Latest / Beyond the Ribbon Cut / Ep. 18 - Nikki Devitt (Petoskey Regional Chamber of Commerce)

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Ep. 18 - Nikki Devitt (Petoskey Regional Chamber of Commerce) · Beyond the Ribbon Cut

• speaker-0: So we say the only way we're building thriving businesses is by building thriving communities first. And what does it take for a community to thrive? It takes a stable workforce. It takes residents that are able to count on the fact that they're going to have health care, they're going to have housing, they're going to have child care and transportation. We know all of those things impact business. A business can stand back, a chamber could stand back and say, that's not our lane. We're going to stay out of it. But you have to ask yourself the question, regardless of the size of your chamber, look at your community. If those very big issues for this time in this space where we're all in in this country, if we are not addressing them for the sake of business, then who will? speaker-1: Hi, I'm Ted, and I build software for Chambers of Commerce. For the past decade, chamber tools were all built the same way. One clunky system for every chamber. But if I've learned one thing, it's that no two chambers are alike. That's why on this show, we go beyond the ribbon cut with top chamber leaders to share the unique programs, processes, and what makes their chamber work. And to give you new ideas you can take back to your chamber. This is Beyond the Ribbon Cut. Welcome back to Beyond the Ribbon Cut, the podcast for chamber leaders. I'm your host, Ted Wind from Diagonal for Chambers, and my guest today is Nikki Devitt, president and CEO of the Potoski Regional Chamber of Commerce in Potoski, Michigan. Nikki, thank you so much for coming on the show today. speaker-0: Thanks, Ted. Great job on saying Potaski, by the way. I appreciate it. speaker-1: I was studying up beforehand. So it's all good. Really didn't want to mess that one up. So let's jump into it right away. Speaking of Potoski, tell us a little bit about the town, about your community, and the the space that you guys serve. speaker-0: Absolutely. So Potoski, Michigan, I'm from Michigan, so we have to do this thing where we put our hand up and we show you where we are. So I'm about thirty-five miles south of the Mackinac Bridge or the Upper Peninsula. So we are the northern tip on the western side. And for most, if you've ever been to Michigan, you know that that western shoreline is kind of that tourism high destination. The further north you go, the more kind of remote it gets. But Potoski is unique in the fact that it is. One of the largest towns right before you cross the bridge into the upper peninsula, where then towns get even smaller. So we're about 16,000 population, about 33,000 in our county. But interestingly enough, we triple in the summer months as well as in the winter months. So we're a year-round tourist destination, resort destination. We've had numerous coverage outlets from all across the country, calling Potoski one of the most beautiful places in the country. And it truly is, but it is a thriving year round community as well. So Lake Michigan is right out my window. So we get to see that all the time. And it's absolutely incredible where we are. speaker-1: Love it. I can hear the beachtown chambers very jealous about the fact that you're able to have that multi year round tourist economy there. That is that is quite something. speaker-0: Quite rare too. A lot of tourism towns are usually strictly those three months of the summer. And that's across the country. But Toski is unique in the fact because of where we are in Michigan and northern Michigan in particular, we get all four seasons, a lot of winter, but we have two of the largest ski resorts in the Midwest in our town. So that kind of makes us really unique because of the fact that it isn't just those three months of a year. It is truly a year round economy and it's grown and it's grown as our communities learn to adapt and attract. speaker-1: too. Love that. Love that. So let's get into the the chamber side then. You mentioned small chamber, right? We got the phones ringing. Tell us a little bit about the chamber, your staff, what the kind of size of the team looks like over there. speaker-0: So our chamber is over a hundred years old. We have 770 members, which for our geography and our demographics and our region makes us an extremely large chamber from a membership standpoint, especially when you consider there's only four of us. So we're small but mighty and serve a unique blend of businesses across the spectrum. Simply because of where we are, we of course have that tourism economy, but we also have a strong root. in manufacturing and agriculture and have continued to lean into some of those spaces for entrepreneurs and otherwise that maybe weren't looked at maybe 10, 15 years ago as much as they are now. So our chamber is composed of myself, my vice president and director of membership. I have a phenomenal events and program director. And then we just brought on and kind of hybrided a couple positions into a communications and member engagement. And she is only couple months with us, but it's fitting in perfect and really truly with our dynamic, because we have to move on a dime all the time. And what our priorities are