Recession Killer: The Entrepreneur

Amie Teague, the owner of Piedmont Regional Feeding & Oral-Motor Clinic, is choosing not to participate in the current worldwide recession!  Today she hosted an open house to introduce her company to the community and shout about it’s successes.  VA General Assembly Delegate Danny Marshall was among those in attendance.   He spoke a few minutes about entrepreneurial spirit and the success Amie has had with the clinic even through a time when many businesses are failing.

A few years ago Aime started with just a single employee, herself.  Even then she didn’t get paid but put all the revenues back into the business.  She was beginning to get accustomed to all kinds of bankers and bureaucrats telling her that her endeavors would certainly fail!  None of that seems to have mattered as today the Piedmont Regional Feeding & Oral-Motor Clinic employs 15 full time staff who have come from all over the nation to work.   A major point that Mr. Marshall made was that the clinic’s great success was accomplished without any government assistance or funding!  How can this be in an era of government bailouts and economic stimulus plans?  The answer is simple; Hard work, careful planning, diligence, outstanding customer service, committed empoyees, the drive to suceed, and the unstoppable spirit of a true entrepreneur.   One can see these qualities clearly at the Piedmont Regional Feeding & Oral-Motor Clinic.  The more we all embrace them, the sooner our nation and economy will get back on their feet again.

First Impressions of NetBranch Mobile

NetBranch Mobile has been live for two weeks now.  My first impression is “Wow I love this!”.  I find that I’m using it more often at home than I thought.  I’ll use NetBranch Mobile if the computer is turned off or if my wife is using it.   I’ve used it to quickly pay a bill while sitting at the dinner table or waiting at swim lessons.  I’ve been using it on my Palm TX wherever there’s a wifi connection.  If I had a mobile phone I think I would use it all over the place.

The security features are just as strong as NetBranch because the features are more limited.  NetBranch Mobile cannot create new bills, only pay existing ones.  It can only transfer within your accounts at the credit union.  It is not able to transfer outside of the credit union like our full Online Billpay can.  I like how it doesn’t show any private or personal information on the screen.

The only tip I have for using NetBranch Mobile is this.  Double check your MFA security questions and choose more simple answers for them.    A simple, short one word answer is best.  That makes it a little faster to logon to NetBranch Mobile.  I’m interested to hear what other Piedmont CU NetBranch users think of NetBranch Mobile.  So far I really like it alot!  I may finally decide to ditch my Palm TX get a real mobile phone!

The Danville Home Builders Expo

This past weekend Piedmont CU presented at the Danville Home Builders Expo held at the Institute for Advanced Learning.   Here’s my takeaway from the event.  Most vendors I spoke with seemed a bit disappointed that the crowds were not as big as usual.   However, I thought the level of traffic was good.  It gave me a chance to greet and speak with almost everyone who walked by.   In our business a good relationship is worth more than dollars.  What’s that old credit union slogan?  “People are worth more than money.”  People may not be in the position to buy right now, but if you establish some relationship with them today, then tomorrow they may become one of your best customers.

I also had the chance to meet and speak with several vendors.  There was Steve from Summertime Pool & Spa, David & David from Culligan Water, Karen from Pine Hall Brick, Brad from Security Zone, Liz of Danville Parks & Rec, Durdana from Durdana.com, and the guy from Sound Solutions (sorry I don’t recall your name!).  But the most interesting of the vendors was right next to me.  Piedmont Credit Union was beside Saunders Building Supply.  Saunders is the oldest and sole surviving family owned building supply shop in Danville.  They pride themselves on customer service, flexibility, and going the extra mile for people.  (Sounds a little like Piedmont CU.)  On Sunday I had the pleasure of meeting their owner, Elsie Stanley.  I had heard her described as “tough as nails”, ” a catbird”, and “no nonsense”.  She may be those things in Donald Trump’s board room but here at the expo she was kind as could be and quite the salesperson.  In fact I may be by for some lifetime porch rails or a drain pump for the basement.  She took home my very last back scratcher and a set of Piedmont CU playing cards left over from a previous trade show.   So if you have some building or re-modeling to do check out Saunders Building Supply and say hello to Elsie and the grandkids.

Does anyone know what exactly a “catbird” is?