BBC Friday . . . 22 February 2013 . . .

Remember, back in high school days, those mystery meals they served in the cafeteria once or twice a semester — sometimes SPAM was involved? Well, the BBC historically has had its mystery mornings once or twice a year. I.e., no one knows what to expect. Kinda like life sometimes — and SPAM may be involved.

Think About It.

So invite your friends and associates to join us for this curious BBC event — and another delicious cup of BBC!

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 – BBC mystery morning

8:45-9:00 – more networking, sharing, visiting

Sincerely,
The BBC Management, KaveDragen Ink, & Other Entrepreneurial Sentients From Planet BBC

________________________________
BBC Regulars Upcoming Events

February 2013 – OfficeXpats Tuesday@Noon Workshops: “Build WordPress Sites in a Hands-on Workshop Series”
NOTE: OH NO! This class is sold out. If you missed it, please fill out this survey to help us design the next class, coming soon, and we will give you priority.
Workshop details: Learn how to build a fresh, attractive website or blog using WordPress with free or custom themes. The four Tuesday@noon business skills workshops in February will take you step-by-step through the basics of building and updating your site. WordPress is friendly and you don’t have to be a techie or designer to use it. These workshops are designed for hands-on, so you can build your website during the sessions. The goal is that at the end of the 4-part workshop you will have a fresh, professional website that reflects you and your business. The sessions will be recorded for watching later. Handouts and links to resources and tips will be provided for ongoing assistance.

21 February 2013 – “3rd Thursday Art Night @ The Office”
Join me, Leslie, to collage, or bring your own craft or art project and enjoy a fresh environment for your creativity.  If you want to try collage, I’m happy to share my minimal techniques and supplies.  Beginners and lurkers welcome. No charge; small donations accepted for supplies. More information at: officexpats.com/create-art-at-the-office

27 February 2013, All Day Wednesday @ OfficeXpats – “TED2013 is The Young, The Wise, The Undiscovered.”
TEDxElliottBay and OfficeXpats invite you to a full day live-stream webcast of TED2013 is The Young. The Wise. The Undiscovered,  the Wednesday sessions (4: Disrupt!, 5: Dream!, 6: Create! and 7: Sustain!). Please register for any or all sessions (the event is free but seating is limited).

Upcoming March 2013 – OfficeXpats Tuesday@Noon Workshops: “Speaking And Presenting To Build Business”
The fear of public speaking in is legendary. Overcoming or dealing with the fear, and honing your presentation skills to a level that allows you to promote your business or your career, can open doors and build your professional credibility. The Tuesdays@noon in March explore this powerful skillset, including how visuals and technology support your message. Details & registration at: officexpats.com/speaking-and-presenting-to-build-business

Get set for the 2013 Home & Business Show: Bainbridge Island Home & Busness Expo, Saturday, March 23, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM. 10 x 10 vendor booth $250. Applications & online sign up coming soon. Sponsorships available. Contact the Chamber at 206-842-3700 or [email protected].

Chamber Business Directory 2013 Now Available: Also available in a limited number of print copies –http://web.bainbridgechamber.com/search

______________________________
BBC Related Links

OfficeXpats http://www.officexpats.com/

Chamber Of Commerce http://www.bainbridgechamber.com/

Bainbridge Island Downtown Association http://www.bainbridgedowntown.org/

Accelerate Kitsap – Business Mentoring http://acceleratekitsap.org/

This BBC Friday our own Bill Ruddick will introduce a new BBC venture: “Think Club” – Thinking For Business

Many books are published today about thinking and how the brain works, but give no hands on experience in THINKING. One book title in particular says it well: “Think! Before It Is Too Late” – by Edward de Bono (http://www.amazon.com/Think-Before-Its-Too-Late/).

Colleges tend not to offer a “Thinking Course,” other than the standard “intro to logic and language.” Consider, on the other hand, multiple ways of thinking and viewing things – i.e. 10 major ways – which also leads to problem solving. Much of thinking is problem solving.  Perception is the key to successful thinking and resultant decisions and actions. Key perception factors are critical. Harvard University notes, 90% of project failures are due to inaccurate perception.

The Thinking Club looks at a hands-on approach: mental positions you can easily utilizing in thinking, and how you apply them in thinking, problem solving, and decision making. There are simple approaches that we can use to improve our thinking, as well as the way we look at things. The Club or Group process has a typically fortuitous size of 6 people, each taking different thinking points-of-view, 6 hats or ways of viewing things are used by participants. And the exercise can be a lot of fun and is great for team building — IBM, J.P. Morgan, Siemens, and others corporations use the Think Club model.