change from day to day based on what's going on. Because while we're not a visitor center, nor are we the visitors bureau, where we sit in our community is at the corner of our historic national downtown. Therefore, everybody thinks we're the visitor center. speaker-1: Love it, love it. And that's that is just truly incredible though. we're talking almost 200 members per staff on the team. That is quite a feat and something. I mean, even the mega chambers out there, the multi-city chambers out there with tens of thousands of members, some of them aren't even getting that staff to member ratio. So that is really, really incredible. We're gonna get into all that on the show today. But before we dive in, I'd love if you could share a little bit more with the audience about yourself, Nikki. I know your background in radio, I think that would be awesome if you could share a little bit about that. But yeah, tell us a story about how a broadcaster ends up running a chamber. speaker-0: you'd be shocked at the number of us that have made this transition, whether it is in any form, whether that be radio or television or journalism, we've all kind of there's quite a few of us that have migrated over to this. And I think it's for a lot of reasons. I spent twelve years in broadcasting, everything from sales to on air to running a radio station. And one of the things, especially when you're on smaller local markets from a broadcast standpoint, whether that's radio, television, or print. What ends happening is you become hyper involved in your community, especially I'm I'm gonna age myself a little bit, especially about twenty, twenty-five years ago. That time when you were still live on the air, you had to know your community. You had to understand it. You made relationships with folks. The last station that I ran was over a hundred thousand watts, covered more than half the state. But in that context, it's still small towns a lot of times. And so that listenership becomes part of your community. And then you start to understand your businesses and you understand what their needs are and you understand how your local politics work. And all these things start to transition and you're exposed to a completely different, I would say, work life balance than a lot of folks are. And so about thirteen years ago, my predecessor also came from the broadcasting side, way back when, right out of college, spent a couple of years in news radio and We had known each other for a few years and he I've got this crazy idea. You want to get out of the radio rat race and come be a part of the team. And prior to my radio time, I'd done retail marketing, restaurant management, all that good stuff. So I'm a straight into the workforce girl. So I did not go to college after high school as much as I wanted to. Life got in the way. And so I went straight into the workforce, started a family about four or five years later, and so have always been career focused. And this. And so this chamber job, which I didn't really know what a chamber did. boy. And but I said probably within the first few months, if I had if somebody had told me when I was young that this was the job that was designed and made for me, and a lot of that has to do with that community intersection, that want and need to be a part of your community and and find solutions for it, I would have jumped right to it a long time ago. But I've spent about nearly the last thirteen years in the chamber world and I absolutely positively love it because it is the intersection of all things. speaker-1: I love the way you describe that as the chamber role is the job that was made for me. It's a question we like to ask a lot is understanding, what's your why for being part of the chamber? Was there a moment that came about once you got into this role, once you learned what a chamber, what a chamber was, what a chamber does, got involved with the role that everything clicked or? speaker-0: Yeah, it happened, I would say, pretty quickly within maybe the first six months or so. And it was watching a community conversation about something with a couple of different leaders in the community. So maybe think of our people that are normally at that table, your economic development agency, your tourism bureau, but all these interested and invested community folks as well. And watching how the chamber was able to weave in and out of the business side and the community side. really intrigued me as something that I felt my skill set could really be beneficial to. And also it just feels good. It feels good at the end of the day, no matter how chaotic your days are. And for most of us, we don't work 40 hours. You're lucky you call it a short week if it's 60. But at the end of that week, to look back and go, wow, I listened to everyone. I helped navigate an issue. And I didn't fix it. The community, the partners worked on it together. And I think that was the moment I was like, well, all right, how much further can I go? How I wanna go beyond where I started? Because I started right at the front desk and worked my way all the way up to this point. speaker-1: A big piece of that too is this idea of making an impact in your community. And that's really gets to where I wanna spend most of today around. In particular, you call Potoski an impact chamber. Can you tell us in your own words what that