(This happened Friday at 3pm outside of the AIM Mail Center. I was not involved in the accident)
Headed to pay bills in the AIM Mail Center, Rose Willis, 22, was pre-occupied worrying about how to split her room mates rent. After judging the distance of a car in front of her and turning on her blinker, she turned into the Safeway parking lot easing on her breaks.
"I thought I had enough room to turn, but the cop says I was flying. I've turned this corner a bazillion times," Willis said. Willis is a waitress that lives in Lacey. After taking a deep breath, tears come to her eyes realizing what happened.
Kory Pearce of the Olympia Police Department said that the vehicle that spun was heading Southbound on Cooper Rd in the 400 block. The other driver was heading Northbound on Cooper and clipped the South bound driver causing her to spin.
"The North bound vehicle had the right away," Pearce said. Firemen at the scene used the jaws of life to remove the driver side door and remove the driver. The driver suffered minor bumps and bruises and put on a stretcher that went into the ambulance. The female driver who was injured is a newer driver who is just 18 years old. Witnesses report that the South bound driver was driving at an accelerated speed.
The first on the scene was the state trooper heading home off duty. He was obligated to stop however. The rest of the police and ambulance were called by dispatch.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Northwest Business Venues
The idea of a business venue or shared office space has been replicated around the country in many different ways. However, there are none quite like The Biz Venue, a whole new work environment soon to open in West Olympia, a suburb of Seattle.
This will be a work community that networks together on a daily basis to assist each other and their small business in many facets. The goal of Visionary in Chief, Russ Alman, is to help small businesses realize the benefits they deserve to make their businesses thrive and prosper.
The Biz Venue offers marketing through social media, printing, "anchor" businesses that can help your small business, and a network of professionals who are plugged into the online business venue.
There are other shared office concepts in the Pacific Northwest. In Redmond, WA, there is a shared office space called thinkspace,which is a community of entrepreneurs, high-tech star tups, non-profits, and small businesses. They offer the usual private office, desk and chairs, internet access, coffee, fully furnished lobby and conference rooms. However, they charge $200 per month for two days a week in your own private office.
Another local business venue that is in Tacoma, Suite133, shares an office with telecommuters and "anyone that craves the creative energy from working alongside other people". They offer natural light, wood floors, and a loft-style interior in a historic building. Derek Young is one of the co-founders of Suite133, who originally built the website Exit133.com which is a Tacoma forum and blog about Real Estate, Politics, the Arts and Urban Development.
In old town and downtown Portland, OR, are NedSpace locations. NedSpace holds true to the Portland culture by offering bike parking for its members who are technology savvy and environmentally friendly. One company that uses NedSpace is a water delivery company that delivers 5 gallons of water to local offices via bike. Their tagline is, "Drink the change you want to see in the world". An online marketing consultant, web and iPhone application developer, a web designer and graphic designer also occupy the brick building, making NedSpace a great place for a small business to find help to achieve an online presence.
Sharing the similar interest is The Biz Venue that provides a number of unique products and services to create a small business ecosystem designed to catalyze the growth of small businesses. With a bookkeeping firm, a computer support company and a marketing agency, any small business that works in The Biz Venue will undoubtedly enhance their business. At an affordable rate, The Biz Venue not only offers meeting space, work space, a coffee shop and presentation room among other things, but also a hand up in business services that large corporations take advantage of having.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Goats, Wine and Small business
On a cloudy Tuesday morning in Lacey are five professional business people bright eyed, coffee in hand, ready to learn. They have come to Classic Winemakers where the strong aroma of the beginning stages of grapes being fermented, hangs in the air.
After introducing themselves, they sat quietly listening to a webinar telecast from Fran Tarkenton. You may recognize that name and associate with his NFL career, but more recently he has been striving to help small businesses become successful through gosmallbiz.com
Today, he talked about a small business in Georgia that differentiates itself by having goats on it’s roof. Fran was excited about this small business and told us that it is all about differentiating your business in the market place. Because that is what keeps people coming into your business and coming back after they leave.
Goats on The Roof sells other things besides a roadside attraction, they also sell Amish made products, furniture, jams, jellies, soups and stews, funny t-shirts, gifts and gags. The business itself is family friendly and had about 3,000 people walk into their store this weekend.
Fran also told us that entrepreneurs work nine days a week because they are immersed in their business and the customer experience. That is true and that is because I think entrepreneurs know that nobody can make it happen but themselves.
