Is it worth joining a business association?

[97prizm]

Hi All,

Not sure if this belongs here orvin the aviation forum. I've been pondering if joining an aviation business association to increase my networking and contacts in the aviation industry. There are several, some don't look very active. There's the usual pilots associations, but I've found an aviation business association, airport operators association, and a couple of others. Has anyone here joined an association in their respective field, and was it worth the cost, time, etc?

 

[Arc]

Electrical contractor associations but it was more about just being part of the good ole boys club than a benefit. It did have a few perks but nothing that helped the bottom line.

 

[WeyounDS9]

Its always good to join these. If nothing else once u make friends in extreme cases if u r stuck on a project, you could call a friend/peer who might, despite even being a competitor, give u a useful tip. its happened.
Also for professional growth and to have a pulse on what is going on this is always a good idea IMHO.

 

[Dave Hess]

In today’s business environment it helps to network cause you never know who can open doors of opportunity for you and your career.

 

[wings&wheels]

Hi All,

Not sure if this belongs here orvin the aviation forum. I've been pondering if joining an aviation business association to increase my networking and contacts in the aviation industry. There are several, some don't look very active. There's the usual pilots associations, but I've found an aviation business association, airport operators association, and a couple of others. Has anyone here joined an association in their respective field, and was it worth the cost, time, etc?

What are you trying to accomplish? Enter the industry, provide services to it?? What sector of the industry; airlines, local FBO's?? I'd start with LinkedIn, but more details will help.

 

[Pew]

I have not joined any association in my career but I have kept in touch with many vendors and others in my career field.

In my work, almost all the project manager and all the department head's are in their own respective associations, whether that be a business owner association, various engineer associations, etc, so they can keep networking with clients for potential projects/more clients. It's worth the extra time and effort if we can get work from it but there's a break-even point. There's one organization we're part of that costs $5k/year but haven't gotten any work in 3 years so we stopped being apart of it.

 

[bovine1]

We joined our state professional association mainly because the member discount on CE meetings paid for it. We joined the national association for the insurance.

 

[97prizm]

What are you trying to accomplish? Enter the industry, provide services to it?? What sector of the industry; airlines, local FBO's?? I'd start with LinkedIn, but more details will help.

I have a Bachelor's degree in Journalism with a Minor in Aviation Management. I've worked techical writing and have Aviation articles published through AVWeb. I'm looking for an a foot into something more Aviation related. I have flown Cessna 152 and solo'd I have a background in customer service and sales. The local airport manager gave me contact to another airport operations manager as they built a terminal for Airline service but the airline backed out. I'm thinking they could use a sales person. Northern Colorado is set to overtake Colorado Springs' population in a decade or so.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Hi All,

Not sure if this belongs here orvin the aviation forum. I've been pondering if joining an aviation business association to increase my networking and contacts in the aviation industry. There are several, some don't look very active. There's the usual pilots associations, but I've found an aviation business association, airport operators association, and a couple of others. Has anyone here joined an association in their respective field, and was it worth the cost, time, etc?

It's worth it as long as you learn the secret handshake

 

[02SE]

I'd say it depends on the Association. Do your due diligence to determine if it can be a benefit to you.

When I was a business owner with employees, I joined a business association which helped greatly with expanding the scope of the business. This was mostly before the Internet became a thing. The last few years I owned the business the Internet boomed, which helped in eventually being in a position to sell the business.

I'm still friends with most of the people I met due to that association, and it definitely opens doors, or leads to better deals, today.

 

[Dave Hess]

So many doors of opportunity can be opened meeting the right people.

That goes for ANY career field or industry.