ATLFA Meets This Week: If In Atlanta, Don’t Miss It

I would like to personally invite all of the RetroFacts readers to the Atlanta Franchise Alliance’s May meeting, 5-7 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday, May 21, 2009) at the Paper Mill Grill, 305 Village Parkway, in Marietta, GA.

The meeting is a great networking event and an opportunity to connect with your franchise colleagues from Atlanta.

To understand the value of the ATLFA, one must first understand our growth, as throughout the last year it has been two-pronged. First and foremost, we continue seeing many first-timers at our networking events, which is always a great indicator of growth. Secondly, we are growing internally, with the addition of four new members of our board in 2009. They are: Nick Powills, CEO, No Limit Media Consulting, Rich Greenstein, Partner, DLA, Piper, Greg Cory, CEO, eMaximation and David Asarnow, President, CEO at CLIX Portrait Studios.

This week, without a doubt, the economy and its impact on our businesses and ability to obtain credit and financing for new and existing franchisees will be top-of-mind. That remains the hot topic everywhere.

Our topical meetings set the tone for great interactions. Anyone with an interest in keeping up to date on what’s going on around them in franchising should clear the calendar for tomorrow night. Whether you are a franchisee, franchisor or a supplier, this is where to connect with all of those on the cutting edge of the franchise business model locally.

Are You in Atlanta? The ATLFA Wants You!

For those of you not familiar with our franchise group, The Atlanta Franchise Alliance is a networking group that I Chair in Atlanta. Our mission locally, is to follow the IFA's model of bringing franchising’s best practices and people together. We meet several times a year to network, learn, share fellowship, and exchange valuable nuggets that help us each individually and collectively, to strengthen the business model that is franchising. Whether you are a franchisor, a franchisee or a supplier, you are more than welcome to attend any of our events.

In 2008 our Alliance grew significantly and in 2009, we are going to get bigger and better. We will grow by bringing in more people to our networking events and providing them with everything that they came looking for and more. We will host networking events on the following dates, so mark your calendars: January 15; May 21 (also an IFA franchise political action committee fundraiser); August 20; and November 12. Locations for these meetings are TBD and will be posted on our Web site, at least two weeks in advance of each event (http://www.atlantafranchisealliance.com/).

Anyone interested in attending these meetings can find more information at our site. Don’t hesitate to email me (http://www.blogger.com/stan.friedman@retrotax.com) either, if you have questions or would like to be added to our mailing list.