You like Biznik, right? And Facebook and Wikipedia and Twitter, and the myriad of sites where you can share information with your peers, like Instagram and Pinterest and Tumblr? Then you need to help stop SOPA & PIPA (Stop Online Piracy Act & Protect Intellectual Property Act) now.
I’m in favor of curbing online piracy. The SOPA & PIPA bill do more. They allow the blockage of a site even if the supposed copyright infringement is user generated content. Theoretically, you could be shut down for a comment on your blog that violates a copyright. Sites like Facebook, Wikipedia, and Biznik couldn’t exist. Get it? If this bill passes, we’re giving the government the right to shut down sites. It would be the end of the internet as we know it. Not OK.
Still confused? Watch this video by Fight for the Future:
What can you do? You can start by signing one of the myriad of petitions out there. This one was originated by Google: https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/
Independent business owners from all over the world are publishing dead-on focused content in the form of articles on Biznik. Biznik curates them and releases them in a thoughtful and orderly fashion.
Having access to a curated selection of edited business articles is a big benefit for the author, frequently resulting in clients.
And clients are good. Except for when they are not. But even that is addressed in the Biznik article sections!
As these articles suggest, writing and also participating in the Biznik articles is hugely valuable use of time. I hope you enjoy these articles, or re-enjoy them as the case may be.
And if you write, consider publishing your content on Biznik. Notice what types of aricles have been most successful here:
Articles that clearly state the authors perspective
Articles that are casual and easy to read but are packed with great insight
Articles that are timely with snappy (but not too snappy) titles.
Check out a little piece I wrote which may help you formalize your thoughts. Think You’re a Melville?
If you submit something, and it is good, but just needs a little work, our editors will help you finalize it before circulation, because the whole community benefits from a well written article.
It was written during a time that Groupon was in its like fifth round of financing. He struck when the hammer was hot and it proved to be a very powerful for people.
Because Biznik members get the one to one relationship between client and profit that can exist, site like Groupon are difficult for some to grock. Though, as many commenters noted, it works for some business sometimes, but no matter what, there must be a plan implemented
An excerpt from the comments, “A brilliant way to explain the Groupon model. I was captivated by your story.” – Judy Dunn
Carolyn Higgins of Fortune Marketing Company
Carolyn Higgins has been on fire this year. She is funny, smart and offers a TON of awesome advice. Her easy to understand and implement business sense has definitely been a help to Biznik members this year. Her most read article of 2011 was 6 Things Every Business Owner Can Learn From Lady Gaga and the most commented on article , with 94 comments is Top 7 Reasons to Fire a Customer. I hope she continues to offer up articles for a long long time.
Here is an excerpt from the Lady Gaga article:Know your audience and connect– Lady Gaga knows her audience, she has a huge fan base of young and old who feel disconnected and disenfranchised in the world and she speaks to and connects with them in her music, her image and her interviews. She moves them because she understands them so well. Who are your “fans”/customers? What moves them and what do you do to move them? What do you do on every levelto connect with them?
Galen Emanuele from The Upfront Theater
Not only is the article by Galen Emanuele full of insight, so is the incredibly diverse and thoughtful discussion that follows. Galen’s was one of the top three most read and commented-on articles of 2011 with Stop wasting time marketing on social media like EVERYONE else. I think it shows the state at which many Biznik members are engaging at different social and interactive levels.
Here is a taste of what Galen has to say is found in a comment he made a week after publishing the article, “The point I will always go back to again and again is you’ve got to know what you’re using and what you’re using it for. You don’t catch lobsters the same way you catch a salmon even though they both live under water. If I see a bunch of people with fishing rods pulling up salmon into boats and I need a lobster, copying them by tossing a line into the water isn’t going to get me what I want.”
Today may be the bank holiday for New Year’s Day, but I’m back in the office and feel like the weeks of holiday slacking with a sugar-stoned stupor are behind me. Riding on the endorphins of a marathon workout this morning, it seems like a good day to reflect on the year.
To the outside 2011 may have looked like a year of business-as-usual. Behind the scenes our team-of-three has been hard at work developing “Biznik 3″. The genesis of Biznik 3 is a drive to take the work out of networking. We can’t take all the work out of networking — you still need to show up and talk to people — but Biznik 3 is a utility that helps you manage your peer-to-peer business relationships, track the referrals and recommendations that come out of your networking, and figure out just where you should be spending your valuable time. Some updates to the online community we all know and love will accompany this launch.
