Rofo.com

I was recently invited to participate as one of the "pilot" Service Providers for a very cool site called Rofo^TM.

Mike Gerrity of Rofo says,"Rofo.com was designed for entrepreneurs and small businesses who are struggling to find the right place to locate their business. Rofo targets users who are generally looking for less than 5,000 square feet and offers easy tools to identify spaces and rapidly connect with brokers and landlords who can help with their specific needs."

Imago Associates participates in Rofo's "QuickMove" program as the only USED and REFURBISHED commercial furniture provider. QuickMove simplifies your office set up into 3 easy steps:

• Plan Your Space
• Get Connected
• Settle In

How simple is that? Along the way they offer professional tips and connect you with local service providers to get your space ready on-time and on-budget--- including move management pro Rachel Walls of the GoldenGate Company www.goldengatecompany.com.

The idea for Rofo^TM—which stands for Right of First Offer—came from the firsthand experience of founders Alan Bernier and Garrett Krueger from their days as commercial real estate brokers. While larger businesses typically had the people and resources on-hand to find and compare space, they saw entrepreneurs and small businesses struggle repeatedly in their search for the right place to locate their business.

SoRofo^TM. was born. Check it out at http://www.rofo.com/quickmove and click through to http://www.rofo.com/user/rmoorad for the Imago profile.

Greenwashing

I haven't blogged lately---shame on me---but am doing so now because I was just forwarded an email from a friend that drove me WILD!

The email included an "Environmental Statement", and an "Introduction Presentation" among other things---I won't say the name of the manufacturer but for those of you who received the same you'll know---meant to promote the sale of a cubicle product for office environments. Anyway, it, as so many things that cross my desk today attempts---badly---to support why this product should be promoted as "green."" Shame. Shame. Shame. It goes on to reference LEED points that "may" KEY WORD "MAY" be applicable to their products when considered for a LEED project. This particular piece is so ill informed that it references points that are in no way applicable if they had taken the time to research Credit Interpretation Rulings within the USGBC. I was just sickened. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, there have always been segments of industry who have presented themselves as something they are not for the sake of increased sales. I guess I'm particularly bothered by companies that present themselves as green only for financial gain. Don't these people have children? A conscience? Any sense of their participation in the global community?

I can only hope that decision makers will check their facts before opting to make a capital purchase based on such poor information.

There. I'm tapped out. Angry still but trusting that people will DO THE RIGHT THING.

Ride The Wave!

I LOVE the article below titled “What Surfing Can Teach Us About Managing the Unexpected”

http://conversationstarter.hbsp.com/2008/11/how_to_anticipate_the_next_wav.html

For those of you who are NAWBO members you’ll recognize it from the link in today’s NAWBO Smartbrief---a super newsletter that I almost always find something of interest in. You can subscribe at http://www.smartbrief.com/nawbo/.

Anyway…in these unsettled economic times I find myself searching for ways to manage both my business and my mood. As a small business owner they are irreparably linked. What is the best course of action? Should I move more slowly or more quickly? Expand? Contract? Hide under a bush until it’s all over? Reading the attached brought a visual image to my mind so clear and compelling that I immediately felt at ease. Water. Ocean. Waves. The enormity of it. The seamlessness of it. My interpretation is this: business mimics the natural world with ebb and flow like the tide.

Don’t run from getting your feet wet. You can’t stay safe and dry on the shore or you’ll miss out.

Ride the wave!

Just discovered...Green Maven and Greenfly

Doing some surfing during my lunch break---I was on a conference call so had a minute---discovered two very interesting sites:

Green Maven www.greenmaven.com

Described as: Finally a website that brings the best of the Green Web together. Designed for Mavens that just can't get enough of all things Green. Use it as a research tool, or keep up to date on the latest trends in the Green Revolution.

Currently have three tools:

· Green Search Engine : the world's first comprehensive Green Search Engine based on Google's Coop Search technology. Rather than searching the entire web, your search yields "green" results. Soon will have the ability for anybody to be a Green Maven and help contribute to the research of mapping the Green Web.

· Green News Reader : Integrates the best of the green blogs into one, easy to read format. We receive new stories all day long day from channels of the best news on the web. Read all the news channels at once, or switch channels to read any specific news source. Use the "Share It!" feature to send a positive news story to a friend, family, or co-worker.

· Green Directory : This is the source for our Green Search Engine. If you'd rather browse than search, explore the Green Web using our comprehensive directory. Note, naturally I asked that Imago Associates (www.imagoassociates.com) and GQA (www.GQAFurniture.com) be added :)

And Greenfly www.greenfly.com

Where you can determine the sustainability factors for your product or project design. This one I’ll have to play with!

Election Day 2008

I was raised by my public servant father not to mix politics with business but today I simply can't resist. I believe that this is the most important election in my lifetime. For so very many reasons, both personal and global---and aren’t they the same, really? My heart has been pounding since I woke up. Yes, somewhere in the United States someone I don’t know is already casting a ballot. Please God let them do the right thing.

Let us all do the right thing.

My daughter is a teenager and consumed with all the things teenagers care about. I won’t embarrass her and list them here but anyone over thirty knows what I mean. Focused on her world the election is just peripheral, movement off to the side. Such a movement. I’ve tried to think how can I make this a memorable day for her? Something that she will be able to look back on and say, “I remember that day, where I was, who I was with…” in the same way we all remember special moments that, at the time, were not in our focus.