means? speaker-0: It means we do all the things to make it work. No it What's so interesting is when you're in a small rural community, you have to have a lot of partnerships. And I think the easiest way to say why we're an impact chamber is that when things are going well, everyone gets credit and everyone wants a piece of the pie. And that's great. And that's what chambers are supposed to do. We're supposed to help convene and be that kind of catalyst to drive everything forward. But when things go sideways and no one knows what to do. I know we're an impact chamber because the community and our partners look to us to lead. And it's not to say that we have the solutions, but it's the knowledge that our chamber has our pulse on the community and we are trusted in our community. And that truly has been generational worked through, but really kind of became, I would say, our legacy during COVID. And for a lot of chambers, this happened. You did one of two things. You either stepped up. And took charge of all of the chaos and figured out how to make sure that our big thing that we started off, because Michigan was very different than a lot of communities or a lot of states, because Michigan split opening. One, it took us longer to open the whole state than just about anybody else, but also we did it in phases. And that first phase was northern Michigan and the upper peninsula. And that was based on our chamber's work along with our Chamber Alliance saying, give us a shot, we can stay safe. To stay open because we must. So you have to balance those things. So we got this. I I would just say f first and foremost, it was just recognized that as the chamber was able to pull the partners together, everything from state government into local government, but also working with our health department, working with our infectious disease director at the hospital, and making sure that our schools were involved in the conversations and weaving our way through all of that. The impact that came from that was some of the work we've been doing all along. But it just became super visible. And we set the standard for ourselves that whenever things go wrong, your chamber has the solution to get through it together, business and community. And so that's kind of one of the ways we've been able to give us that impact that kind of resonates just beyond membership, beyond dues. It's also that respect that we've been able to kind of really work towards in our community. We've had another year of crisis in northern Michigan. We had a a lovely hundred year ice storm that wiped out part of our county for thirty days. And when I say wiped out, literally no power at all, no resources, no gas for four days anywhere in the county. We are such a technology dependent society. Imagine four days in your community where there is no functioning gas pumps and the power is out and it's thirty degrees and there's three inches of ice everywhere. Nobody can run a generator. No, it's chaos. And then we had just this year two 500 year floods in the same county. So for us, it was about how as the impact chamber, where's the impact needed most? And that's splitting the need between the individuals whose home was just destroyed and the business who can't open, either because they have damage to their business or because their employees can't get in. How do you rally the rest of the community around to take care of those Who need it most? How do you make sure that everybody understands how to work through federal federal government requirements, which FEMA and SBA are not easy by any stretch? So I think that's where our impact started, but it resonates so much further beyond that, because we know that change is absolutely constant, but the way to address change is by never turning away from it, by saying, okay, what do we have to do today? How do we handle today's problem? speaker-1: A hundred percent. And all of those issues that you touched on, whether it was navigating the chamber out of the pandemic or dealing with this ice storm that shut down transportation, you're going beyond just this show is called Beyond the Ribbon Cut. You're going beyond just the ribbon cuttings, the networking, right? And I think what's really interesting about that is you've kind of decided that the chamber's real job is around the stuff keeping people. From living and working there, right? So these issues around housing, childcare, transportation. Can you make the case for what role the chamber should have in these conversations? Because when we get on board with a lot of chamber staff, especially sometimes larger chambers, it's very important to navigate the differences between we don't want to step on toes, we want to make sure we're making an impact, but maybe we don't want to be pissing off too many people. So exactly. