September 14, 2016
The Chamber’s San Diego Young Leaders (SDYL) group held a meeting and mixer at the Treetops inside the San Diego Zoo. During the meeting, SDYL members heard from San Diego Zoo Global’s Chief Human Resources Officer and HR Professional of the Year, Tim Mulligan, who recently authored ROAR: How to Build a Resilient Organization. After the meeting, SDYL members gathered for a hosted mixer.
Interested in becoming a member of SDYL? Apply here.
September 14, 2016
The Chamber is supporting the California Policy Impact Project, an effort conducted by California’s job creators, business leaders who are service providers, regional small business groups, local chambers of commerce, and statewide trade organizations. The goal is to identify the economic impacts of California laws and to educate the public about those impacts.
California’s citizens, regardless of party affiliation or ideological leaning, have continually identified “jobs and the economy” as the state’s most important and pressing issue. Yet, the policies enacted by their representatives may not consider all the impacts on job creation and economic growth and may even work against these goals.
This project will fill an information void in public awareness and, hopefully, bridge the gap between what Californians think is important and what their elected representatives are focusing on. Please consider taking the first data gathering survey by clicking here.
September 12, 2016
The following content is the latest addition to the Small Business Resources Center. Visit www.sdchamber.org/smallbiz to learn more.
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Whether it’s using ApplePay, Samsung Pay, writing a check or swiping a common debit card, there is no getting around the fact that the world is trending towards a world without cash.
Today, purchases made in the US are only about 55 percent cash, 45 percent credit/debit/other, and that number is on the rise. Sweden is leading the global cashless charge with cash purchases down to about 41 percent of the total; over half are cashless.
Further, those nasty rates and fees that have plagued merchants for so long are now being sidestepped, as merchants can now openly declare a “convenience fee” addition to just about any purchase, and pass the bank and other fees along to the consumer for the convenience of using the chosen cash alternative. Indeed, gas stations have had a lower cash price and a higher credit/debit price for years.
So what are we, the small business community, to learn from this trend? Many in the “payments industry” would offer the following two basic rules:
Today, with the payments industry being as competitive as any other, merchants have help navigating the payments landscape as increased sales are key to both the merchant and the payment service/equipment provider. Local independent sales offices (ISOs) are offering personalized service locally, which is in turn supported by New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) giants in the processing space.
We could not find statistics specific to the local trend here in San Diego, but our lifestyle tends to trend to the more techie side, likely due to the local influence of technology-related industries and companies in San Diego. With that in mind, it is logical to presume that our non-cash spend is a bit more than the national average of 55 percent. For fun, let’s say San Diego purchases are 50 percent non-cash and 50 percent cash.
With that in mind, are you up to speed on all of the available ways for your customers to pay you? If not, consider seeking the advice of a payments professional.
Even parking meters take plastic!
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Keith Woolgar, Account Manager, NPC Payments
About the Author
Keith Woolgar – a proud Chamber member of 14 years and Chamber Ambassador – is the Account Manager for NPC Payments, a merchant services/credit card processing business that services over 400 small businesses in San Diego County, including the San Diego Regional Chamber, San Diego County Office of Education and the San Diego Mission.
Located in the Kearny Mesa neighborhood, NPC Payments is a 21-year old company with a five-person team.
September 8, 2016
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The Chamber is partnering with Operation Dress Code to help women veterans successfully transition to civilian careers with the confidence they deserve and respect they earned by providing them with quality, professional clothing. But we need your help, too!
How you can help:
For more information on Operation Dress Code visit www.thedresscodeca.com.
September 6, 2016
Are you a transit rider? The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) is seeking feedback from San Diego County residents and workers to help determine how its current routing and scheduling for bus and Trolley services are meeting rider needs.
Now through September 23, the Transit Optimization Plan (TOP) will gather input through an online survey and at outreach events around the region. The goal of this project is to evaluate MTS’ performance, and restructure current transit services as necessary to more efficiently and effectively serve the region’s travel needs within the present financial and operating environment.
