Given all of the things business owners need to get done in a day, it is a wonder businesses exist at all.  But, as I am learning (albeit slowly) business owners (and their businesses) survive by making judicious decisions about how to spend their time.  When we first started CubeSpace, that meant that I was at networking events all the time.  But unsurprisingly, I burnt out on that approach fairly early on.  Then we tried a systematic approach of looking at which networking efforts were successful and which were less so.  That turned out to be harder than we expected because the time delay between an intiial connection and someone coming in to check out CubeSpace was fairly long.  That left us fairly stumped.

David and I have always maintained that successful networking is about quality, not quantity.  So I limited my networking to places where I was able to make connections with people, rather than a one-off business card exchange.  And that strategy worked fairly well.  I have made some really great friends through networking, and that has, and will continue to lead to business for us.

One of the better reasons to have friends is that they are the ones who will tell you when you have spinach in your teeth or check to see if you are still alive if you haven't posted anything to your blog in a while.  Today I experienced the latter.  Then I went and looked at the CubeSpace blog and that was when I realized that somehow, without my permission, two weeks had passed since my last posting.  I have all sorts of good excuses, but I will not bore you with the full litany.  Instead I will focus on why microbusinesses need friends.  Badly.

 I have a short list of people I go to when I am feeling stymied by a problem.  I have the one whose advice I seek when I get stuck on a staff professional development issue.  I have the one who I ask about financial decisions and I have the one I go to when I get overwhelmed and just need to be reminded that I am a capable and competent person, and that this too shall pass.  

This is the second in the series of Eva catch-up blog posts.  This one is all about our Open House scheduled for May 14th from 4-8pm.

So, given all of my complaints lately about being over-worked and under-slept, why would we think throwing yet another party would be a good idea?  That's a fair point, perhaps I should take that up with the Powers that Be.  Oh wait, I am one of the Powers that Be.  So, I must have had a good reason.

The best reason I can come up with is because we love having people over to CubeSpace.  CubeSpace is not just our home away from home (yes, we really do go home to sleep), but it is our community and we love to get to know our community better.  

The second best reason is so we can show off how cool CubeSpace is.  Whenever people come to CubeSpace for the first time, we hear all sorts of accolades about how much bigger it is then people imagined, or how comfortable the space feels or how many great people they meet at our events.  

The topic for April's WNG meeting was Networking.  I already shared some musings about networking in my April 8th post, but as I expected, the conversation took on a life of its own.  We wandered into questions of gender, communication style and, of course, shared some do's and don't with each other.

One of my favorite parts of the conversation was the advice proffered by networking "guru's" (often men) and the question of which advice is good advice.  Aja shared something she read suggesting that people track relevant information about a person, including spouse name, children, favorite foods and anything else that might "personalize" a future conversation.  Some members of the group do track bit of personal information.  Often on a client's folder or business card, so that they can follow up on conversations in the future.  Others of us rely on our memory to keep track of what we learn about others.  

You may wonder why I am writing a blog post about search engine history on the CubeSpace blog. Believe it or not, there is actually a connection there.

Today I am working at home until the WNG meeting at CubeSpace this evening. I am doing this so that I can get some projects done that require more attention than I can give them at CubeSpace, where my day is usually a constant stream of distractions. At some point late in the morning I got hungry and reheated some leftovers. I decided a meal was as good an excuse as any to take a break, so I picked up the issue of New Scientist that I am currently in the midst of reading. That is where I found an article about the Mundaneum, an index card proto-internet with librarians functioning as search engines.

Friday I did something that was very unusual for me. I took a day off. This was done in preparation for Startupalooza, which in some ways (from our perspective, at least) was a dress rehearsal for BarCamp. Startupalooza went very well, and while I don't have the final count, my guess is that we had 200+ people through here on Saturday and we managed to stay on top of dishes and logistics (in that order) so I am happy.

The topic of this month's WNG meeting was Nourishing Ourselves.  If you recall, this topic was suggested as a follow-up to last month's discussion, putting a proactive spon on the perennial issues of time management and work/life balance.  No surprise, but last night we had yet another invigorating WNG meeting.  Each time we have had these small group discussions, we have had a different mix of people and personalities and that really shapes the direction the conversation takes. 

Last night, Mary and Aja made my job as facilitator extremely easy.  Mary is a very social and outgoing woman, and she did a fabulous job encouraging attendees to introduce themselves and really talk about their businesses.  Aja played the role of  talk show host, with insightful follow-up questions and and thoughtful responses.  

The Women's Networking Group (WNG) has been meeting at CubeSpace for quite some time now, and it's become a vibrant community.  Now, in 2008, it's going to be better than ever, with the addition of monthly discussion topics for greater focus.  We are excited about this new direction for WNG, and we hope you will be too.  For more information, check out Eva's blog post on the past and future of WNG.  To register for the next WNG meeting on February 12, give us a call at 503-206-3500.

In the spirit of sustainability, reuse and recycling, as well as post-holiday economizing, we'd like to invite all the ladies out there to drop by CubeSpace on January 26 for Julie Wang's Naked Lady Clothing Exchange. Bring all those clothes that are still in good condition but which you never seem to wear, and swap them with other women for new-to-you outfits that are more exciting, flattering, or otherwise likely to get worn. Cost is $10, and includes a pleasant space, light refreshments, and conveyance of all unclaimed items to Goodwill. Get some more information about it here.

I run a monthly networking group out of CubeSpace with the rather unoriginal name of "Women's Networking Group" (WNG). I acquired the group from Julie Wasserman who started it as a very informal group who met in people's livingrooms and socialized, with some networking thrown in.

Since I took over the group about a year go, the dynamic has really changed; some for the better and some for the worse. We now meet at CubeSpace, so the homey dynamic is gone and the gestalt of the group is a little more professional, rather than social. The group has also more than doubled in size, although the meeting attendance has dropped.