Voting 2012...A Quick Guide to the Election

In less than two weeks millions of voters in Connecticut and throughout the country will decide the fate of our state and nation.  There are so many personal decisions that go with voting in an election.  With so many changes that will happen with this election, the results can and will impact laws that pertain to the plumbing, heating and cooling industry.

This post, by no means, is intended to advise you to vote for one candidate or another.  This is simply an informative guide to the election.  Special thanks to CT-PHCC lobbyist, Andrew Markowski, from Gara & Markowski for providing the following content.

This year, every member of the Connecticut General Assembly (state legislature) is up for election, which includes all 187 seats (36 state senators, 151 state representatives).  The CURRENT breakdown in the State Senate is 22 Democrats and 14 Republicans.  The CURRENT breakdown in the State House is 99 Democrats and 52 Republicans.

These numbers will obviously change after the Nov. 6th elections, but no one is certain to what extent.  The one thing that is certain is that there will be many new faces in the State legislature in January when the new session convenes in Hartford.  This is because incumbent legislators are choosing not to run for reelection or "retiring."  There are 24 open seats in the House and 3 in the Senate.  Two of those three open senate seats are certainly races to watch.  The first is the 19th Senate District which includes Norwich and the surrounding towns of Andover, Bozrah, Columbia, Franklin, Hebron, Lebanon, Ledyard, Lisbon, Montville and Sprague.  The second is the 33rd Senate District which includes Westbrook and the surrounding towns of Chester, Clinton, Colchester, Deep River, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Haddam, Lyme, Old Saybrook (part), and Portland. 

The Presidential election aside, Connecticut also has at least two very important federal races to watch, both of which are garnering national attention as we head into the final two weeks of the campaign.  The open U.S. Senate seat held by Joe Lieberman is up for grabs and pits Republican nominee Linda McMahon against Democrat nominee Chris Murphy.  And in the 5th Congressional District, (northwest corner of the state, includes Litchfield county, the towns of the Farmington Valley, and the cities of Danbury, Meriden, New Britain, Waterbury among others), the open seat features a race between Republican nominee Andrew Roraback against Democrat nominee Elizabeth Esty.  Also, in the 2nd Congressional District (which encompasses nearly the entire eastern half of the state), incumbent Democrat Joe Courtney faces a strong challenge for Republican Paul Formica.

Polls are open in every city in town on Tuesday, November 6th from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

For more information on elections and voting, contact the Connecticut Secretary of the State – Elections & Voting Division.

Have your voice heard and vote on November 6, 2012.

Back to Basics Business Building

In today's world, technology is king.  The traditional print copy of the yellow pages is nearly extinct.  More people search for goods and services of all kinds on the internet or their smartphones.  A strong understanding of social media and search engines is necessary, but it is not the only means of promoting your business.

Back before the yellow pages.  Long before the internet existed, tradespeople got work from word of mouth referrals.  This means of marketing has not disappeared.  Each week a group of professionals from a wide variety of businesses and services meet as the sun comes up.  They sit in firehouses, town halls and other meeting spaces to share referrals, practice their sales pitches and learn how to make their businesses better.

These people are all members of a local BNI or Business Network International chapter.  BNI was started in January 1985, as a way to provide a positive, supportive and structured environment for the development and exchange of quality business referrals.  Each BNI group has only one member representative for each type of business.  The types of businesses at each local group can vary. 

When you join BNI, you are instantly connected to other professionals that are dedicated to helping each other grow their businesses.  This structured word-of-mouth approach might feel like work at first, but as you continue with the group you will see that the work you put in is worth your time and effort.  As you give and receive quality referrals, you begin to understand the power of back to basics business building.

If you are interested in building your business the old fashioned way, check out www.BNI.com to see if a chapter near you has an opening for your trade.

Welcome to CT-PHCC's blog.  Here you will find news and information pertaining to the plumbing, heating and cooling industry, business building tools and other interesting tidbits of knowledge gathered from all over the internet.  You never know what you might find here.  We will have guest authors and welcome your ideas for content.

October brings so much to PHCC.  This blog post is being written from Philadelphia where we are attending Connect 2012.  This National convention is the highlight of the year, providing networking and education for all levels of PHCC.  If you missed this year's convention, you must make plans to attend next year's in Las Vegas.  Save the date for learning, networking and fun October 16-18, 2013.

October also brings the 15 for 12 membership incentive.  New and lapsed members that join or rejoin can receive 15 months for the price of 12.  Connecticut members have the exclusive opportunity to test out the monthly autopay option administered by National PHCC.  For less than a large coffee at Dunkin Donuts each day, you can be a part of CT-PHCC.

 

If you would like more information on membership, events and everything else PHCC Like Us on Facebook or contact Tinamarie at execdirector@ct-phcc.org.