Picture taken from Goats-on-The-Roof.com
What a great advice to start my day. Thanks for the tips and advice Fran and shout out to Classic Winemakers and their beautiful store.
After introducing themselves, they sat quietly listening to a webinar telecast from Fran Tarkenton. You may recognize that name and associate with his NFL career, but more recently he has been striving to help small businesses become successful through gosmallbiz.com
Today, he talked about a small business in Georgia that differentiates itself by having goats on it’s roof. Fran was excited about this small business and told us that it is all about differentiating your business in the market place. Because that is what keeps people coming into your business and coming back after they leave.
Goats on The Roof sells other things besides a roadside attraction, they also sell Amish made products, furniture, jams, jellies, soups and stews, funny t-shirts, gifts and gags. The business itself is family friendly and had about 3,000 people walk into their store this weekend.
Fran also told us that entrepreneurs work nine days a week because they are immersed in their business and the customer experience. That is true and that is because I think entrepreneurs know that nobody can make it happen but themselves.
Picture taken from Goats-on-The-Roof.com
What a great advice to start my day. Thanks for the tips and advice Fran and shout out to Classic Winemakers and their beautiful store.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Personal Assistant Wades through Heavy Showers for Home Buyer
While at Leads at Lunch last Tuesday, Ron Hanson of Madrona Mortgage wore the hat of a weather man alerting local professionals to the mortgage forecast of the futureGathered together in the Olive Garden every Tuesday are professionals referring leads to each other and making everyone aware of their business. The event, known as Leads at Lunch, is sponsored by the Thurston County Chamber. Tuesday, July 13th, everyone sat quietly eager to hear Hanson's presentation.
He began by explaining how lending works.
Lending used to be a stool that stood on four legs. From 1993-2006, the expanding mortgage industry made it easy to get loans, all you had to have was qualify for a couple of the legs. Such as good credit, income, property and a down payment.
Now, it is the opposite, it is harder to qualify for a loan and you have to meet all four legs of the stool. Even if you have an income, you also have to show the ability and stamina to keep the loan. In fact, one fourth of foreclosures happen simply because the owner chooses not to pay any more, regardless of their income.
“It takes an intentionally stout character to pay a mortgage every month, especially when the value of the property goes down,” Hanson said, “right now 37 percent of real estate are foreclosures.”
Things are changing too, when it comes to physically buying a loan. In 2006, you had to sign off on about 20 pages of paperwork showing you knew what you were agreeing too.
Now, your loan package will be about 45 pages since it is more heavily regulated and the government has more to warn you about.
“The problem is that because the packages is bigger, no one is reading it and instead they are just scanning and signing it because they just want to get through it,” Hanson said.
Continuing on, Hanson kept everyone enthralled with his clear understanding of the mortgage forecast.
Another change in the mortgage industry is the appraisal process. Before, an appraisal person would come out to your property, upon the request of the mortgage agent, and appraise your property. Well due to increased government regulation, mortgage brokers now send a message to corporate and corporate sends appraisers out to appraise your property.
“I think it will be an automated system soon though,” Hanson added.
Even though technology is slowly taking over, the best way to buy a mortgage is to talk to someone about the reality of your situation and your needs, when it comes to buying property. I recommend talking to Ron Hanson, he is a personal and friendly guy that you can trust to tell your deepest fears about buying a house.You can email him at rhanson@madronamortgage.com
Friday, July 16, 2010
Local Artist Shows his Stuff at Sizzis in Oly
I just met local artist David Joel and wow is his work amazing. That is on wood!
Check out more of his work here, David Joel.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Puget Sound Energy Develops New Energy Programs for Home and Work
By: Monica Jonen
Your local Puget Sound Energy (PSE) works much like a bank when it comes to saving and expanding energy. One PSE goal is to develop more renewable energy, much like a fruitful savings account that produces interest naturally. Another PSE goal is to help customers save as much energy as they can, which reduces our reliance on fossil fuels. Puget Sound Energy expects to help customers by saving more than 4 million therms of natural gas in 2010 and by conserving, more than $16 million in natural gas cost.
Some of those renewable energies include wind, solar and bio-mass. A great example of the latter is poop. Poop? Yes, poop. According to PSE, there are several farmers in Washington who own what is called a Dairy Digester. This Dairy Digester machine converts the methane gas from poop into electricity that farmers can use to power their farm. That shouldn’t surprise us though there is an Iphone app for poop called Poop the World.
