Bensalem Business Association Starts Year with Mayor As Guest Speaker

Bensalem has over 2,600 businesses in it, and yet 4 years ago no business association. All neighboring communities have one. Back then when I asked about this, I was told join the Lower Bucks Chamber of Commerce. The LBCC has many business owners from Bensalem as members. So I went to a couple meetings and actually joined. But found my business was lost in such a large organization. So I did what anyone would do if they could not get answers to their questions. Go to the man who knows Bensalem the best. The man who runs Bensalem, go to the Mayor.

I have been a personal trainer for almost 30 years now, and have worked with many politicians in my time. I knew our Mayor was a business owner at one time and felt if I could get a meeting with him he could help out. At our meeting he understood what I was talking about. He told me back then just get a couple owners together and do it. He has made time to be a guest speaker every year since we started the association. At our January meeting at Hampton Inn he was our guest speaker and we had over 50 members attended. The meeting was recorded and if all goes well should be on the Bensalem Community Television.

I started the Bensalem Business Association at the beginning. The web site, the art work, the business cards, post cards etc… I even came up with the logo with my web master. Why not, I have spent my whole adult life helping people achieve their goals. I could not sit by and watch another place close and not do anything about it. Originally there were 7 business owners who came to my place for our first meeting. Bob DeBias from Wood and Floge did all the legal stuff to make the association a nonprofit organization. The President of the Yardley Business Association was nice enough to give me her by laws and offer advice on how to write ours.

To join the Bensalem Business Association you have to be a business owners or the manger of a business in Bensalem or outside of Bensalem but doing business in Bensalem. It cost $120 to join for the year and our year start in January and ends in December. We invite business owners to come to the first meeting free to meet us. Or if you are a new business in Bensalem we will give you free membership for the balance of the calendar year.

This year marks our 4^th year as an association. We meet the second Wednesday of the month at 6:30 PM. Meetings very on where they will be, sometimes at my place other times at other owners businesses. We already have 7 out of the 12 months meetings booked with guest speakers. And we have great guest speaker like this February meeting will be at my place with guest speaker Judge Falcone. We just had our first annual dinner at Le Cena’s last week. Next annual dinner will be at Parx with guest speaker Sen. Robert Tomlinson and our annual picnic is at the end the summer at Cherokee Day Camp.

Our largest business in our association is Parx Casino & Race Track. We are going to have our very first Bensalem Business Association Expo at Parx on Saturday April 21, 2012 from 10 am till 2 pm. So rather you are a small business or a large one we are here. Check out our web site at www.BensalemBusiness.com for more information on us. Go to the directory and check out who is a member, you probably know some of us.