Featured Member - Anna Weselak, Weselak & Associates

Anna Weselak of Weselak and Associates is a seminar trainer and organizational development consultant. Her client base includes corporate, non-profit and educational organizations. Anna is an independent contractor who customizes training programs to help each client overcome the challenges that they are facing. Seminar topics related to interpersonal relations and communication skill building including: team work, management and supervision, sales, customer service, leadership, dealing with difficult people, employee engagement, time and stress management. She has been trained to facilitate a number of instrumented learning profiles from various publishers to identify individual strengths and opportunities to increase effectiveness.

From a business development perspective, Anna works with clients on visioning, goal setting, strategic planning and action planning. Anna also teaches college and university classes on a part-time basis.

Anna has always been a teacher at heart. As a former public and private school teacher, she met a woman at a Chamber of Commerce meeting in July of 1994 who was giving a program on how to increase your sales by building relationships. As Anna listened to the presentation, she decided that presenting workshops and seminars is what she wanted to do. She met with the woman the following week for lunch and made the decision to start her own business and become a seminar trainer. This year marks Anna’s sixteenth year in the business.

The favorite part of Anna’s job is working with individuals one-on-one or in a group and observing the “ah-ha” moments when they discover something about themselves or other people that will increase their effectiveness. She really loves speaking to groups and leading seminars, workshops and classes. Anna’s least favorite part of her job is “keeping up with the paperwork associated with running the business”.

There is no “typical” part of Anna’s day, as every day is a unique experience. Her day is driven by her goals and filling client requests, which makes every day different. Generally she begins by checking e-mails, following up on inquiries, making follow-up appointments with clients, preparing seminars, meeting potential clients, sending on-line assessments to clients or seminar participants, printing hard copies or sending out electronic reports, and preparing proposals. Anna sets a high priority on attending chamber luncheons, networking events and professional organization meetings which is where she conducts most of her marketing. Anna considers herself a life-long learner who attends professional development events and conferences to stay current with trends and research.

On a personal note, Anna has been a Lombard resident for 36 years. She has learned a great deal from being involved in the community and taking on various leadership roles. These experiences have paved a path of volunteer opportunities that far exceeded her own expectations. As the owner of Weselak & Associates, she has built a company where she can take all that she has done and it to all that she knows in order to help others to be successful in all that they do. Anna would love to work with Chamber members and their organizations to solve their challenges and help them increase their effectiveness.

Anna Weselak
Weselak & Associates
630-889-0626
aweselak@weselak.com
www.weselak.com

Featured Member Illinois Business Systems

Illinois Business Systems is one of the newest members of the Lombard Chamber, having joined just this past March. President, Rick Mytnik, describes himself as a promoter of the image of his company. He sells “the company” not “the product” by being an Evangelist/Chief Marketer. In the 2 ½ years since he created Illinois Business Systems, he has transitioned it to a 21st century company, and won’t consider his work finished until he has a 100% saturation of the local area. He believes that his company is the best for every business. What makes them different is they do not simply sell copiers. They provide service, support, supplies and products designed to help clients run their business more effectively. He is very proud of the fact that “a live body answers all of our customer calls, not an automated voice system”.

Rick has been in the office equipment industry for the past 30+years, and was finally in a position to open his own company and develop better business sources for his clients. His favorite part of the job is the team building and strategies that he has implemented and then seeing the plans come to fruition. He believes that the growth of the company belongs to all of his staff, not just him as an individual. Rick is not fond of keeping track of the “nitty gritty” details, and would rather work on the business, rather than in the business. He sees small businesses getting caught in the stress and crunch of the economy, and would like to help.

Rick’s day is a busy one that generally begins around 7 am with a strategic networking or leads group. He belongs to no less than 6 of these types of groups, as well as 2 owners groups and a number of Chambers of Commerce. By being a part of all of these groups, he can reach approximately 240 people per week to tell his story. Rick also goes on sales calls, meets with vendors, lawyers and other sales reps. Rick will tell you that he thinks Illinois Business Systems is a well kept secret. They are customer oriented, and treat the client the way they would like to be treated.

Rick lives in Batavia, and has 3 daughters. He admits that he is a “terrible loser” and is very competitive, especially when it comes to sports. “If the sport has a ball, I’m a fan”. Illinois Business Systems sales territory covers Cook, Du Page and Kane counties. Their customer base is composed of a mixture of commercial accounts, municipalities, churches and schools. You can contact them at 630-620-6024 or visit their website at http://www.ilbusinesssystems.com/

Featured Member - Meet Kathleen Roberts

Potted Petals has been a Chamber Member since July of 2005. Owner Kathleen Roberts says that Potted Petals is a one-stop shop for all your gift giving and decorating needs. Not only do they carry unique and unusual home décor and garden accessories, they can also help you with landscape design or container gardening and planting.

Kathleen has always like plants and flowers and all things pretty, so began work as a floral designer. She then went on to school and earned a bachelors degree in Horticulture from Texas A&M. Not knowing which she preferred more – floral design or horticulture, she decided to open a business where she could do both. Her favorite part of the job is seeing the customer’s reaction when she has achieved or gone beyond their expectations. She does admit, though, that she does not like being the only one in charge of everything that is involved with running a small business, from promoting Potted Petals on down to minding the store.

Kathleen’s day begins with arriving at the store more than an hour before opening. Her time involves sweeping and vacuuming, watering the plants, checking email and returning phone calls. During shop hours she is tending to customers, setting up shop displays, advertisements, bookkeeping, product ordering and planning events or classes. Her shop has been compared to those found in Long Grove or Lake Geneva. Stop on by soon, and check out their large variety of gift and decorative items.