Among the less strange technology is the smart energy saving device, the compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL). They are pretty common now and you can find them for a pretty good price and CFL’s use 75 percent less energy. If a home owner replaces five regular incandescent light bulbs with five CFL light bulbs, then they will save around 60 dollars per year in energy costs. If you don’t have a buck to save, Puget Sound Energy will give you a rebate for buying the CFL at Costco.
Another interesting relatively new technology that is utilized to help home owners and business owners is the infrared heat censoring technology used in energy assessments. Imagine walking through a room and spotting red bubbles where you are losing money in terms of energy leaks. PSE offers a $350 rebate on these types of assessments to qualified customers through its HomePrint program. Since the government is on board with the national green trend, they are also offering grants and rebates to help pay for any repairs you would have to make to make your house or business energy efficient. To check it out for yourself, go to their website at Puget Sound Energy.com
A local example of this is Archibald Sisters downtown on Capital Way. They participate in the Green Power Program, a voluntary program offered to PSE’s residential and business electric customers, giving participants a way to guarantee the amount of energy they use in matched in the grid with electricity from wind, solar, biomass and other renewable energy sources. The amount paid by customers goes to support the local development of renewable energy, like dairy digesters.
“One of the cool things that we do is refill bottles (with Archibald Sister products) that customers bring in and we give discounts to customers who do that,” Sophie Edwards said, who is an Archibald Sisters Sales Associate. The Archibald Sisters also participate in Green Power Programs, Green Power Rewards, a benefit offered to Thurston County Green Power Program customers, the rewards card offers residential Green Power customers discounts on products and services at local businesses that participate.
“Customers love it that we participate in Green Power too,” Edwards said. Well that looks like the current and latest trendy thing to do to be environment friendly and I charge you to jump on the train heading towards the future.
Your local Puget Sound Energy (PSE) works much like a bank when it comes to saving and expanding energy. One PSE goal is to develop more renewable energy, much like a fruitful savings account that produces interest naturally. Another PSE goal is to help customers save as much energy as they can, which reduces our reliance on fossil fuels. Puget Sound Energy expects to help customers by saving more than 4 million therms of natural gas in 2010 and by conserving, more than $16 million in natural gas cost.
Some of those renewable energies include wind, solar and bio-mass. A great example of the latter is poop. Poop? Yes, poop. According to PSE, there are several farmers in Washington who own what is called a Dairy Digester. This Dairy Digester machine converts the methane gas from poop into electricity that farmers can use to power their farm. That shouldn’t surprise us though there is an Iphone app for poop called Poop the World.Among the less strange technology is the smart energy saving device, the compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL). They are pretty common now and you can find them for a pretty good price and CFL’s use 75 percent less energy. If a home owner replaces five regular incandescent light bulbs with five CFL light bulbs, then they will save around 60 dollars per year in energy costs. If you don’t have a buck to save, Puget Sound Energy will give you a rebate for buying the CFL at Costco.
Another interesting relatively new technology that is utilized to help home owners and business owners is the infrared heat censoring technology used in energy assessments. Imagine walking through a room and spotting red bubbles where you are losing money in terms of energy leaks. PSE offers a $350 rebate on these types of assessments to qualified customers through its HomePrint program. Since the government is on board with the national green trend, they are also offering grants and rebates to help pay for any repairs you would have to make to make your house or business energy efficient. To check it out for yourself, go to their website at Puget Sound Energy.com
A local example of this is Archibald Sisters downtown on Capital Way. They participate in the Green Power Program, a voluntary program offered to PSE’s residential and business electric customers, giving participants a way to guarantee the amount of energy they use in matched in the grid with electricity from wind, solar, biomass and other renewable energy sources. The amount paid by customers goes to support the local development of renewable energy, like dairy digesters.
“One of the cool things that we do is refill bottles (with Archibald Sister products) that customers bring in and we give discounts to customers who do that,” Sophie Edwards said, who is an Archibald Sisters Sales Associate. The Archibald Sisters also participate in Green Power Programs, Green Power Rewards, a benefit offered to Thurston County Green Power Program customers, the rewards card offers residential Green Power customers discounts on products and services at local businesses that participate.
