While visiting the bustling community of Brighton a few years ago, Tami Bethune, of BTG Solutions, noticed a business card display board hanging on the wall at Two Brother’s Café. And while Tami had never put her own cards on display before, on a whim, she decided to on that day. Not too long after, Caerusnet sub-Facilitator, Ava Zyskowski noticed Tami’s card at the popular coffee shop. 
Recognizing that the Brighton Wednesday 8AM team had a need for a referable website designer and digital marketer, Ava reached out to Tami by phone and invited her to visit the team during a brief but friendly phone call. Tami has been a Caerusnet Member ever since first visiting the team and has become an invaluable Member. We had a chance to talk with Tami about her business and her referral strategies. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the conversation we recently had with Tami …
How long have you been in your profession? Over 35 years including major generations of technological advances – Main Frames, Distributed Business Networks and Mini Computers, Personal Computers, Cloud Computing and Mobile. Artificial Intelligence and the Internet-of-Things (IoT) are the next frontier. My experience started off in the corporate world where I learned best practices and the importance of documentation and communications. The most recent 20 years have been with small businesses, including startups and non-profits.
How did you get into this field? My intellectual strengths are math and logic/analysis. The traditional path out of high school was 4 years of college for engineering or teaching. Engineering sounded too technical. Teaching was a comfortable option, but there was the 4 years of schooling lock step with professors and in the end an average pay scale. So I decided to enter into the then “new” field of computer science with a 2 year Associate Degree in Specialized Business Application studying application software systems design and programming in COBOL, Fortran, RPG and Easycoder.
What is the best thing about your business/career? My business acumen is to provide the best solution for the client taking into account their budget, their staffing and current processes, needed training and communications and follow-up. To do that I become an insider and trusted advisor to my clients and that is an awesome responsibility and privilege. That’s one of the best things about my business – working with other savvy business people.
What is it about the Caerusnet model that you like most? It is a welcoming environment and, as promised, fun! I enjoy the formatted team interaction with people who I have grown to know, like and trust.
What is your strategy with your member minute and your spotlight presentation? Member minutes follow a format. Mine goes like this, “Hi, I’m Tami Bethune, BTG Solutions, bridging the gap in technology for small businesses.” Most prospective clients reach out to me for website design and online marketing through social media. So I pick one of these topics to focus my message: video marketing, statistical insights, trends, new websites that have gone live, domain management, site security, etc. Often the toolbox lesson-of-the-day leads me to formulate my message in a more memorable way. Wrap-up would be the same as the intro – “Tami Bethune, BTG Solutions, bridging the gap in technology for small businesses.”
For the Spotlight, I like to use a slide show to help others visualize the variety of businesses that have used my services. This helps the team to know who they can refer me to. I also shared some sample website designs so they could see the finished products.
I have a unique social media marketing program called Launch 2+45. That has been the focus of past spotlight presentations and I will likely continue to share that with the team. I encourage everyone on my team to follow me on Linkedin and connect with me through the many social channels as provided in my email signature and my website. This enables me to be aware of their online posts and refer their services through social media. Another realm of referral networking!
Tips on how to be successful in Caerusnet? To be successful in Caerusnet is to be mentally present during the one hour team meeting. To be present, you will need to have your mind clear of the busyness of your day and week. 2-3 slow deep breaths on the walk into the meeting will help with that. Arrive 5 minutes early to greet team members, grab a coffee and find your seat. Fill out your name tag and referral slips if you can early. During the meeting your phone will be muted giving you and other members your best chance to be fully present during the meeting.
Share how your Caerusnet members have positively influenced you or your business besides passing referrals. My Caerusnet team members are standup people who help me think outside of my world. I learn new language for delivering an idea. I see excellent spotlight presentations that lead me to tweak my technique. I hear about great books, old and new, that have been inspiring to people that have been inspiring to me!
To contact Tami Bethune, visit her at most Brighton Wednesday 8AM Caerusnet team meetings, email her at [email protected] or call her at 248-345-2054.
#knowliketrust #godsofopportunity #Caerusnet