NextSpace Coworking + Innovation | The (r)evolution of Work

Reading Alone Sucks: Great by Choice

lindsay — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 21:01:15 +0000

Did you know that you too can choose your path to greatness? The NextSpace Biz Book Club read “Great by Choice” by Jim Collins this month to understand how. In this book, Collins busted myths but stating that the most successful businesses were not more lucky, innovative, brilliant or creative than the rest. The businesses that “made it” were more disciplined, prepared and consistent. Check out this book summary to learn more for yourself.. Or hey, buy a copy and read the whole thing! It’s a quick and informative read with tons of examples and evidence to back it up.

Great Business Leaders:

-did not not predict the future

-they observed what worked, figured out why it worked and built upon proven foundations.

-not more risk taking, bold, visionary or creative than others

-more disciplined, empirical and paranoid than others

-figure out when to go fast and when not to

Contrary to Myth:

-Innovation is not enough; scaling innovation and blending creativity with discipline will get your biz to where you want it to be

-Luck is not the answer. What you do with the luck handed to you makes the biggest difference.

-survival and success need a mixture of creativity and discipline

-10Xers took less risks than comparison companies

10Xers:

-groups of companies that beat the competition and make it big

-accept full responsibility for their own fate

-core behaviors: fanatic discipline, empirical creativity, productive paranoia

-discipline: consistency of action: values, long term goals, performance standards, consistency of method, consistency over time

-having the inner will to do whatever it takes to create a great outcome, no matter how difficult

-more than just disciplined, crazy about it

-paranoia: very functional if fear is channeled to produce preparation, calm, clear actions

-life approach: not protecting what is created but desire to create something bigger than yourself

-shift when need be by zooming out then zooming in

-zoom out: after feeling a change in conditions, assess time frame and any new conditions

-zoom in: focus on plans and objectives

20 Mile March:

-never grow too much or go too far in a single year (financially, creatively, learning, etc)

-hit performance markers with consistency over a long period of time

-embrace this long before you make it big

-elements of a good march:

-performance markers, self-imposed constraint, mostly within own control, gold locks timeframe, extreme consistency

-implements order where there is disorder

-why it works:

-builds confidence in ability to perform well in any condition

-reduces likelihood of catastrophe when something goes wrong

-helps build self-control when environment is out of control

-fire bullets then cannonballs: test first then see what works then go all out for things that are a hit

-what makes a bullet?:

-low cost, low risk and low distraction

Create a SMaC Recipe:

-SMaC= Specific, Methodical and Consistent

-this recipe helps ground people and keep sane in high stress/conditions

-10 core company values/rules to always be followed

-changes to SMaC should be limited (similar to that of the Constitution)

-always question and challenge (devils advocate) your SMaC but change it rarely

Quotes:

“Greatness is not just a business quest; it’s a human quest”.

“The best-perhpas even the only-way to predict the future is to create it”.

“You prepare with intensity, all the time, so that when conditions turn against you, you can draw from a deep reservoir of strength”.

“If you beat the odds, you then gain confidence that you can beat the odds again, which then builds confidence that you can beat the odds again, and again, and again”.

“Innovation without discipline leads to disaster”.

“The signature of mediocrity is not an unwillingness to change; the signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency”.

3 Best Take-Aways:

-The amount of luck (either good bad) does not matter. What you do with the luck is most important.

-Disciplined, consistent and steady performance will help achieve your goals.

-Never grow too fast: fire bullets first (that are low cost, risk and low distraction) then cannonballs.

Member Post: The Complete Guide to Finding & Hiring a Social Media Manager

sara — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 23:39:03 +0000

The Complete Guide To Finding and Hiring A Social Media Manager

This post was originally posted on the Biquitous Blog

By: Chris Fernandez, NextSpace San Jose Member

Read Time: (10 – 15 Minutes)

When hiring someone to be in charge of your company’s social media presence, there are things that you can teach, and things you can’t.

The key is knowing the difference between the two and hiring someone that has the potential to be a rock star for your company’s entire online presence from the get-go.

In other words, don’t try and fit a square peg into a round hole.

In this post I’m going to show you the same step-by-step process we use at Biquitous to attract the very best talent that will completely eliminate your frustration with finding and hiring the right social media manager for your company.

Before this process begins, you need to first understand the fundamental issue that speaks to the essence of not only what social media is, but the core of every single person working for your organization.

Essentially there are things that you can teach and things that you can’t.

What we have learned in our time hiring, training and utilizing various social media managers is that there are traits that certain positions must have that are naturally hard-wired only within certain people.

From a fundamental level, it’s probably not wise for your introverted CFO, your tech-averse product manager, or someone on your outside sales team, to be the face of your social media presence if it’s simply not in their DNA.

