heard at our recent member showcase, where an individual came to me and said if not for you and your organization during COVID, I would have gone under.
• 9:40
  Kristina Park: But it was because of the resources and direction that you provided, the input, the connections with those that were forging a similar path that I was able to even sustain and keep my business open.
• 9:51
  Kristina Park: So stories like that are just tremendous and I think you could share a lot of insight with me.
• 9:56
  Kristina Park: Actually, right, you're an active member of our organization, you're a business owner, you're an author, You're a mother, you're connected and you're giving back to our community.
• 10:03
  Kristina Park: What is it that you found valuable?
• 10:05
  Jennifer Johnson: through our organization.
• 10:06
  Jennifer Johnson: Well, what I found valuable is the connections.
• 10:09
  Jennifer Johnson: Just going to the events that the chamber puts on has been invaluable, because I've connected with and sat next to people that never in my wildest dreams would I ever have thought that I'd be even in the same room with and that's big it is.
• 10:27
  Jennifer Johnson: You know whether it's I would feel like, oh, I don't think I could be in the same room as that person or I just wasn't near them, like it was a connector.
• 10:39
  Jennifer Johnson: Sure, you know, it is a connector for me and that's important.
• 10:42
  Jennifer Johnson: And it also provides education for me in the realm of many different.
• 10:48
  Jennifer Johnson: Well, we've got this thing.
• 10:49
  Jennifer Johnson: This person's coming in to speak on this or whatever Valuable information that, as a business owner, is important, absolutely Well, we've got this thing.
• 10:54
  Jennifer Johnson: This person's coming in to speak on this or whatever Valuable information that, as a business owner, is important.
• 10:56
  Kristina Park: Absolutely Well, that's just it right.
• 10:57
  Kristina Park: I mean, you've gotten where you are because of your own grace and grit.
• 11:00
  Kristina Park: That has led you to be so successful.
• 11:02
  Kristina Park: But we're just trying to create those platforms for connection and opportunity and collaboration and bringing people together.
• 11:08
  Kristina Park: They all care about this community we have a shared vision for where we want it to go and the pro-business advocacy work we're doing to make sure that you can focus on running your business and we can make sure that you have the right path and platform for that and then ultimately, you know just if people are able to utilize it as a platform for connection and education.
• 11:26
  Jennifer Johnson: Advocacy.
• 11:26
  Jennifer Johnson: You just touched on it.
• 11:28
  Jennifer Johnson: So I hear so much that chambers advocate for the businesses.
• 11:35
  Jennifer Johnson: What does that look like?
• 11:37
  Jennifer Johnson: Are you up at not Capitol Hill, but at our Capitol talking to lawmakers?
• 11:43
  Jennifer Johnson: What does advocacy for the members look like?
• 11:46
  Kristina Park: in small business.
• 11:47
  Kristina Park: Yeah, so we do a lot at the local and state level and then we do partner with larger Chamber of Commerce conglomerates that we are part of members of, with our U chamber um, the association of chamber of commerce executives, to advocate for pro-business policy at the national level Okay, so it goes above and beyond what you could do locally or statewide.
• 12:05
  Kristina Park: It does, it does, and so there you know.
• 12:06
  Kristina Park: Advocacy is about um, the unification of voices and coming to collectively to address an issue, and educating our policymakers on impact right.
• 12:16
  Kristina Park: They're expected to be the expert on all things which is just unrealistic for any individual and so our hope is to become that go-to for our elected officials when they're going to make a decision that impacts business.
• 12:27
  Kristina Park: They're picking up the phone and they're saying where's the Chamber of Commerce in this conversation?
• 12:31
  Kristina Park: How are they helping to gather the input of the members that we're going to impact by making this decision?
• 12:36
  Kristina Park: And then ultimately, if things are progressing and you, business owner, are busy running your business, we're watching to understand what is going to be on that agenda, what conversations are taking place where we need to have the business voice be heard and, as these things kind of come down the pike, that we're able to advocate on behalf of our member businesses again, both a lot of the local, you know, kind of county level, and then at the state level as well.
• 12:57
  Jennifer Johnson: That's great Because, yes, we are doing.
• 12:59
  Jennifer Johnson: We're staying in our lane as business owners doing what we're supposed to be doing.
