Chips March 30th, 2015

Approved new member, Matt Parker.    Gail Johnson, guest of Joan who is looking to join a service organization      Cathy Stone, Assistant District Governor and member of Manchester, Vt club.

 

Chuck raised his water glass to Jeff W. for his water main break help. Lainie then recounted her frustrations and experience of trying to keep guests happy at the hotel with no water.

Wendy Wilton bragged that the city received a clean audit report with zero findings.

Colie said the first Vermont Dance Troupe had their first competition recently and had many first place wins.

Tom said the name of the dance competition was Star Quest and it's a big deal. Pretty neat that Rutland not only was able to compete, but win. Also congratulated Jay and The Sabotasso family on 82 years in business at The Palms

Mark said the Us national alpine competitions were on NBC this past weekend and his daughter was actually shown on NBC

Jack bragged about his 2 week trip to Aspen to see his family and got to spend great time with them and his wife

Lou bragged about his 15 y/o grandson sending him a funny card

Joan said she had a great feeling while reading the Rutland Herald this morning as it was all good new about Rutland and the business community. She also said she was very excited and proud to have all of the young folks making big contributions.  In other news, she won a 30 year achievement award at a recent Coldwell Banker award ceremony.

Matt Parker and his wife try to do something different each 4th of July, and after hearing the Coolidge Foundation Speakers a week ago, he has decided to go there for the fourth.

 

Wendy said there will be a reception to view the artwork at City Hall on Friday starting at 6pm

Barb has tix to The Chaffee's fundraising event for the Kentucky Derby being held at Southside.

Wed April 1st was the joint club boys n girls club committee at the BNG Club. See Will for info

Rutland Blooms is planning to plant 1,000 trees in the NW subdivision

Chuck gave an update on the raffle. Try to sell 1 sponsorship. So far, 30 have been sold.

Jack-2 weeks from today, we will have a lunch meeting dedicated to the Centennial Project

Rachel is collecting money for Relay (June 20-21st). Goal is $2,000

Mike motioned for ceremonial ripping off of red new member tag of Rachel and Sonia. Joan retorted that Mike never disappoints, "at least not here."

 

Stephanie won $26, didn't win the "big" pot

 

 

Wynn Thomas; Wynn was really excited about the opportunity to speak. He was asked to speak about how his vocation helps and relates to the community. Wynn is in the employee benefit and insurance business. He has done this for over 40 years. His company helps provide advice, review, and implementation of insurance to clients. Since Obama Care was rolled out, everything has changed a lot in the insurance space. They now have 7 people dedicated to compliance of new laws.

The principles that guide his business are essentially the 4 way tests. He who profits most, serves best. Service above self.

Wynn's secret to get people to follow your ideas -successful people do what unsuccessful people can't or won't do. Going the extra mile. Don't make excuses.

He has also realized that 25% of people will LOVE you, 25% of people wil HATE you, and 50% are in-different. Basically, don't waste your time chasing the 25% that hate you, find the 25% who love you.

Sales aren't problems, they are procedures. They can become problems when you lose your procedures.

Timing is everything, keep your momentum when you have it.

Life changing events for Wynn: His first Marathon back in the 80's really was a game changer for him. Physical fitness helps him stay motivated, energetic, and absolutely life changing. The other game changer for Wynn was his recent health scare. He has worked for many years, been very successful, and saved a lot of money for retirement, but he realized, I may croak and it's all for naught. He is going to be scaling back on work soon and begin enjoying himself.

Wynn closed by saying when you are 60-75 years old, you still like sex, drugs, and rock and roll, but when you are 75-90, you don't like anything!

 

Will Gormly: Will is the owner/operator of Mountain Cider Co. and specializes in Hot Apple Cider concentrate. His family use to have a xmas tree farm, apple orchard, and specialty foods line. In 2004 his father sold the specialty food line, but kept the cider side. Will's product fills the nitch between fresh cider and the boring powdered kind. Will's dad retired in April of 2013 and Will assumed responsibility of the company going forward. His business is very seasonal and does most of their business between Aug and Feb. The rest of the year, Will works on the sales and marketing side of the business, when not trying to break 100 at Proctor Pittsford. 85% of his sales are through food service distributors (i.e Sysco) and the other 15% is wholesale direct. Will keeps his business fair and reasonable to his customers. He won't give one person a discount unless all clients can get the discount. He keeps cost lows and help his distributors to be as profitable as possible with his product. Will briefly touched on the trends food producers see. Right now, the big thing is the local food movement (ie. buying locally grown food)

 

Will finished with his principles of business and relationships. They were very similar to Wynn's and coincided with the Four Way Test.

 

Thank you Will and Wynn for keeping us entertained!