Check out Ignite III on Thursday for preview of what you’ll see at BizJam
The third Ignite Seattle event is coming up this Thursday at the Capitol Hill Arts Center here in Seattle. It’s a great opportunity to get a preview of what’ll be happening during the early evening portion of events at BizJam Seattle. Brady Forrest is bringing Ignite to BizJam on June 9th. Brady hasn’t released all of the presentations yet, but a couple that he has look really awesome: You can see The Name Inspector, AKA Chris Johnson, who’ll be giving a talk entitled “The Science (and Art) of Naming.”
Many of you have faced, or will face, the challenge of naming a company, a blog, a product, or a service. In this talk The Name Inspector will give uncensored voice to his inner geek and present a lightning intro to the science (and art) of names, drawing heavily on linguistics, cognitive science, and his own experience as a namer and name analyst. He’ll talk about the mechanics of speech sound production, the symbolic properties of sounds, the structure of syllables, the poetics of names, the morphological types of names, the way words and their meanings are stored and accessed in memory, the conceptual principles of metaphor and metonymy at the root of word associations, and–using some prominent examples–not only what but HOW names mean.
Chris will be hosting a lengthier JamSession on the same topic at BizJam. Another presentation that I’m looking forward to seeing Thursday, that’s totally relevant to indie business, is by Chuck Pettis: “Differences Between Men & Women in Personal Life & Advertising.”
Men and women aren’t just from Mars and Venus. We are from different galaxies! Learn about some of the key male-female differences based on recent brain research that can help you improve your personal relationships with the opposite sex and improve the effecitivness of your marketing and advertising.
More about Ignite Seattle
Ignite Seattle is a geek event that combines on-site geekery, sharing, and innovation (and drinking). The THIRD one will be held upstairs at the CHAC (1621 12th Ave
Seattle, WA - see map) on Thursday, April 5th. The Make Contest will begin at 6:30; the Ask Later talks will begin at 8:30. Videos and photos from the previous Ignite are available. Admission is free.
0 Comments When was the last time someone thanked you for listening?
Here I am getting ready to turn fifty-eight and I still feel I can get better in building the kind of relationships I desire.
And while I’ve heard over the years how important listening is to the relationship building process, today, more than ever, I’ve come to learn how true that is.
I remember one day attending the National Speakers’ Association conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Think about it: 2,000 professional speakers and everyone running around speaking…but who was there to listen? Kind of makes you laugh, doesn’t it?
Then, all of a sudden, it came to me…listening with purpose, if better understood, and better utilized could help to reap more of the rewards we all look for.
Let’s take a few moments to define purposeful listening.
Purposeful listening is listening with your five senses (smell, touch, taste, hearing, and sight), and with your heart, mind, and soul.
Through purposeful listening, you make good contact with the other, and the other truly feels heard.
Through listening, you may give a person an opportunity to work through an issue he or she is struggling with, or hear an experience he or she wants to tell you about.
Or, you listen to hear how you might partner on a project together, finding a way to become more useful and resourceful to him or her.
Who would ever think that becoming a great listener is a way of being useful and resourceful to others?
Let me take you back a few years to grade school.
Remember the three R’s? Wasn’t it reading, writing, and arithmetic?
When do you last recall hearing of anybody taking a listening course in the early formative years of our education?
In fact, how many listening courses do they offer in high school or even at the college level now?
You probably won’t be able to find many.
Maybe if you’re lucky, you’ll find a course offered in a continuing educational forum at one of your local colleges.
Yet, the power of all knowledge and the power that’s available to build the relationships we desire are in our increased and dramatically improved ability to listen with purpose to what people are saying, and most of all, discover what they really mean.
Your ability to listen to the needs of others is one of the most important relationship skills.
It’s often been said that we have two ears and one mouth and that we should listen proportionally. If you agree with this basic concept, and if you are willing to take your listening efforts to the next level, listen three times as much with purpose.
When Does Failure to Listen Occur?
Failure to listen occurs whenever the receiver “tunes out” the sender of the message before receiving the entire message. One instance is when you disagree with some part of what is being said; you listen to the point of disagreement, and begin formulating your response in your head rather than continuing to listen.
This is the old habit of listening to only what you want to hear and failing to listen to the rest of the message. As a result, the message is misunderstood and not heard.
