Corridors december 2017

Hot Tech Items for Christmas 7 Guidelines for Social Media Success 5 Tips for a Stress Free Holiday Year End Planning

December 2017

C O N T E N T S

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4 Chamber Headquarters 5000 Brooktree Road, Suite 100 Wexford, PA Cranberry Twp. Office 2525 Rochester Road Cranberry Township, PA P: 724.934.9700 F: 724.934.9710

Jim Boltz President JBoltz@PghNorthChamber.com For more information on the Chamber’s program of work, please contact: Patty Bittle Marketing and Events Director PBittle@PghNorthChamber.com Al Davidson Membership Accounts Executive ADavidson@PghNorthChamber.com Kristina Hall Program Director KHall@PghNorthChamber.com Heather Schwartzbauer Membership Coordinator HSchwartzbauer@PghNorthChamber.com Amy VanAtta Executive Assistant AVanAtta@PghNorthChamber.com

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From the The contributions of our members is what makes this Chamber so great. We would not be able to accomplish all that we do without their volunteer efforts.

Every month, we honor a member who has made major contributions to the Chamber. As the year is ending, I would like to recognize our 2017 honorees one more time.

January– Dr. Ann Gatty Strategic People Solutions

April– Tonya Edinger Weddings of Pittsburgh

August– David Kane Cybertary Pittsburgh

February– Sally Powers Treasure House Fashions

May- Erin Turo Turo Family Chiropractic

September– Christina Tarantola Diet Doc Pittsburgh North

March- Kandy McCool Legal Shield

June– George Payne Federated Mortgage Corp

October– Tricia Prichard Family Bowlaway Fun Center

July– Jerry Walkins Send Out Cards

November—Marc Schwalb Schooley Mitchell Pittsburgh

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B USINESS A FTER H OURS See you in 2018

Business After Hours are from 5-7pm

E VENTS Giving Tree Holiday Celebration Thursday, December 7 5:00-8:00pm Mayernik Center 498 Camp Horne Road Holiday Open House Friday, December 15 12:00-4:00pm Chamber Headquarters

M ARKETPLACE L UNCH M EETINGS December 6: Bravo! Cranberry, 11:30am - 1:00pm 20001 Route 19, Cranberry Twp December 13: Monte Cellos at The Hampton Shoppes 11:30am-1:00pm 4655 William Flynn Highway - Route 8, Allison Park December 20: Cranberry Sports Grill, 11:30am - 1:00pm 1294 Freedom Road, Cranberry Twp. Cancelled December 25: Family Bowlaway Fun Center, 11:30am- 1:00pm 540 Fairground Hill Road, Butler Cancelled December 27 Bravo! McKnight Road, 11:30am - 1:00pm 4976 McKnight Road Pittsburgh, PA

CONNECTIONS Daily networking events for business leaders throughout our Pittsburgh North region Wexford: Tuesdays, 7:30 a.m. Chamber Headquarters, 5000 Brooktree Rd., Suite 100 Warrendale: Tuesdays, 11:30 a.m. DoubleTree By Hilton 910 Sheraton Drive. Sponsored by Dollar Bank Cranberry Twp.: Wednesdays, 7:30 a.m. Council Chambers, 2525 Rochester Road. Sponsored by WORD FM Ross Twp.: Thursdays, 7:30 a.m. Treasure House Fashions, 7607 McKnight Road.

Gibsonia: Fridays, 7:30 a.m. St. Barnabas Health System 5847 Meridian Road.

