Meetup.com is an extremely powerful resource for people in all industries looking to collaborate on a wide variety of topics in a relaxed meeting setting (the groups often get together monthly or bi-weekly).

Skybox Creative recently attended a Meetup for Refresh SD, a group that includes web developers, internet marketers, techies, etc.. The topic: discussing client management and client requests – yes, a complicated matter. This topic often comes up in the web design and branding industry, because it is important to clearly define project scope and rounds of changes before starting a project that has been estimated out.

A few good tips and resources:

• Give clients a questionnaire prior to starting a project (Skybox uses a Branding Analysis Questionnaire, which discusses demographics, target market, competition, look & feel – and more!)

• Project Management tools can be key to balancing work flow – Action Method is a good one, VUE is a good way to describe logic or the development of a back end system

• OfficeTime is a great tool for tracking hours

• Clearly define client deliverables (copy, photos, feedback)

A group of passionate political entrepreneurs honing their advocacy, campaign work and leadership skills for the betterment of future government and society joined together Friday night to celebrate environmentalism at its finest.

Skybox Creative and Skybox Ink mingled with these “new leaders” at the New Leaders Council, San Diego Chapter’s Fellows Fundraiser on May 14 at San Diego’s chic W Hotel. The event was focused around the future of progressive leadership, which included the group’s presentation of an environmental leadership award to CleanTECH San Diego. CleanTECH is a new non-profit membership organization formed to accelerate San Diego as a world leader in the clean technology economy. They have been able to secure millions of dollars for green projects throughout San Diego County, included the University of California San Diego and San Diego Unified School District. Skybox Ink served as a sponsor of the event.

Building lasting relationships. Meeting people first, seeing them as potential clients second. Creating a sense of community in a land of transplants.

These were all some of the lasting sentiments echoed by David Epstein, one of the founding members of the San Diego Coastal Group. Started on the Linkedin platform, this group has over 1400 members, and is vying to be one of the more connected and bonded groups found in the social media marketplace.

We all have someone on our Facebook page with 1000, 2000 or even 5000 “friends,” but what is their connection to all of these people and will it be affecting their lives in some sort of positive manor?

The San Diego Coastal Group hopes to be able to use social media as a tool to connect, but wants to host monthly, if not bi-weekly gatherings in which people can truly come together, discuss business, friendships, family and more.

Skybox Creative had the pleasure to attend the inaugural meet up at Rancho Santa Fe’s Morgan Run Club and Resort, and were introduced to a group of really innovative and inspiring people, from successful entrepreneurs to those facing career transitions.

Skybox had the opportunity to share our expertise in web development, branding, graphic design, printing and more with guests including, Yasmin Shah, Timothy Rhodes of Tech Coast Sales and scientists Atsuo Kuki and Steven Sands.

On another cool note, Skybox Creative Account Manager Carly Bartkiewicz won a fishing trip raffled off by Epstein during the sit down portion of the evening. Bluefin, yellowtail and the salty ocean air, here we come!

If you’re looking for a networking group that is more than just networking and equally about helping people and connecting with others looking to make a positive difference, definitely join the group and come out to the next event!

New Leaders Council is an organization who’s mission is to train and support the next generation of progressive political entrepreneurs – those who are leading industries, setting trends, and building institutions that support robust civic and political life in a global America.

NLC is hosting a Cocktail Reception with Congresswoman Susan Davis (Invited) to Present NLC’s Community Collaboration Award honoring CleanTECH San Diego, a clean energy nonprofit in San Diego.

Why honor CleanTECH?
CleanTECH San Diego exemplified NLC’s values of collaborative, progressive leadership by establishing a community coalition to secure $154M in federal allocations for financing renewable energy projects, such as solar power installations, on behalf of a number of local municipalities.

Skybox Ink, an eco-freindly printer, located in San Diego is a supporter of the event. Carly and Angelina will be in attendance and would love to see you there. The event will be held at the W Hotel in downtown San Diego.

Friday, May 14, 2010
6:00-8:00 p.m.

The W Hotel
421 West B Street
Downtown San Diego

Tickets: $20 (Space is limited)
HOSTED APPETIZERS & DRINK SPECIALS INCLUDED

For more information or to register for the event, click here

The green entrepreneurship Skybox Ink and Skybox Creative promoting locally received acclaim from Business Strategies, Etc., a Seattle-based small business consultancy. Read the article here!

Surrounded by the luxurious ambiance of Sé Hotel’s Sîren Uber Lounge, Skybox Ink, in association with Skybox Creative, held their second Green is the New Black Mixer on March 18^th, 2010 in Downtown San Diego. The night consisted of networking with eco-friendly professionals and entrepreneurs, a sponsored raffle prize giveaway, and numerous photo opportunities taken in front of our gorgeous blue Skybox Ink step and repeat banner (created by 858 Graphics).

Sponsors for the night’s event included Eco Corp Home Services, Casalinda Studio Designer Jewelry, Eufora, and eLiveLife.com.

Skybox Creative President, Angelina Sereno, attended The Success Principles Seminar with Jack Canfield in San Fransisco on Saturday, March 13, 2010. An avid fan of The Secret and the power of positive thinking with regard to achieving success, this event was a powerful reminder of the principles to use everyday. For those who may not know, Jack Canfield is the Author of best selling book series Chicken Soup for the Soul. Angelina will be sharing tips and ideas she learned at the seminar. Stay posted!