When we find ourselves not listening to others it’s often a product of being bored, tired, hurried, or a dozen of other reasons that we come up with.
Who cares what the reason is?
The fact is, we assume we hear. In any event, we are not purposeful in our listening efforts. To become a more purposeful listener, we first commit to listening, assuring that we indeed did hear the words that the person expressed.
We then ask questions and put into our own words to clarify that we understand what the other person is saying.
The light bulb pretty quickly goes on when we find that we have truly heard and truly do understand another.
This kind of listening helps reveal deeper feelings and needs.
Thinking Point for Connection forward
Is there someone you are currently experiencing a disconnect with? How might listening help you better understand and reconnect with this person?
Ron Sukenick is the Chief Relationship Officer and founder of the Relationship Strategies Institute, a training and Relationship development company that provides innovative, effective and relevant programs and systems for corporations, organizations, and associations. To learn more about the value of Relationship Development, visit their Web site at www.RelationshipStrategiesInstitute.com or e-mail him at - RS [at] RelationshipStrategiesInstitute [dot] com.
business networking listening skills
1 CommentA Giddy Excitement: Double-Jazzed in the Biznikistan Republic
In the 15 months since I joined Biznik, I’ve watched an inspiring process take root. Bizniks are not just growing, but thriving through their relationships. Starting next week, I’m going to tell the stories of these extraordinary connections, choosing one relationship to interview for each post.
I want to highlight what I call "Double-Jazzed" connections, where each person feels like they’re getting away with something illicit because it’s just so darned good. I believe Biznik is creating a disproportionate number of these super-good connections because of a simple difference of philosophy from the business world at large.
In Biznik, there’s an underlying commitment to the value of giving. Biznik members recognize that by giving more, they tend to receive more, in part because they’re strengthening their community.
My inspiration for this series came from my own recent experience teaching a class. I had decided that night to give all I had, to not hold back and just heap on every last bit of what I had learned in my work. While I was presenting, with the help of the attention and contributions of the participants, a cascade of insights and revelations went firing through my brain, connecting the dots on 12 years of research.
The result was a complete and utter shattering of my professional holding pattern. I knew from the the effusive feedback I received that people in the class felt they received very high value for the time and money they spent. But the value that came back to me was profoundly immeasurable. Out of my Double-Jazzed moment I’ve leapt into a new phase of growing my business, and I’m giddy with excitement about it.
I see all of us having moments like that. Giving from the heart, giving of ourselves, giving until we’re so full we’re bursting. And I see us learning as we go, getting better all the time. For example, we’re learning to cultivate customers in our business that we have fun serving, and dropping those who don’t value us. We’re redirecting our business focus to better serve our deeper passions. And we’re igniting the fire of collaboration by teaming up with peers to provide offerings neither of us can do alone.
Our community is on to something here, and I want us to notice and celebrate that. So consider this an invitation: I invite you to notice your own Double-Jazzed moments and connections. Then tell me about it. I’ll email both you and your Jazz-partner a small questionaire and check in with you by phone as well. And you’ll be featured right here on the Biznik blog. It’s a great way to get some exposure. And it just might inspire someone who’s been sitting on the sidelines to jump in and get involved.
Some Double-Jazzed connections you might consider:
- A conversation at a happy hour that opened your eyes to something new
- A client that thrived with your help and influenced you in return
- A Biznik who teamed up with you to do something cool
- A simple networking connection that led to a big job
- A class you taught that wound up teaching you something important
- An event you attended that led to unexpectedly great results
- A conversation on BizTalk that gave you a new perspective
- A major opportunity that would never have happened without Biznik
Contact me to share your story.
business networking business relationships community double jazzed relationshipsSpeed life coaching by Carissa Morris at McLeod Residence happy hour tonight
This just in from Buster McLeod: Biznik member Carissa Morris will be at The McLeod Residence this evening, giving 15-minute speed life coaching sessions. Here’s the scoop from Buster:
I’m really excited about tonight’s special guest. Speed Life Coaching! By Carissa Morris, who is also my personal life coach. Woo! Learn about this great new field and get a 15 minute speed coach. Come by 7 o’clock for the full experience, or 6 o’clock to get a drink for an even fuller experience. It’ll go until 9pm. If you haven’t been by in a couple weeks, tonight’s the special occasion you were waiting for to stop by and see the new show. It will be great!
