The Neighborhood Newsletter

March is here, and with spring quickly approaching, it’s time to focus on the looming task of spring cleaning. The sense of satisfaction that comes after finally giving the space behind your couch a long overdue sweep or pulling out those old condiments from the depths of your fridge is unmatched. If you haven’t done it yet, here’s your reminder that teriyaki sauce on the bottom shelf expired three years ago. Cleaning those often-neglected areas of home is definitely important, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be doing some spring cleaning in your workplace. It is important to stay organized in both your work and home life in order to maintain or increase your productivity levels and streamline your work processes. Perhaps the best place to start is your desk. It might seem obvious, but having a clean desk can translate into greater productivity for you. One study by Office Max reported that company executives waste around six weeks per year looking for lost items and information! De-cluttering your office space can give you peace of mind and improve your productivity. Invest in a paper daily planner or a whiteboard calendar to help keep track of your activities and deadlines by the day. Once your desk is reorganized, it’s time to start rethinking strategy and goals. Focus on areas that you think your business might need improvement in and make sure your goals are SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results-Oriented, and Time-Bound. Specificity is key to goal-setting because it can quickly become difficult to achieve goals that aren’t measurable. Making sure your goals are specific and measurable can help eliminate any uncertainty and wiggle room for failure. Think of it like going to the gym: you’re much more likely to stick with a regular routine if you set a specific weight loss (or gain) goal and track your progress day- by-day until you reach your target. Goals should be attainable as well; setting realistic goals can help you to accomplish them within the time limits that you’ve set and help avoid disappointment. Having results-oriented goals can help you to focus on solving issues that matter most. Finally, making sure your goals are time-bound ensures that you have a specific target date for the completion of your goal in mind. There are few things more satisfying than crossing off a task from your calendar! In addition to revamping your goals and cleaning your office space up, it never hurts to check up on your website and social media accounts. For prospective customers checking out your business for the first time, your company’s website can make or break their opinion. The importance of making sure your website is easy to navigate and user-friendly cannot be understated. Cutting down on irrelevant information, updating your sites calendar and events pages, making sure relevant pages are easy to access, and adding new photos are all great places to start. Maintaining an active social media presence is also major plus, since posting interesting content and engaging with followers shows prospective customers that you don’t hide behind a virtual curtain – you are there to interact with people and answer their questions. Spring cleaning your business can help you to refocus on what matters and clear your mind for the challenges you will face on the road ahead. The Chamber of Commerce and our members can help you with your business’s spring cleaning at any one of our informational sessions. Keep a close watch at our events calendar for more information! Read more

Networking is quite possibly one of the most important skills you can have as a young professional. Today, websites like LinkedIn have made networking even easier by quantifying the amount of people in your network and making contact with those people easier. Even though these sites can be great tools, it is just as important to attend networking events and expand your network by meeting people in person. Read more

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December Member of the Month-Lora Kay from WHJB Read more

In the information age, having a reliable, high-speed internet connection is more important than ever. That’s why Citizens Fiber sets out to provide a high-quality service with the exceptional local customer support that is hard to find in other similar companies. Based in Mammoth, PA, Citizens Fiber is a provider of communications solutions for residences and businesses, with the added benefit of local customer service and support. They provide fiber optic internet, cable TV, and telephone for home, in addition to hosted phone systems, camera systems, infrastructure cabling, and more for businesses. The company began in 1906 as Citizens Telephone Company of Kecksburg, when the citizens of the town banded together to create a communication service where the larger providers wouldn’t build. In the 1990s, Citizens broke into the cable TV and internet business. From 2010-2015, the company worked to migrate its entire customer base to fiber optics, one of the most reliable technologies for communication services. Now, Citizens is working on expansion beyond its original service territory, which includes the rural region between Latrobe, Greensburg, and Mount Pleasant. New neighborhoods have been successfully built with fiber optics in the city of Latrobe, as well as rural locations that were previously under-served, such as Solomon Temple Road in Unity Township. Citizens has always been a community-oriented company, and is proud to provide the most effective technology in our close-knit community. Citizens is involved with the Chamber by attending the lively Business After Hours and informative Lunch & Learn events, as well as sponsoring the popular Banana Split Festival. Sarah Rebitch, Marketing Director of Citizens Fiber, said, “I had the opportunity to speak a message of encouragement to the students at the 2017 Excellence in Education Banquet, which was a fulfilling experience. Outside of its involvement with the chamber, Citizens has hosted community litter cleanup events to take care of the roadways in its service area. The company is also fortunate to employ a team of customer service representatives who serve the community daily in the way they assist customers with a personal touch.” Rebitch says that Chamber Membership has benefited Citizens Fiber greatly. “Being a member of the Chamber, I’m able to attend events that help spread the word about the service Citizens Fiber provides, which is helpful for bringing in new business. Additionally, it’s wonderful to meet and get to know representatives of other companies in the area. It’s like compiling a mental rolodex of people, products, and services that I can access to help others who are searching for solutions to specific problems.” Citizens Fiber has been a member of the Chamber since 2015, and we’re both looking forward to the many years ahead of us! Read more