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2017 B OARD OF D IRECTORS E XECUTIVE C OMMITTEE John Tubridy – Board Chair Franchise Network of Pittsburgh Ann Gatty, Ph.D.– Chair-Elect Strategic People Solutions Philip J. Scolieri, J.D.– Vice-Chair Scolieri Law Group, P.C. Lisa Hunt - Past Chair USX Federal Credit Union

Gary Basilone – Foundation Chair Basilone Executive Search Kent Clifton - Treasurer AXA Advisors, LLC Gregg Hill – Secretary Dollar Bank Jim Boltz - President Pittsburgh North Regional Chamber

B OARD

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D IRECTORS

Tracy Armstrong, North Pittsburgh Greeting Company Judith Bernhard, Advance Sourcing Concepts, LLC Ryan Breen J.D., Breen Law Firm, LLC Steve Carpenter, Northwood Realty Andrew Chiapusio, First National Bank Steven W. Diffenderfer, NexTier Bank Todd Harris, Liberty Insurance Agency Nicholas D. Kennedy, FamilyWealth Management Group John Laslavic, ThistleSea Business Development, LLC Al Marschke, ACN Business Essentials Robert O’Friel, Luttner Financial Group Dan Penberthy, NexTier Bank Jan Stevens, Coldwell Banker Kim Yerace, Petroleum Technical Services, LLC

Pittsburgh North Regional Chamber

PNRC Member “As a departing valued member of the board I personally would like to thank you for your contribution and guidance and support of the Pittsburgh North Regional Chamber of Commerce. Your presence will be missed and we all hope that you will remain very active with continued support of the chamber,” said John Tubridy PNRC Board Chair.

Judith Bernhard Advanced Sourcing Concepts

Judith was appointed to the Board in 2011, then elected for two more terms for a total of seven years. She has served on the Strategic Planning Committee and the Nominating Committee.

Steve Carpenter Northwood Realty

Steve has been on the Board for six years. He has served as the Chair for the Outreach Committee and is responsible for initiating our Night at the Races event.

John Laslavic ThistleSea Business Development

Kent Clifton AXA Advisors, LLC

Kent has served on the Board for six years. He has held the position of Treasurer and been on numerous committees. Finance, Executive, Strategic Planning, Ambassador and Nominating.

Dan Penberthy NexTier Bank

John has been on the Board since the merger Dan has been on the Board for six years. for a total of eight years. He has been the He has served on the Finance Committee Chair of the Board, the Foundation, the Legisand chaired the Facilities Committee. lative and Economic Development Committee and the Personnel Committee. He has also Member testimonials served on the Finance, Merger and Executive are the Chamber’s best and most effective way to promote the beneCommittees. fits

PghNorthChamber.com

and services that a Chamber membership provides. Share your

December2017

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Hot Tech Items for Christmas by Green Seven Technologies It’s getting to be that time of year. What’s hot in technology for this year’s Christmas Season?

Good gift giving depends a lot on well-timed serendipity. Aisle wandering and clicking around online usually lead you to the perfect thing for the techie on your list. Trouble is, time’s ata premium these days.

Whether your’re looking for the highest rated tech gifts this season or just need a nudge in the right direction, we’ve researched some of the best-selling and most popular tech gifts that will be on everyone’s list this year.

Get fit….Fitbit Alta Fitness Tracker can track workouts, heart rate, distance, calories burned, floors climbed, active minutes and step. Plus, monitor how long and how well you’ve been sleeping (YES!) and can even receive texts and calls at a glance when you’re on the move. Oh, and did we mention the battery life last for 7 days?

Step aside Echo...meet Alexa. It’s all in the pictures. She can actually show you how to do things instead of just telling you! Watch your video flash briefings, listen to music or watch videos, enjoy hands free face–to-face calling, hook it up to your home security cameras or monitoring systems and simply ask Alexa to “show you the front door” to see who’s there. It can basically do everything that your first echo could do, but now way more!

Live that virtual like, play games, and so much more with Samsung Gear VR Headset with Controller.

Goodbye Siri...Hands-free, ask Alexa anything and she’ll answer. Find out the weather, traffic, how old Adele is, turn your lights on and off with just a voice command, play Jeopardy and more! Plus listen to music because, music.

Take music underwater. Like singing in the shower or spending time at the pool or beach? VicTsing Shower Speaker Wireless Waterproof Speaker with 5W Drive, Suction Cup is a great choice.

Increase your Wi-Fi range up to 10,000 square feet with TP-Link Wi-Fi range Extender.

