Part 4 of How to Win Friends and Influence People teaches one how to change someone's ways without offending them or creating resentment. Being in bands, I have found myself in many situations where these techniques are helpful. Oftentimes, I will start playing music with someone just for fun. If it starts becoming serious, I usually try to improve the band with other people. In the case of one of my most recent bands, I had been playing music with my friend who wasn't all that good at guitar. To be fair, I was playing drums which I wasn't exactly an expert at, but the whole thing was just for fun. However, we started getting asked to play a lot of shows and I wanted the band to become more serious. I suggested to my friend that we find another guitarist so he could become full time singer, and emphasized that I thought his lyrics really made the band. He saw absolutely no problem with that and we found another guitarist. This comes from suggestion 9 of Part 4: Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Revised: Financing Sources
When looking for an appropriate financier for my start up company, I came across the Chesapeake Emerging Opportunities Club. From their website: "The Club was formed for accredited investors and institutions in the Central Maryland area who are seeking active involvement in the investment decision process and in portfolio companies." Normally, I feel I would not seek an angel investor, but this club includes investors from all different backgrounds, including food services, which is closely related to my business.
Here is the contact information I found:
Tara Greenbaum
443-367-0101
tarag@ecapitalllc.com
office:
9256 Bendix Road
Suite 300
Columbia, MD 21045
443-367-0101
The Chesapeake Emerging Opportunities Club has only invested in 6 companies to date, mostly high tech firms. Three they have invested in are: Cylex, Inc., Service Bench, Inc., and Naviscan.
Another company I found was Entertainment Concepts Investors, Inc., the restaurant and club division of the Cordish companies. They are located at:
601 East Pratt St., 6th Floor
Baltimore, MD 21202
410-752-5444
David S. Cordish, Chairman
Here is the contact information I found:
Tara Greenbaum
443-367-0101
tarag@ecapitalllc.com
office:
9256 Bendix Road
Suite 300
Columbia, MD 21045
443-367-0101
The Chesapeake Emerging Opportunities Club has only invested in 6 companies to date, mostly high tech firms. Three they have invested in are: Cylex, Inc., Service Bench, Inc., and Naviscan.
Another company I found was Entertainment Concepts Investors, Inc., the restaurant and club division of the Cordish companies. They are located at:
601 East Pratt St., 6th Floor
Baltimore, MD 21202
410-752-5444
David S. Cordish, Chairman
Monday, March 23, 2009
Revised First Year Budget
This assignment can be found here.
Note: The Station North Arts District offers special Tax incentives to businesses promoting the arts such as:
Note: The Station North Arts District offers special Tax incentives to businesses promoting the arts such as:
(1) a property tax credit on qualifying renovations;
(2) a waiver of the admissions & amusement tax; and
(3) an income tax credit for most artistic work generating revenue in the District.
Since my business is one promoting the arts I am assuming that I would receive some of these benefits.
Information on this can be found here
Secret of Socrates
I still find it odd to implement this newest tip from How to Win Friends and Influence People. No matter what situation I think to use it in I still feel like a phony salesman. Either way, I attempted to implement it this past week with some contractors who were working on my house. I was in the situation where the work they were doing was preventing me from clearing the area they would be working on next. Since I knew that the work they were on was the last for the day and I was just making it harder for them to get done, I sensed an opportunity to use the "Secret of Socrates." First I asked them if they would like to leave early. They of course nodded their heads, said "yeah," etc. Then I apologized for getting in their way and asked if they could be a huge help to me. They said sure and with their help the job was quickly taken care of.
**Journalist Interaction
After receiving a friendly response back from the Journalist I contacted, I requested him to be a friend of mine on facebook. I also sent him a message asking if he'd have an article in the next Retriever.