Angelina Sereno, President of Skybox Creative, with Jack Canfield

Angelina Sereno, President of Skybox Creative, with Marci Shimoff of The Secret

A few of The Success Principles to remember:

1. Take 100% Responsibility in your daily actions (Remember  E+R= O). Event + Response = Outcome – You always have control over the “R” to affect the “O”!
2. Give up blaming and complaining and stay focused on what you want—remember the “arm exercise” and the power of thoughts on your body. Jack performed a Kinesiology experiment with a volunteer from the group [Applied Kinesiology (AK) is a form of diagnosis using muscle testing as a primary feedback mechanism to examine how a person’s body is functioning.]
3. Continue to set monthly, weekly and daily goals.
4. Believe it’s possible to achieve all your goals.
5. Constantly replace your Negative Self-Talk with Positive Self-Talk.
6. Surround yourself with positive people.
7. Ask someone to be your accountability partner and talk to them every day.
8. Repeat your affirmations and visualize your success every single day for 30 days.
9. Practice the Rule of 5—take 5 action steps every day on your Breakthrough Goal. A Breakthrough Goal is something you want but seems impossible at first, if you achieve it, it will be a major breakthrough for you. Try to set at least 2 big breakthrough goals to work towards.
10. Ask for—and respond to—feedback.
11. Maintain a constant state of gratitude and appreciation.
12.  Do something that brings you joy or love every day.
13. Another point he brought up is to get outside your comfort zone. Or the phrase I like best “Do something that scares you everyday”

For more information on success, I would recommend buying a copy of The Success Principles and reading it more than once. Practice and repetition makes the master!

Working in web design and brand development, we are often glued to a Mac computer screen, but it’s always fun to get out into the business world and talk shop with other local professionals. San Diego is booming with a variety of networking events, geared to basically any industry you can think of. Skybox Creative ventured into the biotechnology world Thursday morning during the Bagels @ BIOCOM networking event.

Skybox has worked in the biotech industry on several different projects that included both web development and brand identity (Catalyst Biosolutions as an example). Our style is very clean + corporate, which suits this client’s demographic, so we wanted to learn more about membership to BIOCOM and how to become acquainted with their community of local companies.

We learned about joining the BIOCOM Purchasing Group, which negotiates significant, volume-based savings and favorable terms on products and services frequently used in the life science industry.

We also had the pleasure of mingling with some of the BIOCOM staff, including CEO Joseph Panetta and Director of Communications Teri Somers.

We met some additional interesting people in attendance, including Michael Young, a life sciences marketing executive, Terry Quinn of Global Manufacturing, John E.H. Cox of SourceSolution and Daniel H. Schumann of Invetech.

The San Diego Entrepreneur Meetup Group is responsible for hosting a variety of networking events and seminar luncheons for San Diego business professionals.

“Power Lunch: 5 Ways to Massively Increase Your Income” was the topic of today’s luncheon. Karie Kaufmann, Certified Business Coach with ActionCoach, presented the group with a variety of practical ideas to help grow your business. Prior to meeting Karie, we learned that we shared a mutual client, David Dent of CodeB San Diego, small world! By eliciting responses from the group, we were able to create a list of ways to; create more leads, increase your conversion rate, increase the number of transactions per customer, increase value therefore increase the average sale (DON’T DISCOUNT was a strong message she wrote out in large type) and increasing your profit margins by looking at ways you can cut costs.

One of the strongest messages I was left with was the importance of forming strategic alliances – creating and nurturing relationships with people who share your target market but don’t compete. One method to find out who the right strategic partners are is to draw a circle on a piece of paper with your target market/potential client in the middle, from there draw lines outward and think of all the possible people they come in contact with. Once you have your list of potential people/industries, find some local companies and introduce yourself. As long as it is a mutually beneficial relationship, they will most likely agree to meet with you and discuss the possibilities.

Prior to listening to the speaker, we played a game of Networking Tic-Tac-Toe, a first for me! We got to find out more about each other’s businesses and target markets by filling in squares on a tic-tac-toe board. Then as the luncheon coordinator, Doug Means, drew business cards out of his pocket, we put x in that square, the first person to get 3 in a row won a gift certificate for a free lunch at Seau’s Restaurant (where the event was held). It was a fun way to make sure you met at least 9 people at the event and really sparked conversation throughout the room.

Skybox Creative and Skybox Ink ♥ networking! We immerse ourselves in networking and learning all we can about business growth and development. The lunch drew a diverse range of business owners/professionals including, Stasia Shimkus of Arbonne International, Kirk Nigel of KNG Construction, Dave Brodwolf of Domination Marketing, Adrienne Moch – Copywriter and President of NAWBO San Diego, Carol Galloway of PartyLite, Ashley Sellers of National Life Insurance, Jan Naylor-Smith of JuicePlus, and of course Karie Kaufmann and Doug Means who put the event together! We would definitely recommend attending one of their events if you haven’t yet!

Last night Skybox lounged in the land of photographers and writers, advertisers and business owners, at PacificSD Magazine’s 3-Year Anniversary Love Party.

We had the pleasure of congratulating Publisher David Perloff on his magazine’s success, as it has become one of San Diego’s signature luxury lifestyle publications. In a short time, the magazine has evolved into a sleek and chic printed piece, keeping the socialites and downtown rockers informed on all that is fun and fresh in San Diego.

As usual when we’re out and about, we met some great people, including Aaron Blank of VQS Enterprises, Inc., a printer located in Vista and Timothy Crocker of Trend Offset. Also in attendance was Cookie “Chainsaw” Randolph, Star 94.1’s Geena the Latina and San Diego’s 6’s Ruben Galvan.

We missed the burlesque dancers…but did catch the musical talents of Nena Anderson — her rich and soulful voice was an excellent addition to the evening.

Photos Courtesy of Leetal Elmaleh