So, for a social media manager you should look for someone who is:

Social ONLINE: sometimes very different than being social OFFLINE

Accountable: task driven, goal oriented, a bit OCD

Creative: asks thoughtful, provoking questions and always seems to be ahead of the curve in their thinking about a particular task

Knows the temperature of the room: understands boundaries, appropriateness, timing and sensitivity

Passionate: about your niche, or similar niches; excited to learn what they don’t know

Enjoys writing and interacting with your audience: has a dynamic online presence – aka: “voice” – and/or personality traits suited to your company’s objectives and marketplace

Understands social media on a deep level: has one or more social/blogging accounts personally across multiple channels

Learns and adapts quickly: e.g. how to use tools like HootSuite, nuances of posting to Google+, timing/frequency of interactions, etc.

You’ll hear me say this often, but it is not important that a potential hire know all the technical stuff, procedures or your company-specific nuances.

These types of “procedural” tasks can be taught.

However, what IS important and what cannot be taught, is that the candidate “get” social media, is already steeped in the culture, understands what you will want with little to no explanation and – just as importantly – has accountability in their DNA.

Now that you understand what you should be looking for and how this individual will fit within your organization, where do you find these highly passionate and qualified social media gurus-in-waiting?

Here are some ways to find amazing talent in order of preference:

Internally: Your best candidate could be right under your nose either already working for you, or someone you know personally or professionally. Recognize your best internal candidates before looking outside your organization.

Evangelists: You know what the next best thing is to someone internal? Brand aficionados! The folks that comment and evangelize your products, always leave amazing comments on your blog or social media pages, or some of your best customers.

Sometimes finding a great social media manager is a matter of looking for, and reaching out to, your most passionate advocates – seriously! A great example is the Macalope.

The Macalope is a fictitious being that describes himself humorously as part man, part Mac, part antelope, and writes forMacworld as well as his own blog, while culling together a loyal following.

His humor, irreverence and sarcasm are contagious and pitch perfect for the target audience of Apple fanboys.

Word of Mouth/Recommendations/Contacts:Another way to find talent is to mine previous contacts of people that have impressed you in the past, solicit recommendations from colleagues you respect, and put initial feelers out to trusted individuals that can spread the word for your company.

Social Media: Use LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc. to get the message out that you’re hiring. This is a great way to tap into your brand evangelists while also leveraging word of mouth.

Internships: There are always hungry, savvy people looking for internships – whether they are starting a new career, or college students looking for a summer gig or full-time internship that could become their next career. Some great sites and places to find interns are: craigslist.org, your local online college job boards, Internships.com andInternSushi.com

Freelance and Job Posting Sites: Some of these options include: LinkedIn Jobs,Elance.com, Guru.com, Craigslist.org, Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com, Indeed.com,SimplyHired.com and other related job posting sites.

How to craft your social media manager position to attract the right candidate:

I want to mention that no matter what route you take, your position has to be congruent with your company’s expectations, goals, values, culture and vision.

It also has to attract the right person.

When you craft the description of the type of social media manager you’re looking for and their responsibilities – by the way, you better take at LEAST a good hour or two to do this – you also need to carefully convey the benefits to the candidate of considering your company for their next career stop.

This is critical.

If you craft a boring, staid or quickly-put-together traditional job posting, guess what you’ll attract?

Job seekers that won’t even read it and simply dump their resume in your lap.

Think about it this way:

Would you want to work for a company that seems dull or boring, and didn’t take the time to sell you on how awesome it is working with them on a daily basis?

Or perhaps how cool it is interacting with their loyal, passionate clients and customers, or their fantastic products and services?

Don’t think that quickly slapping together a job posting will bring hoards of amazing candidates to you – especially if you are a small company!

Sure Google, Facebook, Apple or other large companies can get away with that sort of thing and still attract high-end talent, but if you happen not to be a Fortune 1000 company, then you’ve got to sell the benefits of working for your organization to a hot, prospective social media rock star that doesn’t want to work for Google, Facebook or Apple!

Now comes the “fun” part…

I say “fun” facetiously because no matter what, you’re likely going to get bombarded by a lot of pure “job” seekers and those that didn’t read the position description and are clearly neither qualified, nor appropriate for the position.

This is where a carefully implemented pre-screening process can save you countless time and resources, while delivering pre-qualified candidates that are hungry to be a part of your team.

There are 2 phases to the pre-screening process to help you weed out unqualified candidates – assuming you’ve already taken at least 1-2 hours to carefully craft an enticing and thorough social media manager description.

Phase 1: Start with your listing

In your listing, you must do two things that will virtually eliminate 50-60% of all candidates right off the bat:

First, ask for a specific subject line when they apply: This is so simple and effective it’s incredible. I’ve used this tactic to weed out those that are just copying and pasting resumes and emailing them out to every listing.

What you do is ask for a specific subject line that cannot be guessed and is completely unrelated to the job opening.

One of my favorites?

I have asked candidates to put the word “Elephant” – and nothing else –in the subject of their email or else we wouldn’t even consider their application.

(Strategies like this make finding the perfect social media expert a lot easier!)

The moment you get any other subject line, press the “delete” button.

Think of it this way: Do you honestly want a social media “strategist” working for your company that didn’t take the time, and isn’t thorough enough, to at least fully READ your instructions before applying for the position?

