Today's LeTip meeting started off with Mikel leading us in some yoga stretches.  As he had us interlace our hands behind our back, the collective groans reminded us how we're not quite as limber as we used to be.  But on the up side, he got our blood flowing and our meeting going.

The other aspect that always energizes our group is our guests.  Today, we were introduced to Michael, an electrician and Jerry, a printer.  Both positions are much needed in our group, and we hope that they were able to make some good connections at their first meeting.

Today, we also ran elections, and everybody was unanimously voted in!

We want to make a special mention of our new Real Estate Agent, Seth, who has not only just received his white badge, but already had received his second badge (green) for doing an outstanding job of growing our group.  Thanks Seth!

Due to the growth of our group, we will be featuring two speakers at each meeting, to make sure everybody gets a chance to talk to the group at least twice a year. 

Today, our first speaker was our Banker, Sue Crowder (www.uboc.com,) who showed us the how personal checks can leave us vulnerable to identity theft and fraud.  A couple of things you can do to minimize your risk include: 1) Using your bank's online bill pay and 2) Using your credit card.  As long as you pay off your balance each month, the protection afforded by credit cards is well worth it.  Bonus tip: After receiving your statement, you only have 60 days to dispute any charges on it, so make sure you don't have any unopened statements lying around your house!

Next, Chris Wilson (www.endoxiart.com), our graphic artist, talked about the importance of a logo - how it should represent the core of your business and act as a compass or guide in the same manner as a business plan.  Chris talked about how he interacts with his clients to discover their 'identity' and then distill it and finally put it on to paper.  

We also had visitation, where members share what they learned from their partner. Our visitation program is one of the ways we build stronger relationships between the members, and it's always interesting to see each other through another member's eyes.  If you haven't had a chance yet to meet up with your assigned visitation partner, please try to complete it soon - April's coming fast along with a new visitation partner!

Raffle prizes were donated by Paul, Allen, Sue and Barbara - THANK YOU!  Also, thanks to everybody that participated in the raffle and congratulations to all the winners.

While we missed more members today than we usually do, it was a nice to see a strong number of tips being passed around (31).

As usual, LeTip LeMonday will be at Llewellyn's on the 23rd at 9:00am.  These meeting's aren't mandatory, but they're great ways to build up your relationships with the other members at the meeting on top of helping to grow our group into the best one in San Diego.  For those of you that are going to be speaking soon, it's strongly recommended to come as Llewellyn (who does presentations for a living) is offering to help people with their 10 minute speeches.  In other words, he's going to help you educate the group on how to bring you more business.

Lastly, March's Network Training Seminars are coming up: one on March 23 in Encinitas and one on March 30 near SDSU.  New members are required to attend these seminars within the first 60 days for membership.  These meetings teach you how to make the most of your membership and how to build your business using networking techniques.  Contact Ana Vega to RSVP.

Have a great weekend everybody!
Rich & Llewellyn