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that. speaker-0: Yeah, I think this because you just said it beyond the ribbon cut, but it's also chambers are beyond cheerleaders. Yes, it's our job to bring our businesses together to create that. We don't use the word networking. We try really hard to use the word connecting because networking has a really negative connotation for a business sometimes. It's like go pass your business card and hope that something comes from that. And it's like, well, no, you have to have that connection base. So you have to create the environments where those things can happen. Create the places and spaces where business can connect with each other. But when it comes to getting into those spaces that maybe you're not necessarily always thought of as a leader in or the catalyst for, our philosophy is very, very simple. It is our job to build thriving businesses, to establish a strong economically expanding region for us. But you absolutely cannot Do that until you build a thriving community. So we say the only way we're building thriving businesses is by building thriving communities first. And what does it take for a community to thrive? Well, it takes a stable workforce. It takes residents that are able to count on the fact that they're going to have health care, they're going to have housing, they're going to have child care and transportation. We know all of those things impact business. Business can stand back, a chamber could stand back and say, that's not our lane, we're gonna stay out of it. But you have to ask yourself the question, regardless of the size of your chamber, look at your community. If those very big issues for this time in this space where we're all in in this country, if we are not addressing them for the sake of business, then who will? And when it comes to those partnerships, that's the voice, that's the role that you take into it. You go into it saying, Hey, we're the advocates for business. But it's not just about the CEO's bottom line or how much profit margin the business has. It's about every employee that works in that business that lives in our community that makes this place so special. That's who we're here to be the voice of. That's who we want to help. So let's come together in this. And what's your role? And what's your role? And how do we make sure that we're all taking into consideration at the end of the day, we want a community that's strong and thriving, and we want an economy that. that is going to continue to grow and withstand whatever the universe is gonna throw at it. speaker-1: Love that. I'd love if we could dive a little bit more into how that actually works. You've described the chamber in the past as at its best the collaborator that no one else can be. When a housing issue, a childcare issue, a transportation issue lands in your desk, can you walk us through the mechanics? Who's in the room? Who gets that kind of personal invitation to the meeting? And what does the chamber do afterwards? speaker-0: Yeah, absolutely. So each one is going to carry its own list of who you're going to contact for the most part. But like I said, we're a small community too. So first and foremost, housing's probably one of the easier ones to talk about. So the chamber hosts housing town hall every year. Ours is coming up in November this time around. And when we first started doing this, we have a wonderful Michigan is split up into regions based on geography and housing. So our 10 county region in northern Michigan is pretty typical. For all things, whether that's from economic development in the state or whether that is through our health departments, everything is kind of split off in 10 to 5 counties, which is a lot of space in rural Michigan. So first and foremost, if you use housing as the example, you've got to understand who is impacted first and foremost, which is the residents. So the end of the day, the residents. What they don't understand is what happens on the backside. So you need your housing agency, you need to be working with your local land bank, you need to have great relationships with your local municipalities, your county government, and you really have to do the hard work of bringing issues that people don't like to talk about, like NIMBYism and all those things, and kind of telling the housing story. So that's going to take a lot of other individuals as well. So that's also going to go beyond your housing ready folks and at the state level as well, bring those in. But talking to employers, some of the best success we've ever had with housing from the chambers role, what we've been able to do is convene these large town halls or county conversations where we bring in the employers to tell the real story. So it's not a developer because somebody's going to look at that developer and say, well, he's just going to get rich off of us. And it's not the county official who says, well, those houses aren't gonna fit the median income that we need, but you bring in the employer or the resident that just got into housing that's been waiting for three years and you have them tell the story. Because so many of our employers in our community will tell you, I can't hire talent, not because they don't want to work, but because they can't live in our community. We have less than one percent housing availability. And that makes it very difficult for our businesses to grow and expand. So when somebody hears it from a business perspective, say it's your hospital, which is a great one to have at your door saying, Hey, I can't hire nurses. Hey, I can't hire doctors. All of a sudden people start listening and they're like, Well, wait a minute. So this is a problem. And you do the same model with everything that becomes an issue. You find the players, you talk to them and you say, How can I help you? Especially because the chamber doesn't need to lead everything. But in our