**Journalist Interaction
After receiving a friendly response back from the Journalist I contacted, I requested him to be a friend of mine on facebook. I also sent him a message asking if he'd have an article in the next Retriever.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Social Interactions 3
1)My first Social Interaction took place at the Satyr Hill Cue Club in Loch Raven. I came in on Wednesday around noon with my friend Nick. The place was empty except for us and it had been a while since either of us had been there. I remembered that the guy at the guy at the desk liked to go by "Doc," so as we were setting up our first game, I called over to him and asked how he was doing. I think he was very glad someone showed an interest in him, because he ended up coming over and talking to us for the entire time we were there. He offered us some tips and even gave us some food.
2)Another interaction took place with Erica, a TA for my Science class on Friday. She had marked me as getting a zero for not turning in an assignment online, although I knew I had done it. Assuming it was a simple mistake on her part, I went up to after class, spoke to her by name, asked her how she was doing, and then asked if she could check my assignment. She saw that my assignment had been posted and she quickly changed my grade. I thanked her and I was on my way.
3)On Thursday, I babysat my sister's children. I came to the conclusion they all have ADD and calling them by name doesn't help. They like it when I smile though. Afterward, I stopped at Subway and ordered a chicken teriyaki sub. I was the only customer in the store and the employee looked like she was about to fall asleep. I asked her if it had been this slow the entire time. She mumbled a few things and didn't make much of an attempt to look at me. I tried to engage her in atleast some conversation but i t was hopeless.
4)On Saturday, My sister and I went to see her husband's band(The Snallygasters) play at the Hexagon in the Station North Arts District in Baltimore. Being in a band myself, I have found that, no matter what type of band or how good they are, it never hurts to make connections. So, I made an attempt to talk to everyone in his band. It made the situation easier since my Brother-in-law was around them most of the time. I got to know each of their names and asked about bands they were in. Eventually the subject was brought up that I was in bands and they asked to me tell them when I had a show coming up.
5)The Station North Arts District is a place I have often suggested as somewhere I'd like to start a business, so I took the opportunity to talk to the person working at the front. I had actually just been at New York Fried Chicken across the street and still had some food. I had been curious about collard greens so I got some and realized I didn't like them very much. I offered them to the guy(Dan) at the front and he was rather excited about them. I started talking to him while he was eating my food about how business has been. He told me that after a lot of struggles with legal issues and liquor licenses, the venue become a non-profit, volunteer-based venue. It was a little worrisome for me but I feel it is a good step to get to know other businesses in the area.
6)I stopped in Bestbuy during the week as I was looking for extra memory for my phone. I asked a salesman, Joe, for some help. Without asking, he told me he had the new Blackberry Storm. I figured off the bat this guy was either an innovator or early adopter. He knew right away what type of memory would fit into my phone and offered to help me with it. I asked him some question about what applications he downloaded and he showed me some cool ones which I took advantage of, namely Google Maps.
7)My girlfriend and I were invited to dinner with her friend, Bethany, and her boyfriend. I had already met Bethany, but I wanted to make a good impression on her boyfriend, Tim. I asked him a few questions and quickly found out he was a big Orioles fan, as am I, so we made plans to go to some games this summer.
8)Every other friday, my parents have Merry Maids come to their house. I find them rather pointless so I usually just ignore them if I'm around when they are. However, I started talking to them after hearing them complain about their boss. I just asked them a few questions about their job and joked around with them a little. Before they left, I made sure to get their names, Lauren and Sarah, then told them I hoped to see them next time.
9)My friend Nick just came back from California to visit, so I hadn't seen any of his family either. I drove to his mom's house to see him but he wasn't there when I arrived. I talked to his mom for a little while to catch up on how things had been going for her. I referred to her as Ms. Ybarra.
10)At work this past Saturday, my boss, Richard, appeared to be having a rough day. I asked him how it was going and he told me that there was just a lot of work and he wanted to leave because he was supposed to take his family out to dinner. I was just scheduled to work at the front of the store, but I offered to do the last oil change so he could go home. He was a little surprised but took me up on my offer with a big smile and then took off.
Retriever Writer Interaction:
I contacted Michael Baldwin, who writes sometimes for the opinion section of the Retriever. I genuinely find his articles amusing, so I sent him an email telling him how much I liked them and asked about his major and what he does. I was surprised to find out he's actually ex-navy and an engineering major.
