A voice without permission
The directory, the stage, the newsletter and the expo exist so you can say what you do. Nobody will silence you. It's written in Article 2.4 as a right, not a courtesy.
What you get
Seven things your membership puts in your hands.
Business among members
The real value of a chamber is in the referrals members give each other, not in the big events. Offering your products to fellow members is a membership right, on equal terms for everyone.
Training in your language
How to invoice in Texas, how to go from informal to formal, how to bill a corporation, how to keep your books. In Spanish, with no translation in between and without getting lost mid-class.
Borrowed credibility
"Chamber member" on your website and your quote carries weight, especially with the client who doesn't know you yet and is deciding whether to trust you.
Guidance, not just workshops
CALA Orienta sits you down for twenty minutes with someone who listens and connects you with the accountant, attorney, bank or program you need. What stops you is rarely strategy: it's paperwork.
Access to contracts
City government, county and corporations with diverse supplier programs. There's budget assigned there that isn't being spent with us today because nobody certifies us.
A network that depends on no one
If the board changes tomorrow, the membership still belongs to the members. It's designed that way on purpose, and in the governance section you can read exactly how.
And one more, of the kind you don't see: your dues are deductible as a business expense under section 162 of the federal tax code. Check it with your accountant.
Included tools
What your membership includes in the member portal.
All of this is included, with no extra monthly fees: from $150 a year, about $12.50 a month. The portal is in Spanish.
Get found by customers
Your listing, your page, Google, reviews, WhatsApp and your card.
Your business in the directory
Your listing on calatx.org with your logo, description and the contact details you choose to publish. Google can find it.
Your business description in five questions
Answer five short questions and the portal writes your business description for the directory. You review it and save it.
WhatsApp Business quick replies
Answer what your customers always ask and the portal writes your greeting, away message and quick replies, ready to copy.
Google review replies
Pick the kind of review you got —positive, complaint or fake— and the portal writes a professional reply, in Spanish or English.
Google Business Profile check-up
A guided checklist to complete your Google Business Profile: name, hours, photos, reviews and posts, with Google's official help.
Your page on calatx.org
Your directory listing doubles as your web page: description, logo, WhatsApp, hours and directions, ready to share.
Ask for Google reviews with a QR code
Save the review link from your Google Business Profile and the portal gives you a QR code for your counter and a ready-to-send WhatsApp message.
Your digital business card
Your business card on the phone, with the “CALA Member” seal: save contact in one tap, call, WhatsApp, and a QR code to show in person.
Your dashboard and a QR code that counts
How many people viewed your listing, scanned your QR code and tapped your phone or WhatsApp, month over month. With your QR code for the counter.
Your QR code with your logo and colors
Free tool: paste a link, pick shapes and colors, add your logo and download it as PNG or SVG to print.
Post your events
Announce your workshops, fairs and openings on the Chamber's calendar for free, with the link where people sign up with you.
Get found for what you sell
Up to seven service and product tags so the directory shows you to people looking for exactly that. If yours is missing, suggest it.
Do business with other members
Meet other members, events, introductions and work between you.
Your 30-second pitch
For networking events: answer five questions and the portal builds your pitch with the formula that works, and tells you how long it takes.
10-minute meetings at events
At the events you attend, choose who you want to meet; if they accept, it goes on your agenda for a ten-minute chat.
Hourly mentoring between members
Experienced members offer an hour on a topic and others book it: in person, by video call or by phone.
Success stories showcase
Share a real case —the problem, what you did and the result— so other members know what you can do.
“N members have worked with them”
Record which members you did business with; once they confirm, your directory listing shows how many members have worked with you.
Coffee of the month & introductions
Each month we suggest another member for a coffee, and you can ask to be introduced to anyone. Contact details show only when both accept.
Three members to meet, every day
Every day, in My benefits, three members worth talking to — starting with those in a business line close to yours.
Members' wanted & offered board
Post what you need or what you offer; members in that line of business see it first. Larger companies also post what they buy.
Members-only directory
Direct contact with the other members, to do business with each other. Only members can see it.