Tip: If you use a job posting site that let’s applicants apply directly through the website, simply state in your description that an email must be sent in lieu of applying through the website. If you get applications through the website, it means they didn’t thoroughly read the instructions and you can delete their information.

Bonus Tip: Burry these instructions within your listing (preferably in the middle of a non-related paragraph of text), so it is not easily found by scanning the page!

Second, ask the candidate to answer 3 – 5 questions: This is another great way to weed out candidates right off the bat.

If they did happen to see your subject line requirements, another subset of candidates will drop off the hunt once they see there is actual work involved to even be considered for the position.

What types of questions do you ask? The type that let them stand out from the crowd and be expressive.

After all, you are hiring a SOCIAL media manger right?

Some examples that we’ve used:

In 100 words or less, tell me why you’re the social media manager we’re looking for? (Tip:Make sure you count the words! Highlight the text in Microsoft Word, click on “Tools” >> “Word Count”)

What 3 things are you most passionate about? Explain each.

Tell me about and show me something you worked on or created over the last 6 months that was difficult to accomplish that you are proud of.

Show me 3 social media campaigns you’ve worked on and explain what results you achieved for each – not the WORK you did, but RESULTS you achieved.

Assume that money is no object and you are financially independent. What does your typical day look like?

Explain which is most important to you: Getting it right or explaining it right? Why?

Give me an example of how you overcame adversity in your life.

Choose ONE company you respect. Explain to me why you respect them and then tell me 5 things they must do immediately to dramatically improve their social media presence.

As you can see, some of these questions are open-ended and a bit interpretive, but that’s the point.

You want to see the candidate’s thought process and how they react to strange or open-ended questions while also allowing you a chance to really get to know them on a deeper level as they explain some of their passions in life, what they value, and how they interact with the world around them.

This process will weed out those that aren’t really serious about joining your team, are to lazy to fill out the required information, or those that answered in such a way that you can immediately exclude them from future consideration.

Bonus Tip: Add one more layer to weed candidates out further by having them print, sign and scan/fax back a document to you with their signature asserting the following:

“I have read and understand the requirements for this position and certify that I meet all the requirements in the skills required section. Furthermore I agree to an in-person interview with (Company) if required before any decision is made, and will send my answers to the questions posed earlier in the position listing.”

Name _________________ Date ______________

Phase 2: Next is a phone pre-screen and task list

After the preliminary pre-screening requirements you’ve implemented, you’re likely now left with some very special people that you are interested in talking to that are skilled, passionate, detail-oriented and accountable.

Now let’s take that one step further with a preliminary phone screen and task list to make finding your ideal social media expert even easier.

Here’s what you do:

Set up a 30 – 60 minute phone screen with the candidate

Use this time to get to know them using their answers to your initial questions as a guide

Then ask very important details about their skill set, experience and the requirements of the position

Make sure you also tell them about your company, your culture and your expectations

If you like what you hear and the candidate seems to be a good fit for both the position (skills, passion, readiness) and your company (culture, fit, expectations), then have the candidate complete 3-5 tasks in 24 hours, for further consideration

These tasks should be a mix of challenging items that they are likely never to have done before, combined with some that they should already know how to do.

It isn’t important if they complete the tasks with 100% accuracy.

Always remember that you can teach technical stuff that someone might not know, as well as your internal systems and procedures.

What IS important, however, is to see their thought process and their accountability in action.

Did they give up or keep trying? Did they admit if they couldn’t figure something out? Did they find the information they needed to complete the task? Did they try their best? Was there heart, soul and polish in their work?

Finally, these tasks should also show the candidate’s ability to problem solve without being told how to do something – a very important skill to have in the rapidly changing world of social media!

Some possible tasks include:

Setting up a tab in Facebook to get people to take a specific action

Attracting 50 followers to a Twitter account within 24 hours

Coming up with a specific strategy for one of your company’s social media platforms to improve interaction

Finding and researching a specific topic that might interest your target market and distilling the information into 3 takeaways/posts they can share with your audience

Learning how to use a new piece of software, application or tool without showing them how, and asking for specific results – make sure they’ve never used it before!

Other tasks either related or completely unrelated to the position

(Tip: So as not to disturb a live website or social media account, create dummy accounts for these tasks to be completed across the networks you use.)

You must make it clear that all assigned tasks must be completed within 24 hours from when you hang up the phone with them, or 24 hours from when they received a follow-up email from you outlining the tasks.

If the candidate really didn’t want the position, isn’t willing to work hard to get it, or they could not handle the expected workload, they simply disappear and you’ll never hear from them again.

It’s better to find this out early rather than too late. In fact, if this does happen, you just saved your company from making the mistake of hiring someone that would have bailed on you when the going got tough.

On the other hand, the candidates that really want to join your team will drop everything to complete these tasks as best they can.

In the world of social media you sometimes need to accomplish tasks on the fly and nobody will be there to show you how to do them.

Therefore, it’s important to hire someone that is autonomous and able to think for themselves.

