After barely a week short of a year since I completed udergrad, I’ve landed myself the ever-exciting position of Events & Community Manager for Co-Merge. Now, it seems only fitting that I work this job—an event enticed me to 330 A Street for the first time last September, and it’s the events that kept me coming back.

My advice? Make the most of your membership by attending events at Co-Merge. The space attracts a variety of groups, so check out our calendar and find the events that interest you. As a Co-Merge member, you’ll often receive exlusive registration rates and you’ll always experience preferential treatment.

Starting tomorrow, we have two weekend-long events, then Disruptive Thinkers are kicking off next week with Founder and Host of EntrepreneurOnFire.com, John Lee Dumas. The Workplace Learning & Performance Group will be following up with a lesson in Content Marketing for SEO, with admission at $25 for the general public and free for our members. As the week draws to a close, Justin Gittelman will be leading Expert Hours and teaching attendees to streamline sales from lead to close.

Are there specific events or speakers you’d like to see more of at Co-Merge? Email me or find me at the front desk.

The post Events! Events! Events at Co-Merge! appeared first on Co-Merge.

Photo Credit: Bobcatnorth on Flickr

We live in a business world where rivalries exist and the competition is to be frowned upon, but there are billions of people in the world. There’s plenty of business to go around for everybody! What about forging alliances with “the competition” to create something even better? In this guest post, Erin Schwartz shares the steps to take to make this happen…

They say there are two ways to see the world: as though everyone you meet is an enemy or as though everyone you meet is a friend. When you’re a business owner, it’s easy to feel a sense of rivalry with other businesses in your field. But what if you could turn that negative energy into something positive for your business? What if you could turn that business into an ally instead of seeing the other guy as a threat?

Today’s economy demands creative thinking and problem-solving strategies. With the recent abundance of entrepreneurs, it’s helpful for small business owners to work together for the benefit of all. Here are some suggestions.

Before Addressing the Competition

Carve out your company’s niche.

This sounds like a no-brainer, but you should be able to explain to a competing business exactly what you do, and the more specific you are, the better. Simply put, decide on your company’s goals before sharing them with someone outside the company.

Decide who the competition is.

Take the time to narrow down which companies would be most beneficial to work with. Sure, you have a number of competitors, but not all of them are worth the extra effort of forming an alliance.

Addressing the Competition

Gather all the information that you can.

You might mistakenly think that gathering literature and tidbits from your competition comes across as sneaky. But it won’t if you’re open about the fact that you are doing it. Your competitors can then decide whether they want to share information with you or zip up, so to speak. Their response to your research of other businesses in the area should tell you whether to go further in building an alliance. Either they’re open to creative collaboration or you should choose another firm to work with!

Chat at networking functions.

It’s a good idea to establish friendly terms before you go any further with trying to build an alliance. If the owner of the competing company has met you before in the information-gathering phase, try bonding some more at a networking session. Events tailored for businesses are the perfect place to ask questions such as:

• What trends have you noticed in the market?
• How long have you been in the field?
• What other events like this one have you attended?

Address challenges together.

If your business is facing certain challenges, there is a chance your competition faces those same issues. By humbling yourself to other firms and discussing these issues, you will have a better chance of getting business owners to open up about their own trends and challenges.

Decide to collaborate.

Once you’ve gotten friendly with other companies, you can agree to join forces. Note that this may take a bit of time – you might have to repeat the steps of chatting at events and talking about challenges and how to solve them before anything happens. But when your competition realizes that your purpose in joining forces is for both companies – yours and theirs – to benefit and make more money in the long run, you’ll have their attention.

Collaborating With the Competition

Share vendors.

One possible way to share costs and work together that does not deal with your consumers is to consider that you and your competing business are consumers as well. If you use similar vendors, consider how you might share costs.

Work together on advertising.

It’s no secret that it’s expensive to promote and advertise your products and services. If you collaborate with another business, you may be able to share advertising costs. For example, it’s much more expensive for each of you to run a separate ad in the Sunday newspaper than for the two of you to share the cost of a single ad. Remember, getting the word out about both your businesses works better than not getting the word out about either business.

Focus on promoting each other’s specialties.

If Grocery Store A specializes in fresh seafood and Grocery Store B has the best produce in town, why not shop at both and have the perfect dinner menu? As you get to know the company you are working with, you’ll realize the strengths of each business and how to use those strengths to each business’ advantage.