• 13:03
  Jennifer Johnson: It's hard for us to pay attention to all the stuff that's happening out there that can affect our business and a lot of times does and then on the backside of it, we don't know what to do.
• 13:15
  Jennifer Johnson: If it actually you know, if it's a law that goes into place or whatever, you guys are on the forefront of it, and that's our job.
• 13:21
  Kristina Park: We're just going to watch what's coming down the pike, what could be happening.
• 13:25
  Kristina Park: And again, we want to kind of flip the script on that and become the go-to resource for our elected officials and partners in government on staff to understand that we can help get the input from the business community and that this is what their needs are so they can do business effectively.
• 13:40
  Jennifer Johnson: That's awesome because you're out there advocating for all of us.
• 13:43
  Jennifer Johnson: That's so great.
• 13:45
  Jennifer Johnson: So what role?
• 13:47
  Jennifer Johnson: We've already talked about connecting and all of that networking.
• 13:52
  Jennifer Johnson: Know networking essentially, but what role does the chamber play in attracting new businesses to the area in which they're at, you know, as a whole?
• 14:02
  Jennifer Johnson: How does that piece fit into what a chamber does so different?
• 14:07
  Kristina Park: organizations like mine are different across the country.
• 14:09
  Kristina Park: Some have economic development under their umbrella, like we do, Some do not, and they partner with that private or public-private partnership of economic development resources.
• 14:17
  Kristina Park: And so here in Naples it is part of our purview.
• 14:20
  Kristina Park: We focus a lot on retention and growth of our existing businesses and making sure that they have the proper environment to do business well.
• 14:26
  Kristina Park: And then there's an element of understanding you want to relocate your business here and let us be that go-to resource to help you do so.
• 14:32
  Kristina Park: What is the regulatory environment?
• 14:34
  Kristina Park: How do I get connected with the right you know, maybe potentially brick and mortar space that I'll be needing?
• 14:38
  Kristina Park: How do I expedite permitting and who do I talk with?
• 14:41
  Kristina Park: And so ultimately, we want to cut the red tape and roll out the red carpet for those that are interested in coming to our community right, and so help them, make that a positive experience and then just understand who we are so they can be successful.
• 14:52
  Kristina Park: Not every business is going to be a fit in every community right, and so what we have that I love about this area we call it the Rodeo Drive effect Ultimately, do you fit our tapestry Sure, and will you have the opportunity to be successful in our footprint?
• 15:05
  Kristina Park: Because this is who we are, this is what we value as a community, and we'd love to welcome you in with open arms and make sure that you're popular and successful and well-supported and all of those things.
• 15:15
  Kristina Park: So part of that is just helping to understand their business model and how it fits the culture of any community so it can help perpetuate the culture that has been established here, and that's part of that preserving what makes us so special.
• 15:26
  Jennifer Johnson: Yeah, and I go back to that.
• 15:28
  Jennifer Johnson: It all points back to making sure that you have the right mix of businesses within your community and down here in Florida we are very seasonal and it's so great because you can look at a business and be like, okay, well, I know that they can bring year-round jobs to the area and that, I would imagine, is a pretty important aspect.
• 15:51
  Kristina Park: I'm really grateful that you touched on the seasonality, because I've been to many markets across our country where they didn't keep an eye on that and the seasonality created a situation where individuals can't afford to become homeowners or can't afford to live there full time.
• 16:03
  Kristina Park: They're six months here, six months there because it is so seasonal and so building in that year round sustained business recognizing hospitality is our number one sector.
• 16:11
  Kristina Park: Tourism is huge here in the greater Naples area and so helping support our convention and visitor bureau to tell that message to come visit us in those shoulder seasons, for all of these wonderful reasons, right and um, so we want to help fill the gaps of the seasonality and create less seasonality, uh, so that we can support our business community year round.
• 16:30
  Jennifer Johnson: I definitely agree with that, you know.
• 16:33
  Jennifer Johnson: But is that ever with bringing in a new business to somewhere that is seasonal?
• 16:39
  Jennifer Johnson: Is that?
• 16:39
  Jennifer Johnson: Does a new company look at that in a positive or a negative light?
• 16:48
  Kristina Park: I think it depends on the nature of their business, right?
• 16:49
  Kristina Park: If you're here designed to support the locals versus support the visitors, and who, who is your target audience?
