The Eastside Life Community Blog

In September, the shops at the Bravern will open its doors to business, and bring a whole new type of experiece to  downtown Bellevue.  High fashion, the over the top-top notch David Barton Gym, fabulous Red Door spa and (of course) amazing restaurants.

The great folks at Schnitzer West -Bravern developers- have put together a web site, to keep us aprised of the progress. When you sign up, you will be sent announcements of the different grand opening events, as well as some contest opportunities and special offers.  If you sign up now you might even win dinner at John Howie Steak!  

http://www.thebravern.com/register/registration.html

In the Social Networking for Business Conference last month, I learned that you can import your blog feed into your Facebook page. After trying Simply RSS, I found out you have to update it manually.

In case you haven’t noticed it out since your set it up, here is how you can update it manually. If you would rather switch to an auto update app, I am now trying Social RSS.

So many new things to try, so little time!

“Busy 3-year-olds will love to ‘play’ like their parents do,” LeapFrog wrote about the little personal digital assistant, which will retail for $21.99. According to a report in the New York Daily News, toddlers will soon be able to mimic their obsessively compulsive parents, texting and typing away, just like Mom and Dad on a mini-PDA. The device, unveiled at a toy fair in England, the Text & Learn will be on store shelves this summer in the United States. They may even be as addictive as the real-life devices are for some parents.

I don’t see the benefits for this, not for the child anyway, what will they learn, is this just another mini Game Boy or a mini LeapFrog, another spend for the parent. Where has playing outside gone or making up games using what ever is around like a cardboard box or your Mom’s blankets?? Our children will have no idea how to actually interact with each other except through a digital screen. It’s the loss of this natural imagination that hurts me so. And a future where young people will feel more comfortable interacting with a piece of equipment than with each other. SAD!

Back when I started Eastside Entrepreneurs on October 12, 2008 it just seemed like a good way to enable people to RSVP for some of the events that I was involved in putting on.  Later on, my goal for the group was to compete with the San Francisco Entrepreneur Meetup Group (started by my friend Edith) to beat their first year membership of 1300 members.

Less than 8 months later, Eastside Entrepreneurs has over 1,065 members and we are kicking SF’s butt!  I really think that we need a butt kicking party to celebrate us beating SF’s first year membership.  I’m projecting that we will surpass their first year total in July and want to plan a big party.  Want to be involved, host, or sponsor this celebration?  Please write to:  Joe(at)EastsideEntrepreneurs.com

This is going to be fun!

I never expect any company to behave ethically, any more than I expect the weather to behave ethically. Companies are neither moral or immoral; they are amoral. They are created that way, and the law is there to stop them from devouring everything in their path. That is, if you believe in regulation. If you think regulation should be gotten rid of, you won’t mind then if your tuna on rye sandwich has a strong mercury aftertaste. Because that’s what happens when there is no regulation. It’s because companies don’t care about you. Nothing personal or anything. They’re just here for the money.

The Bad

I hope the people who control irony aren’t watching, but when I look at the imminent demise of GM as we knew it, the very company that invented ‘built-in obsolescence’, I can’t but feel a twinge of Shadenfreude (the German word meaning “joy over another’s misfortune”). I’ll call them The Bad: whoever was running the company (the management team who wanted to cash in their stock options and bonuses as quickly as possible and get the hell out of there before it all collapsed) tried to smash the unions, derail environment regulation and generally grab as much profit out of customers as possible as quickly as possible. To hell with the environment, and millions of tons of metal and plastic are dumped into landfills as the self-destructing cars make their way into our soil after a short life on the road.

The Stupid

Some businesses are simply clueless. They go out of business because their products/services are inferior and they have no effective means of pulling the wool over their customers’ eyes, like some (large famous brand companies) can, because they can neither make good stuff nor sell bad stuff.

The Good

Remember what I said earlier about businesses being amoral? Have you ever noticed how some companies really do offer superior products? I’ve put 120k miles on my ten year-old Acura and all I’ve had to replace (besides wear-out items like tires and oil) was one cabin light bulb. (I’ve probably just jinxed the car by saying that). Using the car daily, I get constant reminders that the manufacturer had my needs in mind when they designed and built that car. Jeeze-Louise, what an old-fashioned concept! It’s like they really cared or something. They don’t know me personally, of course, but a lot of love went into that car before I bought it for $27k in 1999.

Companies deliver quality products and services because it is good for business. Perhaps not in the very short term — because you have to design, build and deliver your products more mindfully — but the medium and long term payoffs are substantial. In fact, they are often critical to survival; sooner or later.

I suppose a marketing person would tell you that this is all about building a brand. That makes sense, at least in a clinical business way, but to me, I think it is about planning for the future but living in the moment. That is, whatever you are doing right now at this very moment is your first priority. Doing that well, purely for its own sake, is what over time makes a behemoth like Toyota. Every Big Thing is made up of lots of Little Things.

So, if you want to be successful in business, start with giving your very best effort to your customer today. The universe will pay you back in spades.