community, what the chamber does need to do is be the one who communicates it. So even if it's not our great example for us is our college. We have a wonderful community college who we worked with them for almost three years to pilot a true cost child care model. And while the college has great reach, the employers Who they need to talk to more than anyone else is who the chamber talks to. And so being able to bring that in, but then you also have to have a seat at the table for your community foundations, your philanthropy efforts, because a lot of times in rural communities, your additional funding is not going to come from the city or the state. It's going to come from philanthropy efforts. speaker-1: I love that. And I think that touched also, you mentioned the college. Was this the north central Michigan college that's in the region? So you ran a child care survey there, which I thought was really interesting. With I believe it was Emmett County, had 16 providers and a nine to 12 month wait list. The chamber distributed out this kind of employer survey. Could you talk a little bit about that program and what came about from it? speaker-0: Well, you let the experts at the college put together the data and say, this is what we need and this is the survey we want to do, but who do you think is going to answer it? So then it's disseminating and make sure you mentioned earlier who do you have special invitations to? Having 770 members, it's really hard to have special invitations. But that being said, that 770, there's probably a about maybe 11, 1200 businesses registered within our county and beyond. And we being a regional chamber do extend a little bit beside our county lines. So that conversation came about as are we asking the right questions? So the first question that we had to go back and add was do employers even know if their employees are having a childcare challenge? Because this will increase the number of employees' responses, employers who look at it and go, well gosh, I don't think I've ever asked anybody. Or maybe they're not telling me, but I bet you that they are. So let me go to HR. And if you're a small enough business, you don't have an HR department, you're just gonna walk over to Sally at the other desk and go, hey, I just have a question for you. I know you guys were talking about having kids. How's that going? Do you guys find childcare? And then all of a sudden Sally tells you how difficult it is as an employer. So one of the things that came out of that that was really fantastic for us and the college was this shared conversation that started happening more often with our businesses. And between the employers and the employees about what are some of those challenges. And then employers taking a step back and going, okay, if no one else is going to fix this, is there a way I can fix it? And this was right around the same time the Tri-Share model released in Michigan, which is also was the first of its kind at the time and allowed for that three-way employer employee and state funded. And we had a lot of employers go, Well, this is great, but what else can I do? How can I do this? Because now that with the see the results. that it's not just their business model that is having employees who are struggling with childcare. All of a sudden that creates that sense of, okay, this is something we can all get behind together, rather than that one business trying to battle the conversation alone. speaker-1: I love that. I love that. So let's go over to your role as a leader because I can already I already know the the questions coming in. How does she do this with four staff, all of these the advocacy work? we haven't even touched on the the farmers market, the art show that you guys run. these huge, massive events. How do you run all this, especially with the size of chamber, the size of the amount of staff you have without burning the team out or yourself burning out? speaker-0: Yeah, that's a bad question to answer. No, you have to stick to accountabilities for the team. And I will say this, my team is probably better about my accountability than I am, without a doubt, because I'm pretty terrible at it. But you have to recognize that we are a complete and total flex team too. So when you have a staff of four, one thing I've learned over the years is The person who wants to walk into our office to ask us in February what day peak color is is not my number one priority. My team is my number one priority. Don't get me wrong, if they walk in this week, yes, I have to answer that, but not in February. So understanding our old model used to be, well, somebody you have to have two people in the building at all times, no vacations in the summer, you can't leave early. Just it was very strict and structured. So one of the things that we figured out a long time ago was that allowing the team to have that flexibility. Do you need to run out and go see your kids recital? Do you want to go get your hair cut? Do you need to make your dentist appointment during the day? Do you wanna just take off a Friday, Monday in the summer? You wanna take off all week in the summer? Go for it. We started closing more for holidays that we were never closed for before because it was always this just the chamber must always be open. We were open on Saturdays. We had phone hours on something it was like