• 16:54
  Kristina Park: What type of service are you providing?
• 16:55
  Kristina Park: We're seeing a huge trend in growth.
• 16:57
  Kristina Park: I don't know.
• 16:57
  Kristina Park: We'll talk about that later.
• 16:58
  Kristina Park: We'll talk about the next five and 10 years for organizations like ours but, where you can live anywhere, but you may want to choose to live in paradise.
• 17:05
  Kristina Park: Right and so you are a remote worker and you want to relocate here.
• 17:09
  Kristina Park: You're a company that has a hub but not a physical brick and mortar, that the seasonality doesn't impact you as much.
• 17:15
  Kristina Park: So that's part of the guidance we try to do on the front end of understanding welcoming a new business is do you understand the seasonality of our market to ensure you're going to be successful and you set your pace and expectations and perform a business plans accordingly?
• 17:27
  Jennifer Johnson: And I'm glad we were talking about this, because I was just having this conversation with someone else.
• 17:31
  Jennifer Johnson: We're a special place in that.
• 17:35
  Jennifer Johnson: Again, yes, seasonality is very important.
• 17:37
  Jennifer Johnson: A lot of people I'm going into business, I'm opening a business, this is what I'm doing and they don't think about the seasonality.
• 17:49
  Jennifer Johnson: And that's what gets them in trouble.
• 17:50
  Jennifer Johnson: Because you've got, you know you're making your money when it's in season and you have to preserve that to get you through your summer until we start getting those snowbirds or the seasonal residents back into town.
• 18:03
  Jennifer Johnson: Absolutely, but people don't always think about that, and so that's where you know the chamber is like hey, this is what we're like here.
• 20:38
  Kristina Park: Yeah, I mean, you can read the business books, you can write the plans, you can have been successful in business for so long.
• 20:42
  Kristina Park: If you miss that element, it could be game changer.
• 20:45
  Kristina Park: And so we want to make sure that those that are relocating again understand timing, understand the cadence of our, of our visitation, so that they can be successful for a long time.
• 20:55
  Jennifer Johnson: So a burning question that I've had for a while is how does a chamber and you can answer this generally or you can answer it specifically how does a chamber balance the needs of the small business and the large corporation that may be in the area of that chamber?
• 21:15
  Kristina Park: So you said it earlier, right, a successful community has a blend of both and they have different needs, and so our goal or aim or effort, our focus, is recognizing that there are differences in needs and understanding how to service those, because we recognize that the mix of both creates success.
• 21:32
  Kristina Park: So it's not one's better than the other, it's how are we going to create an inclusive environment in which both types of businesses can thrive, they can get the connections that they need, all of those things.
• 21:42
  Kristina Park: And so you'll see that our programming, both from an education perspective, from networking and even advocacy, is geared to recognizing the differences in the needs.
• 21:51
  Kristina Park: There you'll see programming from us morning, noon and night, for a reason you know.
• 21:56
  Kristina Park: I know you and I have spoken about.
• 21:57
  Kristina Park: Like, entrepreneurs are up in the middle of the night doing things.
• 21:59
  Kristina Park: Where is our digital programming that they can do on demand, right?
• 22:02
  Kristina Park: So, just being responsive to the needs, and a huge part of that is improving our feedback mechanisms.
• 22:06
  Kristina Park: We do some survey work, we have some anecdotal conversations, all the different pathways we can create because we are a member based business, we are here to serve the needs of our members, which means we better know the needs of our members, right, and how are we getting that and how are we continuing to improve those pathways and opportunities.
• 22:23
  Kristina Park: We have a great robust ambassador program.
• 22:25
  Kristina Park: So alongside our staff we have a collection of dedicated volunteers that know our business model well and they are out becoming that conduit between us and the member, collecting more stories, experiencing their businesses and having a chance to bring that feedback to us.
• 22:39
  Kristina Park: So I will say our doors are always open and we are aiming to just collect as much input as we can so that we can shape our programmatic elements around the needs of our businesses, and I've seen the ambassadors at work and it's more than you know.
• 22:55
  Jennifer Johnson: When you think of a chamber, you think of all the ribbon cutting, the big scissors, the ribbon right.
• 22:59
  Jennifer Johnson: It's so much more than that, because those ambassadors are not just doing the ribbon cutting, they are, but on the outset of that, they're out there saying, hey, are you a member of the chamber?