This kind of collaboration is a BIG part of our vision for McLeod Residence. Being able to highlight the talents of our members and the community, and collaborate with other businesses and groups and people who are doing awesome things. Where else can you get haircuts, notable coasters, dance performances, fashion shows, haiku parties, life coaching, blue drinks, photo booths, lasers, smoke, love, car washes, blinking neon O’s, and great new people?
The McLeod Residence is Seattle’s “home for extraordinary living through art, technology, and collaboration,” located at 2209 2nd Ave (between Blanchard and Bell).
life coaching mcleod residence seattle belltownA totally absurd business name…
I got a chuckle this morning when I arrived home at 1 am from the Seattle Erotic Art Festival, checked my email before turning in and discovered this cartoon on SEOmoz.com (thanks to Australia member Ross Hill for forwarding):
“I really don’t have much to offer in this blog post except DEAR GOD, these social media sites’ names are getting totally absurd,” blogs Rebecca. “Seriously. What happened to the good ol’ days of MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, and LiveJournal? Remember those happier times? When the name of a site indicated what it was?”
I was flattered, of course, to see Biznik included in the cartoon along with the likes of Netscape co-founder Mark Andreesen’s Ning. But does Rebecca really feel the name Biznik falls into the camp of Web 2.0 sites like flickr or del.icio.us whose names have absolutely nothing to do with what they’re all about?
I’m a little surprised, frankly, because we chose the name Biznik not simply because it sounded cool, or begin with “z” or ended in “ster” or “dango.” We chose it because it means something to us. Perhaps “Biz” conjures some meaning for you, too? And “nik” turns out to be a Yiddish suffix that means “someone who acts in a particular way.” It’s also an oblique reference to Beatnik, the radical movement in the 50s that paved the way for subsequent generations of outside-of-the-box thinkers and status-quo challengers. We dig that (with one g, thank you very much). It vibes on our frequency. But, just in case our definition remains a tad obscure, I thought I’d take a stab at creating a proper dictionary entry:
If you’re struggling to create the right name for your business, or concerned the name you choose might end up lampooned in a comic strip some day, consider attending The Name Inspector business-naming workshop on Monday. It’s a rare opportunity to brainstorm your name idea with a PhD linguist who is a true expect in the subtle art of naming. Chris also authors a blog dedicated entirely to exploring the meaning behind business names, called The Name Inspector. Incidentally, in a recent post, he called Biznik “a great name. It’s the holy grail of domain names: one that carries the right meaning in six letters or less.” Thanks Chris, and thanks Rebecca for the reminder that when it comes to naming a business, meaning matters.
business name web 2.0My Cousin Lost A Finger — And Taught Me All About Web 2.0!
“WHRRRRRR CHUG CHUG WHRMMMMMMM.” The big brown door groaned out a protest as our brand-spanking-new garage door opener *yanked* it up and along its track to rest quietly above our heads.
This was winter in the 80’s–maybe 1985–and my aunt, uncle and cousins had come over on a Sunday to play trivial pursuit, get sugar-high on peanut butter bars and listen to my dad tell weird stories about his weird life and that weird time he *swears* he was abducted by mustache-wearing aliens.
My cousin Michelle and I weren’t having it though. We’d heard all the weird stories before and didn’t know enough about Reaganomics to be much use at trivia. So we scarfed down some sugary goodness and snuck downstairs to play with Mom and Dad’s new toy.
“Whoa, cool!” Michelle said when she saw it for the first time. And I had to agree, the shiny new electric garage door opener *was* cool. It was all shiny metal, blue plastic and grease.
*And it was just begging us to play with it.*
“Here, let me show you.” I said in my little eight-year-old voice. I clambered up onto a rickety chair and stretched up on my tippy toes to push the button. I had to push hard to get the bright red light to flash, but when I did the whole room rumbled.
“WHRRRRRR CHUG CHUG WHRMMMMMMM” our life-changing new technology went. It gave us a clear view of the snowy street and sent us both into ecstatic fits.
“WOW!! AWESOME! LET ME, LET ME!,” Michelle screamed amidst the giggles. For the next half hour we switched off back and forth. We opened and closed and opened and closed and opened and closed the door, balancing precariously on that wobbly little chair every time.
