Category Archive

In 1977 Woody Allen said, “Showing up is 80% of life”. This week’s 805conversation is about making connections, about showing up. The secret is as simple as finding out what’s going on in your industry, your town, your specific trade, and showing up. There are more opportunities to see people in person these days than ever before. You just have …

Would it surprise you to know that there are over 135 skills to choose from when creating your 805connect profile? When designing these choices we studied the areas of expertise that every business needs. We are constantly adding to this list as more people join the network. Forty-four percent of you said that creating your 805connect profile made you think …

One of the traits of successful people is their ability to effectively communicate. Think about the many times a day you have an opportunity to influence others. You might be emailing, writing a blog post, putting together opening remarks for an important meeting or explaining a new idea. One of the areas where many members of 805connect express needing help …

As you roll into the last few weeks of the year there will be opportunities to make your meetings matter. Some meetings will be strategic, some recapping the year, some to brainstorm ideas for the New Year and many where the agenda is simply to have fun! Here is an interesting way to think about meetings that will help you …

Who’s doing what with whom? Over a year ago, Jan Campbell of the Santa Barbara Foundation asked this question. Now almost a year later, we have an answer. 805connect is capturing the wealth of talent, the depth of skills and the rich diversity of industry experience in our region. For the past 12 weeks this newsletter has focused on highlighting …

When was the last time you looked at why your company or organization exists? Peter Diamandes of Singularity University says that you need a massively transformational purpose that keeps you focused and attracts talent and clients. Marketing professionals will tell you that people formulate their own opinions about your brand based on their experience as well as your messaging. So it’s …

Remember the saying, “Give someone a fish and you feed them for a day, teach them to fish and you feed them for a lifetime. Well, it’s time to teach you how to fish.” This week 805connect fielded a few questions from people who were looking for help in locating people with specific skillsets. They’d asked if there was an …

Milestones are meant to be broken. Seth Godin wrote recently about ‘magical thinking’ and how, as entrepreneurs and business owners, there’s a tendency to think that ‘magically’ customers will appear and your business will grow dramatically. There’s no magic says Seth, just hard work and paying attention to the details.