Chris Wilson, our local rock star and chapter's graphic artist, started this meeting by having us all express which personality trait we have that we are grateful for.  The act of affirming our personal strengths was a great way to start off the morning.

Meeting New People is one of the best parts of our weekly meeting.  Today our guests included:

• The father & son team of Maurice & Maurice Jr, the electricians at Montiel Electric
• Nesli Ayakta, a commercial photographer
• Returning for the 2nd time, Damion Jackson
• and our newest member, Ryan Clardy from Canopy HR

Our newest member, Ryan was unanimously voted in as our new payroll services specialist.  If you know a company that is handling payroll themselves, we suggest contacting Ryan to see if Canopy HR can relieve their payroll stress, save them some money, and keep their employees happy with timely and accurate pay checks.

Who knew that there were so many interview mistakes that can get you sued? One of our newer members, Cindy Freeland (Schor and Freeland LLP), showed us that what you ask in your interview can really come back to haunt you.  Simple, seemingly innocent questions about personal background such as 'Where are you from?' can open the door to a discrimanatory hiring practice law suit.  If you know a company is interviewing, we highly recommend talking with Cindy first to make sure they are protected.

Dollars in your bank account. Our banker, Sue Crowder, talked today about the direct deposit program offered by Union Bank.  It's a easy way for businesses to give a $50 benefit to your employees just for opening up a checking account.  It's free to the employers and for the employees - it's not even necessary for the employers to bank with Union Bank.  All that's needed is a $100 initial deposit and direct depost.

Building Relationships - Today we also distributed the dance tickets for our visitation program.  If you haven't already scheduled your meeting, call your partner today.  Here's this month's pairings:

Allen Stovall will meet Seth Obyrne
Seth Obyrne will meet Mike Deibler
Mike Deibler will meet Anne Pettay
Anne Pettay will meet Matin Atrushi
Matin Atrushi will meet Michael Calabrese
Michael Calabrese will meet Lawrence Bakur
Lawrence Bakur will meet Chris Wilson
Chris Wilson will meet Robert Colosia
Robert Colosia will meet Pattty Sterling
Pattty Sterling will meet John McConnell
John McConnell will meet Cindy Freeland
Cindy Freeland will meet Florence Casiez
Florence Casiez will meet Rich Yumul
Rich Yumul will meet Erin Fong
Erin Fong will meet Llewellyn Falco
Llewellyn Falco will meet Carol Lord
Carol Lord will meet Derek Wattenbarger
Derek Wattenbarger will meet Shane Haithcock
Shane Haithcock will meet Ana Meyers
Ana Meyers will meet Debbie Bonham
Debbie Bonham will meet Jamelin Johnson
Jamelin Johnson will meet Susan Crowder
Susan Crowder will meet Barbara Lukehart
Barbara Lukehart will meet Brian Geffen
Brian Geffen will meet Mikel Bruce
Mikel Bruce will meet Jasmine Guerrero
Jasmine Guerrero will meet Karen Gibson
Karen Gibson will meet Allen Stovall 

For those of you that don't know what the visitation program is, it is one of the things that we do outside of our weekly meetings to help build the relationships between our members.

This month we started our Hey Big Tipper Contest, with some really fantastic results.  Jasmine is this months 'chosen one', and already she has recieved 21 tips!

Contest rules : Each month one member will be selected to be the 'chosen one'.  Prizes will be given to whoever gives the 'chosen' one the most qualified tips over the month.
1st place - $100!
2nd & 3rd place - $50!

Rich & Llewellyn

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