stop. Just Do what we do best and limit that extra that doesn't need to happen. You have to remember that you can't do it all too. And sometimes that's really, really tough. And you have to learn to say no. So I think that's probably one of the bigger pieces. Look at what's in your community when somebody comes to you and says, the chamber should be doing this. Don't be afraid to say, no, actually, the chamber is doing this, and that's why it's important. speaker-1: I love that. And that piece about saying no, you've obviously started so many incredible initiatives and events and programs through the chamber. Are there any that you maybe have deliberately stopped doing? speaker-0: No. Yeah, yes. And pre COVID, our chamber decided to get rid of a festival at the end of August that was started, you know, 17 years before because we didn't have a shoulder season. We were trying to get people to come to Northern Michigan the last week of August before Labor Day. Trust me when I say you don't need to try to do that anymore. And the chamber was losing a massive amount of money on it. But also the community believed that it was good and we should do it. And it was pretty much next to nothing cost for people to attend. And so we made the decision that okay, this is just not where we need to focus. And we took some heat for it. And every once in a while in August, somebody'll come up to me and go, I really wish you guys would do that festival again. It's like anybody can do a festival, be my guest. It's okay. But the chamber in August is actually going to be in Lansing talking about making sure that those budget items that matter to your business and your community actually get through. We just had an instance where The Fourth of July fireworks have come up for the organization that was doing them no longer wants to do them. And so I we got the ask, Well, can the chamber do the fireworks? And I said, Four of us? No, we absolutely cannot. And and I really feel bad about saying no, but that's looking out for my team and the sanity of all of us. but also understanding volunteers are really hard to come by right now. So looking at the scope of work that you're doing. And if there's an event or there's a program that's lagging, that's volunteer based, how do you adjust it or how do you jettison it? Because your team at the end of the day has to continue to meet the goals you set for them. And if you're strapping on extra stress based on things that are completely outside of their control, then you've really got to take a hard look at what else could we be doing if we weren't stressing about something that isn't truly our mission. And doesn't truly drive our community forward. speaker-1: I love that you're not afraid to say no to some of these things. We added Brad Lacey on the show. He runs a chamber in Conway, Arkansas. So opposite side of the country. Brad's incredible, of course. But one of the things that he said that was really interesting was around this idea of, you know, when you're thinking about these big events that maybe in the past have historically been associated with the chamber, right? Like your big parade, your the Christmas gathering, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, right? Thinking about Is this really the right role for the chamber in our community? And thinking about what actually resonates with our business owners. And going back to your earlier point, we're all about how do we serve businesses in our community, right? Sometimes some of these events are things that the city just throws off onto you that, maybe that's should be someone else's responsibility. I think that's something a lot of chambers struggle with a lot. And I think it's definitely something that they heed your advice on that. I I think that there's some really, really good, good nuggets of wisdom in there. I'd also love if we could talk a little bit about the Northern Michigan Chamber Alliance. So I know that's another organization that you also chair. So doing a lot here, Nikki, across a a lot of different But just for context, that's 20 chambers are a part of that alliance, as as well as some economic development organizations. Can you give us the short version? Why does a chamber in Potoski need a regional voice in Lansing? And what does the smallest chamber in the alliance get out of it? speaker-0: So the bottom line, the need is quite simple. It's rural prosperity is different than prosperity across your urban and metro areas. It looks different, it functions different. And to get to it, all the pieces that have to be in the place work different. Any rule chamber that's out there listening knows, regardless of where your state is, that it's a lot different when it comes to you being able to go to your state capital and say, hey, this business issue that we're talking about, this piece of legislation, is really going to unpack my community in a negative way. Or we're spending a lot of money on this, but I don't see how it's going to benefit rural communities. Well, if you're just this little tiny guy in there, one, they don't care. They're not listening. But if you see the opportunity to create a chamber alliance, I will recommend it all day long. It has its challenges for sure. We're actually up to, I think officially we'll be twenty-three by the end of this month, chambers in economic