And then we stopped.
Michelle was stretching up and pushing hard on the button again when her foot slipped. She tumbled and gave a strangled shout.
*And then I saw the blood.*
Michelle was crying from shock than from pain. I ran upstairs to get my Uncle and wondered why I hadn’t noticed the 12-inch rotary saw blade propped up against the wall right under our new “toy.”
The finger had come off clean just under the knuckle closest to the fingernail. My dad searched around franticly for it, packed it in ice and rushed off in his big brown Lincoln Town Car to meet up with Michelle and her dad at the hospital. I stayed home with mom and stared at the bloody saw blade, wondering again how we managed to miss the dang thing.
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“Alright, Haddad. You’ve freaked us out, now what the hell does this have to do with Web 2.0?”
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Good question.
Now I *love* podcasting, blogging, web video, web audio, dynamic web pages, social networking, Pay-Per-Click and all the other symptoms of the evolving web.
But sometimes I think business folks get so caught up in the shiny new technology that they lose sight of the powerful basics.
And as Michelle and I (OK, mostly Michelle) learned way back in ‘85, getting hypnotized by “radical new technology” and ignoring the fundamental truths about your environment (like a big honking saw blade right underneath you) can be more than a little bit dangerous.
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So here’s the real message of today’s newsletter.
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If you’re in business today you *need* to a part of the web. You *need* to be aware of the radical changes that are happening online. And you *need* to make some hard choices about how you’re going to take advantage of the opportunities to start *real* conversations with your customers and sell your business like never before.
But you also *need* to realize that the medium is *not* the message and that *what* you say to your audience is always going to be more important than *how* you say it.
Which means coming up with a strong offer, developing a powerful Unique Selling Proposition and laying out in no uncertain terms the *reasons why* your customers should work with you.
Oh, and since you’re undoubtedly dying to know, the good doctors at that hospital in Massachusetts managed to put my poor cousin back together again and she has just a tiny little scar to remind her of her run in with the garage door opener and the saw blade.
Comments? Questions? Harsh Invectives? Head on over to the Hard Working Words Blog (http://www.haddadink.com/blog).
Chris Haddad is a Direct Response Copywriter and Strategic Marketing Wonk Based In Seattle Washington (which means he sells stuff with words.)
Patents are one of the few things that level the playing field between small and larger businesses
Biznik member Jim Ruttler, who is a patent attorney, is hosting a workshop on Thursday that will be a great opportunity to learn the whys, ifs, and how-muches of patents. If you’ve ever wondered, “aren’t patents just for inventors like Alexander Graham Bell?” or, “is my idea or business process something patentable?” or “what exactly is a patent and why would I want one?” then this is your chance. Biznik’s intellectual property attorney Danny Bronski has this to say about Jim’s event:
“I just signed up for this event and see that there are a few spots left. It would be a tragedy if this didn’t fill up, in my opinion, because this will be one of the most valuable Biznik events yet. Hundreds of thousands of dollars can swing in the balance of getting the right patent — patents are one of the few things that level the playing field between small and larger businesses. Jim is really good at simplifying this area of law to help entrepreneurs and businesses think more strategically about what and whether to patent.”
patent attorney legal business seattleWhat are you doing right now?
So I’m sitting and thinking about what I want to blog about, and how so obvious it is that I’d love to talk about the upcoming BizJam coming in June.
It’s not because I will be there.
And it’s not because I’ll be presenting.
It’s just the idea of a business-building marathon of ideas, inspiration and innovation that gets me excited and looking forward to the upcoming BizJam set for this coming June 9th.
I just wanted to tell you that.
I can’t imagine that you won’t be in attendance.
You have to be there. Make sense? I hope so.
You see, as an entrepreneur, business owner & author, there is no doubt in my mind that our independence is a direct result of our interdependence and cooperation with so many others.
While just the idea of a business-building marathon of ideas, inspiration and innovation gets me excited, to me, it’s the people that I plan on meeting.
It’s new friends. New resources. And new opportunities.
You see, that’s what these types of events are about. It’s the people.
So are you coming?
Have you registered yet? I hope so.
I’m eager to meet all the people I can meet.
Why wait until the event comes when we can meet right now.
It’s like taking the moment and dancing with it.