“Customers love it that we participate in Green Power too,” Edwards said. Well that looks like the current and latest trendy thing to do to be environment friendly and I charge you to jump on the train heading towards the future.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Writer Dives into an Alternative Pool of Work
In a cool, air conditioned office on the West Side of Olympia, Washington are Monica Jonen’s new piping-hot-off-the press business cards rolling off the die cut board. The business cards hold an unusual title of Human Marketing Flotation Device. The picture above the title is a woman in red scuba goggles and a yellow snorkel accenting her black wet dive suit keeping her warm in the chilly Puget Sound waters.
The position of the Human Marketing Flotation Device with Alternative Marketing Connections means Jonen will keep small business “afloat” by creating content for their social media networks, blog (an online journal), newsletter and website, in turn broadening their marketing plan through human connections online.
Monica Jonen, Freelance Writer and Content Creator at Alternative Marketing Connections “I couldn’t have imagined beginning my writing career with a better opportunity,” Jonen said about her new position. “I love technology and writing, and this position welds the two together.”
Jonen just graduated in June with her Bachelors in Communications from the University of Washington Tacoma (UWT). Before moving to Tacoma to complete her Bachelors at UWT, she lived in Olympia where she learned about alternative ideas and the world-wide-web.
“I went to Avanti High School, which is an alternative high school here in Oly and that is where I first learned about the unending possibilities of technology and the intranet,” Jonen said. “I absolutely loved the freedom I found in writing and interacting with others about the things I wrote about too.”
As the newest team member with the business, Alternative Marketing Connections, she joins a team of social media and online experts who also share a passion for technology and communication.
The folks at Alternative Marketing Connections create edgy business cards, social media accounts like Facebook and Twitter, create newsletters, design websites, and create blogs for small businesses. Their business venue is located in the AIM office next to Safeway on the West Side of Olympia.
“What makes this marketing company different is the fact that they are a digital referral service, meaning they refer customers to businesses via social media.” Russ Alman said, Visionary in Chief of Alternative Marketing Connections.
Alman also noted that the problem with using social media, newsletters, websites and blogs for marketing is that it takes time to constantly update everything and small businesses do not have the time to write content for their many online facets, which is where Jonen comes in.
As a writer by trade and technology communication guru by choice, she will keep the online presence for Olympia’s businesses up to date with current fresh and compelling content. Be sure to look out for this new Human Marketing Flotation Device. If you are interested in Alternative Marketing Connections, visit www.AMCSocialMedia.com or you can email Monica at monica@amcsocialmedia.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
The position of the Human Marketing Flotation Device with Alternative Marketing Connections means Jonen will keep small business “afloat” by creating content for their social media networks, blog (an online journal), newsletter and website, in turn broadening their marketing plan through human connections online.
Monica Jonen, Freelance Writer and Content Creator at Alternative Marketing Connections “I couldn’t have imagined beginning my writing career with a better opportunity,” Jonen said about her new position. “I love technology and writing, and this position welds the two together.”
Jonen just graduated in June with her Bachelors in Communications from the University of Washington Tacoma (UWT). Before moving to Tacoma to complete her Bachelors at UWT, she lived in Olympia where she learned about alternative ideas and the world-wide-web.
“I went to Avanti High School, which is an alternative high school here in Oly and that is where I first learned about the unending possibilities of technology and the intranet,” Jonen said. “I absolutely loved the freedom I found in writing and interacting with others about the things I wrote about too.”
As the newest team member with the business, Alternative Marketing Connections, she joins a team of social media and online experts who also share a passion for technology and communication.
The folks at Alternative Marketing Connections create edgy business cards, social media accounts like Facebook and Twitter, create newsletters, design websites, and create blogs for small businesses. Their business venue is located in the AIM office next to Safeway on the West Side of Olympia.
“What makes this marketing company different is the fact that they are a digital referral service, meaning they refer customers to businesses via social media.” Russ Alman said, Visionary in Chief of Alternative Marketing Connections.
Alman also noted that the problem with using social media, newsletters, websites and blogs for marketing is that it takes time to constantly update everything and small businesses do not have the time to write content for their many online facets, which is where Jonen comes in.
As a writer by trade and technology communication guru by choice, she will keep the online presence for Olympia’s businesses up to date with current fresh and compelling content. Be sure to look out for this new Human Marketing Flotation Device. If you are interested in Alternative Marketing Connections, visit www.AMCSocialMedia.com or you can email Monica at monica@amcsocialmedia.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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