Change is never easy. I know this better than anyone — Biznik’s been my baby for 6 years. But I hope it will ease the transition to know just how excited I am about the direction we’re taking Biznik. It remains aligned with our original mission, to be a place where business networking doesn’t suck.
We’re wrapping it up now and will have it out before spring sets in.
Despite the amount of energy that’s been focused on this development, 2011 included some new developments not related to Biznik 3, such as the Member Book Promotion.
Biznik is full of massively talented people who’ve carved a way a through the world fueled by their vision. Amongst those ranks are a number of people who shared their vision in the form of a published book. You meet many of them every day in the articles section. Now you can see the books they published too. Seeing the cover of a book published by the very author who wrote an article I’m reading, adds validity and authority to their words. We wanted to create a way to support these authors further with an SEO-enhanced listing and a link to the site where a purchase can be made. Listings appear on the author’s profile as well as in the sidebar of the articles they publish on Biznik.
Another development was a reorganization of Biz Talk. One of Biznik’s first rules of engagement is to show up. As I like to say, Biznik is more than a networking platform, it’s a community, a movement — it’s a revolutionary way of interacting with your peers. Show up by contributing in the forums. “In ni che“.
We hosted two events in the Biznik Innovators Series in 2011, and lost our partner and dear friend, Kim Ricketts, to cancer. Kim’s talent as a networker, her extraordinary ability to form and nurture relationships with influential people, and her success with Kim Ricketts Book Events, brought the likes of Gary Vaynerchuk, Daniel Pink and Chris Brogan to our stage since 2009. We miss Kim and the innovative spark she brought to all her projects.
The biggest highlight of the year was our participation in the Seattle Interactive Conference. Matt rallied together a seriously impressive group of speakers for the Biznik stage, including Biznik’s LA Ambassador, Colleen Wainwright. I presented, Your Friends Don’t Trust You, Nor Should They, on the main stage, which fueled passion to get out there and speak more. We’re already excited about the next one in November 2012.
I hope this message finds you well-rested and eager to start 2012. From one indie business person to another, go get ‘em and make this your best year yet!
Right around the corner is something huge. It’s massive. (Can you tell I’m excited?)
We’ve been working on an awesome new project at Biznik, which will deliver you a game-changing peer-to-peer networking tool unlike any we’ve found out there.
“Biznik 3″ plans take the work out of networking, by connecting you with friends you already know, and the friends who trust them, while helping you take care of the people who are most valuable to your business — the ones who bring you business.
With this change comes new prices — the first-ever price increase at Biznik.
If you know the value of Biznik ProVIP, now’s your chance to lock in 2011′s price.
If you haven’t tried a paid membership yet… this may entice you.
A year of ProVIP at 2011′s price + 2 months FREE!
That’s 12 months for the current price of TEN!
In other words — get all the benefits of ProVIP (plus the new features too) for $240 through the END of 2012.
We’ve never done this before. This is it. Increase visibility and strengthen your SEO while locking in the gold-star benefits at the 2011 price.
Don’t just take our word for it…
“I highly recommend you upgrade to Pro or Pro VIP status. I joined as a Pro VIP and have never regretted it. I have been repaid many times over and so will you. I credit Biznik for much of the success of my business.” — Bill Bradfield
“I stopped all marketing expenditure, quit the BNI, changed my business model and joined Biznik as a fully paid up member. So my marketing budget is now a grand total of $24 per month. And business has never been better!” — Sara Eizen
“I usually charge between $2,000-$10,000 for SEO consultation so the $24/month Biznik membership is a steal. Honestly. I recently got a new client that cold-called me and I asked him how he found me and he said he typed in “SEM Guru” in Google and there was my Biznik profile.” — Brian Rauschenbach
What are the new prices? We’re still working that out. Be assured that the savings should exceed $150 (if not more).
You’ve made a huge impact on my business this year by being a part of the Biznik community and it got me thinking…
There are people who’ve made a huge impact on your business this year, how are you thanking them?
Amazon and Starbucks cards are great for in-a-pinch thank you cards.
But if you have a peer that consistently sends you amazing clients, then putting a spin on it, could make a huge impact in an already stellar relationship.
psst…
I’m going to let you in on a little secret. When you go out of your way to thank someone for some previous business they sent you, even if it feels like it was a long time ago, you’re creating a great excuse to remind them that you’re open for more!