In fact, why don’t you post a comment below and let me know that were going to meet on June 9th.
I’m waiting….
Ron Sukenick is the Chief Relationship Officer and founder of the Relationship Strategies Institute, a training and Relationship development company that provides innovative, effective and relevant programs and systems for corporations, organizations, and associations. To learn more about the value of Relationship Development, visit their Web site at www.RelationshipStrategiesInstitute.com or e-mail him at - RS [at] RelationshipStrategiesInstitute [dot] com.
Growing pains
Biznik is experiencing some growing pains! Late this afternoon we had a database hard drive fail, and the most recent backup we were able to restore from was made about 48 hours ago, which means 48 hours of data is unrecoverable. Any BizTalk posts or comments you made during that period are gone for good. Also missing are new members who joined during this period, event RSVPs and comments, as well as any updates you made to your profile during that time. Fortunately payment information, which is stored in a separate database, was mostly unaffected, so if you RSVP’d for a paid event such as BizJam during this time, we have that info and you don’t need to re-enter it. Any free events you RSVP’d for, though, you’ll have to RSVP for again.
I’ll be implementing a much more aggressive backup strategy tomorrow, in which we maintain hourly backups to prevent this situation from happening again. We’ll also be moving to a more redundant server when we launch Biznik 2.0. The new site will be running on a server hosted and managed by our good friends at Wowrack, to ensure that if this type of situation happens again, it won’t result in any data loss.
Meanwhile, I’m really sorry for the inconvenience.
backup Biznik databaseBiznik events are open to all members
There have been a number of events being submitted to the events calendar that have targeted a specific audience from a defined professional community. Dan and I are in full support of this. Biznik 2.0, the new web site under development, will facilitate this through the use of a groups tool. A group admin may elect for the group to be
public, semi-public, or private. Public and semi-public groups will be visible on the groups explore page, however an invitation to the group will be required from the admin in order to join a semi-public group and view their events calendar.
In the meantime, with the exception of “Supporting Member Only” events for those subscribing to the service for $10/month, we wish to remind members that Biznik events submitted to the calendar may specify a particular audience that the event is intended for, but they may not exclude members who do not fit that profile from
attending that event. Biznik events are networking opportunities first. Though an event may be intended for tech specialists or licensed health practitioners, any member interested in meeting and networking with members in those fields, should be made to feel welcome to participate in the event.
Biznik is a community made up of indie business owners in all phases of development, and it’s a great place for budding entrepreneurs to meet and network with others in fields that may be of interest to them. Someone interested in the tech industry, for example, could greatly benefit from attending an event targeting that audience and meeting members of that profession.
If you have an opinion on the subject, please leave a comment.
BizJam sponsors rolling in
BizJam isn’t until June 9th, but already the list of invited speakers is almost full, and sponsors are rolling in. Today we’re happy to tell you that Axios Law Group has joined O’Reilly Radar as a primary sponsor of BizJam. Yesterday the Seattle Networking Guide became a leading sponsor, and earlier in the week Ontela jumped in as a contributing sponsor. And we have another primary sponsor lined up who asked us to wait until next week to make the annoucement. It’s really awesome to see so much early support for this event, and it gives us a lot of confidence that this is going to be a fantastic conference. And don’t forget that we want your proposals, too. Finally, we’d like you to attend, and we’re offering early-bird pricing on tickets purchased before March 31, that will save you up to $50.
bizjam business conference SeattleHow Four Words Can Make You a Great Writer
I know you’ve been looking for it all along–the magic potion that will make your writing sparkle and pull clients from their couches. After months of study on this subject, I have the answer for you. Are you ready?
The secret to writing posts that grab clients is just this: love what you do.
I don’t mean “like it a lot,” or “be pretty good at it.” I mean LOVE it. When you are passionate about your work, all the little grammar issues and style technicalities will pale in comparision. People are drawn to those who are passionate about their work and ideas.
If you’re having a lot of trouble getting your posting or web copy off the ground, consider whether you’re really tapping into that place inside yourself where your abilities and your passions intersect. After all, why should your customers fall in love with your service if you don’t love it yourself?
Rachel Whalley is a business blogging and writing coach based in Seattle, WA. Check out her other pearls of wisdom at www.writewithmeaning.com.
blogging clients entrepreneurship indie passion