This BBC Friday we have a special OfficeXpats April Tues@Noon Sneak-peek preview of BBC Regular Charlie King’s workshop series Understanding the Elephant: Growing with LinkedIn®

The Bizarre, the Ugly, and the Outstandingly Fabulous ways to interact & be seen on LinkedIn! Charlie will highlight for us some horrific examples of profiles gone bad, strange endorsements, and assorted funny stuff.

LinkedIn Business Networking: Last year Karen Klein led us in a couple excellent LinkedIn Intro sessions!  Now learn how LinkedIn increasingly dominates the social networking world for businesses.

NOTE: All four sessions of the OXp workshops are offered as a package at a huge discount!  Normally valued at $180, only 20 seats are being offered, and for only $79. No discounts given for classes not attended.  OfficeXpats members get to attend these amazing workshops for free, and a few seats may be available at the door to replace no-shows.  Don’t be late grabbing your seat! (CharlieKingCoaching.com)

Be there, be free, be businesswise.  For, in a sense, as serial entrepreneurs, we’re all business wise.

So invite your friends and associates to come join us for this exciting non-virtual non-cloud event in real time and real space…and another delicious cup of BBC!

BBC@OfficeXpats – 403 Madison Ave N, Bainbridge Is, Upstairs at the Pavilion
7:30-8:00 – coffee/tea, visiting, informal networking
8:00-8:45 – “Understanding The Elephant” w/ Charlie King
8:30-9:00 – more networking, sharing, visiting

Sincerely,
The BBC Management, KaveDragen Ink, & other entrepreneurial sentients from planet BBC

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REMINDER – For BBC Regular Members: We’re building our Open/Public BBC Regulars Business Info & Contact List for a single page referral sheet and BBC website Members List. As BBC Regular Members, make your business/contact info available for the BBC community and website. Follow link (form courtesy of Annette Walker) and fill out BBC Regulars Member List contact info: http://bit.ly/1mZGKfR.

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This BBC Friday is like BIG! Like Godzilla meets King Kong! Like the Hulk meets Xena! Like Jason Omens meets Linus Torvalds!

Many of us here at BBC have benefited from the delightful training and support of Toastmasters. Now – for the very first time! – our local Toastmasters team will grace the BBC with their wisdom, wit and services here on Bainbridge Island.

Bainbridge is fortunate to have two local Toastmasters clubs. Elena Rodriguez will bring a merry group of members from both U Speak Easy Toastmasters (evening edition) and Bainbridge Island Toastmasters (the noon edition) to talk about how membership in Toastmasters can help one become a better communicator and leader. Wendy Hinman, president of the daytime club, and founding BBC Regular Walker Willingham, evening club president, will also be on hand to answer questions.

Learn how Toastmasters can help you in your business or social life. When it comes to conquering fears of public speaking, or simply improving presentation skills, Toastmasters’ proven program has been making leaders and better communicators for over 90 years.

Toastmasters International is a nonprofit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of meeting locations. Headquartered in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, the organization’s membership exceeds 313,000 in more than 14,650 clubs in 126 countries.

Since 1924 Toastmasters International has helped people of all backgrounds become more confident in front of an audience. More info: homepage toastmasters.org, on Twiter @Toastmasters, and Bainbridge club on Facebook.

Be there, be free, be businesswise. For, in a sense, as serial entrepreneurs, we’re all business wise.

So invite your friends and associates to come join us for this exciting non-virtual non-cloud event in real time and real space…and another delicious cup of BBC!

BBC@OfficeXpats – 403 Madison Ave N, Bainbridge Is, Upstairs at the Pavilion
7:30-8:00 – coffee/tea, visiting, informal networking
8:00-8:45 – Toastmasters International On Bainbridge
8:30-9:00 – more networking, sharing, visiting

Sincerely,
The BBC Management, KaveDragen Ink, & other entrepreneurial sentients from planet BBC

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REMINDER – For BBC Regular Members: We’re building our Open/Public BBC Regulars Business Info & Contact List for a single page referral sheet and BBC website Members List. As BBC Regular Members, make your business/contact info available for the BBC community and website. Follow link (form courtesy of Annette Walker) and fill out BBC Regulars Member List contact info: http://bit.ly/1mZGKfR.

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Here is where you bring a business problem, personal problem (no therapeutic guarantees), tweak-my-branding conundrum, or new business start-up or product/service launch idea for evaluation or testing.

