Membership Rules

If you’re interested in growing your business by joining our referral business networking, please fill out this membership form.

Here are the Membership Guidelines as of July 24, 2009. They are open for discussion.

• Hamilton Business Network is a structured group: meaning, there will be an agenda to follow at every meeting, as opposed to just free networking and chatting around. See agenda below.
• Free membership. There are no membership fees, however there is an annual $5 administration fee to support our website. This fee is payable upon membership registration, and is non-refundable.
• Exclusive Category Membership: Only one member per business category. Some overlap of businesses is inevitable, but the main focus of a business must be unique to that one business. Important note: Each member controls the exclusivity of his/her business category. Some categories may be still open to accept up to one additional business. Please contact the member directly to discuss this.
• Membership in other referral networking organizations is not allowed.
• Members are free to join non-exclusive business-building networking groups, such as a Chamber of Commerce, women’s groups, professional organizations, etc.
• Only full-time business owners, or full-time employees can be members.
• Attendance: We’re meeting biweekly, every other Wednesday, so members should be able to arrange their schedules accordingly and make every effort to be present.
• Substitutes: If you can’t make it to a meeting, please consider sending a substitute. At a minimum, please advise a member who will be attending that you cannot make it.
• Timekeeping for infomercials: You will have about 1-2 minutes, depending on the available time (the more members we have, the shorter the infomercials) timed by a volunteer member.
• Referrals will be recorded, to help us all measure the success of our efforts. We will simply record who gave a referral to whom, nothing else.
• Referral follow ups: Members are not required to report on the success (or failure) of a referral, but the group encourages you to do so, as this lets new members/visitors know that we are doing business.
• Venue: Kelsey’s Restaurant 200 Centennial Parkway North, Hamilton – (905) 573-6111
• Members will be able – and are encouraged – to contribute articles, images, videos and other content to our blog. If you’re not familiar with blogs, contact Malcolm for more info on how to contribute. If you have a web site or blog, please create a link to http://HamiltonBusinessNetwork.com
• Free advertising spots will be provided on the blog to any member who wishes to participate. Depending on the number of ads, they may need to be rotated randomly to accommodate available space.
• Members are encouraged to participate in running the group. At this time, there are no ‘officers’ or elected leadership. The group recognizes Hamilton mortgage agents Paul Smith and Malcolm Macdonald as the founders of the group.
• Meetings are to run not more than 90 minutes.
• Visitors/potential members: You are welcome to visit at any time, just drop in. A cover charge applies for food/beverages.

Agenda (6:00pm – 7:30pm)

10:00 Open networking

10:15 Welcome

10:16 Edumercials

10:45 Marketing Minute – members share marketing tips.

10:46 Open discussion on any topic

10:55 One-on-One — members will be randomly assigned in pairs, and will have a total of 20 minutes to learn about each other.

11:15 What do we have to give – referrals. If you have a referral, do not wait for the meeting to give it, pass it along as soon as you have it, then stand up and share it with the group at the meeting.

11:20 Referral Check – Voluntary. If you have a good story to tell about your referral, now would be a good time to do it.