First of all, the Bainbridge Business Connection will be taking a Labor Day weekend break this Friday, September 3^rd, 2010. So enjoy your three-day weekend!

I do want to give you advanced notice of our upcoming speaker, Bob Linz on September 10, 2010.  He will speak on: “Setting Professional Rates For Consultants And Entrepreneurs.” Learn how to keep your business both marketable as well as profitable!  Bob may well change your prospective on how you offer your services and set your business rates.

I first met Bob Linz about four years ago at the Bainbridge Island Toast Masters noon meeting group. I was yet to discover my own voice — and place — in the Bainbridge business community.  Connecting with Bob was one of those “chance” meetings that would guide me down a whole new road of my entrepreneurial development.

Bob sat quietly in the small meeting room of the Winslow Arms dissecting some notes — from the look on his face — that he had in front of him.  I believed this to be the first time he was to speak on his chosen topic.  However, it was evident by the demeanor of the room that Bob was definitely one of the more experienced speakers.

Club president, Jim Sutton, gave a brief but spirited review of Bob’s accomplishments then welcomed him to the podium, which he quickly whisked away to one side.  What?  No podium to hide behind?  I had never heard of such a thing!

Bob stood motionless, looking into to each of our eyes as if to make some spiritual connection, then quickly engaged us with a tasteful bit of humor.  His 10 minute speech, to which I felt strangely compelled to listen, elicited none of my normally critical review.  What confidence he had!  Not a tremble or “um” or “tsk.”  I knew in that moment that I wanted to be able to speak like this guy.  I needed to hear and learn more, so I kept going back week after week to this room full of interesting people.

After a few weeks, Bob gave our group the first rendering of what was to become his charter speech, “Setting Professional Rates For Consultants And Entrepreneurs.”  Even in its 10 minute formative beginnings, this talk was a huge step in my development as an entrepreneur.

I had previously struggled over what to charge for my services and, of course, arrived at something less then barely breaking even.  I was not taking into consideration:  one, I provided a valuable service; two, I had expenses to maintain that expertise; and three, I needed to be profitable to grow my business.  Imagine that. Bob put this all into prospective in the first 2 minutes of his energetic presentation!

So, mark your calendars for Friday, September 10, 2010, 7:30 to 9:00 AM, to meet Bob Linz — if you haven’t already — and get a good seat for his half hour presentation “Setting Professional Rates For Consultants And Entrepreneurs.” You will take away powerful tips on how to set marketable yet profitable hourly rates for your valuable services.

Note: Some of Bob’s accomplishments include president of Investment Assets Management LLC, where he works as a real estate broker with family investment groups in long term investment planning and implementation.  Bob is also executive director for “a unique Bainbridge Island tradition,” One Call for All, which was started almost 50 years ago when a few forward-thinking islanders decided to combine the individual fund appeals of multiple organizations into one annual fund drive.

Don’t miss out on your morning cup of BBC!  See you at the Pavilion!

Tim Longley
BBC Chair

Andy Cotey (Hockett & Olsen) will share a brief review of:

“Attitude is Everything: 10 Life-changing Steps To Turning Attitude Into Action” by Keith Harrell (Haper Collins, 2005, 272 pages)

It is available from Amazon for $17.13 [hardcover].

It is available from Barnes & Noble for $12.23 [paperback].

Here’s a brief Synopsis from the Barnes & Noble website:

“In the world of professional speakers, Keith Harrell is making a difference. Clients such as IBM, Coca-Cola, and Boeing know it — that’s why Keith is one of the most in-demand speakers on the circuit. Here, in Attitude Is Everything, he shares the secrets that got him where he is today and provides you with a program for developing a healthier, happier, more productive attitude.
“This is an enlightening, inspiring, and practical guide for gaining control of your career and your life by ridding yourself of negative baggage, building positive attitudes, and then turning them into actions to help you achieve your dreams.
“Now, along with the Attitude Is Everything workbook, you will have all the tools for developing and maintaining a powerful positive attitude in order to get ahead.”