Streaming your favorite shows from Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, and more with Roku Streaming Stick and really cutting the cord for real!

You see….we found something for nearly everyone on your list. Shop online or in person, but these items will be sure to please.

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Pittsburgh North Regional Chamber

PghNorthChamber.com

July 2017

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7 Guidelines for Social Media Success By Elizabeth Blakely Social Media, it is quite literally everywhere; links on websites, emails, videos, print ads….It is a valuable tool to build your business. It is also very easy to spend lots of time, effort and money trying to create the perfect campaign to get noticed or even go viral. Like most marketing efforts some planning can make your efforts much more effective.

Listed below are 7 keys to successful social media marketing.

1. Make the Proper Connection to Engage Social Media platforms have different demographics and offer different ways to engage your clients. Pick the social media platform that your clients are most likely to use.     

Young people and teens, especially girls, use Snapchat and Instagram A wider age range (18-49) of people, but especially women use Facebook Men edge out girls on YouTube and represent a bigger chunk of the Twitter and Reddit users Women from 18-64 are Pinterest’s primary audience Male and female professionals use LinkedIn

If you are not sure which platform is correct take the time to sketch out your target audiences’ key demographics, such as age, gender, interests, even income. Then match your audience with the right social media platform.

2. Make A Plan Once you know who your audience is, think about the kinds of information you can provide and what they might be looking for. Don’t hesitate to look at peer and competitor social media feeds for guidance and inspiration. In addition to your consideration of content it is crucial to take the time to learn about the platforms themselves. Key questions include:  

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What are the best times and days of the week to post/pin/tweet, etc.? Each platform, like the audiences they serve, have best of times of day. A quick google search can provide you with up-to-date information for the platforms you want to use.

What are the minimum/recommended number of posts/pins/tweets/ for my selected platforms? While you should post something on your selected platforms at least once a day the recommended number of posts can be much higher. One post per day for Facebook or LinkedIn is fine, but for Twitter or Pinterest, more than a dozen tweets or pins are recommended by some experts What should each post include; a picture or video, call to action, short content, link to other resources?

Combine all this information together and build an editorial calendar. The calendar should outline, in detail, the content you plan to share. Plan a variety of posts that will engage your audience (e.g. clients and potentials) and start conversations on the net. You can use social media to inform users about your business, talk about products and services, ask questions, invite them to your location, and even get feedback. Social media sites like Facebook and Google+ encourage reviews. People take notice of the reviews and comments their peers make about products and services in their personal posts. A calendar helps prevent “writers block” when you get busy or don’t know what to write about. Don’t forget to match your social media plans with the seasons your business finds important. Feeling overwhelmed? There are online tools you can use, even plugins for WordPress web sites but even a simple spreadsheet will work to help organize your social media activities. Whatever tool you select make sure the calendar lists when a post will be published, the content needed (text and images) and any supporting materials such as landing pages or links! If there is a theme for a particular set of posts include that too.

3. Get real and be authentic.

One of the biggest challenges of social media is getting the imagery correct. Social media is visually oriented; usually a picture or video that catches our eye before any headline. A big part of being real and authentic is having pictures or videos that show your business, staff, and products. If you can get pictures of customers and your business interacting even better!

Stock photography may look great, but those beautiful pictures don’t reflect your business as well and might confuse users if seen somewhere else.

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When trying to find pictures it can be very easy to seek the perfect shot and forget that most posts are very short-lived, 24 hours or less. Remember, pictures don’t have to be perfect, they just need to capture users’ attention! If you have the budget, get a professional to take pictures to complement your planned posts. If not, there are loads of pages (such as https:// blog.newkajabi.com/6-tips-to-improve-your-social-media-photography that can help you take decent pictures with even with just a smart phone. Continued on page 9

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7 Guidelines for Social Media Success By Elizabeth Blakely Make sure that posts/pins/tweets complement your other marketing efforts and support your branding. Use your logo and taglines and other core identity elements on social media pages. For example, have staff members wear a company shirt for pictures or include a logo item in a product shot. Talk to your audience in terms and language they understand. Make sure to provide a link to help client/potentials find more information, buy something or call/visit your business. Create content that conveys relevant, clear, scannable messages that genuinely reflect your business and motivate them to action. Users have limited time, make sure the time that they spend looking at your social media posts is worth it.