It bears repeating that you aren’t looking for perfection with these tasks, but rather want to see the candidate’s thought process, problem solving skills and ability to learn something new without being taught how to do it.

By this point you’ve successfully narrowed your search for the ideal social media manager to only the very best, brightest and hungriest candidates that see working for you as a great opportunity, not just a job.

Let’s finalize this process by interviewing your candidates in person and presenting them with a few more tasks to see what they’re made of.

There’s nothing like being on the spot and seeing how someone handles challenging tasks with potential coworkers or your potential boss breathing down your neck!

The in-person interview is used for two purposes: to make sure that the candidate is the right fit for your company in terms of personality, demeanor and culture, and that they know their stuff or at least are capable of learning what they don’t know quickly.

Tip: If your candidate works remotely, sometimes an in-person interview is not possible, or entirely necessary – especially for a social media position. Compensate by adding one more round of higher-level tasks and/or interviews to firmly lock down the right person.

Remember: Learning how to create a Google+ page, best practices for creating a Facebook tab, or the best times of the day to Tweet can be taught. What can’t are the intangibles of someone being able to interact with an audience on the fly, learn things quickly, be accountable and bring passion to whatever they do!

Here are some tasks for an in-person interview:

Ask the candidate to recite your unique selling proposition, company tagline, or something else very specific to your company

Ask the candidate for 5 ways they would improve your company’s social media presence and why

Have the candidate show you 5 websites and social media presences that they like and respect and explain why they like them

Show the candidate how to do a higher level task ONCE – how to send out a special campaign, or a specific technical procedure – then ask them to repeat the process

Ask the candidate to explain their philosophy on search engine optimization, social media and related topics

Ask the candidate to show 5 blogs that they follow and explain why the follow them

Have the candidate white board an entire social media marketing campaign in 5 minutes or less giving them your most important goal and outcome for the campaign

Super Bonus Tip: At the end of the day it’s all about results. So, have the candidate detail what they will accomplish for your company within the first 90 days of working for you. Not actions they will take, but RESULTS they will achieve! You can even give them a day or two to think about this, brainstorm and come up with what will be essentially, their hiring contract with you.

This final step is almost anticlimactic.

After the process you just implemented and the steps you set up to ensure you attracted the right person for your organization with the perfect skill set, your decision to hire them is the easy part.

By now you know exactly whom you want – a rock star social media manager will emerge – and all you have to do is pull the trigger.

Tip: Here’s a range of social media salaries and job titles from Onward Search to help you out.

Social media manager is the most common (and searched for) description for what you probably need, but other titles exist like “social media specialist”. You are free to decide which nomenclature fits what you are looking for and then create a position description and decide on compensation accordingly.

Bonus Tip: Make sure you always hire on a trial basis – using the 90-day plan your candidate created for you as a framework for whether they are delivering results or not – because no matter how thorough a pre-screening and interview process is, someone might still turn out to not be the right fit for the position.

Quick Warning: If you’re thinking for one second that this process is too laborious or difficult for your company, then by all means feel free to do it your way and see how much time, money and rework it’s going to cost your organization when you have to find, hire and train someone new for the position every couple of months!

Finding and hiring an amazing social media manager isn’t as difficult as it sounds if you’ve got a sound, repeatable strategy in place to ensure that you only attract the right candidates.

By utilizing this process you will:

Take a top down view and deeply understand what it takes for a social media manager to be successful

Crystalize your company’s needs for the position as well as your core values, culture and value proposition

Implement multiple layers of pre-screening to attract the very best talent

By using this system you will now ensure a much higher accuracy in finding the absolute best social media managers looking for their opportunity to shine.

Always remember that there are inherent traits that you should look for and others that can be taught.

Knowing the difference is the key to locking up an amazing, talented, passionate and devoted person who will live and breathe your company’s social media presence.

If you feel I missed something I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Other valuable resources on this topic:

This post was originally posted on the Biquitous Blog

What Makes NextSpace Special?

lindsay — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 16:56:13 +0000

NextSpace is so friggin’ good at that fine balance between a highly professional, beautiful space and experience, and the warm, snarky, welcoming community side. A lot of coworking websites give lip service to these ideals, but at NextSpace, people join for the space and location, and stay for the community. No lip service around here! We see both sides of the coin in action every single day.

We recently asked members to tell us their experiences with NextSpace, and how it has impacted their lives. The answers we got were as amazing as they are varied. Ryan, a member and a talented graphic designer, created an info graphic that outlined the relative size of each invoice he sent out for the past 3 months, and color coded it based on it being a NextSpace contact or not. The vast majority of work, as well as all of the largest invoices, all came from NextSpace. Ryan also wrote in a review of NextSpace online all about how the community adopted him. How his closest friends are members. How he has never felt so welcome to a new city. He recently got a can’t-pass-up offer from a prestigious company in Palo Alto, but is keeping his membership because he doesn’t want to miss out on all the fun and support.