2)Another interaction took place with Erica, a TA for my Science class on Friday. She had marked me as getting a zero for not turning in an assignment online, although I knew I had done it. Assuming it was a simple mistake on her part, I went up to after class, spoke to her by name, asked her how she was doing, and then asked if she could check my assignment. She saw that my assignment had been posted and she quickly changed my grade. I thanked her and I was on my way.
3)On Thursday, I babysat my sister's children. I came to the conclusion they all have ADD and calling them by name doesn't help. They like it when I smile though. Afterward, I stopped at Subway and ordered a chicken teriyaki sub. I was the only customer in the store and the employee looked like she was about to fall asleep. I asked her if it had been this slow the entire time. She mumbled a few things and didn't make much of an attempt to look at me. I tried to engage her in atleast some conversation but i t was hopeless.
4)On Saturday, My sister and I went to see her husband's band(The Snallygasters) play at the Hexagon in the Station North Arts District in Baltimore. Being in a band myself, I have found that, no matter what type of band or how good they are, it never hurts to make connections. So, I made an attempt to talk to everyone in his band. It made the situation easier since my Brother-in-law was around them most of the time. I got to know each of their names and asked about bands they were in. Eventually the subject was brought up that I was in bands and they asked to me tell them when I had a show coming up.
5)The Station North Arts District is a place I have often suggested as somewhere I'd like to start a business, so I took the opportunity to talk to the person working at the front. I had actually just been at New York Fried Chicken across the street and still had some food. I had been curious about collard greens so I got some and realized I didn't like them very much. I offered them to the guy(Dan) at the front and he was rather excited about them. I started talking to him while he was eating my food about how business has been. He told me that after a lot of struggles with legal issues and liquor licenses, the venue become a non-profit, volunteer-based venue. It was a little worrisome for me but I feel it is a good step to get to know other businesses in the area.
6)I stopped in Bestbuy during the week as I was looking for extra memory for my phone. I asked a salesman, Joe, for some help. Without asking, he told me he had the new Blackberry Storm. I figured off the bat this guy was either an innovator or early adopter. He knew right away what type of memory would fit into my phone and offered to help me with it. I asked him some question about what applications he downloaded and he showed me some cool ones which I took advantage of, namely Google Maps.
7)My girlfriend and I were invited to dinner with her friend, Bethany, and her boyfriend. I had already met Bethany, but I wanted to make a good impression on her boyfriend, Tim. I asked him a few questions and quickly found out he was a big Orioles fan, as am I, so we made plans to go to some games this summer.
8)Every other friday, my parents have Merry Maids come to their house. I find them rather pointless so I usually just ignore them if I'm around when they are. However, I started talking to them after hearing them complain about their boss. I just asked them a few questions about their job and joked around with them a little. Before they left, I made sure to get their names, Lauren and Sarah, then told them I hoped to see them next time.
9)My friend Nick just came back from California to visit, so I hadn't seen any of his family either. I drove to his mom's house to see him but he wasn't there when I arrived. I talked to his mom for a little while to catch up on how things had been going for her. I referred to her as Ms. Ybarra.
10)At work this past Saturday, my boss, Richard, appeared to be having a rough day. I asked him how it was going and he told me that there was just a lot of work and he wanted to leave because he was supposed to take his family out to dinner. I was just scheduled to work at the front of the store, but I offered to do the last oil change so he could go home. He was a little surprised but took me up on my offer with a big smile and then took off.
Retriever Writer Interaction:
I contacted Michael Baldwin, who writes sometimes for the opinion section of the Retriever. I genuinely find his articles amusing, so I sent him an email telling him how much I liked them and asked about his major and what he does. I was surprised to find out he's actually ex-navy and an engineering major.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Additional Traffic
In an attempt to increase traffic to my blog, I placed a link to it on my facebook as well as my myspace (which I haven't actually used in quite a while but maybe some people look there).
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