Learning to work with your competition is tougher to accept in theory than in practice. Once you acknowledge that your competition has something to offer your company – and that you have something to offer theirs – you will both reap the benefits and grow a larger client base. And that’s good news for everybody.

Erin Schwartz organizes social media and marketing programs for www.123print.com. She also produces the small business spotlight on the 123print blog.

The post A House Divided Cannot Stand: Learning to Work With Your Competition appeared first on Co-Merge.

If you don’t know Chic CEO, they are a community of female entrepreneurs supported by a platform of smart and relevant how-to information. Their free website provides all of the ground level information and tools that women need to get a business started. If you are thinking about starting a business or are in the process, definitely check out the site.

With over 14,000 female entrepreneurs in their community – they have decided to launch their very own Crowdfunding platform to help female entrepreneurs get the funding they need for their businesses, projects or causes.

What is crowdfunding? Crowdfunding is a way for you to engage your networks (friends, family, social) to pitch in small amounts of money to help you reach your funding goal. Whether you have a business, project or a cause, crowdfunding is a great alternative to getting a loan, selling equity, using credit cards, etc.

Head over to see the current campaigns and how to set up your own crowdfunding campaign!

The post Crowdfunding for YOU! By Chic CEO appeared first on Co-Merge.

Skype has a few limitations in the business environment which may mean it is not the right fit for your business’ video conferencing requirements:

1. Multi-Party Audio / Visual Conference Calling Reliability

Skype does not work well for multi-party calling. This is the #1 complaint I hear from Skype users. Skype works well person-to-person but…click to read more

2. Audio / Visual Integration

Skype is not easy to connect to a meeting room AV system. My clients are often looking to connect a remote desktop user to a video conferencing enabled meeting room. Skype works well for the remote end but…click to read more

3. More Than 2 People in a Meeting Room for Video Conferencing

You should not be using Skype to view several people in a meeting room…click to read more

4. Clear Audio for Multiple People in Audio Conferencing

To properly capture the sound of a room full of people you need Audio equipment to support multiple speakers…click to read more

5. Quality of Audio and Video for Video Conferencing with VIPs

The quality of Skype in the business environment is a concern. The quality of Skype video calls can be unreliable due to poor sound or video. This is may be good enough if you are dealing with internal colleagues, but not for you clients or business partners…click to read more

6. Secure & Confidential Video Conferencing

Skype is NOT as secure as other software for video conferencing solutions…click to read more

The post Reasons Skype Might Not Be Right Your Business Video Conferencing Needs appeared first on Co-Merge.

The MARCC Academy has been founded to provide continued professional development through education for undergraduate students, graduates, and entry-level professionals in the media arts and creative communication industries (MARCC).

The MARCC  Academy is “a great place to learn how to make your mark“ and Robert, Michael, Tom, and I are excited to host these events. (McKenzie is too!) To learn more about the academy’s upcoming open house and all weekly workshops and monthly seminars, visit www.TheMARCCAcademy.com or reach out to Dr. D!

The post You Are Invited To Attend The MARCC Academy Grand Opening! appeared first on Co-Merge.

After a year working for himself, Jonnie Hallman, founder of Destroy Today, LLC, reflects on the lessons learned from his successes and failures. Number three on his list? Join a coworking space.

“Inspiration is everywhere in a co-working space. Seeing others work hard inspires me to work harder. Watching others ship amazing products makes me want to do nothing but the same.”

After working out of Studiomates in New York, he describes the benefits of separating his time at home from his professional space.

“When at Studiomates, I’m in work mode. I put on my headphones and go full speed ahead. My desk does not sit directly next to my comfortable bed, nor do my video games feed my procrastination. At the end of the day, I ride the subway home and my mental gears shift. I feel a sense of relaxation that only home can provide. This separation keeps me sane.”

Read more of Hallman’s experience at a coworking space and check out the rest of the lessons he learned. 

The post Lessons Learned Working on My Own: Join a CoWorking Space appeared first on Co-Merge.

Co-Merge member, Matt Staub, has explained some great ways students can save money and tips on filing their own tax returns. As a recent grad up to my eyeballs in student loan debt, I found his blog post pretty helpful.