Liam Scanlan is owner of SiteLeads.net and is author of:
Web Traffic Magnet
The 12 Habits of Highly Effective Websites
From Paper to Plastic
Product Trajectory

Top 3 Reasons You Should Sign Up to Golf

1. You do the community good.

2. You will have fun doing good.

3. You have a great excuse to golf at Redmond Ridge, not go to work, and do good.

Green fees, golf cart, bag drop and a buffet lunch are all included.  What more can you ask for in a fundraiser?

Where:    The Golf Club at Redmond Ridge
When:     Friday, June 19th 2009 (7:00am Coffee and Registration, 8:00am Shotgun Start, 1:00pm Awards Ceremony & Luncheon)

Since this was so compelling, I know you’ll want to sign up to golf!

Golf for Good is a fundraiser for the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center (KCSARC). KCSARC provides free sexual assault prevention and recovery services to the community, in both English and Spanish.

I have had the extreme pleasure of making the acquaintance of Sarah and Alan Hartgraves, owners of FLINT Mens grooming on Main Street in Bellevue. Together we have teamed up with GolfTec to create two amazing fathers day packages and a contest! If you are feeling stumped on what to get Dear Old Dad..perhaps we can help! Read my press release below and learn more……be sure to get to the bottom to enter our fabulous contest!

INDULGE DAD WITH THE ULTIMATE MAN PACKAGE

Bellevue, WA – He works hard to pay the bills, help with homework, squish those pesky spiders and numerous other tasks – in fact he is always taking care of everyone else’s needs, so Father’s Day is a time to spoil that special man with the things he loves most.   Seastar Restaurant & Raw Bar has paired with FLINT Men’s Grooming and GolfTec, all located in Bellevue, to offer two gift packages for Dads on June 21st.   Both are for purchase at FLINT Men’s Grooming, 10235 Main Street, Bellevue, and one very lucky family will have the chance to win a definitive dream gift for their own Dad.

For the father who loves to be indulged, the Pampered Pop package begins with 365 days worth of looking and feeling his best using a year long membership in FLINT Founder’s Club.  The ultra-luxurious benefits include:

• 12 Executive Haircuts per year (including two week “in between cut” trims)
• 6  Straight Razor Shaves per year
• 6 Executive Facials per year
• 20% off of all other services and products, priority booking
• FLINT Birthday Bag. 

For significant progress on the green, Dad will receive a 3-month Improvement Plan at GolfTec where he will have:

·         One-hour initial swing evaluation

·         Birdie lesson program

·         3 month In-bay Practice

·         g-Fit Personal Club Fitting Session

·         g-Track 1-year subscription

·         Discounts on services and merchandise. 

To complete the package, the man-of-the house and his family will enjoy a $500 gift certificate for a relaxing dinner together at Chef John Howie’s critically acclaimed, seafood-centric Seastar Restaurant & Raw Bar.  The package is priced at $2,495.

For the Dad always on the go, there’s the Dashing Dad package which features  

·         Straight Razor Shave and Haircut at FLINTS Men’s Grooming

·         90-minute swing evaluation at GolfTec

·         $100 Gift certificate for dinner at Seastar Restaurant & Raw Bar

This package is priced at $365.

One lucky Father can be the winner of the Dashing Dad package plus a basket of L’Oreal’s new line of men’s products just in time for Father’s Day.  To enter, e-mail clalley@seastarrestaurant.com and include name, address, phone number and e-mail address (all contact information must be valid to win).

FLINT Men’s Grooming, 10235 Main Street, Bellevue, Washington  98004

GolfTec, 111 108th Ave, Bellevue, Washington  98004

Seastar Restaurant & Raw Bar,  205 – 108th N.E., Bellevue, Washington 98004

Last week, after a site redesign meeting with Julia May of ClickEats, I met with a very pregnant friend. While waiting to check out, she asked about my project.

I explained that ClickEats is designed to take meal orders online, you can customize each dish, and even label each item with a name. Not to mention the ability to schedule orders in advance.

With a husband and a little one at home, she loved the idea and wished more Eastside restaurants knew about ClickEats so she can stay off her feet as much as possible. Read more…

Members of Eastside Entrepreneurs will be among those at Troy McVicker’s Net Laughing Event tonight at The Parlor Live. From the EE site:  2 of the BEST things EVER in 1 night… Networking & Comedy! This will be the BESTEST Eastside Networking EVENT yet. The Social Networking GIANTS gathering of 3 very succesful Eastside organizations together at 1 time!! Get there at or before 5:30 to network & enjoy happy hour pricing.  More details here

Looking for FREE Help?  Want to mentor a young person?  Are you patient and flexible?

I recently met with a gal from Communities in Schools, based in Kent.  CIS is looking to partner with businesses for their high school internship program.  The students are juniors and seniors and each student works around 20-100 hours in exchange for experience, etc.  It sounded like they are open to a variety of different jobs that businesses may have.

The CIS program is for ‘at-risk’ kids where traditional schools had not worked for the student.  I think a good business fit is one where the business is located close to Kent or the work can be done virtually, is flexible with time,  can give some mentorship to the student, and can work with students to give them starting work experience.

If you are interested in this program, you can call Ginger at 253-373-6939, or email her at Gcolamussi “at” ciskent “dot” org.  If you could also let me know how things go, that would be awsome!