CHAMBER NEWS & VIEWS
When life hands you lemons
When life give you lemons, you are encouraged to make lemonade. I think that’s great advice for the small annoyances we run into, but not so much these days. After the arrival of COVID-19 and the subsequent shutdowns and economic chaos, we were smacked with much more than a couple of lemons.
However, some businesses were successful dealing with the crisis and preparing for the recovery. It seems the secret to their success was their ability to pivot to new business models conducive to short-term survival tactics, along with long-term plans for resilience and growth. That pivoting usually creates enough value for customers and the business alike.
At the chamber, pivot is one of our new favorite words. Pivot has about forty-eight synonyms, but my favorite is reimagine. Do pivoting and reimagining always work? We’ll let you know as we give it a try. We are more than ready to get back to making that lemonade.
Join us this Friday, Aug. 28, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. as we pivot to our new reimagined Fall Expo. Since face-to-face contact is still frowned upon, and the Sun City Center Community Hall is closed, we’re holding a Drive Through Expo in the Prince of Peace Catholic Church parking lot.
The first 500 hundred people who drive through this free event will receive a goodie bag filled with promotional fliers and other valuable information from our chamber members. This information will help let you know what products and services are available to you in our region. We’ll even have a few members on site to wave you on through!
And to help you enjoy the drive through, we’ve got musical entertainment provided by the Sunset Social Club. Come by car or golf cart — your choice. Just enter through the Valley Forge Boulevard entrance. Here’s a huge hint for those of you who are driving through: In random goodie bags, there will be prizes — the kind you want to keep — so look carefully through those bags.
We will see you this Friday. Rain or shine, we’ll be there. Bottom line is you’re supporting our local businesses. And for that, I say “thank you.”
Lynne Conlan is Executive Director of the Sun City Center Area Chamber of Commerce. Call her at 813-634-5111, or email lynne@sccchamber.com.