• 23:11
  Jennifer Johnson: Right, this is what the chamber can do for you.
• 23:13
  Jennifer Johnson: I'm a member of the chamber.
• 23:14
  Kristina Park: They're out there talking about the chamber, which I think is so great yeah being ambassadors for what it is that we do and all the work that we're trying to do, and I'm with you.
• 23:24
  Kristina Park: I mean, once upon a time it was open a business, join the chamber of commerce.
• 23:27
  Kristina Park: That was linear, that's just what you did Right, and that is not the expectation anymore.
• 23:31
  Kristina Park: I mean, ultimately, I can get my networking in certain places, I can get my marketing done certain ways Right, but, and so how we redefine the role of a chamber of commerce?
• 23:40
  Kristina Park: Even chambers themselves pre COVID thought of themselves as event planning organizations.
• 23:45
  Jennifer Johnson: Really, and since I've recognized.
• 23:47
  Kristina Park: we're community impact organizations.
• 23:49
  Kristina Park: I mean we are taking that holistic view of how it's going to affect business and resident.
• 23:54
  Kristina Park: We're advocating for pro-business policy and the business needs and again creating a livable community.
• 23:59
  Kristina Park: Our vision is economic opportunity for all right and so while some are thriving, some are surviving.
• 24:05
  Kristina Park: And we recognize that there's disparities and we are trying to work to ensure that the rising tide floats all boats and then ultimately, you know so a chamber of commerce really is that nexus with the for-business, not-for-profit I'm sorry for profit, not for profit government entities kind of the lead collaborator.
• 24:26
  Jennifer Johnson: I never really thought of the chamber thinking of themselves as an event planning business, but now that you mention it, Right, you say chamber of commerce.
• 24:30
  Kristina Park: sometimes it conjures up a certain perspective in one's mind about the ribbon cutting or the networking event, and so, to your point, it's educating that it goes beyond so much more.
• 24:38
  Kristina Park: I didn't know what a chamber of commerce was until I got into this line of work, believe it or not.
• 24:41
  Kristina Park: I came from a tourism marketing background and I fell in love with the business stories, and the reason I did what I did was to bring more visitors, to infuse more economic resources to support the businesses so they could have the livelihood that I fell in love with when they told me their story.
• 24:55
  Kristina Park: And so a partner of mine came and said have you ever thought about working for a chamber of commerce?
• 25:00
  Kristina Park: Because, in addition to the marketing opponent, this is everything else they do and it was the advocacy piece that really got my attention.
• 25:06
  Jennifer Johnson: So we've been talking about you know small business.
• 25:11
  Jennifer Johnson: We've been talking about big business.
• 25:12
  Jennifer Johnson: What about the solopreneur?
• 25:15
  Jennifer Johnson: Because you had touched on, business has changed a lot and so on and so forth, and you can work from anywhere.
• 25:21
  Jennifer Johnson: So there's a lot of those people Do.
• 25:25
  Jennifer Johnson: Chambers of commerce support a solopreneur.
• 25:29
  Kristina Park: So it varies, and I will say, having kind of an individualized membership is not necessarily a common thing.
• 25:35
  Kristina Park: I say, exceptions are made in exceptional situations.
• 25:39
  Jennifer Johnson: And we have an exceptional community.
• 25:42
  Kristina Park: We have an exceptional community, and so, to your point, here we have significant number of retirees that have chosen to live in paradise.
• 25:48
  Kristina Park: And we have the solopreneurs that can work from anywhere, and so we've created a new membership level called an individual community contributor, because ultimately, they care about the direction of their community and they want to contribute to the vision and the execution of how we're going to get there, and so, while that may not be common for all businesses or, I'm sorry, all chambers of commerce, it is something that we value, and we're really excited to engage more solopreneurs in the work that we're doing.
• 26:11
  Jennifer Johnson: That's so great because we do live in paradise, we do.
• 26:14
  Jennifer Johnson: And so many people I have talked to are like well, I'm kind of a nomad, I can work from anywhere and so now I'm hanging my hat here for the next two years or whatever, and then they end up staying Right, but they want to be just as plugged in as anyone else.
• 26:31
  Kristina Park: Absolutely, absolutely, and that's just.
• 26:33
  Kristina Park: It is, you know.