development, organizations across northern Michigan and the Umper Peninsula. And totally completely the reason the alliance was formed was for the intent to make sure that rural communities actually have a voice. Because when you all come together, it works a lot differently. In our state now, you have the major chamber organizations, Detroit, Grand Rapids, and all of a sudden the Northern Michigan Chamber Alliance is in that conversation. And the reason it's in that conversation is because it's easier to say, okay, we now represent 8,000 businesses collectively with all of us. And we're coming to you to say, this is how this works. And if you would like the attention, the recognition of those 8,000 businesses that cover half the state, this is the place you need to come because we know what their needs are. We are with them every day because a small chamber, a rural chamber. Is always going to have their pulse on their businesses a little bit better sometimes than those large metros with thousands and thousands of members, because we see them on the street, we see them in the coffee shop, you see them in the grocery store on the weekend. They stop you in the middle of the bread aisle to talk to you about, hey, what do you think we could do with this? Trust me, all the time. And that is powerful when you're looking at statewide advocacy, having a collective voice, especially when you're looking at. Talent retention, housing challenges, child care challenges, how business tax implementation is going to affect a rural community differently. The definition of small business across the country continues to flex and change. I feel like small businesses, their voice is getting smaller and smaller. And any of the negative connotations we're hearing, basically statewide and nationwide, towards business are not. aimed at small business, which is the makeup of most rural communities. And even my manufacturers are still considered small business. If you're under 500 employees, a lot of times that's a small business. So having that collective voice is so huge. But especially for us and our one of our counterparts, two of our other counterparts who started this alliance twenty years ago, we're the larger chambers in the region, without a doubt. But our teeny tiny chambers that are one person maybe 300, 400 members that are part of the alliance. And they don't do advocacy. They are dealing with the parades and the events and all the things that their community demands of them. But all of a sudden, because they are part of this collective alliance, we have our own government relations director, what happens is now they have not just the voice in Lansing, but Access for their small businesses to understand what's going on and how that impacts them as well. So suddenly they have this huge wealth of knowledge and information. And they can point to the director of government relations of the alliance and say, maybe I don't have the answer for that, but I'm part of we're part of the alliance. So I'm going to throw you over this way. And that makes all the difference in the world because Those chambers that are not in a position, whether that be budget wise or staffing wise, or maybe their community isn't just sure what they want them to be quite yet, the alliance gives those small chambers the power to have voice, the power to share information. And it's truly remarkable how much has been accomplished for the Alliance, especially in the last six years or so. It's just been amazing to watch and see. And we truly, truly, I think I truly love this part of the job. Because being able to walk in and be the voice for business, thousands and thousands of businesses when you're a smaller chamber or rural community and have those cases that you can point to. It's just it really feels good knowing that you're actually doing what you set out to do every day. speaker-1: Yeah. And giving those smaller chambers a voice for their members as well. I mean, a much on a such a larger stage is really, really incredible. Do you have any advice for maybe chambers that are listening at home that absolutely love that idea of an alliance, maybe also in a similar situation rural areas, but don't have one that already has kind of the infrastructure in place? speaker-0: think the first step and the best piece of advice I can give is understand that when you start to get more regional. So we spread from essentially the northwest corner of the state to the northeast corner of the state, all the way up to the upper peninsula. So look at a map if you're not familiar with Michigan, that's a lot of territory. It's a lot of chambers and economic development organizations, which means once you start to move, say, 30 miles outside of your own radius, issues change, concerns change, priorities change. While they're all the same on the front, there's gonna be a difference in what is palatable, a difference in let's just call it the partisan makeup of your community and what issues will impact well and what issues might not go over well. And so one of the things you have to understand is that laying the groundwork that while the alliance speaks as one voice, your individual chambers still have their own voice if needed. And understanding that you make sure that if one part of the state is having an issue that in no way impacts you and part of our alliance, you