Fifteen outreach events will take place September 7 through September 15, and an online survey is also available until September 23. To learn more about TOP, to find an outreach event near you or to take the survey online, visit sdmts.com/TOP.
September 6, 2016
Autism Speaks is the world’s leading autism science and advocacy organization. It is dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a cure for autism; increasing awareness of autism spectrum disorders; and advocating for the needs of individuals with autism and their families.
An estimated 1 in 68 children in the U.S. is on the autism spectrum. Autism Speaks was founded in February 2005 by Suzanne and Bob Wright, the grandparents of a child with autism. Mr. Wright is the former vice chairman of General Electric and chief executive officer of NBC and NBC Universal. On the global front, Autism Speaks has established partnerships in more than 70 countries on five continents to foster international research, services and awareness.
This past June, Autism Speaks announced that it has appointed Larissa Kerstetter to the newly created position of Manager of Field Development for Southern California. Larissa Kerstetter’s previous position was as Development Director for the ALS Association’s Greater San Diego Chapter. She left successful corporate positions in the telecom and tech industries when her son – who was diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) – was being mainstreamed from special ed to general ed.
“I am excited to have Larissa Kerstetter on board to oversee Autism Speaks’ activities in San Diego,” said Suzette Martinez, Executive Director of Autism Speaks Southern California. “Her responsibilities will include overseeing Autism Speaks Walk San Diego, (held October 1st), as well as other community events in the Greater San Diego area.”
This October 1st, over 4,000 people are expected to participate in Autism Speaks Walk San Diego 2016 to raise funds and awareness for the over 10,000 San Diegans on the autism spectrum. It will feature a 3.1 mile rolling start walk, kid-friendly activities, live performances and a Resource Fair with over 50 community vendors.
To learn more about how you can be involved, please contact:
Larissa Kerstetter
Autism Speaks
Phone: (619) 318-7424
Email: larissa.kerstetter@autismspeaks.org
To register or learn more about the walk: www.autismspeakswalk.org/sandiego
To learn more about Autism Speaks: www.autismspeaks.org
September 1, 2016
The Chamber released a new jobs dashboard comparing the affordability of San Diego to nine competing metropolitan areas, including: Raleigh, Seattle, San Francisco, and San Jose. The report found that nearly all competitor metros are more affordable than San Diego, with the exception of Portland. (Read the full report here.)
“The measure of a region’s affordability goes beyond just housing. It’s important to look at the whole picture of how far a person’s income will go to support living in a certain area. San Diego excels in many areas, but this dashboard reveals that overall affordability is an area that’s holding back our economic potential.”
Jerry Sanders, President & CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber
CHART: Income needed in San Diego to maintain current spending habits
Affordability varies based on several factors including income. For example, Raleigh has a lower average income than San Diego, but because cost of living there is much lower, that income actually goes 45 percent further than the typical income in San Diego. In San Francisco, where housing and other costs are substantially higher, it is actually more affordable than San Diego because incomes are higher.
Additional key findings of the dashboard include:
“One of the most productive things we can do to address our region’s affordability is focus on how to increase incomes through education and training. Investing in middle and high-wage employment opportunities will benefit employees, employers, and all of San Diego.”
Peter Callstrom, President and CEO of the San Diego Workforce Partnership
This dashboard is the second of three examining the region’s business climate as part of the Chamber’s Regional Jobs Strategy. The challenges outlined in these dashboards and how best to address them in a coordinated, regional approach will be the focus of the final Regional Jobs Strategy report which will be released in January 2017. Earlier this month the Chamber released the “Business and Tax Climate Dashboard” [PDF] and next month will release a third dashboard that takes a comparative look at the region’s standard-of-living.
Launched earlier this year by the San Diego Regional Chamber Foundation in partnership with the County of San Diego, City of San Diego, and San Diego Association of Governments, the Regional Jobs Strategy was created to coordinate a unified effort to spur economic growth and create jobs for the entire Cali-Baja region. The Jobs Strategy includes over 50 of the region’s business and civic organizations. The Affordability Dashboard and appendix can be downloaded from the Chamber website here.