• 26:34
  Kristina Park: Again back to the individual component, whether they're solopreneurs or they work for a large corporation.
• 26:38
  Kristina Park: I mean, we have the Googles, and you know some of the large businesses that are national or international have representation here.
• 26:45
  Kristina Park: Google's not joining the chamber of commerce for every one of their community's employees, but, to your point, those individuals still care about having helping to drive success in our community where they live, and so we want to give them the pathway to do that.
• 27:04
  Jennifer Johnson: That's great.
• 27:05
  Jennifer Johnson: So, looking ahead five, 10 years, what do you see as the biggest opportunities and challenges that chambers and the members of the chamber face?
• 27:10
  Kristina Park: Sure so chambers of commerce in general.
• 27:12
  Kristina Park: I think helping get their businesses future ready is a huge part of it.
• 27:16
  Kristina Park: With the National Association of Chamber Executives, we create a plan called the Horizon Initiative where we're taking a look at what are the trends coming in the next 10 years.
• 27:25
  Jennifer Johnson: And that's on a national level.
• 27:26
  Kristina Park: It's on a national level.
• 27:27
  Kristina Park: Okay, what are the trends nationally in the next 10 years affecting the business community and our business owners?
• 27:32
  Kristina Park: What are some of these themes?
• 27:33
  Kristina Park: So that we can then take that to our community and right size it to our community and their needs.
• 27:38
  Kristina Park: And so we're creating Horizon Initiative 2.0.
• 27:41
  Kristina Park: It's really fun to take a look at that and reflect from the 1.0 edition how many of those things came to fruition and what those changes looked like.
• 27:48
  Kristina Park: It's like a time capsule, and so it's just.
• 27:50
  Kristina Park: I love futurists, I love people that are looking ahead, saying how might our future change and what will that all look like?
• 27:56
  Kristina Park: Right?
• 27:56
  Kristina Park: So one theme, for example, is churn.
• 27:58
  Kristina Park: When you have people moving into a community, you have people moving out of the community.
• 28:02
  Kristina Park: You say we had a net growth or net loss of this many.
• 28:05
  Kristina Park: But when you talk about culture, you have this many individuals with a new culture, vision, expectation, belief system coming in, and then you also have this many people leaving.
• 28:15
  Kristina Park: What made that tapestry of your community right, and so we call that churn.
• 28:19
  Kristina Park: But ultimately it's not just net five, it's a whole set of values coming in and a whole set of values leaving, and how that changes the landscape of your community, because you can't be so remote and nomad and go all these places.
• 28:31
  Kristina Park: So how are chambers of commerce preparing for that change and shift in their community and how are they adapting?
• 28:36
  Kristina Park: We did a really fascinating thing at the national conference this year.
• 28:39
  Kristina Park: Raise your left hand if you've got people leaving your community.
• 28:42
  Kristina Park: Raise your right hand if you've got people pouring into your community and you knew which one we had.
• 28:46
  Kristina Park: And some were both, some were both.
• 28:48
  Kristina Park: But here in Florida, and particularly here in Naples, with such desirable living qualities of life, we have a lot of people moving into our community and so again, just kind of how we're adapting that.
• 28:59
  Kristina Park: So I think it's how chambers of commerce in general are reshaping the value we're providing to our members forward thinking, future thinking, community impact organizations, introduction of technology and new things AI I mean it's huge, that's funny, did you see?
• 29:14
  Jennifer Johnson: I wrote down AI because I'm like I bet that came up in that conversation.
• 29:17
  Jennifer Johnson: There's no way that it didn't.
• 29:19
  Kristina Park: Absolutely, absolutely.
• 29:20
  Kristina Park: So what is AI going to do to the business climate?
• 29:23
  Kristina Park: How are we getting our businesses future ready?
• 29:25
  Kristina Park: How are we leveraging the power of AI?
• 29:28
  Kristina Park: How are we protecting some of, maybe, the potential unintended consequences of AI?
• 29:32
  Kristina Park: How are we teaching people how to be prompt?
• 29:35
  Kristina Park: What is the right word?
• 29:36
  Kristina Park: But ultimately you're learning how to utilize AI.
• 29:39
  Kristina Park: Prompt engineering, thank you.
• 29:41
  Kristina Park: Prompt engineering, right.
