Coworking Meetup on 4/17

Members attending Eric, Renee, Carl, Christine, Betsy, Deborah and one guest, Tommy. After a round of introduction Betsy declared Tommy as "Business Hoarder". He buys businesses but does not sell, so technically 'hoards' them. A new business approach.

We talked about buying companies instead of starting businesses. Craigslist supposed to work to find local businesses on sale. So it's not only good to buy used furniture. Carl even found his wife on Craigslist. Yeah, Craigslist.

Carl shared some perks of the super rich. He sells high end wooden floors and let us dream about nice views and fancy interior designs.

Renee, a male-male romance writer reported 90 % of her readers are woman. Unexpected and interesting.

Deborah explained her services as retirment consultant and we all tried to define 'retirement'. 

Betsy shared some insights about her very interesting new project building an online course to teach High School students about financial responsibility. We discussed the future of College education for the next 5, 10 to 15 years. Most likely our kids will not attend College as we know it. 

Eric told us about his contract work as travel mediator and his passion for screen writing and acting.

Christine shared her ideas about an children e book series with location based information on specific topics and an app to activate location based learning.

We discussed the pros and cons of self-employment vs. employment. Employment often offers more resources but is also more restricted, therefore less creative opportunities. Self-employment is better for personal fulfillment but we don't always feel as accomplished with no one padding our back or giving us a raise. Another downside is the need to constantly market yourself which can be tiring and is often not the favorite thing of more introverted personalities and if you are passionate to work on your product and less on acquisition. 

Most of us could need some freelance marketers on our site to find new customers for our outstanding services and products. If you offer Communication and Marketing Services for small business owners consider joining us for a Meetup to make some contacts.

Tommy mentioned a theory about Walt Disney. In his creative process he played three distinct roles, each of which involved a particular type of thinking and action:
The Dreamer - the visionary who dreamed up ideas for films and business ventures.
The Realist - the pragmatic producer who made things happen.
The Critic - the eagle-eyed evaluator who refined what the Dreamer and Realist produced. As a sole business owner you have to be able to manage all 3 or build a team to balance these roles successfully.

We talked about Roth IRA vs. SEP (Self-Employment Pension). 

Betsy mentioned Udemy.com for online education.

As always, we talked a little about Tim Ferriss and how hard it can be to outsource work. Tommy mentioned not to respond to emails as a way to manage his time. If it's really important the other person will pick up the phone and call. Also, emails being less efficient for negotiation missing out on important facial expressions and body language. Betsy brought up another read The E-Myth Revisited about starting businesses and a quote about 'work at your business not in your business'.


We closed our Meetup on a conversation about business demands in West Seattle. With the real estate landscape changing fast over the last couple of months and more units and new people coming to West Seattle, Carl observed a high demand in private vacation homes in West Seattle. 

We brainstormed about a beer garden for West Seattle - with Tommy negotiating the space, Carl importing our tables and Christine managing - offering Microbrew Tasting, Schnitzel Buns and a great outdoor setting.

We covered a lot of topics and learnt a lot from each other. 

Our next Coworking Meetup is on May 1st from 12 to 1 pm. Come join us. It's free and fun.

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