Groups help keep members in the know

Coeur d’Alene — On just about any day of the week, you'll find a group of business folks somewhere in town swapping jokes, rumors and business leads.

For nearly two decades, information clubs have provided an ear to the ground for North Idaho's business community.

Several clubs have bloomed and faded over the years, but three veteran clubs plus a brash newcomer remain in Coeur d'Alene, along with a fifth club that meets in Post Falls.

Tips clubs members often are among the first to hear of new develop­ment, company openings, closings and moves and other potentially profitable trends in the business community.

All but one of the clubs meets over breakfast. Some are highly structured, others fairly laid back, but all exist for the same reason: Their members want to be in the know.

Tips clubs members say the groups are a great way to jump headfirst into the business community, to make more friends and associates and to simply get charged up for the day.

"It's a sharing of information on what's going on around town," said vet­eran club member Al Hassell, Coeur d'Alene mayor and a financial advisor with his own practice.

When it comes to hot leads on new projects, tips clubs frequently have the news before City Hall, Hassell said.

John McGruder, now co-owner of The Inkwell, an office supply store, joined the first known Coeur dAlene business tips club 17 years ago when he was a beer and wine distributor.

“I wanted to find out who was doing what first, “ McGruder said.

He and his associates formed a club of architects, sign painters, and other business people who would know about new development before anyone else.

“If the doors were already open a month ago and you go in there, you’re chasing somebody else who’s been there first,” McGruder said.

Beyond sharing business leads, members of the group also worked to push business in each other’s directioin.

“You develop a camaraderie with each other and help each other,” McGruder said.

The pioneer group still meets every Wednesday morning at 8 a.m. at the Iron Horse Restaurant.  Membership now varies between 20-25 people.

The early group didn’t have a lot of rules or much of a formal structure.  The main idea was trading information.

The organizers discovered early, however, that having competing businesses in the same club simply didn’t work.

In fact, when McGruder entered the office supply business four years ago, conflicting with another longtime club member, he formed another group of his own.

Mcgruder’s club meets Tuesday mornings at 7 a.m., also at the Iron Horse, and has between 22-25 mem­bers.

It’s one of the most relaxed and informal tips groups around. There are no dues. Everybody brings a quarter to pul in a cup, and another quarter if they don't bring a good tip.

That's about the extent of the rules.

"You need to be comfortable with it,” McGruder said.

Vonnie Hutchison, a residential real estate agent with Tomlinson Realtors, had the same idea when she formed a club five years ago that still meets Tuesdays at noon at Dockside Restaurant.

“We tried to keep it as loose and unstructured as we could,” Hutchinson said.  We wanted more just to come together with ideas and information.”

Dues in the Tuesday noon club cost $25 per year.  The club now has 23 members.  Anyone without a lead hs to cough up a dollar.

The biggest and most structured tipps club in town formed just a year ago, when the founders discovered  there was no room for them in other clubs.

The club, which meets Friday morn­ings at the Iron Horse, now includes 47 members. Between 30-35 people typi­cally show up for each meeting.

"You have 47 other members out there talking for you," said co-founder Cheri Andriolo, advertising director for the North Idaho Business Journal.

The club costs $25 per year, as well as a $10 sign-up fee which pays for a three-ring binder filled with informa­tion about club nu-mbers.

The rules here are more strict. Members must pay 25 cents for each of the following infractions:  Being late, not having a tip, not having a guest and not wearing a name tag.

Attendance is required at five out of eight weekly meetings.  At each meeting one of the members gives a profile of their business.

It’s incredible how much more you learn about the business community and what’s going on in it,” Andriolo said.