Meetup 12/4

Full house! Thanks to the freeze and the post on the West Seattle Blog we had a big meetup on Wednesday 12/4.

Christine started with with a quick mention of our meetup procedures and asked for help promoting the Office Junction in the community. Kerrie suggested shirts or buttons which will be ordered soon. 

Christine recommended checking out the Washington Health Foundation. Not only do they help with selecting the right health care but also with advocating on the patients behalf. And best of all - it's all for free. You can get your personal health advocate and sign up for a one-on-one session. Go to www.whf.org or call 855-WAHEALTH (855-924-3258).

Kerrie shared about her experience editing books and looking for more fiction as well as non-fiction clients. Kerrie also shared her new business cards.

We also talked about National Novel Writing Month, which happened in November. The world needs your novel and how first drafts are meant to be worked over for a long time and serve more as therapy sometimes not to be read by everyone else. 

Carl shared some information about his sales business and an exciting new product line for floor protection he imports from Switzerland and how his 12 week old baby slept 7 hours and has head-control now.

Tamara visited us for her first day. She is part of a small consulting firm offering training for electric utility technicians. She designs training programs and trains trainers. She is interested in learning more about online training, utilizing video and multimedia.

Stefan still designs and builds houses and needs to decide on growing his business further or staying put as well as picking his priorities.

Clark announced to be a movie producer because it sounds cool ;-) but changed to doing everything related to running, his big passion. He is doing events, retail and wanted advice on how to get white cat hair of his fleece. As he is new to West Seattle he is still exploring the neighborhood. Eric convinced him to push beyond Admiral for the first time. 

Eric, 'Clark's newly appointed room mate', is a screen writer and actor and a Conde Nast Travel mediator. He shared how well Southwest, Jet Blue and Alaska are doing their job as the top airlines in customer service.  

He is also involved in the Office Junction video project, with Spenser and Kelly.
We announced we'll need extras on Saturday afternoon from 2 to 4 pm.

Ryan runs a Marketing Agency, Zeitgeist/33 and advises small and medium businesses. He has a 3-in-3 promotion right now, helping with 3 things ideas in 3 weeks. He will also lead the upcoming, free Krypton workshop about Happiness at the Office Junction. 

Talking about 'Happiness', Carl shared what he learnt from reading 'The Happiness Advantage'. Christine recommended everyone to watch 'Happy', the documentary (available on Netflix) to find out how only a small percentage of your personal happiness is preset and you are responsible for your own happiness by seeking the right fit, people, to experience 'flow' and do more activities that make you happy. Karin shared the 4 questions she tries to answer every night for herself:
Where did I feel deeply loved today?
What surprised me today?
What challenged me today?
What inspired me today?
Focusing on those things that make you happy lead to a happier life. Duh! ;-) 

Quinn visited for the first time and is working in Retail, wants to do more business strategy work and is interested in getting inspiration from other independent professionals. She is interested in the travel industry and wanted to talk more about ideas with Eric. 

Karin is a freshly retired parents educator, new to Seattle, just finished writing a book about 'Family Traditions" and now is in editing stage and looking for a publisher. She works on creating her new daily routines and adding more structure to her day. We recommended her to talk with our member Deborah, a retirement consultant, specialized on how to spent the time wisely and fulfilling. Karin feels inspired by real life connections and shared her irritation by all the work that goes into putting up the perfect Thanksgiving.

Rene is the author of 48 books (and counting). Last time we brainstormed about good giveaways for her book talks. She gave out Origami Dragons and stress balls in the past and still looks for other great items related to her paranormal romance genre. She also just launched her new website amberkellbooks.com.

Liz came for the first time after reading about it on the West Seattle Blog in the morning and just moved back to Seattle. She is an independent consultant for international aid agencies. She works from home when not travelling and is looking for to more structure and social interaction.

We talked about the Seattle Freeze and a recent article about The Seattle NO and how Seattleites have a hard time saying 'No'. The 'Seattle Freeze' is perceived differently depending on were you come from. Some shared their experience with the east coast being even more cold and direct. But, let's be assured, Seattle, for Germans the 'Seattle Freeze' feels still quite warm. :-)