Event and workshop sign-up
Sign up from the member portal and get an email reminder the day before.
Grow and mind your money
Credit, calculators, selling to large companies and hiring.
Loan-ready checklist
What an SBA lender or CDFI usually asks for, so you walk into the bank ready. No uploads: just check off what you already have.
Certifications guide
Which certification fits you to sell to government or large companies —state and federal—, with its official link, checked weekly.
Latino market pulse
Every month, the public numbers for our area —population, buying power, jobs, sectors— in brief, with sources.
Capability statement for corporate buyers
The one-page sheet large companies and government ask for: what you do, certifications, clients, insurance and NAICS. Ready as a PDF.
Job board
Post your job openings for free, with no per-ad fees. They show up on Google and can be shared on WhatsApp with one tap.
Business calculators
Loan payments, the true cost of financing, break-even, pricing and margin, the cost of an employee and sales tax, with step-by-step help.
Paperwork in order
Formalization, taxes, renewals, letters and guidance.
Formalization ladder
The seven steps to formalize your business in Texas —EIN, registration, sales tax permit, bank, licenses, insurance, franchise tax— with official links. Check them off and see where you are.
What is this letter?
Send a photo of a letter from the IRS, the state or a bank and we tell you what it is and who to see. The file is deleted once we answer.
Your tax calendar
Check what applies to your business —sales tax, franchise tax, payroll, estimates— and see your upcoming dates, with official sources.
Your renewal dates, with reminders
Log your insurance, licenses and permits with their dates; the portal warns you before they expire. No uploads.
Compliance log
What you filed and when, and which app holds each file, so it's at hand when someone asks.
CALA Orienta
Request a one-on-one guidance session for your business and follow it from the portal.
Your membership
Your first steps, receipts, seal, invitations and what CALA has brought you.
Guided first steps
When you join, six short steps —listing, logo, directory, card, first event, reviews— that check themselves off as you do them.
What CALA has brought you
Log every customer who comes through the Chamber («Did CALA send you?») and every deal you close thanks to it, and see your numbers for the year.
Your say at six months
At six months we ask what has helped you and what is missing. The board reads it and uses it to decide what to improve.
Your year at CALA
Everything your membership gave you this year, on one screen: who saw your listing, events, job posts, appointments, customers and deals.
Your link to invite other businesses
Your own link and QR code to invite other businesses to CALA; whoever joins through them is recorded as invited by you.
Membership certificate and seal
Your PDF certificate and the CALA seal for your website, social media and quotes.
“Verified member” badge for your website
A badge that CALA keeps up to date: your customers see you are a member in good standing today, and one click confirms it on calatx.org.
Receipts and membership status
Your payments, PDF receipts and renewal date, always at hand.
Your products with a member discount
List what you sell, with prices and a discount for other members.
Coming soon.
What only a chamber can do
Some doors don't open one person at a time.
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Advocacy without caps
A chamber of commerce can go to the Texas Capitol, City Hall and the county to defend its members' interests. A charitable organization runs into legal caps doing so; this is the structure that does not.
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Institutional representation
Government tables, sister chambers, economic development councils and city small-business programs. Where decisions get made, someone has to be sitting — and a chamber does get a seat.
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A channel to banks and corporations
Financial products, supplier programs and sponsorships already exist. What is usually missing is someone to speak for the group and hold the conversation.
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Supplier certification
Large corporations have budget assigned to diverse suppliers and need someone to certify them. That role belongs to a chamber, and it is the one that opens real contracts.
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Media positioning
The press looks for a spokesperson when there is a story on the Hispanic economy. A chamber is a quotable source; a single person is not.
Contact
The first ones write what this chamber will be.
Then two hundred will come, and then five hundred, and by then the rules will already be set. If your business is going to be here anyway, it's worth being here while it's still being decided.
Tell us what your business does and which level fits you. We'll reply with what's included, how payment works and when the next gathering is.
Texas · based in the Greater Austin area
We don't have an office open to the public yet. Sessions and events are announced to members by email.