Summit Referral Group, Inc. offers an opportunity for small business owners to instantly benefit from networking, experience and knowledge

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If you are the type of person that has defined your purpose and begun a business venture, you are always driving to push your business to the next level. You devised a plan; you obtained schooling, got the necessary licenses, permits or certificates; you’ve bled, sweated and cried.

Striking out on your own means that you are placing all your proverbial eggs in one basket. Whether you thrive or dive, whether you have a savings or none, whether you eat or not, depends solely on one person and not on “higher ups.” It’s exciting and frightening at the same time.

However, as the maxim states “The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward.” One of the greatest feelings one can experience in life is the sweet success of a booming small business. For that type of success to happen, a lot of specific things need to happen and one inch in a different direction can make all the difference in the world. One must hedge all bets.


The Summit Referral group is accepting new members, especially those who own a trade business.

Navigating that path to success all by one’s lonesome is a surefire way to insure that you are stressed, taking the long, slow road, and charging toward failure. “Learn as you go” as a primary or sole method to drive your business is incredibly inefficient and risky. Why learn from your failures when you can learn from other people’s failures and more importantly learn from their successes and implement those straight away.

Napoleon Hill, the author of the 1928 tome “The Law Of Success,” codified the business practices that all successful business owners practiced. Hill rubbed shoulders with some business giants you may have heard of: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Alexander Graham Bell among others. The book had been endorsed by not only these people, but William H. Taft, Theodore Roosevelt, F.W. Woolworth, Charles Schwab, John D. Rockefeller and many more. Since the book was written it has been republished multiple times and served as an invaluable resources for countless business owners.

The very first “law” of success is to have a definite purpose. As a business owner you’ve already declared that. The second “law” of success is to have what Hill calls a Mastermind Alliance which “…involves two or more people who work in perfect harmony for the attainment of a definite purpose.” In today’s parlance, it’s called “networking.” Not a new concept at all!

Why Hill felt this was so important was that through this alliance you could accomplish in one year’s time what would take you many years, even a lifetime. By having mentors and peers walking the same footsteps to business success as you are, you could dramatically cut that time to success and seriously limit the amount of errors that could lead to business failure. By bringing to bear other people’s experiences, knowledge, ideas, concepts and advice, you were hedging those aforementioned “bets.”

With this in mind, how can we implement this important law? Is there a mastermind alliance in the area? There sure is! The Summit Referral Group, Inc. at 427 County Street, New Bedford meets weekly to further spur their businesses on using best practices and shared experiences.


Being a member means that you are instantly networked with other local businesses and benefit from their knowledge and experience.

Begun in the summer of 2005, founding members Susan Whitehead (Realtor from Silva Realty Group) and George Whitley Miller at Gray’s Grist Mill) originally wanted to form a chapter of the world’s largest referral group, Business Networking International. However, they felt that the rules were too rigid and the focus was on “numbers,” so the idea was abandoned. Although they are less formal than BNI they are all professional, dedicated business people.

“I was invited to BNI and decided to join Summit because of the members who were already in it. When I visited, I liked their personality & friendly yet business like approach, I appreciated the structure of the group and the fact the it had less rigid format than BNI & it was a more reasonable membership fee.”

In its place was something more flexible in terms of membership and more efficient and practical in terms of results. Instead of having a head honcho enforcing guidelines, it’s a bonafide group that acts as a democracy. While interviewing four of the members separately it was made clear from the get-go that no one wanted to declare a principal. Four separate people individually wanted to emphasize that no one was the head and that everyone in the group is an equal.

This principle and the idea of a business alliance has worked so successfully that since 2005 virtually all the members that have signed up, are still there.

So, how exactly does the summit referral group work? What happens at a typical meeting? How can membership benefit you and your small business? You not only have available all the experience and knowledge of the diverse group’s members, but you immediately have access to the entire network. Looking to connect with a realtor, or a plumber, or a bank manager, or a hair stylist because the nature of one of those would benefit your particular business? Maybe you’re an electrician that could benefit from rubbing shoulders with a carpenter or a financial planner that would equally benefit from networking with a bank manager.