Finally, be realistic about what you can do too. How many staff members and how much time and resources can you devote to social media? It is better to do one social media platform well and reach your key audiences than try to do multiple platforms and do a mediocre job.

4. Review the data.

All the major platforms offer statistics, take advantage of this data to improve your social media response rates. Look at the statistics to see if users are watching your videos, following your feeds, sharing/liking your posts, and clicking links. For example, if they like more humorous posts add a few more in, if how-to tips work, make sure they are part of your calendar too. Statistics can even show you negative activity; look to see if people have stopped following you or reacted badly to a post. Over time you should be able to see what types of posts resonate with your audience and tweak your plans accordingly. You can also see what times they are looking at your materials, so you can optimize you posting times. Tools like Cyfe (https:// cyfe.com) can pull together data from multiple platforms so you can get a better view of how your online marketing efforts are doing and make it easier to spot trends. If you are fortunate enough to have the time to do A/B testing of images and text, this data will help you tailor your online media activities to your audiences even more closely.

5. Change is inevitable; be flexible.

Social media is constantly evolving both on the micro and macro levels. On a micro level you might feel that you need to post something relevant to a news story or highlight a shout-out from a local media outlet. Don’t be afraid to step away from your editorial calendar or stop using a post that you like but your audience doesn’t respond to. Don’t let your social media posting become stale and predictable, experiment with different kinds of posts and you might find something unexpected works really well. We created some fun photo mashups for a fitness client and their followers loved them.

On a macro level the platforms themselves change. For example, the times people look at information/sources for different industries do shift and the interfaces themselves can change too. Currently FaceBook is testing the division of news feeds into two streams: personal and commercial. If the change goes live in the U.S. it will force business owners to pay for more ads so their services and products are still seen in the personal streams.

6. Be Consistent Link it all together.

Remember that your social media activities shouldn’t operate in isolation. Make sure to link your social media efforts together between your selected platforms and your website      

Have social media buttons on your website.

Create landing pages for so people can easily convert from browsers to buyers and provide another way to trace that activity from social media.

Make sure that your social media platforms are properly branded with your logo and business information Make sure your content is relevant to your customers and your business plans to encourage growth Use LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook etc. to highlight a video or blog you have created Have feeds on your website so users can discover what they can see if they are considering following you.

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PghNorthChamber.com

December2017

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Five Tips for a Stress-Free Holiday By Christina Tarantola

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Do you cringe when you hear the words “the holidays?” I’m assuming you picture yourself drowning in a frenzy of wrapping paper, egg nog, in-laws and bad stuffing. Or maybe your holidays are just perfect!

When I think of the holidays, some words come to mind; loud, excessive amounts of food and chaos. What can I say, I grew up in an Italian family! My saint of a mother did most, if not all of the cooking, cleaning, washing, scrubbing and entertaining. I remember hearing the din of frustration coming from our kitchen, the banging of pots and pans, as I sat in fear in my bedroom. She felt powerless and overwhelmed and like she had to pull teeth to have us help her. I love my mother dearly and what I discovered as I grew up is that much of that stress could have been alleviated with a few key tweaks!

We tend to think that stress is caused by external factors: people, things, situations and expectations. Maybe you’ve recalled all of the times that Uncle Jeff came empty handed to Thanksgiving or Aunt Edna brought her English mastiff that went through the garbage and created his own colorful decorations on the kitchen floor. On second thought, maybe you don’t want to remember those things!

Stress is a physiological response. The part of our brain responsible for the stress response is the amygdala, an almond-shaped nuclei located in the temporal lobes that manages our memory, decision making, and emotions. This part of our brain has been around since the stone age, back when having a stress response meant the difference between life and death in the wild. It acts as an alarm center and tends to serve as a thorough protective mechanism, leading to an overreaction to ensure we get the message of inherent danger. The problem is that we no longer live in the wild. Living in this state of never-ending high alert no longer serves us, and in fact, fear and worry can hold us back.

