Candace Byrnes, The DRIPBaR

As a one-time resident of Portsmouth (and hope to be back someday!), I can say this is home to me. As a new business owner, I feel so welcomed into this somewhat “new”, for me, business community and I love that I am able to be part of it. I am grateful for the advice, collaboration and ability to connect with my peers, all which came to fruition because of the hard work and dedication of Chamber.

Why did you decide to join the Chamber? 

Originally, it was something that, as a business, I thought made sense to have the ability to connect with other businesses. But over -me, upon joining, I found the amount of -me and effort your team,
specifically, puts into local businesses having the opportunity to connect with each other and also be able to get their own word and message out to the public is incredible. I have never felt so supported, encouraged and welcomed into a city I once was a resident and now feel part of an even greater community of business ownership.

What is a Chamber benefit that you feel is helpful to you and your industry, specifically? 

The opportunity to participate in weekly cohorts and to attend monthly events like morning mixers and business aner hours, where I get to talk about what we do to other business owners and discuss how we may be able to collaborate. Our industry is one that has been around for years, but yet s-ll has a lot of education to do to the general public. 1. About what we do. And, 2. The level of sophistication in which we operate- IV Vitamin Infusion Therapy is a an incredible industry but, for those who don’t know about its benefits, research and may be skep-cal, we need to keep spreading the word-and the Chamber gives us one great forum to do that.

If someone told you they were planning to join the Chamber, what advice would you give them about making the most of their membership? 

Attend as many events as you can! Get out there and network- there is so much opportunity but you also need to put in effort. Also, if you are invited to one of the weekly cohorts, check it out and see if it is a good fit (I am biased to the Friday morning one, as I love the group also have had so many life events I haven’t been able to akend and feel awful- but I have a very personal -e to it. Ryan Kaplan just helped me sell my house, which was a hard but right decision I wouldn’t have been able to move forward with without him and his team- who I met through the Chamber).

“Because of my membership in the Chamber I…” 

Feel like I have the greatest community and chance of success as a business owner.