Another story we received is from Cristina, a woman who attended an event, and left her scarf behind. She returned the next day to retrieve it, and signed up as a Mailbox member for her marketing boutique. When Johnny, another member, was looking for a marketing expert, I introduced the two of them. She is now CMO of his company Voxeo Labs, one of the leading telephony technologies in the world.

On the community-building side, we look to ourselves and our members to tell us what they want to do. We have jumped for hours at House of Air, a trampoline world in the Presidio. We have watched zombie movie marathons together. One member just suggested surprising another with celebratory drinks when he lands his 10th client (he’s on 9 right now). We’ve gone snowboarding, running, rock climbing, hiking, biking, swimming, cross fitting, and hot-tubbing together. When I was recovering from surgery, the community banded together to bring me flowers every single day.

The last thing that sets us apart is the sheer quality of our members. In our LA office we house the executive director for the 5 time academy award winning movie, “The Artist”. In San Francisco we house Pocket Gems, a leading mobile gaming company, and Hipstamatic, a photography app that won a top 4 award by Apple. In San Jose we have a member who founded Siri. In Santa Cruz Rally Up, an incredible social platform that was acquired by AOL was born. These are just a few of the insanely high quality members we get to call our own. It inspires and helps every member to be at NextSpace.

Guest Post: The Silicon Valley tour, part 7: A few exciting new business models that actually work

sara — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 16:43:24 +0000

The Silicon Valley tour, part 7: A few exciting new business models that actually work from the blog “Stritar’s chronolog”
Read the original, full article with pictures and more links here!

Visiting Silicon Valley enabled me too peek into the future a bit. Finding out about new technology trends, meeting disruptive new software startups and seeing fascinating new business models that are proven to work. There are even more futuristic products / services than the ones mentioned in this post, but these are the ones that made the biggest impression on me. And they all share similar competitive advantages: using smartphones and other mobile devices, canceling middlemen and supporting cashless commerce.

Mobile payments and Square
While Square may already be mainstream in the States, something like it is far away from being used in Europe, not to mention Slovenia. Square is focused on mobile payments, and is currently offering three different services:
¥ a credit card reader that you can plug into your mobile device
¥ an iPad register app for merchants, supporting invoices, payments and inventory
¥ an app for paying with your smartphone
Square is on fire, and there are tons of places in San Francisco where you can use it. Electronic payment industry leaders such as PayPal are already looking for ways to conquer the same market.

A place that accepts all major credit cards and Square
Personal chauffeur and Uber
Ubercan only be described as taxi on steroids, bypassing the dispatcher. Ok, it’s actually a chauffeur. Using a mobile app, you make a request, and one of the drivers answers it. After that, you can see where the driver is, when he will pick you up, how your driver looks like, and get a direct link to call them. A guy in a suit driving a Lincoln picks you up, takes you wherever you want, and after it, you just exit, without paying. You get an invoice on your email, together with the map of the route, and the fare gets deducted from your credit card. It’s a bit more expensive than a cab, but still, a pretty awesome service, that will be expanding to other countries soon.

With Uber, you get picked up by a Lincoln like this
Carsharing and Zipcar
The next generation of rent-a-car is called carsharing, and it’s offered by Zipcar. No agents, just your card that you use to unlock the car you’ve rented. Everything happens online, where you make a request for a car, get directed to a designated pick-up area, and the car is already waiting for you there. Petrol is included in the price, and if the fuel tank drops below 1/4, you just use their credit card to top it up. Results: rent-a-car has never been easier, cheaper and less stressful.

One of the Zipcar pick-up places. They are everywhere.
bonus: Co-working and NextSpace
Co-working represents shared offices that people from different startups and companies can use. Besides being cheaper than renting your own office, you also get a chance to spend time with other people, share knowledge and ideas, which is something I found out to be invaluable. NextSpace is an established co-working space in San Francisco, with more than 175 members and packages ranging from a few hundred dollars monthly for a desk to around a thousand for a complete office. Something similar is already happening in Slovenia, so if you are interested, please visit coworking.si.

Tables, offices, conference rooms. All available with NextSpace.
Conclusion
Some of these business models might not work as well outside the curious and tech-savvy culture of Silicon Valley, but they can still help as a demonstrator of things that can be done and an announcer of things to come. Let’s face it, in technology, Silicon Valley is still miles ahead, so if you’re looking for trends, the smartest thing to do is just to go along with it.
Check out the complete The Silicon Valley tour series.

Read the original, full article with pictures and more links here!

Reading Alone Sucks: The Purple Cow

lindsay — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 23:21:18 +0000

After a small hiatus, the NextSpace Biz Book Club is back in session! What did we read this month? “The Purple Cow” by Seth Godin. While reading this book we learned what it means to truly have a remarkable business, to push yourself and take risks to be oh-so-amazing. We read about marketing that works and marketing that, well.. fails. Check out our notes and best take aways below! Or hey, get out there and get a copy yourself- it’s an easy read!

