Tomorrow's meeting, group structure, and helping out in Nevada City

[Rob]

Hi all,

I've been falling farther and farther behind on a few things,
including Solopreneurs, and so I find that tomorrow is the first
Wednesday of the month and we should be getting together. Ariana
suggested sharing some information on contracts, but I'd like to have
an actual authority with us for a meeting like that. I haven't had
time to find someone for that.

BUT! We have a number of new folks, and there have been a few
questions about exactly what the club is about, and what it's for, and
so forth. So, what I'd like to propose is a 2p.m. meet-up tomorrow at
Broad Street Bistro in Nevada City, for 10 to 15 minutes of
introductions with the rest of the time spent establishing some club
guidelines and purpose, and a charter. What do you want from this
club? How would you like to see it structured? etc.

If you can't make tomorrow's meeting, then I'll be posting the meeting
notes to the mailing list directly afterward. Feel free to respond
on-list.

At the beginning of next week, I'll turn the notes and discussion into
a club charter.

Secondly, our mailing list membership continues to grow steadily, but
I've only ever heard from a fraction of the subscribers. While it's
gratifying to see this many names on the mailing list, I'd rather have
a few active participants instead of a large number of "lurkers". So,
at some point over the next couple of months, I'm probably going to
start weeding out any subscribers that we've never met or heard from.
It would be great if I didn't have to remove anyone, so speak up! :-)

Third, our club's big project so far has been to establish a solid
co-working environment in Nevada City. I think Robert Trent at
Velocity 7 has pretty much taken that over; I know he's working hard
on the next steps. I've been renting space in his office for over a
month now and it's been working out great. If you're interested in
affordable, local shared office space in Nevada City, speak up
on-list.

And finally: if you live or work in Nevada City, and you are in your
20s or 30s, and you would like to have some influence on Nevada City
events and business, please contact me privately. I need a diverse
group of Nevada City 20s-30s for a new project, including some folks
that know how to get a clean, lively party going.

Thanks,

- R.

--
[__ Robert Sheldon
[__ Founder, No Problem
[__ Founder, Nevada County Solopreneurs
[__ Founding Board of Directors, 2007, Nevada County Rotaract
[__ Information technology support and services
[__ Software and web design and development
[__ Community organization
[__ (530) 575-0278
[__ "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." -- Mahatma Gandhi

[Brooke Graham]

Hi, Rob ~ Even though I don't seem to be able to make it to the meetings
often, I'd like to continue to be on the mailing list.

Brooke Graham

[Rob]

On Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 11:12 AM, Brooke Graham
<wellb...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> Hi, Rob ~ Even though I don't seem to be able to make it to the meetings
> often, I'd like to continue to be on the mailing list.

OK Brooke, thanks!

[Kady Guyton]

I have to be in Roseville all day tomorrow, but please put me on the Clean, Lively Party Committee.

I'd also like to make the suggestion that some of the meetings be held in the evenings to work around our schedules. I'm happy to make my house (scene of the Holiday Nosh) available. We can go potluck or everyone can kick in some cash and I can show off what I do.

Have fun tomorrow!

 - Kady
Chef/Owner KDGCooks

[Rob]

On Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 11:27 AM, Kady Guyton <kady....@gmail.com> wrote:
> I have to be in Roseville all day tomorrow, but please put me on the Clean,
> Lively Party Committee.

[ Responded privately ]

> I'd also like to make the suggestion that some of the meetings be held in
> the evenings to work around our schedules. I'm happy to make my house (scene
> of the Holiday Nosh) available. We can go potluck or everyone can kick in
> some cash and I can show off what I do.

I'm down with evening get-togethers. Anybody's free to propose an
excuse for a meet-up; I'd be willing to show up for a potluck social
or BBQ or something. Just need a time and day!

[Oxbow Summer Art Camp]

Keep me on the list as well. I'm headed out of town for a week
tomorrow AM but am still interested in the group.

