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Waffling? Don't!

I promise you'll get more out of this event than you expect, even if your expectations are high. I attended Rebecca's last "Get me excited" event and came away with epiphanies galore. What I learned (created) went way beyond my "elevator speech" to clarify my entire approach to marketing myself. I'm still integrating my insights.

Part of what makes this such a great event is that it's downright FUN. Rebecca challenges your little brain to its maximum, productive creativity.

Oh, and ALL the other participants will get to know you way better than the few people you spoke to at the last event you attended. If there's a networking relationship to be built, you'll have a great foundation to start you off.

Thanks so much. It's a great feature. It's working like a charm for me in the one group where I've turned it on.

For added enhancements, though, I second Laura's request to have the option to choose weekly digests. A second handy enhancement would be to select a digest at the profile level, and receive a compilation of activity from all the groups of which one is a member, in a single email.

(Neither of these are front burner, for sure.)

Judy, what a pleasure to read such a well-crafted article! And it lasers right into my own perennial reluctance to nichify. You've loosened the grip of be-everything-to-everybody-itis on my brain, and I find myself rethinking my niche. Thank you.

Bummer. Just discovered this (at 6:50 pm) and would come but I'm starving and need dinner. Please continue these and I'll join the next one! I'm a new transplant to Fremont and would love to meet you all.

Joseph, just want to say thanks for a great article. You got me thinking, and your images will stick with me for a while. Your article is tucked inside my little brain now, and will influence how I approach planning from now on.

My weakness is, while I do plan and re-plan, I tend to focus only on those aspects of the business that interest me. I've never tackled a full-fledged, complete plan. Sort of like doing a rough sketch of the attic loft without laying out the foundation and wiring.

Good selection of quotes, too.

Suzi, great article. Thanks! I can see a couple places I was overlooking, thinking they weren't that important. Time to snap to it!

Jim: Sorta. I mean, Biznik is pretty good for community, but my vision and agenda is really, really different from that of yours and every other Biznik member. We share some common elements of HOW, but the what, the project, is splintered into a million directions, one for every member. It's not the same. To have what I'm hungry for, I'll need to build my own cooperative venture, probably in the form of a multi-person company, with partners and collaborators and yes, employees. And that will be a good thing.

Great summary, Terry. These five keys are both "recession proof" and a formula for success in an "up" economy as well.

I too am looking forward to your Sales For Non-Sales People class on Monday.

Wowie zowie, Kate. The economic history of the modern world in 500 words. A trenchant analysis of the current crisis in another 500. And finally a rousing call to celebrate the entrepreneurial class in the final 500. Not only are you a damned good writer, but you're the most ambitious I've seen. And inspiring!

I'd like to add a single perspective: The one thing I miss about my couple years inside the walls of a company was doing stuff I could never do myself, because I had a team of people with complementary skills and the resources to back the project. There was a sense of camaraderie, community, and belonging to something bigger than myself which I had never had as a freelancer, and which I am hungry for now that I am flying solo again.

I believe there are some things rotten at the core of the type of oligarchic capitalism our civilization has installed over the past dozen decades or so. But I think we have learned there is something valuable about the kind of community that can arise around a common purpose.

As communities, companies span a huge range from thriving hotbeds of human flourishing to toxic waste dumps of the most destructive human environments on record. The entrepreneurial mindset you elucidate tends to permeate the best companies. It is recognized as both healthy for people and good for business.

I think the case with the discussion here is more of a "both-and." Because the security of jobs is taking a big hit, many people are rediscovering (or renewing their appreciation for) the value of BOTH self-reliance AND community. The entrepreneurs you and I surround ourselves with are on the leading edge of this rediscovery. Why, here we Bizniks are, doing our best to create community for ourselves while we strike out boldly in the face of uncertain times!

I've got to cancel for this evening. Looking forward to the next one though!

A gem. Fabulous insight, Robert. Intuitively I have also seen the overlap between greed and the abundance mentality, but to add in the two-sides-of-the-same-coin view of scarcity and abundance, and contrast that faux coin with the real currency of contribution, well, that's good thinkin'!

I think the underlying truth may be this: whether we are focused on scarcity or abundance/manifestation, we are coming from a place of lack on the inside that needs to be filled by stuff and experiences on the outside. The focus is on what's coming in.

On the other hand, when we experience ourselves as filled on the inside, scarcity and abundance become irrelevant. We are motivated to give of ourselves in ways that benefit others. We are free to enter the contribution mentality.

So how do we fill up on the inside? Hm. I think that calls for a blog post.

Thank you for your perspective and inspiration.

Tshombe, excellent as usual. And what a great way to demonstrate the power of collaboration. Compiling the wisdom of several committed entrepreneurs makes for a very useful guide. Thank you.