Einstein said If you change the way you look at things you change what they are. (Variations, attributed to Einstein: “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” “The only way to conquer a problem is to grow bigger than the problem. You must become a ‘bigger’ person. You must change the way you perceive things.” “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”)

Think About It.

So invite your friends and associates to join us for this exciting BBC event — and another delicious cup of BBC!

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

This BBC Friday long time BBC Regular Sid Mais tells his story of going from local artist to business entrepreneur.

Sid has started a new business, Horizon Home Inventory (horizonhomeinventory.com).
He’s just getting going. Come hear his story.

Sid Mais was known for years as one of Bainbridge Island’s fine artists, creating amazing works of etched glass. Sid has:

•  Promoted no-tillage farming techniques to Iowa farmers in the 70s
•  Started a screen printing business in Portland Oregon in the 80s
•  Organized an Old Boy Rugby Tour to New Zealand in the 90s
•  Was adopted by the happiest Jack Russell Terrier that ever lived
•  Has been a Pacific Northwest resident since 1980 (no more Midwest winters!)
•  Enjoyed a 10 Year run as an Etched Glass Artist on Bainbridge
•  Attended his first BBC meeting in 2009, a BBC Founding Regular

“I’ve just launched Horizon Home Inventory,” writes Sid. “I record and organize the physical assets of your home or business, and then I archive it on DVD for you.” Contact info: [email protected] / 206.265.1988 / horizonhomeinventory.com

Over The years BBC has encouraged and supported many new business ventures, whether through “Your Board Of Directors” sessions, or creative strategy roundtables, or simply sharing and discussing one another’s business visions and goals. Here’s a chance to do that again!

 So invite your friends and associates to join us for this exciting BBC event — and another delicious cup of BBC!

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

BBC Regular and loyal OXp Member Annette Walker will introduce the February Tuesday@Noon OXp Workshops: “Build WordPress Sites in a Hands-on Workshop Series.”

“To reach customers, your business needs to be where they are — online.  In this 4-part workshop, you will have the opportunity to create a fresh, attractive website or blog using the popular platform WordPress. You will gain the basics of building & updating your site. WordPress is friendly & you don’t have to be a techie or designer to use it.”

Annette has an MBA from the University of Washington, an undergraduate degree in engineering, and is an e-commerce and business start-up veteran. She also knows lots of really cool stuff! (Annette’s contact info: astonishinc.com  ||  [email protected])

So invite your friends and associates to join us for this exciting BBC event — and another delicious cup of BBC!

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

This Friday BBC Regular Grant Furness tells his story, starting a new business.

Grant has started a new business, Peninsula Infrared LLC, “The Peninsula’s Certified Infrared Expert” (a veteran-owned small business).

Here at Peninsula Infrared, our mission is twofold: assisting building owners in protecting the investment they have made in their buildings and helping contractors deliver better products and services to their customers. Services include a detailed report of our findings and recommendations for solutions.

We address issues related to water intrusion, after earhtquake work, quality control, preventative maintenance of equipment and radiant heating systems.

“The thing I like most about this work is solving the puzzle. For even the best contractor or professional building manager, having the time to problem solve building issues can be frustrating. Peninsula Infrared has that particular expertise to problem solve issues fast and right. At the end of the end of the day, I like to think about my work, ‘a job well done’.”  (peninsulainfrared.com / [email protected] / 360.362.2299)

So invite your friends and associates to join us for this exciting BBC event — and another delicious cup of BBC!

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

This  BBC Friday @ OfficeXpats, we will be celebrating with a waffle/pancake & fresh fruit breakfast.

Bring your stories to share of BBC Past, maybe even some stories of BBC Future (wait a little while and sci-fi becomes history). We’ll also do some business strategy roundtabling on what we’d enjoy doing this year 2013. What are some ways our free business networking & support community can help your business and, generally, the businesses on Bainbridge Island and beyond.

We would like, over the next weeks, to build up a database of local Kitsap County business owners and entrepreneurs who would enjoy speaking/presenting to our group, telling their business stories and sharing their experiences and wisdom.

A few BBCits, including our gracious OXp hosts Leslie & Jason, have agreed to bring their pancake-griddle/waffle-iron and batter. If you’re so inclined, you are welcome to do likewise. Come a little early if you can — we start our informal networking/visiting time at 7:30.

So invite your friends and associates to join us for this exciting BBC event — and another delicious cup of BBC!

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

Next BBC Friday will be 4 January 2013

HAVE A GREAT AND SAFE Christmas & New Years!