Maybe you haven’t had a problem lately, but you have a great problem-solving story to share – a solution that worked, a lesson learned, a snippet of business wisdom.

So, bring your brains – caffeinated and credulous – and be prepared to think serendipitously and strategize strategically on yours and your fellow BBCites businesses.

BBC Thinkologist Bill Ruddick will review “relational thinking” (mind maps) with comparisons to “lateral thinking” (the different colored thinking hats).

Think Club Resources useful for getting into the BBC thinking mood: Thinking Hats and Think Club Bibliography. Logic & analytic thinking reviews from KaveDragen Ink: informal fallacies and formal deductive reasoning. Related resources: Atherton (2013) learningandteaching.info/teaching/concept_mind_maps.htm; Mikko Sääskilahti, University of Lapland, “Concept thinking” aabri.com/manuscripts/121179.pdf.

Be there, be free, be businesswise. For, in a sense, as serial entrepreneurs, we’re all business wise.

So invite your friends and associates to come join us for this exciting non-virtual non-cloud event in real time and real space…and another delicious cup of BBC!

BBC@OfficeXpats – 403 Madison Ave N, Bainbridge Is, Upstairs at the Pavilion
7:30-8:00 – coffee/tea, visiting, informal networking
8:00-8:45 – Your Board Of Directors Strategy Roundtable
8:30-9:00 – more networking, sharing, visiting

Sincerely,
The BBC Management, KaveDragen Ink, & other entrepreneurial sentients from planet BBC

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REMINDER – For BBC Regular Members: We’re building our Open/Public BBC Regulars Business Info & Contact List for a single page referral sheet and BBC website Members List. As BBC Regular Members, make your business/contact info available for the BBC community and website. Follow link (form courtesy of Annette Walker) and fill out BBC Regulars Member List contact info: http://bit.ly/1mZGKfR.

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This BBC Friday, Matt Brigham, Comcast Business Executive, OfficeXpats friend, and sometime BBC Regular, will talk about what Comcast is doing in 2015 for small businesses on Bainbridge. 

Matt will also discuss the increase in bandwidth that is now available on the island, as well as going over new Comcast hosted VOIP services. 

Come and pick Matt’s interesting business brain and bring your questions (don’t mention the competition by name), bandwidth ideas – and dreams – to share. Matt’s contact info:  [email protected], 360.624.1358, business.comcast.com/am/Matt-Brigham.

Be there, be free, be businesswise. For, in a sense, as serial entrepreneurs, we’re all business wise.

BBC @ OfficeXpats – 403 Madison Avenue N, Bainbridge Island, Upstairs At the Pavilion

7:30-8:00 – coffee/tea, visiting, informal networking
8:00-8:45 – Comcast Business Services, w/ Matt Brigham
8:30-9:00 – more networking, sharing, visiting

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REMINDER – For BBC Regular Members: We’re building our Open/Public BBC Regulars Business Info & Contact List for a single page referral sheet and BBC website Members List. As BBC Regular Members, make your business/contact info available for the BBC community and website. Follow link (form courtesy of Annette Walker) and fill out BBC Regulars Member List contact info: http://bit.ly/1mZGKfR.

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This BBC Friday, longtime BBC Regular, wise person (not to be confused with Mafia “wise guy” or “gangster”), and delightful inspiration, Betty Herman, will lead us in a roundtable discussion of finding the gift in life events. 

Sometimes life events are not recognized as gifts until many years later. This discussion will give you the opportunity to look at your experiences and the lessons you learned from those events. Once those values/lessons you gained are identified, as a group, we can talk about how you can better leverage those lessons to benefit your business. Betty Herman of Martha & Mary (marthaandmary.org), has led this session in Gig Harbor with amazing results. Come and enjoy the discussion, share your wisdom, learn from one another, supporting each other as entrepreneurs and business owners growing their business in unique ways.

Betty is Outreach Coordinator, Geriatric Care Manager Assistant, at Martha & Mary Home and Community Services: “We provide services in rehabilitation, long term care, in-home care, child care programs, early childhood education, and more, throughout the West Sound region. For the past 25 years Betty has provided services to seniors  in a variety of capacities, from individual caregiver to Care Director.”

From Dave Kragen, KillWare®.com: “Ok, I tend to pretty much hide from my past. Don’t want to go there really. Not that it was so awful, just, well, it’s the past. But, you know, I trust Betty. She’s got smarts and, well – d’oh – hey, Betty teaches good stuff and has a handle on life. And, besides, I’d rather ‘leverage the past’ than have the past ‘leverage me’.“

Be there, be free, be businesswise. For, in a sense, as serial entrepreneurs, we’re all business wise.