I decided today was about community. I’ve invited friends over. I’ll take time to prepare a special meal. We’ll eat and drink together. A community.

Please be a member of our global community today and vote. Appreciate the freedom you have to do so and the enormous opportunity that is offered to all of us today to participate in a process that allows us to confirm who we are and what we believe in.

For my part I have been telling anyone who cares to listen that I am visualizing Barack and Michelle and their beautiful girls on inauguration day. I imagine that it is snowing lightly and you can see flakes of snow on his coat. She’s opted not to wear a hat. I’m glad. She doesn’t need it. The girls are giggling. So much energy! I think they even have their chilly hands in a muff.

And I am brought to tears again. It is a wonderful new day.

There was lunch before Meet-up

In addition the group of I mentioned yesterday---three guys in similar businesses to mine---I have, for more than ten years gotten together for lunch with another group to meetup.

This group was originally assembled around a shared need: we had all recently become middle managers and were struggling with managing up and down in our organizations. All from affiliated industries the group is composed of a combination of clients and service providers. Similar in age we did not know each other well when we began to meet. Again, it was the regularity of those meetings---this time once per month--- that contributed to our success. Also the size of the group, there are six of us. The optimum size for a good discussion and large enough that if someone was a “no show” it still was viable. We quickly understood that if we met in the same place---in this case Delancey Street in San Francisco--- (http://www.delanceystreetfoundation.org/enterrestaurant.php) at the same time (11:45 before the lunch rush), within easy reach of public transportation and valet parking---it was easy to organize and none of us had a good reason to skip. The dates are scheduled at the end of lunch and one of us sends a casual email reminder the day before or day of. Over time we have became such creatures of habit we could order for each other if someone was running late. We have had over-the-top-big burger days and many where we split salads. I only mention this because: WE ALWAYS HAVE DESSERT. So there. It’s a decadent pleasure as well as a business meeting. Now you know all our secrets.

The value of this group to our careers cannot be measured. It has transcended three jobs for most of us. In many cases the actual referral to a job opening came from this lunch group. Certainly we discussed each and every opportunity comparing notes about who we knew or could introduce to smooth the way. As a service provider I received many opportunities I would not otherwise have known about. Amazing.

Over the last ten years this group has become so important to all of us: we share (in addition to the business stuff) trips, kids, dogs and dates. Again, amazing.

Try a lunch meetup!!!!!

P.S. Take a look at Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty by Harvey Mackay, DoubleDay 1997 about networking. Described as "The Only Networking Book You'll Ever Need." It has tips that are relevant in any economy but particularly in the midst of a downturn…I saw it used for $3.89 today on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Your-Well-Before-Youre-Thirsty/dp/0385485468)

Before There Was Social Networking There Was Lunch

Was there social networking before Facebook and LinkedIn and MySpace and Plaxo? There was and we called it “Lunch.”

Business networking has been around since the beginning of time. The first time a woman exchanged a basket of berries for a necklace or chicken for help building a hut there was networking. Who had what you needed and what did you have to exchange? Who were the experts? How did you get to know them?

So in the 90’s (and before...but let’s not date ourselves TOO much!) there was lunch. Today I’m having a particular kind of lunch that I thought it appropriate to share. I thought everyone still did some lunching but didn’t realize until I was talking to Marcy Alboher (http://marcialboher.blogspot.com) when she interviewed me for the June issue of More Magazine (http://www.more.com/work-money/work/second-acts/reinvent-career-with-small-budget/) that something I take for granted might be considered unusual for others.

Here’s the thing: for several years I’ve gotten together for lunch once every six weeks or so with three guys who most folks would call “my competitors.” I didn’t know them well when it began, was in fact surprised to be included. We started by talking industry chatter---who knows whom, best places to get stuff, etc---and now it’s a “can’t miss” for me. I’ve made several very significant changes in my business as a result of the information shared including: asking for a larger deposit than I had previously (which changed my cash flow for the better), adding new vendors I didn’t know and most recently a new, green business that we’ve started together called GQA (www.GQAfurniture.com) . This group rocks for me!

I can’t recommend the concept enough---reach out to folks who have a similar business to yours and start to talk. Some guidelines:

Lunch is good. “Breaking bread” with people elicits a level of communication not found elsewhere. No alcohol keeps it on track so lunch is better (I think) than cocktails after work or dinner. It’s also more finite. Folks have places they need to be after.

Make it regular, schedule the next meeting at the end of the current one when everyone’s got their calendar. Be respectful. Don’t miss a meeting. Everyone is busy. Make this exchange a priority. Nothing ruins networking faster than unreliability. Be discreet. Some of the things you discuss don’t need to be repeated. Be honest and direct in your communication. Good communication involves trust. I think the reason a group of potential competitors can get together and share at this level has everything to do with trust. Have a loose format for the exchange: we routinely share business books or articles, vendors, current challenges. That said, over time the informal topics creep in and we’ve learned a lot about each others’ outside-of-business life. This is actually a good thing and maybe easier with a woman in the group (?) because familiarity breeds more trust.