Three quick & dirty ways I thanked someone recently.
Benefits of each…
• costs under $40
• is unique enough to be shared in conversation
(And if it’s shared in conversation, it’s likely that your name will be shared in conversation too…)
Quarterly Co. is a fun new subscription service that sends awesome physical surprises in the mail. It’s like a magazine or an indie literary journal, but instead of words on a page you get items that tell a story. Too cool!
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I find paying for the news slightly annoying after years of consuming online content for free. I love the NYTimes and I’d think fondly of anyone who gifted away the annoyance, each time I opened the NYTimes on my iPad.
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Text Expander is Matt and my favorite time management tool. It can save you hundreds of hours on typing the same thing over and over again
with a simple keystroke shortcut. Gift this time saver and the recipient will never forget it.
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I wish it didn’t need to be said, but it just might…
Biznik is not affiliated with Quarterly, NYTimes, SmileSoftware, Amazon or Starbucks, in any way. I’m simply sharing a couple of my favorite things as a tip from one “indie” biz owner to another.
Thank you for all you do! Hope you’re having a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.
The inaugural Seattle Interactive Conference was a total success. More than 3000 people attended the two day conference at the Seattle Convention Center.
After months of preparation, the conference was finally here. It was exciting and hugely successful. Lara Feltin gave a presentation on the second day titled, “Your friends don’t trust you. Nor should they”.
Provocative, eh? She nailed it – just to prove it, here is the beginning of her talk:
The Biznik stage was really fun to put together. As I have mentioned, I feel oddly proud to have amassed the talent I was able to.
Here is why:
Derek Halpern
Not too many folks rock a stage with no slide deck and no notes. Derek Halpern does. Out of the gate, he is giving practical advice on how to tweak your marketing to make huge impacts on your business. Watch How Small Marketing Tweaks Lead To Massive Business Results.
Chris Pearson Have you ever wondered how the Golden Ratio applies to perfectly laying out your text on your website? What? You have not? Well, lemme tell you – if you are curious on how to get the people who land on your website to stick around because the text flows well and it is easy to read, then take a look at this presentation by Chris Pearson. Watch The Golden Rule of Typography and Web Design.
Winning Your Brand: a panel discussion
Panels can be difficult to gain major insight in, unless of course Warren Etheredge is moderating. The panelists, Andrew Corey from KEXP, Deb Music from Theo Chocolate, Manny Chao from Georgetown Brewing and Jennifer Shea from Trophy were insightful and honest on how they perceive their particular brands, and the methodology they employed to make the impact that brought such huge awareness and affinity for their products and services. The key takeaway was passion. Passion and skill. Passion, skill, and execution. If you could do all of those, you’ll be golden. Watch Winning Your Brand.
Colleen Wainwright
Hugely funny and practical, Colleen Wainwright broke it down in her presentation on passion. Pointing to the importance of user experience, honesty, and creativity for making a bold and eventually successful campaign on just about anything. Watch Passion rules: Getting attention when there’s none to spare.
Michelle Broderick
She basically called me Mayor McCheese. But, I’m cool with that. Michelle said some great stuff about communities and how a business should go about hiring or utilizing a community manager. Her point was simple, it is super important, and it should not take you very long to find someone who has the skills necessary. Watch Community Managers: The Missing Link.
Jason Reid, Adam Brown, Darren
Whether or not you are a Sonics fan, you will be a fan of these guys and their presentation at SIC. They were the last one of the conference, and despite the fact that it would have been a great time to grab an after-conference-cocktail, 100 people came to hear them talk about digital media distribution, and what they did with Sonicsgate. Watch New Media Journalism and Digital Distribution Models.
I am super happy that Biznik was asked to curate a stage for SIC. It was a ton of work, and it was totally worth it.
Reflecting on the speakers and their presentations, it dawned on me that these folks are specialists. They have focused their attentions on one aspect of business and become experts in it. Proof of their expertise is that I thought to call on them to speak on a given topic, and that attendees of the conference showed up to hear what they had to say.
Had they not focused, there would be no way for me to have known what to ask them to speak on.
It makes me think what I want to be an expert in, and it makes me wonder what you want to be an expert in.
And maybe it’s less what you want to be an expert in, but what you would want to spend hours, days, months, years working on day in and day out till you knew it every which way.
So that one day, when some lucky community manager is curating a stage at a conference, he thinks of asking you to speak.