Reminder: January 4th 2013 marks the 4th Anniversary of BBC. Coming from not so modest beginnings at the Illustrious Blue Ocean Cafe, one of B.I.’s more delicious business experiments, the ever-popular yet ghostly Bainbridge Business Connection in four years has: spawned BBC2 (Thursday evening BBC Channel 2), encouraged, supported, may we suggest incubated a number of now-successful B.I. businesses (maybe the most exciting being OfficeXpats), and filled a unique space in the annuals of friendly business networking communities upon this lovely blue-green planet Earth.
All these amazing accomplishments generated by but a few dozen or so crazy-happy innovative and ingenious business entrepreneurs meeting moderately continuously every Friday (less a few holidays) for four years, without formal corporate existence, business structure, organizational documentation or formulation, on the books of no political, civil, or municipal body (though with the informal support and blessing of the Bainbridge Chamber Of Commerce). The names of those BBC Originals & Regulars, were we to list them hear, would fill a really big page!

Assignment: Over the holidays,  for “BBC 2013,” think of local businesses and business owners who might enjoy speaking to us, presenting about their business, and sharing business lessons they’ve learned.

This Final BBC Friday Of 2012 We Will Open Up The Table On The Subject Of “BBC 2013”

January 4th 2013 marks the 4th Anniversary of BBC. Coming from not so modest beginnings at the Illustrious Blue Ocean Cafe, one of B.I.’s more delicious business experiments, the ever-popular yet ghostly Bainbridge Business Connection in four years has: spawned BBC2 (Thursday evening BBC Channel 2), encouraged, supported, may we suggest incubated a number of now-successful B.I. businesses (maybe the most exciting being OfficeXpats), and filled a unique space in the annuals of friendly business networking communities upon this lovely blue-green planet Earth.
All these amazing accomplishments generated by but a few dozen or so crazy-happy innovative and ingenious business entrepreneurs meeting moderately continuously every Friday (less a few holidays) for four years, without formal corporate existence, business structure, organizational documentation or formulation, on the books of no political, civil, or municipal body (though with the informal support and blessing of the Bainbridge Chamber Of Commerce). The names of those BBC Originals & Regulars, were we to list them hear, would fill a really big page!

FIRST, this exciting very last BBC Friday — not saying this is the very last Friday Friday just the last BBC Friday of 2012 — anyway, uh, where was I? — oh yeah, this BBC Friday lets begin, in the spirit of both the original “free-fun-friendly” tradition of BBC1 and the delightfully new tradition of BBC2, honoring those shadowy nocturnal BBCites and ever-faithful Leslie of OXp fame (does this sentence ever end?) with an around-the-table 2-minute business story time. As Leslie puts it: “We start by sharing 2-minute stories about how our business impacted someone. This is a great way to explore value!“

SECOND, we’ll share ideas and do some roundtable strategising for BBC 2013.

So invite your friends and associates to join us for this exciting end of the world, er, end of 2012 event … and another delicious cup of BBC!

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

BBC this Friday, Longtime BBC Regular, Neal Kellner, will talk about the latest issues in travel for business or fun, whether national or international.

There’s lots going on with the airlines these days that affect business and leisure travelers. Issues include invisible take-away’s of “Frequent Flyer Miles” by the airlines, new serious issues regarding baggage fees and baggage handling, and the roll of the dice people now unknowingly make when booking air travel with connecting flights.

The other side of the story is about the value and power of travel in both our business and personal lives. Neal recently traveled to Mexico and India, both trips which left him profoundly changed and taught many new lessons on modern travel, on the way we travel. Are we open and inviting to the new and different or are we internally focused so we never connect with the people and cultures we visit? These choices have incredible consequences both for personal experiences and business outcomes.

Invite your friends and associates to join us for this exciting event … and another delicious cup of BBC!

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

BBC this Friday, November 30th We’ll Introduce & Discuss The OfficeXpats December Tuesday Workshops: “Looking Back, Looking Forward – Financially And Strategically.”

OfficeXpats Tuesdays@noon Workshops For December 4th, 11th, and 18th. “I love this season as a chance to evaluate and plan by looking back at my year of mixed results and looking forward to the next one, ripe with possibility. So while congress debates how to solve intractable financial challenges, we can take a constructive look at our own personal and financial realities. We only have three weeks to cover a lot of ground, but we have four incredible professionals to guide us through.” –Leslie Schneider
=>  Dec. 4: Ways to make tax time easier, Martha Monkman (The Number Factory).
=>  Dec 11: Preparing for a New Year with Intention and Focus, Karen Casey MA (Inspired Action Consultanting).
=>  Dec 18: Understanding the financial story of your business through the balance sheet, P&L and budget, Karla Smith CPA (MKJSmith.com) and Kelly Deis MBA (Turning Point Financial).
For more info and registration officexpats.com/looking-back-looking-forward (fee: $10 per session; free to OfficeXpats members).

Invite your friends and associates to join us for this exciting event … and another delicious cup of BBC!

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