The Purple Cow Summary:

-transform your biz into being remarkable

-big companies are scared companies

-Remarkable ideas aren’t the things missing, it’s the willingness to execute them

-try inviting your users to change their behavior to adapt to your tech/skills

-you must develop products, services and techniques that the market will actually seek out

-in a market where no one is listening, leave. Find the right people to listen and go after a purple cow

-pick a niche and dominate it

-the problem with the cow is the problem with fear

-criticism comes to those who stand out

-fitting in is failing. not standing out is being invisible

-boring always leads to failure

-get spoofed on SNL- such a compliment

-if someone in your company is in the process of creating a purple cow, leave them alone!

-be scandalous on occasion, but all the time is desperation

-its not about being weird, its about being irresistible to a tiny group. This is remarkable.

Quotes:

-”The reason it’s so hard to follow the leader is this: The leader is the leader because he did something remarkable. And that remarkable thing is now taken- it’s no longer remarkable when you do it.”

-”It’s safer to be risky- to fortify your desire to do truly amazing things.”

-”Are you obsessed or just making a living?”… passion is required to spend time and effort to create something amazing

-”There’s a big difference between making the news and making news.”

Bell Curve:

-there are 4 kinds of customers (prospects, customers, loyal customers and formal customers) and the loyal ones are willing to spend more $ with you

-only risk-taking, idea spreading people on the left of the curve will listen to new ideas

-early adopters are the people who benefit the most from using new products and will seek out new products

Marketing Revolution:

-stop advertising and start innovating

-times have changed; more choices and less time to sort through them

-currently, companies spend millions to try TV advertising and fail

-The old ways of marketing have nowhere to go but down

-instead of investing in a dying product, reinvest your profits in building something new

-marketing shouldn’t be something done to the product, it should be the product

-before you spend more money on ads, spned time with customers and engineers

Vocab:

-ideavirus: ideas that spread (more likely to succeed than those that don’t)

-otaku: defines something that’s more than a hobby but less than an obsession

Best 3 Take-Aways

-advertising was a phase and shows how nothing is permanent (we must always be shifting and changing)

-we have 2 choices:

1) be invisible, anonymous, uncriticized and safe or 2) take a chance/risk at greatness, uniqueness and a purple cow

-once you’ve managed to do something truly remarkable, do these 2 things: milk the cow for everything it’s worth (extend profit for as long as possible) and invent a new purple cow to replace the first one when the benefits trail off

Mindjet Connect – My Latest Killer App

rebecca — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 21:19:37 +0000

I told three people I found the most amazing task management software and got three different replies. The first was laughter and frank incredulity that something as mundane as a task manager could have me so excited. The second just laughed. The third suggested I write this post, as well as reach out to Mindjet Connect and tell them the extensive search, testing, an competitive analysis I did before choosing Mindjet Connect. I first learned of the software a year or so ago from Jane Mermelstein, a friend who introduced me to the founder, Leslie Brennan. At that time we were discussing how to get our NextSpace name out and members in, and task management was not high on my list. But as the company and the team have grown, and the projects and teams have accumulated, it’s become a necessity.

We started with BaseCamp, but it didn’t stick. Yucky interface, hard to use, and just not right for what we needed. So launched a campaign where we tried Mavenlink, Omnifocus, Evernote, Siasto, Astrid, Asana, HiTask, and created a google doc to compare. Mindjet Connect was the winner by an incredible margin. It integrates with google docs, google calendars, and google apps. It has a great mobile app. It is easy to use. It looks pretty good (UI and UX could be better). It lets you add tasks from email. It lets you search. You can organize by team member or project. You can manage notifications. Basically, it is exactly what we need. After my research findings, I put my whole company on Mindjet Connect and it’s working fabulously! We are way more on top of our s**t, and can see what is going on with each other.

A few areas for improvement? (Are you listening, Mindjet? I’d be lying if I said it was 100% perfect.) It would be great for key members to have super admin privileges and be able to see activity on all projects under the domain. It would also be great to be able to manually adjust task ratings. I’d also love to group tasks into folders or labels so i don’t see the list of tasks getting longer and longer. I also want to search through google docs so I don’t have to scroll through hundreds of shared docs I’ve got. But in the grand scheme of things, these are tiny things. And I’m happy to be a beta tester for new features.

Thank you Mindjet and Leslie Brennan. My life is better because of you.

Getting Un-Ready for the Global Coworking Unconference

Gretchen — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 21:13:23 +0000

NextSpace is headed out en masse to GCUC this week – the Global Coworking Unconference. (Oh you want a link? http://www.austingcuc.com/)

My husband is getting the carry-on out of the basement for me tomorrow, and the kids have been prepped on when mama’s getting back. And so has my community, my other family that I mother in bits and pieces as appropriate. I’ve got an orange shirt ready to be packed, and I’ve checked out the agenda and made some mental notes about where I want to eat. (Austin has my heart - and my stomach….)

But: I still need to get un-ready.

I co-sleep, and I send my kids to a co-op preschool, and dammit, I get the whole ‘in community’ aspect of things. I’m an Aquarius and we’re kind of militant about that sort of thing. But I feel ready for this, and frankly – I need to get un-ready.

