Business Cards and Facebook, This Westchase Business Group Does it Informally

It's a clear, chilly Thursday night in early December.

Throughout the Tampa Bay area the sense of economic uncertainty coincides with that of optimistic holiday cheer.

A small road winds through clusters of shops, restaurants, and other businesses. Two tiki torches light the way to The Salon 1.0, a full-service Paul Mitchell salon.

Inside, more than a dozen people are mingling, laughing, drinking wine, and noshing on catered Asian fusion fare.

It's the Westchase Area Business Association's (WABA) December meeting, though it's got the air of a holiday party.

Sonny D is tonight's host. He's the owner and artistic director of this meticulously-decorated salon.

He says he found out about WABA indirectly.

"I'm a member of the Upper Tampa Bay Chamber (of Commerce)," he says, which is how he found out about the small networking group in his own back yard. He says WABA is a more laid-back version of the area's bigger networking groups – no dues, no worries; just bring a bottle of wine, a door prize, and a few business cards.

D says hosting such an event also serves as a great opportunity for exposure for his business as well. Indeed, he takes everyone who's interested on a full tour of the salon.

Mike and Cathy Piendel, who own South East Cleaning in nearby Carrollwood. A client of theirs recently turned them on to WABA, and they've already gotten new business through the small network.

"This is the best way to do business in this economy," Mike Piendell says. "It's working for us so far."

Even when the economy is decent, getting one's name out there isn't exactly easy for business owners. In the current economic climate, the task is daunting.

But for this group of about a hundred small business owners in Westchase, cultivating a strong client base and professional network isn't a frazzling sink-or-swim affair; it's a matter of showing up.

"There's a huge variety of business owners in Westchase," says Nathan Bonilla-Warford, owner of Bright Eyes Family Vision Care. He's a founding member of WABA, which launched over the summer. "Everything from the type of services like financial planning and repair, networking services, marketing, but there are also a lot of restaurants and stores."

Bonilla-Warford says anyone looking to make professional connections in Westchase and the surrounding area can join. It's a way for local businesses that are either new or without a storefront to connect with potential clients. He says several things set the organization apart from other Tampa Bay networking groups.

For one, the group's founders made a conscious decision to keep it loose.

"We're a very informal group, so we don't have a formal structure, per se," he says. "If people want to be members, they join us on Facebook, if they don't, they don't."

He coordinates events by way of WABA's Facebook page – that way, there's little to do in terms of maintenance.

Bonilla-Warford says there's another thing that sets WABA apart from other business networks: it's much smaller.

"It's been very hard to get seen; it's difficult to get exposure…in an organization that's four or five times as large," or one that's been around for decades, he says.

Cathy Piendel says small networking groups help foster a sense of community among local business owners.

"You grow together, you stick together," she says.