Think of how rapidly that could affect your bottom line and business growth pretty much immediately. One member stated that the group was “…my own sales-force” and another stated that it was “…great to have the Summit as my ‘advisory board.’ We have a great group of minds that help and advise on marketing and business decisions.”

How much impact can this group have? Nothing speaks louder than actual numbers and the group keeps stringent ones: last year they shared $140,000 in business transactions. This is business directly attributed to involvement with the group.

How the Summit Referral Group is superior to a BNI chapter, is that there are two memberships available: regular membership and an associate membership. A typical membership requires weekly attendance — each Thursday morning from 7:30am-8:30am. The associate membership is for those that can’t commit to this specific schedule and only requires that once per month or attendance to twelve meetings a year. Also, perfect for those seasonal businesses, e.g. carpenters, landscapers, electricians, plumbers, etc.


Even New Bedford Guide is a member — we know a good thing when we see it!

It is this latter category that the group is looking is looking to expand upon. So, if you own a trade business, you will fit perfectly. Incidentally, only one small business per category is allowed. So, you get exclusive attention. That means that if you are roofer, you will be the only roofer. There are a lot of benefits to this kind of exclusivity, but it also highlights how important it is to become a member as soon as possible if you there is an available slot.

Current members in each category are names that are likely to be familiar to you: President Peter Covill of Peter Covill, Humphrey, Covill & Coleman Insurance, Treasurer, Michele M. Hurd from Ed Sylvia Certified Public Accountant, Silva Realty Group, Susan Whitehead, Residential Realtor, Mike Sylvia of New Bedford Guide (that’s us!), Hope Hallett of Capital Freeding Funding, Susan Grace of EncorEntertainment, Rica DeMoranville of First Citizens’ Federal Credit Union, Joshua Pacheco of Axis Advisors, Jenessa Gerard-Pateakos and Danielle Poulin of Pateakos & Poulin Attorneys at Law, Phyllis Stergiotis of Viridian Energy, Elizabeth Matos-Araujo of Sage Bank, Dan Jameson of Paychex, Jen Ferreira of SouthBeach Hair Salon and Tanning, and Tammy Greenspan of Pink Box Desserts. There are simply too many to list them all!

Interested in gaining the benefits of being an exclusive member of the Summit Referral Group? Currently the group has seats open for the following business categories:

Alarm Systems, Antique Dealer, Appraiser, Artist, Bakery, Bookkeeping, Carpet/Flooring, Caterer, Chiropractor, Cleaning Service, Computer Service, Electrician, Fitness Center, Florist, General Contractor, Graphic Designer, Holistic Health Service, Jeweler, Landscaper, Limo Service, Moving & Storage, Nutritionist, Office Supplies & Equipment, Printer, Plumber, Travel Agency, Web Site Design, Winery, and Yoga/Fitness Instructor.

If you own one of these businesses and are interested, you simply email Susan Grace at sgrace@encorent.com or show up as a guest at the next Thursday meeting at 7:15am at the Wamsutta Club at 427 County Street, New Bedford. There’s no obligation, you can ask all the questions you want, meet the people and discuss their successes and see if the mixture is something that would benefit your business.

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Summit Referral Group, Inc.
427 County Street
New Bedford, Massachusetts 02740
Thu: 7:15am-8:45am

Phone: 508-993-1999
Email: sgrace@encorent.com
Facebook: facebook.com/TheSummitReferralGroup/

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About Joe Silvia

When Joe isn't writing, he's coaching people to punch each other in the face. He enjoys ancient cultures, dead and living languages, cooking, benching 999#s, and saving the elderly, babies and puppies from burning buildings. While he enjoys long walks on the beach, he will not be your alarm clock, because he's no ding-a-ling.

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