Brian's Biztalk posts

Lotsa Chocolate Events now posted

Apologies for the cross-post, but it has been quite some time since we had activity on Hannah's Indie Chocolate Lovers thread and I want to make sure folks are aware of what's going on.

Hannah and I have been working on arranging a really-big choco-ramic evening of networking around the topic of Sustainability in the Chocolate industry (which BALLE will hopefully become involved in) that will now happen some time in January. However, due to popular [!] demand we also decided to do a simpler event right away.

In the meantime, Victoria Odell also stepped up to the plate and already posted a wonderful evening of networking, chocolate and wine!

So there are Chocolate Networking events happening Nov 3 (https://biznik.com/events/2007/11/3/amazing-biznik-chocolate-factory-networking)

&

Nov 6 (https://biznik.com/events/2007/11/6/biznik-chocolate-night)

So there you have it, more chocolate than you can shake a stick at!

Interested in Doing Business in China?

Are you interested in doing business in China? Do you ALREADY do business in China, and want to find other BizNiks who do (or want to)?

I'm just checking the water, to gauge the interest level. If you're interested in having a regular discussion/workshop group about Business with/in China - that you would show up for - please shout out right here.

This may be another idea that presses the "BizPod" model that was circulating a while ago. I think this is a great potential BizPod, as is the Sustainability Pledge group.

I'm posting Syd Fredrickson's recounting of the BizPod idea from the Sustainability Pledge thread (apologies for the x-post):

From a long while back, there was the idea of having shared value/shared goals groups that could focus on their support of each other's businesses and not have the meetings or events they hold be public. Are there a number of you who would be interested to try that?

[Joe Shirley initiated the topic of BizPods here in Seattle; Lara, Dan, myself, and a couple of other people felt drawn to the concept but I never saw it take off. I would like to recontact some of those people who were in on the discussion at that time to get their thoughts on this thread.]

Know a good Acura Integra Mechanic?

He's dead Jim.

My ailing, recycled, '89 Acura Integra isn't, uhm, moving anymore: I turn the key, it sputters, makes strange noises, and then is deathly silent.

I hate dealing with this shit.

Anyone know a mechanic who won't rape me to find out what's busted on this thing? I'm in West Seattle, and something nearby would be best.

Thaaaank-you....

WANTED: Webmaster for Non-Profit (Maintenance on very basic site)

We're looking for someone who'd be willing to do some basic maintenance on the website for Sustainable West Seattle on a pro bono basis. It's a very simple site, just needing roughly an hour a week at this point.

Yep, I know. You have a lot on your plate already. But we'd REALLY appreciate your help, and would love to spread testimonials about you all over West Seattle.

And if it works out well and we swing some budget to this later (once we have one), you'd sure be in a good place to land that gig.

Whadd'ya say?

Biznik Sustainable Business Contest

This just in from Dan: Biznik is taking is first foray into paid sponsorships, in an effort to get in front of a larger progressive audience and grow faster.

Biznik will now be sponsoring Andras Jones' Radio8Ball show on KAOS 89.3FM in Olympia, (which is also sponsored by Seattle Conscious Choice magazine). Andras has invited guests on his show before, and Biznik has decided to do a contest of sorts among members who operate sustainable businesses.

What form will that competition take? Basically, each member will write up a pitch about their business, their philosophy, and demonstrate what sets them apart as a model of sustainability in their business and community. Andras will select the winner to appear on his show. It'll be a nice win-win for everyone involved. More details to follow!

To begin YOUR participation in this context, please post your thoughts about "What Makes a Business Sustainable in our Community" over at the ongoing Biznik Sustainable Business Pledge discussion thread.

Feature Request: New Events Functionality

I've realized that all the useful information that we enter each time we create a new venue doesn't seem to be available when one pulls up that venue later.

For example, the site contact information for the proprietor would be really useful as I'm trying to verify if a given night is OK for an event at Poco. But when I type it in, all I get is the address.

Where *IS* all that extra information that I typed in for Elliott Bay Brewery and Beveridge Place Pub going, anyway?

So, 1), I'd like more info, please! Can we just expand that box of search results? Anyone else have feedback on this?

And 2), wasn't it possible to save a draft of an event before? I'd like to see that, because it's kind of a pain to not have a place to begin to dump all the information for an event as I build it.

It seems like in the old system we were able to park an event in our account until we were ready to pull the trigger. Am I remembering that wrong? That would be a very useful feature.

Thank-you, Honored Biznik-Builders.

@brian

Referral Pix...gone?

One of the nice things about the old site was that I could see who had referred biz to whom, which gives a good sense of who tends to work with each other and/or whom I might ask for a sense of a particular person's creds.

But I noticed that I can't get to that info even on my own profile anymore, and I'm just wondering if that got nuked for privacy reasons or something (?).

Networks like Tribe or LinkedIn and others help give us (to a degree) a sense of how much we can trust a person given their connections to others who we trust (or distrust!), and as such are super useful in helping us get over the hesitation to take that first step sometimes. It's also really fun when you get to have a real "AHA!" moment, as you connect some dots you didn't realize were there before.

I wanted to post this as a separate topic because I also want to get a sense from Bizniks about what they think about these ideas, which hopefully the core team will find useful in some way.

@brian

Sustainability Pledge

Hey All,

Dan and I chatted a couple weeks back about creating a tag for a "Sustainability Pledge" for BizNik - similar to the "Not-Just-For-Profit" idea.

It would be a way for Bizniks to make a special level of commitment to doing things (biz) in a sustainable manner, and to therefore be identified as having taken the challenge.

I'm curious what everyone thinks about this idea, specifically:

1. What do you think about "Sustainability" in general? What does that term mean to you? What institutions do you think of when you hear the term?

2. What kinds of things would you be willing to commit to? Let's assume that this is a REAL pledge, and that doing things in a particular sustainable manner WILL cost you more money.

Would you buy carbon offsets? Change your supply chain? Employ other ways of doing things that are more friendly to the environment?

And what about software, on the community development side of things. Should a collective or cooperative get extra cred vis-a-vis a single-proprietorship or simple corporation, because they're trying a different kind of "software"?

And speaking more literally of software, should folks get credit for using Open Source Products, instead of proprietary ones?

3. Up to what point do you think the bar could realistically be set? In terms of gross income, what percentage of added cost? Or in terms of time, presuming it may take more time to achieve a given objective in a sustainable manner? What other metrics can you think of?

4. Any other ideas that you have about the idea? The good and the bad. Let me have it.

Your feedback will directly affect how this concept is developed, so PLEASE let me know what you think (ESPECIALLY if you see something posted that you think is really off-track).

thx!

@brian

Call out for folks in West Seattle Area

Who else is from the West Seattle area?

I'm thinking of putting together a happy hour so we can get something going over here. There's a lot of new energy in Sustainable West Seattle, and the Chamber of Commerce is working on Sustainability and Localism issues now too.

Post here or give me a shout on email. If I think there's critical mass, I'll put something together for late June.

cheers, @brian