That guy who told me to skip the Chamber of Commerce meetings was dead wrong

Met a business owner at a coffee shop in Mesa last fall who said the local Chamber was a total waste of time and money. So I avoided them for like 6 months. Finally joined in January after a client pushed me to, and I've already landed two commercial contracts from people I met at their mixer. Has anyone else gotten way more value out of those groups than people give them credit for?

3 comments

3 Comments

sageross2mo ago

Honestly, that "total waste of time and money" line is exactly what I heard too. I get why people say it though, because some chapters are pretty weak. But I joined a smaller one in my area and the mixers have been way more useful than I expected. Made a few solid connections there that actually led to real work instead of just handing out business cards.

robertgreen2mo ago

That "smaller chapter" thing makes a big difference I think. The big ones just feel like a numbers game, but the smaller groups actually force you to talk to people.

masonbell1mo ago

Totally agree about the "force you to talk to people" part. I joined a chapter with about 20 members and the first meeting felt awkward but by the third one I actually knew everyone's name and what they did. That never happened in the big groups I tried. We did a roundtable where each person had to share a current problem they were trying to solve and I got three solid leads just from that one conversation.