Barbara

[Lance M. Brown]

Rob,

I'd like to suggest that weeding out "lurkers" may not be the best idea. I
ran an online discussion site for many years, and lurkers comprise the vast
majority of online forum participants online, usually at a ratio of like
10:1 over so-called "participants". Not everyone likes to talk--and we in
this group are dealing with people who all have at least a little bit of
"loner" in them, are we not?--but I have a hard time seeing why that means
they shouldn't be able to share in the discussions and opportunities that
pass through this group. Also, many lurkers are really just low-volume
participants in disguise, and the occasional input from someone who has
finally decided they have something worth posting is often worth waiting a
few weeks or months to hear.

And some people will just never post to an online forum or e-mail list,
ever. But they still want to be involved in the discussion, or in the
group. It's hard for me to figure the downside of allowing them to do so.
Maybe there's some factor I'm not thinking of.

Be well, be free,
Lance

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rob [mailto:robsh...@gmail.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 11:08 AM
> To: nc-solo...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: [NC-Solopreneurs] Tomorrow's meeting, group structure, and
> helping out in Nevada City
>
>
>

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[Rob]

On Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 11:32 AM, Lance M. Brown <la...@lancebrown.org> wrote:
>
> Rob,
>
> I'd like to suggest that weeding out "lurkers" may not be the best idea. I
> ran an online discussion site for many years, and lurkers comprise the vast
> majority of online forum participants online, usually at a ratio of like
> 10:1 over so-called "participants". Not everyone likes to talk--and we in
> this group are dealing with people who all have at least a little bit of
> "loner" in them, are we not?--but I have a hard time seeing why that means
> they shouldn't be able to share in the discussions and opportunities that
> pass through this group. Also, many lurkers are really just low-volume
> participants in disguise, and the occasional input from someone who has
> finally decided they have something worth posting is often worth waiting a
> few weeks or months to hear.
>
> And some people will just never post to an online forum or e-mail list,
> ever. But they still want to be involved in the discussion, or in the
> group. It's hard for me to figure the downside of allowing them to do so.
> Maybe there's some factor I'm not thinking of.

Lance,

Thanks for the input. Those are good points, and I agree with them.
However, there are two challenges that have led me to want to do a
little pruning. First, it's harder to gauge active participation, and
some projects -- both past and future -- will require my being able to
accurately estimate how much interest there will be on some particular
issue. For example, if there were to be a meeting -- that I was not
organizing -- focusing on business issues for solopreneur types, how
many people could I expect to bring? I can kinda guesstimate based on
meeting attendance and other factors, but that's still less useful
than being able to say, "I have X definitely interested, active
people".

Secondly, the activity here has been really really (really) low for a
while. Partly that's my fault, and partly I think this has
inadvertently been structured in a way that doesn't encourage
participation -- which is part of what I hope to address tomorrow. The
mailing list doesn't need to be cluttering up inboxes on a daily
basis, but I think we do need a little more energy to keep this thing
going.

But I'm not a real big fan of exclusivity for this sort of thing.
Really all I need is some little showing of interest -- like Brooke's
and Barbara's -- and I have no problem keeping anyone on the mailing
list. I just don't want half the mailing list to be directing messages
straight to their trash bin. :-)

[Louise Preston]

Hi Rob and all.

I am a lurker, had tonight on my schedule to make it to a meeting, can't
make the daytime one.
Keep me on the list, I will make it someday and meet all of you in person.

Thanks, Louise Preston

--

Louise Preston

Preston Design

http://louisepreston.com/

[Masa]

Hi Rob,

I'd love to attend the meeting, but this is too short a notice for me.
A week's notice would be great.
Thanks,
Masa

[GreenSmith Consulting]

Hey Rob and gang, just finished moving, attending a green biz conference in SF, and getting my life back in order, post move. So I won't be at today's meeting. Interested to see how things get shaped in terms of the group.

Paul Smith: I'm at GreenSmith Consulting and on Twitter
Contact: email | 510 420 0878 or 530 852 7993
IM: aim - greensmithc | skype - soleus333 | GTalk - soleus