Hey Guys, what do you all think about this idea?  How many of y'all are on a paid department and own a small business that you operate on your non shift days?  How many of y'all are on a volunteer department and have ownership in a small business?  Wouldn't it be great if there was a "Firefighter Business Association" that you could join that would benefit you in the following ways?

1.  Promote your business to other Firefighters. Who else would you rather give your money to than another Firefighter small business owner like yourself?

2.  Promote all of our small businesses to the general public with the idea that Firefighter's uphold the highest standards in their public safety roles and that same standard is upheld in their small business.

3.  Provide a "Job Posting & Resume Posting" site for fellow Firefighter owned businesses who have positions open and fellow Firefighters who are looking for either a full time job if they are a volunteer, or a part time job if they are on a paid fire department.  Who else would you rather hire or go to work for than a fellow brother or sister?

I know "Associations" have received a bad rap over the years because of their abuse of the members dues with little to no real benefit to the member, but I believe their is a real potential for success with this idea if it is ran the proper way. 

I have been a volunteer Firefighter for 8 years and have ownership in an independent insurance agency.  I know that there are fellow Public Safety workers out there who would give my company a fair shake at making sure they are properly insured if they knew that it was partially Firefighter owned.  In turn, I would see if there was a Firefighter owned business out there that could provide me of service when I needed something as well.

With the economy still in the dumps, this just makes sense to me.  As fellow brothers and sisters we need to help each other out not only on the fire scene but also in the financial environment as well.

I just had the idea for this over the weekend so y'all let me know if this sounds like a good idea to you and we'll see how far we can take it!