• 29:42
  Kristina Park: And so how we're preparing our businesses to do that.
• 29:44
  Kristina Park: We've got some fantastic experts Again Small Business Development Center that will be teaching classes on this yeah community, specifically, when you want to talk about the next five and 10 years.
• 29:55
  Kristina Park: In our community we're seeing expanding support, you know, for these technology driven things.
• 30:00
  Kristina Park: We're attracting entrepreneurs and remote workers.
• 30:02
  Kristina Park: How are we fostering all of that here in our footprint and then just recognizing the counter side of that?
• 30:08
  Kristina Park: How are we creating housing affordability and how are we ensuring the workforce is here for the things that are not remote?
• 30:14
  Kristina Park: It's going to be that balance of the pros and cons and how we're kind of managing both sides of those things in the five and 10 years to come.
• 30:19
  Jennifer Johnson: Right, there's so much to think about when you look at.
• 30:22
  Jennifer Johnson: I bet it's so cool to look back at the other.
• 30:25
  Jennifer Johnson: You know the 1.0 that you looked at and, yes, like you said, what did we achieve or where are we at?
• 30:32
  Kristina Park: from that.
• 30:32
  Kristina Park: I bet that's so cool it really is.
• 30:34
  Kristina Park: And yeah, again, just brainstorming where we could be in five and 10 years when you think about where we've come in the last five and 10 years, how much things have changed 10 years from now and how we're predicting that and getting ahead of it so we can help our businesses get ahead of it.
• 30:46
  Jennifer Johnson: I just I have to think of, you know, like back in the long, long long time ago, how did they really move as fast as we're moving now?
• 30:56
  Jennifer Johnson: You, how did they really move as fast as we're moving now?
• 30:59
  Jennifer Johnson: You know, like I feel in the last, the last five years, we've probably made 20 years of progress in five years with technology alone.
• 31:05
  Jennifer Johnson: Like, did they have that back then?
• 31:06
  Jennifer Johnson: Did they feel?
• 31:07
  Kristina Park: the same way.
• 31:07
  Kristina Park: That's a good point, I guess, with new and you don't know, you don't know, and new and innovative.
• 31:11
  Kristina Park: But the pace certainly feels, feels like we're just Expedited?
• 31:17
  Jennifer Johnson: It does, it does.
• 31:18
  Jennifer Johnson: Am I missing anything else that you want our listeners to know about the chamber?
• 31:20
  Kristina Park: Ultimately, just the welcome invitation to get involved.
• 31:23
  Kristina Park: I mean, at the end of the day, if you weren't aware of what a chamber did, this intrigued you.
• 31:27
  Kristina Park: This made you pause for a moment and say I wonder if there's help they could provide, because this is what's keeping me up at night, or even I need to make sure they know that this is what's keeping me up at night, because they didn't touch on that.
• 31:36
  Kristina Park: It's the open invitation and welcome to become part of what we're up to.
• 31:40
  Kristina Park: And so, whether you're in this community or listening remotely in another community, I encourage you to take another look at your local chamber of commerce and all the value they can provide, not just for your business and your everyday operational business needs, the connections they can make for you that you otherwise would never have had.
• 31:55
  Kristina Park: And then, ultimately, are they driving the community in the direction of the place that you want to live in the long run, creating those sustainable plans for the future.
• 32:02
  Kristina Park: So I just invite you to be inspired to look into your local chamber of commerce and become part of what they're up to.
• 32:08
  Jennifer Johnson: And I agree with that 100%.
• 32:10
  Jennifer Johnson: I know I'm so thankful that I got involved in the Greater Naples Chamber because it is a special organization and they do great things Well we're grateful for you and all the time you give to help make it that way.
• 32:21
  Jennifer Johnson: If our listeners are intrigued and they want to reach out to you, how can they do so?
• 32:26
  Kristina Park: Absolutely, I'm happy to connect.
• 32:27
  Kristina Park: So, Kristina K-R-I-S-T-I-N-A at napleschamberorg, find me on LinkedIn Happy to connect there as well.
• 32:34
  Kristina Park: And then again, ultimately, just the open invitation to connect with our offices and find out more about how we can help you be part of the community and the things we're building.
• 32:42
  Kristina Park: Thank you so much.
• 32:43
  Kristina Park: Thank you so much.