Chamber Chat

On our Facebook page (Atlanta Area Chamber of Commerce), we recently introduced Mike Dillinger, owner of 4D Fishing, as a new member of the Chamber. Mike handcrafts fishing lures in a very cool workshop behind his home. If you like to catch crappie or bass, he can custom make anything you need to make your fishing dreams come true.

When we get a new member, we have them complete a questionnaire—sort of a grown up and businesslike “all about me” project! We use the responses to form our customer file for accounts, but we also use the information to develop our new member introductions. As we were reading over the questionnaire that Mike had filled out, we were exchanging glances at each other and laughing a little at our lack of familiarity when it comes to fishing lures.

Mike’s available product list went something like this: Footballs, Flippin’ & Swim Jigs, Shakeyheads, MarcoPolos, Spinner Baits, Buzz Baits (so on and so forth). We don’t know what any of these titles mean, but we do know that Mike’s customers do and they keep coming back for more!

If you’ve never met Mike, you should. We are hoping to feature him as well as other local folks who share the same small business entrepreneurial spirit in our upcoming Fall Maker’s Market: “Atlanta Local.” Coming October 17th, this will be our second Maker’s Market of 2020, and we have high expectations after the tremendous success of the first event back in June.

The Maker’s Market is exclusive for vendors with handmade, homemade or homegrown goods. They must be from within a fifty-mile radius to Atlanta. Guys like Mike are the perfect fit because not only does he have a winning product, but he’s also a great guy that customers will enjoy meeting.

One of the first things our team did after the inaugural Market was make an appointment with Jessica, our Cass County AgriLife Extension Office Agent. We were all hyped up and ready to pick her brain on how we might be able to grow our market and provide more resources to our local makers!

Thankfully, Jessie knows way more than we do, and she is so helpful and great to work with! Thanks to her talents and knowledge, we have informative booklets all about selling your handmade, homemade or homegrown goods in a market type environment. If you are interested in learning more, just request a “Made by Me” packet from our Chamber office! It’s a great resource to get you started!

The Maker’s Market has a very “support small” / “support local” vibe. Seeing local talent and creativity on display in the wide variety of products plus seeing the faces behind the creations of the goods is a really cool experience for everyone involved. You can find more about the “Atlanta Local” Maker’s Market on our Facebook Event, and we sincerely hope the community will come out for another huge turnout! Speaking of things you can find on our social media, we released a little teaser last week on our Instagram and Facebook pages: “Local Lucy” and “Hometown Howard.” Follow us to learn all about them! atl_tx_chamber on Instagram.

Our quote for the week is “life is tough, but so are you!”