Biznik Blog

It can be grueling shape-shifting at parties. There may be an ex-lover, a work associate, your life partner, an old high school friend, random strangers crawling on the ground with owl masks on, a really great copywriter you are thinking about hiring, and so on.

You have to be down right Protean to master all of your identities these days, both online and face-to-face.

We make it easy on Biznik, because it is a community that is dedicated to your indie-business-self. Sure, you’ll have to monitor how you tweet a Biznik article to your followers, but we try to make it as easy as possible for you while you are on Biznik with auto generated text and URL shortening.

Try this out, see what kind of results you get:

Log onto Biznik 3 times (or more) a week. Spend 15 minutes (or more) read 1 article, event listing or Biz Talk forum post. If you have a thoughtful and concise reply, then go ahead and post it. If you are simply not feeling like joining the conversation, then use one of the share buttons. Email it to a friend, post it on Twitter or Facebook, or you could use that little green button and share it with another Biznik member. Write a little comment to highlight why you thought to share it.

Doing so lets your community know you are thinking about the things that they are thinking about. You see them. In turn, they see you.

share

This week I received an email, “From the offices of Gary Baris – Today In America with Terry Bradshaw”. I have to admit, it sounded pretty important. It explained that Biznik was being considered for story on national TV program Today in America, with the co-host of FOX NFL Sunday, Terry Bradshaw.

We are currently working on an upcoming segment on ”21st century networking solutions for small business people,” and it will be included in our, “Taking your business to the next level” Series.

Mr. Baris and his team are responsible for determining the most appropriate content for programming based on our editorial calendar, and he would like to arrange a time to speak with you regarding the upcoming story. The segment relates to industry trends, and takes a look at how organizations are helping to address these developments. He has a particular interest in speaking with you about “Biznik”.

We haven’t been on national TV yet, but it’s not unheard of that we’d be considered for a national news story. Biznik’s been featured in The Wall Street Journal and Entrepreneur Magazine. We’re 5 years old. We jockey for position #1 on Google for the search, “business networking”. More times than not, we outrank both LinkedIn and BNI.

Visions of an afternoon by the pool on an all-expense paid trip to LA – (plus the opportunity to meet some of our hotshot LA Bizniks) – pumped me up. Then the team gathered around one of the large monitors and we Googled it. A search for “Today in America SCAM” pulled up a blog post on CBS Moneywatch. The author, Allan Roth, was able to engage one of Today in America’s Associate Producers in conversation. Check out how he missed out on his few minutes of fame, and what it means to you – (Financial Informercials Cleverly Disguised As News By Allan Roth | Jul 1, 2010). His post, along with another one I found, revealed a “small scheduling fee” in the tune of $19,800.

When one of our teammates took the call from the associate producer, he was told, “You’re welcome to sit in on the call but I’m scheduled to talk to Lara Feltin and I won’t conduct this call without her.” Andrew explained that I had delegated the call to him. Mr. Baris curtly replied, “Never mind then” and hung up on him! (nice.)

I won’t say, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. A compelling news story is a win-win-win for the stations broadcasting the content, for the consumers of the story, as well as for the company being profiled. I will say, if it seems fishy it probably is. There was something off about the Today in America web site. (Like the big blank Airings page that reads, “Here you will find news, airdates, and times for the latest airings of Today in American on national networks across the country.” Where is here?) Adding the word “scam” to my search term instantly revealed others who shared a similar experience. Thank you for sharing your story, Allan!

Thank you, Edith Yeung, for sending me a copy of The Wall Street Journal that featured Biznik among 6 sites. The article profiled sites that help small businesses lay out goals and meet other entrepreneurs.
Read the entire article.

We want people to get together, now more than ever.

Tools are tools, what is important about those tools is how effective they are in getting people together.

We have spent the week at Biznik focusing on how we can get more Bizniks together. As well as those who are not yet Biznik members, and people who may never be Biznik members but are still cool people.

Obviously, the importance for us is accountability, and though that can absolutely be achieved in a Biznik event which follows all of the guidelines—we are opening our minds to see how we can extend the Biznik Way* to non Biznik events.

We are hugely grateful to all the Biznik members who have diligently hosted, and continue to host Biznik events. Our hope is that by restructuring the calendar we will fill a variety of Biznik needs:

• More attendance at your Biznik (and non Biznik) events
• Spreading the Biznik Way of networking to a larger audience
• Event promotion for events outside Biznik that you think are awesome, and want other Bizniks to know about

It has been an intense week, but we are narrowing in on a solution that meets the needs of folks across the country.

* The Biznik Way of networking is an ethos. Biznik is not a group of potential clients and customers to sell to, it’s a community of professional peers to engage with. We value collaboration over competition and a focus on relationships over a focus on referrals. Biznik Events follow a “95/5 Rule” that limits blatant self promotion and sales by the event host to 5% of the total time and/or content of the event. Biznik is business networking that doesn’t suck. That’s a lot to live up to.

Two years ago, my friend Kristin sat me down and forced me to create a Facebook account. I was horrified. The first two months were awful. Like some quirky pixie dust sprinkled on my computer, I was reunited with scores of high school friends. How annoying!

Lots has been said about where all of this is going. Social. Media. I for one was looking for it to change, with any luck, to go away. I drug my heels on just about everything social and media. And yet…

When my family and I were visiting LA, we connected in-person with a friend whose request I accepted. We met in person after years of separation. Both of our families connected. It was amazing. We had such a great time. I wish I could see he and his family more often. 

I have heard lots of these stories. It is what make Facebook and the rest of social media interesting–when it turns into real life events.

When we draw a real life encounter from an online experience.

A walk on the Santa Barbara promenade.

A lunch.

A hug.

A business meeting.

A hug at a business meeting, with any luck.

How do we do it? We engage.

Newly minted in San Francisco, I was lucky enough to get a date with Amy Harcourt. As a Biznik member, she is leading the way in San Francisco, writing engaging articles, hosting killer events with Kurt Wallace Martin, and connecting people in huge ways. As Amy begins to develop her roots in this fantastic city, she is using Biznik as a way to leverage her skills, meet new people, and cause a general ruckus with her outrageous personality.

Sasha Vasilyuk, a Biznik member since 2007 has a vibrant and engaging community at Sandbox Suites. Though we only had a brief meeting, we discussed the San Francisco event culture, her drive for creating coworking space, and what possibilities Biznik has in San Francisco.

Edith Yeung brings people together. She does so in a variety of ways. While I was in SF, we met  at Citizen Space. We talked about Biztech Day (look out Seattle! Biztech is coming in September and Lara is one of the amazing presenters), Biznik, and a little bit about international trade. So glad to have met Edith and am looking forward to learning from this talented connector.

Hillary Hartley is up to some awesome stuff, let alone managing the coworking space Citizen Space she writes and writes, and writes.

And lastly, the all the folks at NextSpace made me feel right at home. It’s a good thing I love Seattle. Or else…