The opposing part of the brain to the amygdala is the prefrontal cortex, which takes in the information we give it, organizes it, and then judges it. It functions as the CEO of our brain. This brain center functions to calm down the amygdala during unnecessary stress, to override its overactivity and take over. The solution to excessive stress, therefore, is to train the brain to be prefrontal cortex-dominant.

So how can we stop stress in its tracks? Without getting too deep into medical jargon, something called the parasympathetic nervous system acts in opposition to the sympathetic nervous system, the one that revs us up and sets us up for fight or flight. Therefore, to blunt the stress response, we want to activate the parasympathetic nervous system.

The best way to do this is using slow, deep breathing. It sounds simple, and it is. It is not the easiest thing in the heat of a stressful situation but, with practice, one can reap the major benefits of this simple solution.

A useful tool that harmonizes with deep breathing is mindfulness, the practice of noticing your thoughts without judgment. Mindfulness can be honed through meditation. Maybe you’ve heard of meditation and have a mental image of Buddha sitting in silence for hours. You may think you need to sit cross-legged and stop your thoughts. This is a common misconception! We cannot always stop our thoughts, but instead bring awareness to them. If you are new to meditation, you can start in small increments and with guided meditations. I started off meditating with a guided meditation from YouTube and completed just 5 minutes. After about one week, I noticed the shift in my reaction and perspective to the outer world.

As with any habit, the more you practice it, the easier it becomes. Then you can increase the interval to 10 minutes per day. The benefits include increasing our ability to focus, keeping attention on a difficult task, feeling compassion for others, controlling our emotions, and even decreasing the perception of pain. Those who practice meditation will gain more control of themselves through being more aware of their minds.

I know what you’re thinking: “You think I’ll have time to meditate in the midst of the crazy holiday season?!” Yes! Schedule it! Set your alarm for 5 minutes earlier and take the time to prime your day with this practice. You’ll be happy you did!

Life coach Tony Robbins said quite accurately, “Whatever you focus on you feel”. Focusing on what we can control is the key to success! In every moment, we have the ability to change our perspective on how we experience life. The holidays are no different!

In addition to practicing mindfulness and shifting your mindset, here are some other helpful tips for a stress-free holiday!

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Five Tips for a Stree-Free Holiday By Christina Tarantola Here are 5 Tips for a Stress-Free Holiday

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1. Take care of yourself first. Ensure that you are getting plenty of rest, eating a well balanced diet, doing some form of activity and carving out time for self-care. Oh yes, and remember to breathe! When you are stressed, you don’t breathe deeply, which can amplify anxiety. If your body is a house, your health is the foundation. Imagine having a house without a floor! I bet you wouldn’t like stepping out of your bed into mud. Lack of self-care leaves you vulnerable to getting sick and prone to getting more irritated at the little things. Keep your foundation strong and you will be more effective and less stressed.

2. Plan ahead and do things in chunks. Don’t feel the need to do everything in one day. If you plan ahead, you will have more than enough time! Make a list and select 2 things you can do each day leading up to the big day. This will also give you peace of mind. I start my holiday shopping 2 months out and will buy small items at a time. For example, purchasing 3 candles for each of your nieces or gloves for your son. If shopping in stores overwhelms you, shop online. When we think of the big picture, it can get overwhelming. Chunk things down and you’ll be surprised at how quickly your to-do list gets done!

3. Delegate tasks and enroll others in helping you. You can’t do it all alone. Can you send your husband out to get the turkey or the yams? Are you able to hire someone to clean your house during the hectic times? Can you allow someone else to help with the dishes when dinner is done? When we are pulled in so many directions, it gets overwhelming. Minimize overwhelm by delegating.