BBC @ OfficeXpats – 403 Madison Avenue N, Bainbridge Island, Upstairs At the Pavilion

7:30-8:00 – coffee/tea, visiting, informal networking
8:00-8:45 – Leveraging Your Past – w/ Betty Herman
8:30-9:00 – more networking, sharing, visiting

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REMINDER – For BBC Regular Members: We’re building our Open/Public BBC Regulars Business Info & Contact List for a single page referral sheet and BBC website Members List. As BBC Regular Members, you can have your business and contact info available for the BBC community and on the BBC website. Follow link (form courtesy of Annette Walker) and fill out BBC Regulars Member List contact info: http://bit.ly/1mZGKfR.

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This Friday, BBC takes a holiday in honor of February Chamber IslandWood Breakfast and American Heart Month.

February Chamber Breakfast, this Friday the 27th, 7:30-9:00 AM – @ IslandWood, 4450 Blakely Ave. February is national American Heart Month and this month’s sponsor, Harrison Bainbridge, will present information about cardiovascular disease and how to stay “heart healthy” for yourself and your loved ones. (Like, before you’re dead, live strong, take care of yourself — if not for yourself, then for those you care about….)

“Located right on the island, Harrison Bainbridge offers comprehensive care including 24/7 urgent care, Harrison HealthPartners primary care, specialty care, diagnostic imaging and lab services to keep you healthy. Harrison Bainbridge is part of the Harrison Medical Center family of services, with hospitals in Silverdale and Bremerton and Harrison HealthPartners clinics throughout the West Sound. We are affiliated with CHI Franciscan Health.” 

Enjoy a full breakfast provided by the IslandWood kitchen. The public is welcome. Cost: In Advance – Save $5.00 by signing up online before 9:00 PM, Wed., Feb. 25, or by calling 206-842-3700 before 5:00 PM Wed.

So, if you haven’t  been to a Chamber breakfast before, IslandWood throws a fantastic feast, there’s great opportunity for networking, schmoozing (not snoozing), and learning more about the Bainbridge Island Chamber Of Commerce.

Next BBC will be a week from Friday, March 6th.

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REMINDER for BBC Regular Members: Open/Public BBC Regulars Business Info & Contact List for single page referral sheet and BBC website Members List. As BBC Regular Members, you can have your business and contact info available for the BBC community and on the BBC website. Follow link (form courtesy of Annette Walker) and fill out BBC Regulars Member List contact info: http://bit.ly/1mZGKfR.

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This BBC Friday, we’ll be featuring one of our famous THINK CLUB “your board of directors” business strategy roundtables, focusing on “How Messaging Frameworks Can Help You Fine Tune Your Marketing.”

BBC Thinkologist Bill Ruddick will lead us in “relational thinking” (mind maps) with comparisons to “lateral thinking” (the different colored thinking hats). See the fun mind map Bill sketched out for BBC: bainbridgebusinessconnection.com/?page_id=2 (bottom of page). 

Messaging Frameworks: Leslie introduced the concept at our January 30th BBC, showing examples of how messaging frameworks can help organize the story bits that illustrate the value your products or services offer and also channel the different ways to get out your message. A messaging framework becomes the basis for focusing your message, targeting your brand and your market, this framework becoming the basis for not just marketing but for tracking the results and continuous market testing.

Think Club Resources useful for getting into the BBC thinking mood (google doc pdf format): Thinking Hats & Think Club Bibliography. Bill’s original “Think Club” presentation from BBC 15 February 2013 Think Club Presentation. Logic & analytic thinking review from KaveDragen Ink: informal fallacies & formal deductive reasoning. Two other related resources: Atherton J S (2013) Learning and Teaching; Diagrams, concept- and mind-maps learningandteaching.info/teaching/concept_mind_maps.htm; Mikko Sääskilahti, University of Lapland, “Concept thinking” aabri.com/manuscripts/121179.pdf.

Be there, be free, be businesswise. For, in a sense, as serial entrepreneurs, we’re all business wise.

BBC @ OfficeXpats – 403 Madison Avenue N, Bainbridge Island, Upstairs At the Pavilion

7:30-8:00 – coffee/tea, visiting, informal networking
8:00-8:45 – Think Club – w/ BBC Thinkologist Bill Ruddick
8:30-9:00 – more networking, sharing, visiting

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More BBC Regulars Really Exciting Upcoming Events!

