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It's every business owner's wish to have a successful company. That might mean cultivating satisfied customers to keep your repeat business strong, or implementing the latest technologies to ensure office and field personal are working as efficiently as possible. Another way I've found to keep my company successful is through involvement in industry associations.

The concrete industry is fortunate to have a number of associations where members can find educational resources, safety information, industry contacts and lobbying power. You'll find a list of many of them at the end of this article. Associations representing tilt-up professionals, ready-mix producers, concrete repair and the decorative concrete industry are just a few. One association I've had a lot of experience with is the American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC).

I think back to when I first attended an ASCC meeting in 1989. I can't tell you what the meeting was about, but I can tell you that I came home with renewed excitement for my business. I joined the organization and began to attend their functions. The more I attended, the more industry leaders I met. These were names I only had seen before in industry magazines - now I was rubbing elbows with these people.

Contractors who don't belong to associations often ask me about them, "Do they really help a contractor?" I tell them that one of the biggest things an association has to offer is industry insight. Let's say a contractor comes into an association at the age of 25 or 30, and he's talking to a guy who is 55 or 60. If that younger person is willing to listen, there are years of experience - hundreds of thousands of dollars of experience - for him to learn from. There have been dozens of instances where I've learned valuable information from other members of ASCC. One example was the time I was talking to a contractor from Long Island, N.Y., about doing some hand-forming curb - nothing I could do with a machine. He told me how fast and how many lineal feet per man-hour his productivity was for curbing. It was three times more than what I was doing. He offered to send one of his foremen to my office for one week. The man he sent taught my crew a faster technique for hand forming. Now that's valuable.

Most associations hold at least one annual meeting, some in conjunction with the World of Concrete in Las Vegas each winter. Some associations hold several functions a year, or have local chapters you can join and become involved closer to home. These get-togethers give members a chance to meet, mingle and exchange ideas.