4. Remember to laugh. Have you ever seen National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation? Where else do you see a squirrel in a Christmas tree or the tree catching fire because of Uncle Lewis’ stogie? It made you laugh, didn’t it?! Okay, maybe when it’s at your house it isn’t as funny. However, being light-hearted about certain things can boost your mood, ease tension and even improve memory, according to a recent study1.

According to a Helpguide.org,2 article, here are some other benefits to laughing:

Laughter boosts the immune system. Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infectionfighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease.

Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.

Laughter protects the heart. Laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems.

Laughter lightens anger’s heavy load. Nothing diffuses anger and conflict faster than a shared laugh. Looking at the funny side can put problems into perspective and enable you to move on from confrontations without holding onto bitterness or resentment.

Laughter may even help you to live longer. A study in Norway found that people with a strong sense of humor outlived those who don't laugh as much. The difference was particularly notable for those battling cancer.

5. Focus on experiences rather than things. So what if you got a present you didn’t want? Does it change the course of your life if the mashed potatoes didn’t turn out perfectly? Probably not. People will remember the experiences and how they felt, not the food or the fancy decorations. Take your kids ice skating and do something that doesn’t require buying or eating. Go for a drive and look at the Christmas decorations. Building memories is about the people you are with and the joy of the season.

When you can shift your focus to see the blessings around you, your attitude changes with it. Gratitude has been shown to improve your mood. Be thankful that you have food on the table, family that loves you and a heart that continues to beat without you even thinking about it.

In truth, everyone is doing the best they can and when you realize this, your heart softens and maybe, just maybe, this year you can tolerate the bad stuffing. Happy Holidays!

Reference: 1. Bains, G S, et al. “The Effect of Humor on Short-Term Memory in Older Adults: a New Component for WholePerson Wellness.” Advances in Mind-Body Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2014.

2. “Laughter is the Best Medicine.” Laughter is the Best Medicine: The Health Benefits of Humor and Laughter. www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/laughter-is-the-best-medicine.htm

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Year End Planning By Autumn Edmiston As the holiday season quickly approaches it has yet again become time to plan for 2018. Part of determining your level of success is being able to look back and see which goals you have met, and where you fell short.

Being a business owner means tht you are ultimately responsible for the success or failure of not only your company but also your employees. To be successful takes strategic planning and operational structure, all things that should be looked at before the next fiscal year begins.

What do you want to accomplish in 2018? Is it a new line of product, so many new customers, a revenue goal, social media activity, a digital newsletter or a different market segment that you haven’t worked with before? Your goals should be reflected in what you want to achieve.

Setting your goals. It is important when setting goals to make them obtainable and write them down on a vision board that you and/or employees can see. Review where you are in the goal at the end of the first quarter. Remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is a multimillion dollar company. Be realistic in goal setting; however, don’t be afraid to stretch yourself into new personal and business areas of growth. Remember that success is not always measured in the amount of revenue you generate, but it is how you also feel as a business owner. Can you put your head on the pillow at night and say, “I’ve done right by my clients and staff?”

Make a plan. Now that you have set your goals for the following year, you need to make a plan as to how you are going to reach your goal. Give yourself a road map to get where you want to be and write it down. This plan should include timelines and assignments of tasks. You may also want to determine who is going to hold you accountable for meeting your goals. In many cases, a friend, business coach or mentor can help to ensure your are doing what you set out to do. Personally, I have 2 very close friends/business owners that I meet with a few times a year to review where I am in my business growth.

Execute the plan. The most important step is to regularly review the plan, timelines and responsibilities. If you need to adjust—do so, but do something. As a small business owner we wear many hats. But in order to grow properly, you must step back and work on your business and not just in your business.

Did you notice something above? It’s a 3 step process. From young children, we are taught to learn in 3’s. ABC, 123, Red/Yellow/Green. That’s why there are only 3 steps—set, plan and execute.

As we approach the end of the 4th quarter, there has never been a better time to set a plan for the upcoming year. Be sure to talk to your employees when setting goals and be reasonable when setting expectations. Their opinions matter and if they feel part of the team to grow your business, their buy in to accomplishing new things and stretching their abilities won’t be met with opposition.