After Andy introduces the book, we will then discuss it together during our 8:00-8:30 roundtable session.

Bring your great BBC positive attitude and a cup of coffee/tea/morning drink (and a breakfast snack if you are so inclined).

See you there!

Greetings, BBCites,

This is Dave “plagueman” Kragen here, speaking to you from the third moon of Jupiter (Ganymede, in case you forgot where we all got our start–remember?–the Blue Moon Cafe).

First we’re going to talk about last Friday’s meeting, so Tim tells me…is there another Tim around here or is that THE Tim…right…the Tim. I wasn’t there last Friday, so it will be all NEW and FUN for me. : ]

Then we’re going to reminisce about all the great past BBC meetings we remember (or wish had happened). Everyone will get a chance to tell a story about one of their favorite BBC moments. Except for Tim, ’cause he ain’t going to be here tomorrow, ’cause he’s gotta work or something, like a real business person. Wow. Cool.

Anything else? No. Ok. See ya’ll there and don’t forget:

1. Bring your own coffee/breakfast-drink/booze and

2. your own food-type-stuff if you are so inclined.

‘Cafe @ The Pavilion’ is moving — new name, “Roosters“

Congratulations to Thuy Nguyen, who will be moving her wonderful coffee and food concession business from the Pavilion to one of the best hang-out locations in Winslow, the Seabreeze Building, 123 Bjune Drive, on the corner of Bjune and Madison, just south of Winslow Way (where Andante Coffee used to be). While we of the BBC will miss Cafe@ThePavilion, we are very happy for Ms Nguyen.

We will do “Your Board Of Directors” this Friday, July 23. This is a focus group were we are each others “own personal (business) advisors.” Come with problems to solve!

Note: It will be a “bring your own coffee and breakfast snack” until things evolve otherwise.

We will also discuss the physical and locational future of the BBC.

JULY 16th 2010 — “So easy, an adult can do it.”

Jan Kragen of KragenU (kragen.net) will do a workshop & presentation on setting up your own website/web-presence, free and easy, using weebly.com as her example website user interface (similar to using google.sites or, for a small fee, WordPress.) Jan will begin promptly at 8:00, so come early.

And, as always,

there’s a delicious morning cup of BBC

just waiting for you!

PSE spokesperson Krysti Nice will address the BBC on energy cost efficiency for your small/home business.

Do you sometimes forget to turn off your coffee maker or robot-maker in your home-office laboratory? Do you sometimes leave the lights on downstairs when you’re upstairs in your castle workshop making … stuff?

There are an estimated 18 million home-based business owners, 24 million telecommuters, and an unfathomable number of unemployed folks conducting job searches from their own PCs. For the growing number of these Americans working from home, higher energy bills for combined home offices and residences are on the rise and taking a big knick out of precious resources—and our pocket books.

Higher electricity bills to power office equipment and lighting, heating and cooling, are an inevitable cost of doing business from home. Trips to the kitchen for meals and snacks and to other areas of the home for various needs also suck up electricity, especially when lights, appliances, and electronics in other rooms aren’t turned off (or unplugged) when they are no longer in use. The challenge of keeping home office energy bills from eating up our profits is particularly tough during this weird weather we have had, and now a hot summer that will inspire home workers to run air conditioning for longer periods.

Given these challenges, PSE (pse.com) has tips for home-based entrepreneurs, telecommuters—and even job-seekers—to help reduce energy costs while staying comfortable and “taking care of business.” PSE’s  Krysti Nice will be visiting the BBC tomorrow and has asked that we bring a copy of our power bills so she can analyze what people might consider doing to save money on future bills, as well as being kinder to the environment.

Join Us At: Cafe @ The Pavilion
403 N. Madison Ave.
Bainbridge Island, WA  98110

7:30-8:00 – coffee, tea, delightful food, visiting, informal networking, sharing

8:00-8:30 – formal meeting

8:30-9:00 – more informal networking and sharing

And, as always, there’s a delicious morning cup of BBC, just waiting for you!