So – I’m dropping expectations. And goals for the unconference, well – they’re still there, although I’ve filed them under ‘abstract notions’ so that I can be exhilarated and liberated by whatever happens and whatever interactions that I have. They’ll still get met, but not in a linear, check this off the list way. And contacts – I’ve deconstructed my imaginary guest list so that I am ready to meet whoever walks in the door. If you catch me chatting up the janitor, don’t stop me – maybe I’m getting some facilities tips.

Okay Austin. I’ve got some more clearing out to do, but I think I’m un-ready enough for GCUC. My one expectation – and I’m holding onto it – is that it’ll be a great time. If you see me there, say hello.

A day in the life of an entrepreneur….

Nancy — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 01:40:39 +0000

Three years ago I formed LittleFootprint Lighting with the goal of bringing to market very sustainable LED task lighting products.

Our mission is to provide highly functional and attractive LED task lighting products and components that:

use the most energy-efficient technologies available;
are made using locally sourced, recycled materials;
are manufactured in California;
are warehoused and distributed by partners known for environmental
responsibility; and
are manufactured for ease of dis-assembly and recycling at end of life
based on the philosophy of “cradle to cradle” design.

Our first product, the HeronLED Personal Task Light, is an LED desk lamp made in the USA from recycled e-waste. It uses 7 to 10 times less energy than a traditional desk lamp and it should go for 15 years or longer before the bulb needs to be changed. Most folks think it looks pretty nice, too!

Two years ago I thought it would ship in a month or two. Nine months ago I still believed it would ship “in a month”, so we announced the product, did trade shows, got tons of press and some nice “early adopter” orders. Since then we have suffered delay after delay, but last Friday we finally passed two major milestones we have been trying to reach for over two years now: We shipped our first units and we made the deadline for entry into the very important Next Generation Luminaire (NGL) competition.

As I guess I should have expected, it was touch and go. Thought I’d share what Friday afternoon looked like and see how many of you can relate. I have a feeling many of you will have had similar days!

About noon – Get confirmation from Kennerley-Spratling (manufacturer) that 10 to 12 units will be ready to go by 2:30 AND that the final Intertek factory inspection (which must be complete before we can ship products with ETL safety mark on them) will be done before then
1:00pm – Leave Santa Cruz in my husband’s car (bigger than mine) to go to Kennerley-Spratling (San Leandro, CA) with plan to transport boxed units to our fulfillment house, OnFulfillment, (Newark, CA) for shipping that evening
1:30pm – Get call from Kennerley-Spratling saying they just found something new in our initial safety approval report from Intertek that may require each unit to get some special testing before shipping that we have never heard of. We think it’s an error, but if not, we can’t ship.
1:35pm – Consider running car into divider but decide to hope for the best and continue on my way to Kennerley-Spratling
2:45pm – Arrive at K-S. All is well! It WAS an error in the report, taken care of now. We can legally ship!
3:00pm – Production manager and I load 12 boxes intomy husband’s car. First time they have shipped product through their front lobby!
3:10pm – Hit major traffic on way to Newark, can’t tell how bad it is behind me since car is completely stuffed and I can’t see out the back
3:30pm – While not moving on freeway, see on Blackberry that the final official LM-79 (technical report on performance of LED lights) and other test files I need to upload TODAY to make our entry into NGL competition have been emailed by testing facility
3:50pm – Arrive at OnFulfillment. Work with account manager to ensure all backorder info is in the system and inspect shipping labels for the orders we can fulfill today. (Balance of backorders to ship next week when we have more units.)
4:20pm – Take picture of the first unit, boxed, labeled, and ready to get loaded on UPS truck, arriving at OnFulfillment in the next half hour
4:25pm – Leave OnFulfillment happy. We are shipping!
4:30pm – Find place on side of road to have review meeting with my engineer, Korhan, about next steps to get large-scale production up and running
4:45pm – Pull out handy Verizon wi-fi thingy, get online, and begin uploading all remaining files for NGL competition. Hit final submit button.
5:00pm – Get confirmation from NGL. We are in!

That was one heck of a day in my life!!!

The NextSpace Effect Contest

jeremy — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:29:05 +0000

Hey ‘spacers,

Announcing a contest! With fabulous prizes! And a chance to be (in)famous! Read on….

As you all know, we’re very proud of our community here at NextSpace. Even more, we’re proud of what you do—individually and collectively—to create real, enduring value. I’m constantly in awe of the talent ecosystem that all 550+ of you represent. And you amaze me with the products, services, ideas, and innovations that constantly emerge from this ecosystem.

We have a special name for the mechanism behind all of this: the NextSpace Effect. The NextSpace Effect is the alchemical thing that happens when all 550+ of you do your best work in our spaces, make connections, collaborate, trade ideas, exchange business opportunities, share expertise, and make the world a more interesting, creative, innovative place. It’s special. It’s powerful. And NextSpace is the only place you can get it.