Ready...Set….Grow in 2018!

7 Guidelines for Social Media Success

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7. Consider getting your wallet out.

Social media platforms are great ways to communicate with your target audiences, but they are revenue sources for the companies that run them. As a business owner it is important that you understand this and the ongoing push to move business users to paid advertisements. For example, Facebook’s push to divide their feeds into commercial vs personal is a symptom of a growing trend to limit the organic (non-paid) reach of business social media activity. While that is frustrating to businesses that have enjoyed organic growth; social media advertising does give you the opportunity to present messages to highly targeted audiences and is therefore worth consideration for any business’s marketing program.

Social media is, in some ways, a less formal communication tool than printed brochures or your website. Planning is essential to developing a successful social media strategy because you need to make sure you know who your target audience is and that your content is engaging and builds communication with them. Creating an editorial calendar that outlines content and logistics will help you manage your social media work and allocate resources accordingly. It will also help you deal with some of the harder elements such as making sure you have the correct imagery and connections with your website and other marketing efforts. Finally, use statistics to evaluate your efforts and tweak future plans so your audience and business grow!

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NexTier Bank Nonprofit Spotlight Don’t Stop Dreamin’ In 2005, the idea of Don’t Stop Dreamin’ (then called Dream a Little Dream) was born from a desire to provide meaning, fulfillment and fun to the lives of residents living in Quality Life Services nursing and personal care homes. For the first seven years, the simplistic internal program survived from the small profits of car washes and bake sales organized by dedicated staff. Don’t Stop Dreamin’ fulfilled but a few resident dreams in a year. Armed with a desire to positively impact more people the organization applied for 501c3 non-profit status in 2011. On March 30, 2012, the Internal Revenue Service issued a determination letter recognizing Don’t Stop Dreamin’ as an official charitable organization.

Fast forward another five years and Don’t Stop Dreamin’ is composed of a 5-member volunteer Board of Directors, a volunteer Administrative Coordinator, a compensated Community Relations Coordinator, 12 Dream Ambassadors and countless supporters, partners and donors. We host three large fundraiser events per year that collectively welcome nearly 500 guests. Through the tireless work of DSD members, residents have enjoyed a fun day at the Pittsburgh Zoo and Rivers Casino, flown in helicopters, planes and hot air balloons, relaxed at spas and enjoyed delicious restaurant dining, celebrated 100th birthdays and significant wedding anniversaries, ridden on horses, UTVs, motorcycles and in classic cars, cheered on the Butler Blue Sox, and the Pittsburgh Pirates, Penguins and Steelers. We’ve published books and earned honorary diplomas. Many residents are now connected to the internet and their families by utilizing new Apple I-pads and laptop computers provided by Don’t Stop Dreamin’. We’ve laughed, we’ve cried and we’ve had “the best day of my life”.

A recent unique DREAM was fulfilled for Larry who wanted to attend a concert featuring his favorite Rock-n-Roll singer, Jackson Browne. Partnering with Do-It-For-the-Love, a nonprofit that supports live performances, not only did Larry attend the concert at the Hershey Theater he also enjoyed a 15 minute Meet N Greet with the singer/songwriter. A more local DREAM involved George who had the opportunity to enjoy a day of fishing at Lake Arthur courtesy of a very generous captain of a pontoon boat docked at the Lake. George also dined at a local Butler restaurant.

Don’t Stop Dreamin’ continues to fulfill individual resident dreams while simultaneously pursuing special programming opportunities including a DREAM Chaser program with Slippery Rock University students, an Art Program at the Carnegie Museum of Art for residents with Dementia that involves a local artist and is supported by the Richard G. Snyder Endowment for the Arts, a historical presentation of Pullman Park and Blue Sox game supported by a Butler Sam’s Club Community grant and for 2018 a spring kite flying project supported by First Energy Foundation and a grant for a 2018 Butler Blue Sox game funded by the Friends of the Bantam Jeep Association.