Join us July 2nd for a cup of BBC, where we will discuss anything and everything BUT the 4th of July.

It should be fun!

Isn’t it always?

At the BBC?

WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS: We do have some interesting upcoming events this summer.

JULY 9th — Puget Sound Energy (pse.com) will present … something … relevant … something about how to keep your energy green.

JULY 16th — “So easy, an adult can do it.” With Jan Kragen of KragenU (kragen.net). Jan will do a workshop & presentation on setting up your own website/web-presence, free and easy, using weebly.com as her example website user interface (similar to using google.sites or, for a small fee, WordPress.)

And, as always,

there’s a delicious morning cup of BBC

just waiting for you!

Thanks to our own BBC Regular Steve Kersten, his friend Matt Smith will give an “improv” presentation this Friday.

http://matt-smith.net/

Among other things, Matt Smith is a “Communications Process Facilitator and Trainer” — he does workshops for businesses in team building, stress management, change management, and conflict resolution, based on improvisational theater theory.  He also just finished a sold-out series of shows at Seattle’s Hugo House, called “All My Children.”  And he’s an accomplished, much sought-after auctioneer at Seattle area venues, including Bainbridge’s “Auction for the Arts” a couple of years ago.

Matt will speak to us about how he applies improvisational theater theory to his work, his auctioneer business and generally how he manages to survive in this world without any bosses.

Matt co-founded the legendary Seatle Improv in 1985, and Stark/RavingTheatre with Ed Sampson in 1988. They created and toured numerous shows including award winner Here/There.

His acclaimed monologues include My Last Year with the Nuns, Helium, My Boat to Bainbridge, and Beyond Kindness. Among his screen credits: Outsourced, Spiderman, Sleepless in Seattle, Whiteface, Northern Exposure, Bill Nye the Science Guy, and Almost live!.

He lives on Bainbridge Island with his wife and their youngest daughter.

Legend has it Matt Smith is simply lots of fun!

See you all tomorrow for your morning Cup of BBC!

The 4th Of July Is Still Coming!

18 June 2010 — We will continue to discuss our BBC 4th-0-July booth. We still have last minute planning to do.

Go to the “BBC 4th-O-July Discussion Page” link (top right menu). Peruse the information there and then click the link for the “Sign-Up for BBC 4th Booth” page. Think about what time slot you’d like to sign up for. Ideally we should have three people in the booth for each time slot — though at least two.

What we still need to know is your thoughts and ideas about the BBC Fliers and the booth banner.

Our 4th-0-July booth is going to be a fun event and present a great networking opportunity to the general public that doesn’t usually know how many and what a variety of entrepreneurial businesses exist on Bainbridge Island and in Kitsap County.

Up-coming BBC event: On the 25th of June, Puget Sound Energy will give a talk on energy savings for home and office.

___________________________________________________

By The Way: The deadline for getting your personal BBCRegulars webpage information in to Dave Kragen (email: kdk@kdkragen.com) is still Friday June 25th. ONE MORE WEEK!!!! Even just a scan of your business card, a small picture of yourself (your mug shot) and an nice image of your business logo; include your preferred contact information too. But Don’t Panic!!!! Not until next Thursday!!!!

First: let’s see how many show up without any newsletter to announce anything about this Friday’s BBC.

Second: we’re going to discuss in open forum the idea of establishing a BBCBC — that is, a BBC Brain Czar.

Third: there will be a brief update on the BBC 4th of July Booth.

See ya’ll tomorrow, Friday, 4 June 2010, for your next cup of BBC!

Tim Longley
BBC Chair / Talking Head

Edited by KaveDragen Ink, LLC

At: Cafe @ The Pavilion
403 N. Madison Ave.
Bainbridge Island, WA  98110

7:30-8:00 – coffee, tea, delightful food, visiting, informal networking, sharing

8:00-8:30 – formal meeting

8:30-9:00 – more informal networking and sharing