Francie Brown — of OfficeXpats, KombieCorp, Bainbridge Travel, and The Pavilion — will lead a discussion on Travel In 2015! Representing Bainbridge Travel, Francie will guide us through the maze of local regional and international travel, the good, the bad, the glorious, whether for business or fun (or both?). 

Bainbridge Travel, formerly The Travel Exchange, was founded in 1976 and we are still independently owned and operated. That means we have your best interests in mind. Travel is our passion and it is our profession. We are all travelers, just like you, and we work hard to combine our professional knowledge with our personal travel experiences to help you get more for your travel dollar.

Francie Brown is delightful, fun, and — by Friday — knowledgeable in all things TRAVEL.

So bring your questions, thoughts, dreams, maybe a business travel story as well, for a great and informative discussion. 

Be there, be free, be businesswise. For, in a sense, as serial entrepreneurs, we’re all business wise!

BBC @ OfficeXpats – 403 Madison Avenue N, Bainbridge Island, Upstairs At the Pavilion

7:30-8:00 – coffee/tea, visiting, informal networking
8:00-8:45 – Travel In 2015 – w/ Francie Brown
8:30-9:00 – more networking, sharing, visiting

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More BBC Regulars Really Exciting Upcoming Events!

Business Plan Competition at the University of Washington: Tom Eckmann, a serial entrepreneur, UW lecturer in innovation and entrepreneurship, and BBC Regular will describe the annual Business Plan Competition at the UW (Foster School Of Business). Over the past 17 years, nearly 3400 students (1175 teams) have competed and over $1.6 million in prize money has been awarded to 128 student companies. Dozens of these are still in business! Tom will also describe the class he teaches winter quarter to prepare students and others to enter the competition. (linkedin.com/in/teckmann)

Tom Eckmann loves community service (er, not the court-appointed type): Northwest Entrepreneur Network, Chairman, board member (12 years); Seattle Business Volunteers for the Arts; Empty Space Theater; Seattle Works.

Tome Eckmann will tell stories and share his business wisdom. And, he is considering a rewrite and update of his 2005 Entrepreneurial tour-de-force An Interpreneur’s Journey: The Birth Of A New Economy Business. So, be sure to come and encourage him. “The Internet has changed since the book was written. The principles for an entrepreneur to be successful in business have not changed as much as you may think. Starting a business is difficult, but when you have an opportunity to pick the brains of other experts for such a small sum as the cost of a book, the risk is low” (review by Michael Hartzell, entrepreneurship blog). When Dave is done with the book, he’s willing to pass it around. See Dave. Dave who?  (amazon.com/An-Interpreneurs-Journey)

Be there, be free, be businesswise. For, in a sense, as serial entrepreneurs, we’re all business wise!

BBC @ OfficeXpats – 403 Madison Avenue N, Bainbridge Island, Upstairs At the Pavilion

7:30-8:00 – coffee/tea, visiting, informal networking
8:00-8:45 – Tom Eckmann – “Innovation & Entrepreneurship”
8:30-9:00 – more networking, sharing, visiting

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More BBC Regulars Really Exciting Upcoming Events!

Business storytelling that people remember. What are the necessary components of your story that people won’t forget? What do people need to hear before they can consider your offer?

This topic is SO BBC: telling one’s story, one’s business entrepreneurial tale, one’s life narrative, how one got to where they are, where they’re going. “Not just what you do businesswise, but who you are that does it, and the business wisdom you’ve learned along the way.”

Messaging Frameworks: Leslie will describe and show examples of how messaging frameworks can help organize the story bits that illustrate the value your products or services offer.

Leslie Schneider is co-owner of OfficeXpats, and a marketing and communications specialist. She’s worked with start-ups and software giants offering marketing strategy, messaging, collateral design, and training development. Leslie offers her writing and marketing strategy consulting to businesses in Kitsap County and beyond! (Contact: leslie@officexpats.com)

Be there, be free, be businesswise. For, in a sense, as serial entrepreneurs, we’re all business wise!

BBC @ OfficeXpats – 403 Madison Avenue N, Bainbridge Island, Upstairs At the Pavilion

7:30-8:00 – coffee/tea, visiting, informal networking
8:00-8:45 – “Business Storytelling” w/ Leslie Schneider
8:30-9:00 – more networking, sharing, visiting

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More BBC Regulars Really Exciting Upcoming Events!