Don’t Stop Dreamin’ recently joined #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving that encourages philanthropy and celebrates generosity world-wide. Occurring this year on November 28, #GivingTuesday is held on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving to kick off the holiday season and inspire people to collaborate in improving their local communities and give back in impactful ways. Don’t Stop Dreamin’ partnered with #GivingTuesday and launched #GivingDREAMSDay as our way to encourage citizen and business involvement in supporting once-in-a-lifetime experiences for residents in nursing and personal care homes. In November the Butler County Commissioner’s proclaimed #GivingTuesday across the County to encourage all citizens to join together to give back to the community in any way that is personally meaningful. “Wear Your Care” is the theme for #GivingDreamsDay and temporary tattoos were distributed for individuals to wear on their hands to show support.

For more information please contact the organization at 724-431-0770, follow Facebook@gotdreamsdsd or visit the website www.dontstopdreamin.org.

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The Pittsburgh North Regional Chamber would like to thank those who have renewed.

We thank you for your continued support!

20 +Years

Welcome to those who have joined!

Thank you for your referrals!

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Pittsburgh North Regional Chamber

End of the Year Tax Planning Strategies for Businesses There are a number of end of year tax planning strategies for businesses that can be used to reduce their tax burden for 2017. Here are a few of them: Deferring Income and End of Year Tax Planning Businesses using the cash method of accounting can defer income into 2018 by delaying end-of-year invoices, so payment is not received until 2018. Businesses using the accrual method can defer income by postponing delivery of goods or services until January 2018.

Purchase New Business Equipment Section 179 Expensing. Business should take advantage of Section 179 expensing this year for a couple of reasons. First, is that in 2017 businesses can elect to expense (deduct immediately) the entire cost of most new equipment up to a maximum of $510,000 for the first $2,030,000 million of property placed in service by December 31, 2017. Keep in mind that the Section 179 deduction cannot exceed net taxable business income. The deduction is phased out dollar for dollar on amounts exceeding the $2.03 million threshold and eliminated above amounts exceeding $2.5 million.

Bonus Depreciation. Businesses are able to depreciate 50 percent of the cost of equipment acquired and placed in service during 2015, 2016 and 2017. However, the bonus depreciation is reduced to 40 percent in 2018 and 30 percent in 2019.

Qualified property is defined as property that you placed in service during the tax year and used predominantly (more than 50 percent) in your trade or business. Property that is placed in service and then disposed of in that same tax year does not qualify, nor does property converted to personal use in the same tax year it is acquired.

Note: Many states have not matched these amounts and, therefore, state tax may not allow for the maximum federal deduction. In this case, two sets of depreciation records will be needed to track the federal and state tax impact.

Timing. If you plan to purchase business equipment this year, consider the timing. You might be able to increase your tax benefit if you buy equipment at the right time. Here’s a simplified explanation:

Conventions. The tax rules for depreciation include “conventions” or rules for figuring out how many months of de-

preciation you can claim. There are three types of conventions. To select the correct convention, you must know the type of property and when you placed the property in service.

A. The half-year convention: This convention applies to all property except residential rental property, nonresidential real property, and railroad gradings and tunnel bores (see mid-month convention below) unless the midquarter convention applies. All property that you begin using during the year is treated as “placed in service” (or “disposed of”) at the midpoint of the year. This means that no matter when you begin using (or dispose of) the property, you treat it as if you began using it in the middle of the year.

B. The mid-month convention: This convention applies only to residential rental property, nonresidential real property, and railroad gradings and tunnel bores. It treats all property placed in service (or disposed of) during any month as placed in service (or disposed of) on the midpoint of that month.

If you’re planning on buying equipment for your business, call our office and speak with a tax professional who can help you figure out the best time to buy that equipment and take full advantage of these tax rules that apply to your end of year tax planning.

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Are you getting all of the tax breaks that you are entitled to? Maybe you are…but maybe you’re not. Why take a chance? Let the tax experts at Holsinger provide the guidance you need. Call Holsinger today and make sure you get all of the tax breaks you deserve.

PghNorthChamber.com

December 2017

page 15

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