still go to bat for them because eventually you're going to be the one with the issue and they're going to come to bat for you. So it's understanding that you're not always going to have the same agreement level, but you work together with one voice. And that's how you actually get it done. So you have to be able to sit at the table. You have to be able to recognize differences. You have to be able to agree on the fact that you're best and most important thing is creating prosperity, economic development, talent retention, talent attraction. We have one chamber who works super hard in that space of talent attraction. And we have another one that is like, yeah, I'm just doing retention right now. I wish I could attract, but I'm not there yet. So understanding kind of what your scope is, lay down your mission just like you would for anything else, and then figure out how to make it work from an investment standpoint. So how does it work for High level partners to low level partners, find underwriters, find common people, because at some point what you're going to need, you're going to grow enough that you are going to need a director for it. And then you're going to function as the board. And that works so much better, I promise you. Less stress on the chamber partners. So yeah, but start. Just start. If you're thinking about it, start. We have a couple other spots in the state that are not rural necessarily. that are starting an alliance based off of what we've done and and the success we've had with it. And it's bumpy to start and it takes a while to get where we are, but it is absolutely, positively worth it. speaker-1: Mm-hmm. I love that. we've covered a lot of ground on today's episode. Love to bring it back home for the small chamber leader that's listening in, like you said, maybe the the staff of one, right? They hear this. They want to be an impact chamber too. What's the first move, first step that that chamber should take on this journey? speaker-0: The first step is realize how invaluable you are. It doesn't matter if you're one or a hundred employees in a chamber. It doesn't matter. You are invaluable to your community. Recognize just how critically important a chamber is. Think of every single thing you do, every single day, and how it has impact, how it helps business growth, how it helps communities thrive. And so give yourself a little bit of credit. To know that you are doing something that no other single organization can do. And that's why chambers are collaborators, is because we can work with all of those organizations and we can all come together at the table, but no other single organization can do what a chamber does. The economic development and community development we do hand in hand, side by side, day by day, is unique to us. And so recognize that and then also remember that not everything will be a home run. You're gonna stumble. You're human. And if you recognize your value and you share that and your members see it, when you don't have a home run, they're not gonna jettison you. They're not gonna forget about you. They're gonna remember all the good you do for the community, all the good you do for business. speaker-1: Yeah, I love that. And you touched on maybe this is your answer as well to our last question that we asked all your guests. So if you just want to say plus one to what you just said before, that's totally fine. But our last question that we asked every guest on the show, what's one last piece of advice you'd give to the chamber leaders at home listening? speaker-0: Yeah. I think the other last piece of advice I would give you is that change is constant. It's not going anywhere. And I think chambers can change faster than anyone else. And yes, I'm borrowing from A C C E here, but I think I'm allowed a little bit. speaker-1: Horizon twenty thirty five, anyone? speaker-0: I'm allowed a little bit being on the I'm being on the board, but I will say that. No, change is absolutely constant. So it's one of the things chambers do best is adapt. And I won't say I won't say that horrible phrase, the new normal, because that's awful. I hated it then, I hate it now. But I will say this change is constant and chambers do change better than anyone else. So lean in and plus one. speaker-1: Yeah, a hundred percent. And Nikki, you are you and the Potoski Chamber really is a testament to that change. The amount of incredible work that you've been able to do just in these past few years. across all these different areas, whether it's the advocacy work, whether it's the connecting events, not the networking events, right? All all of these pieces are really, really, really incredible. For the folks that are listening in at home, we'll have links to the Potoski Regional Chamber. Down below. We'll also link in the Chamber Alliance so you can check that out as well. Even for folks that aren't in Northern Michigan, definitely take a look at that. I think what Nikki said there about whether it's trying to start your own alliance or getting putting the building blocks in place, so, so important and can help your chamber a ton. So those links will all be in the description below. Nikki, I want to say thank you again for coming on the show. And for those of you that have been listening in today, thanks for tuning in to Beyond the Ribbon Cut. We'll catch you on the next episode.