Matt says:

“With the high cost of tuition, students are always trying to find ways to save money. One way for students to cut corners is to prepare their own taxes. While it may seem like a great way to save a couple hundred dollars in tax preparation fees, it’s possible these same students are leaving thousands of dollars on the table.”

Read More Tax Tips for Students Self-Filing Returns

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I’m not saying you should go around kissing and hugging every customer, but how about a good ole fashioned handshake or a handwritten thank you card?

A few years ago I wrote about five unique ways to show love for customers, one of which is to show unconditional love to your all customers. Yes, ALL customers – even those ones that get on your last nerve. They’re there for a reason, although you may not know exactly why yet! Just know that there are probably some profound lessons to be learned about yourself and how you want to go about doing business in the future.

An indirect way of showing love to your customer is to simply have love and passion for what you do. You started your business because you wanted to help people, right? So put love and care in the product or service you created. Customers can sense that passion and will not just appreciate what you have to offer, they’ll appreciate you too.

Also, let’s not forget that your employees are internal customers that require some TLC as well.

When all is said and done, all your customers want and need is a little love. Give them that and you’ll likely have a customer for life…

The post The One Thing Your Customers Want appeared first on Co-Merge.

When you first get into freelancing you’re regaled with horror stories from colleagues, friends, and random websites. They tell you how one time this one client ran off with thousands of dollars or this other time when a client claimed their work was unusable only to see it show up, unchanged, on the client’s website a few months later. These stories can really scare you off of freelance work.

The truth of the matter is, these stories are prevalent because deadbeat clients do pop up from time to time. It may not be as prevalent as it seems, but the threat is out there. One day, you will run into someone who refuses to pay or simply disappears when it’s time to send a payment.

That’s why it’s important to protect yourself. However, you may not know exactly what to do since you’re new at the game. Here are a few tips to get you started.

Trust Your Gut

Have you gotten that funny feeling in your tummy when talking to certain potential clients? There’s no real evidence you should distrust this person, but way back in the corner of your mind something is yelling at you to walk away?

Trusting your gut can really go a long way in keeping you safe from getting ripped off. Often freelancers (even experienced ones) will take a job even though their gut says to say no because it’s hard to turn down work when you need it.

However, if you get ripped off, you’re still out of the money either way. At least if you say “no” to a worrisome client you have time to go look for a gig that will actually pay.

Armor Up with a Contract

Contracts can be a pain as they’re often a lot of work. However, there’s no better way to protect both parties from getting screwed on a freelance gig.

Yes, both parties, as occasionally the client gets the raw end of a deal. With a carefully worded and detailed contract, both freelancer and client know what the long and short of the deal is. This includes what the project entails, milestone dates, and how much money is due to be paid upon completion of the project.

Not only does this prevent payment problems, it also protects you from the client claiming you didn’t fulfill the project guidelines. If it’s all in writing, all you have to do is point to the description and show how you did what they asked.

Ask for a Deposit

If you really want to seal the deal on a freelance gig, make sure to get a deposit. One of the best things about a deposit is that you can set the amount due to how you feel about the client. If it feels a little sketchy and you still want to go for it, set a higher deposit so you still got some money out of the deal.

If the client has to pay some up front, they will be more hesitant to take off. If they do, well, you already got some money, so at least it wasn’t a total loss!

We’ve all had a disappearing client or two. Share your story in the comments!

The post How Not to Get Screwed as a New Freelancer appeared first on Co-Merge.

Here are a few stand-out statistics from the article to pay attention to:

• 71% report a boost in creativity since joining a coworking space
• 62% said their standard of work had improved in a coworking space
• Almost 90% of coworkers report an increase in self-confidence
• 70% of coworkers feel healthier than they did working in a traditional office

An article over at Lifehacker also posted similar statistics.  The survey came from a small sample size, but we don’t doubt that most people feel this way.

Many of our members here at CoMerge have said that one of best things about coworking is the synergy of working with others in an open, supportive environment as opposed to being cooped up in a box or stuck in a rut at home in their pajamas.

When you’re productive, confident, and feel connected to like-minded people, how could you not be happy and less stressed out?  How could you not be more creative and inspired when you have the option to work outdoors on a rooftop in a beautiful city like San Diego…

Are you ready to join our coworking community? Click here to sign up now!

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