We want to capture and highlight stories of the NextSpace Effect in our community. And we’re asking for your help. So, a contest! We’re looking for your best/favorite NextSpace Effect stories. How has working in one of our spaces made the difference for you and your business? How have you or one of your fellow ‘spacers helped create the NextSpace Effect? How have you benefited from it? How is the world just a teensy bit more interesting, creative, or innovative because of the NextSpace community and the NextSpace Effect? Please use whatever medium you like the best to tell us your story: email, blog post, video, poem, infographic, interpretive dance…the more variety, the better.

What’s the prize, I hear you asking? And what are the judging criteria? Well, this is tricky, to be honest. I’m confident that every one of your stories is compelling, relevant, and powerful. I’m also confident that stories like, “I had a five-minute conversation with a fellow ‘spacer that got me out of a rut and back on track” or “Just being at NextSpace among these amazing people inspires me to do my best work” are just as powerful as a story like, “I founded a company with a some fellow ‘spacers and now we’re all bazillionaires.” So we won’t be judging your stories on the “degree” of the NextSpace Effect. We’re more interested in collecting a wide range of stories that showcases the big and small ways that you, the NextSpace community, foster your own success as well as the success of your fellow members.

So, the prize: everyone who enters will be eligible to win our random drawing for $1000 bucks. Yep, a chance to win a cool grand, just for telling us your story. Of course, we know that some of you will pull out all the stops to tell us your NextSpace Effect story. So we’ll also have a Staff Choice Award ($500 bucks!) and a Members’ Choice Award ($250 bucks!). And each month, we’ll highlight some of your stories on our blog and our social media channels. We even have some press interested in this contest. And, that’s just the beginning! So everyone will get some exposure. Most important, our entire community will be enriched and inspired by your stories.

Interested? We hope so. Please send us your story (again, in whatever medium you like best) by noon on Friday March 23rd. We’ll announce our honorees at special Member Happy Hours at each NextSpace location at 3:58 pm (natch) on Friday March 30th, including a live webcast from NextSpace Galactic HQ in Santa Cruz.

Ready? (We hope so) Set? (Please stretch beforehand; I don’t want anyone to pull a hamstring) GO! Send your submissions directly to me at jeremy@nextspace.us. Good luck! As always, thanks for believing in NextSpace. Thanks for being part of the (r)evolution of Work. And thanks for believing in each other.

Getting Ready for the Global Coworking Unconference 2012 in Austin, Texas

iris — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:25:54 +0000

In the past year the coworking world has grown measurably, both in numbers of spaces and in general population awareness. Starting with the first ever Global Coworking Unconference, organized by our friends at Loosecubes and held in Austin last March, we have had a chance to gather and form a real life community that reaches beyond our Twitter channels and the Google Group. We’ve seen many mobile and online tools pop up over the past year that allow people in search of community to find a place to work nearby. In October 30 people gathered for a space owner’s retreat in LA and discussed topics specific to our unique industry. Our spaces and members have received national press in almost every major news outlet including radio, television, print, and online media. Over 250 people attended the Coworking Europe Conference in Berlin in November and in January a small coalition of spaces launched LEXC which is the first formalized Coworking Visa program with a technology asset.

Whew! We have been busy haven’t we?

Now it’s almost time for the 2nd Global Coworking Unconference and thanks to Liz and her crew this year’s gathering is looking to be a fabulous meeting of many spectacular minds. The conference track is abundant with many speakers and panels discussing topics relevant for both new comers and veterans alike. The unconference will be filled with your brilliant ideas and I’m excited to learn, share and grow with all of you.

The unconference will be based on the traditional barcamp format and we will build the session schedule when we meet based on who’s in attendance that morning. We’ll follow the Open Space Technology norms:

1. Whoever comes is the right people …reminds participants that they don’t need the CEO and 100 people to get something done, you need people who care. And, absent the direction or control exerted in a traditional meeting, that’s who shows up in the various breakout sessions of an open-space meeting.

2. Whenever it starts is the right time …reminds participants that “spirit and creativity do not run on the clock.”

3. Wherever it happens is the right place. …reminds participants that space is opening everywhere all the time. Please be concious and aware. – Tahrir Square is one famous example.

4. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have …reminds participants that once something has happened, it’s done—and no amount of fretting, complaining or otherwise rehashing can change that. Move on.

5. When it’s over, it’s over …reminds participants that we never know how long it will take to resolve an issue, once raised, but that whenever the issue or work or conversation is finished, move on to the next thing. Don’t keep rehashing just because there’s 30 minutes left in the session. Do the work, not the time.

Although we will be building the sessions that day, I though it might be a good idea to grease the wheels of our minds a bit with a place to post session ideas ahead of time. Please check out this Google doc and feel free to add your ideas!

If you haven’t bought your tickets yet, you should do so before the prices go up! As with all community events Liz’s team needs as much help as they can get with gathering the necessary money to make this year’s event a success. If you know of any likely sponsors have them contact Claire Rodriguez and she’ll hook them up with all of the important deets.

This year is going to be great! The only thing I’m left wondering is who’s buying the first round of drinks?