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

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!

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!

Skybox Creative spent an evening mingling and mixing at the Golden Triangle Chamber Networking Event on February 10 at P.F. Chang’s in University Town Center.

The monthly event included a casual meet and greet, raffle prizes and induction of new members. Natural Health Technologies sponsored the event and provided the evening’s delicious appetizers.

Skybox staff had the pleasure to meet a wide-range of business professionals, including Charles Dixon Garrett of Primerica Financial Services, and Toni Sanders, director of special events for Perfection Squared. Sanders is also on the Chamber board, and is their trusted event planner.

Other attendees included Spa de La Jolla and Marty Gladstein of Glad Photography.

The Golden Triangle Chamber mixers are the second Wednesday of every month. The next one is at La Jolla Brewhouse and starts at 5:30pm. They are a great way to meet a lot of interesting professionals in varied industries, and you never know who might need what you have to offer.

Skybox Ink, in association with Skybox Creative and Se San Diego Hotel, launched a quarterly networking series, Green is the New Black, on December 17. Located at Se Hotel’s luxurious Siren Uber Lounge, the night brought together eco-friendly businesses in several industries, and also local entrepreneurs interested in learning from their peers on how to lessen our environmental impact. The night included a fabulous raffle giveaway, with prizes such as massages, a restaurant gift certificate and green printing services.

Sponsors included Jerry Stevenson Law Group, 858 Graphics (who created a step + repeat banner for the event), Tender Greens Restaurant, eLiveLife.com and Se Spa.

Some of the night’s guests included Erica Phillips from Pink Payroll, a green payroll services company, Jennie Edwards from Guided By Imagination Photography, Tony Vickers from Tony Vickers Consulting, Matt Glassman from Sowers Baccala Insurance Brokerage, Ryan Stock from CBeyond, William Traenkle from Tranquilnet IT Solutions, Theron Williams from OfficePlanIt, Alexis Fingal from Precision Litho Printing, Stephen Bolling from Regenerative Homes, whose company focuses on green building and remodeling, and Creative Linguist Andre Le, who took many of the evening’s photographs.

Host of the event, Skybox Ink is a fully-automated green printing site, which uses recycled stock and soy/vegetable based inks. The products are also chlorine free and don’t use VOC solvents. The environmental positives don’t hinder the quality, which includes 16PT and linen stocks, and also multiple coating options such UV and Satin. A huge selection of printed collateral is available including business cards, brochures, postcards, door hangers, large format and more!

To get involved with the next mixer and to keep up-to-date with green events taking place in San Diego, visit Green Networking San Diego!

Skybox Creative attended the Ad 2 – PRSA Holiday event at Side Bar in the Gaslamp District on December 3. The evening was a collaborative holiday celebration for the two organizations.

President of Skybox Creative, Angelina Sereno, and Account Manager, Carly Bartkiewicz, met some ambitious and interesting fellow entrepreneurs, including Jeff Weinberger, Director of Product Development for Ground Up Logic, a company that develops iPhone software, Sabrina Gallier, Search Marketing Manager for Covario and Scott Smith, Sales Manager for CBS Outdoor. After speaking to Emily Cox, we learned about Empower San Diego, a non-profit organization that focuses on political education and community involvement. Kristin Craik shared with us her passion for copywriting and online sales strategies, a writer and social media strategist for La La Lingerie, she stays very busy.

Angelina and Carly found out about the event after meeting Adam Hermsdorfer, President of Ad 2, at an open house for C&S Sales a few weeks earlier. C&S has some incredible custom packaging products, such as invitations, menus and novelty items that are really worth checking out!

The San Diego chapters for Ad 2 and PRSA are both great organizations for local people in advertising, public relations or related industries to meet new business contacts, share ideas and also give back to their communities through fundraisers and philanthropy.

GREEN IS THE NEW BLACK – Free Quarterly Networking Event in San Diego

Thursday, December 17, 2009
7pm-9pm + beyond at Sîren Uber Lounge inside Sé Hotel
1047 5th Avenue, San Diego, 92101

Skybox Creative + Skybox Ink (Green Printing) are excited to announce the launch of our new quarterly FREE Green Networking Mixers in San Diego! We have partnered with Sîren Uber Lounge, inside Sé Hotel (Located just above The House of Blues), to offer a luxurious setting for the events, with a relaxing indoor lounge and heated patio/bar area. Due to the success + demand of our annual networking events, bringing hundreds of people together, we have decided to host quarterly mixers.

ALL entrepreneurs and business professionals are welcome, our Green Mixers simply provide a setting for eco-friendly businesses to connect + collaborate. It also provides the perfect opportunity for companies to learn how they can become more Green. This is an opportunity to grow your business and do something positive!

Thursday, December 17th will mark the first in our mixer series. We are currently seeking sponsors, preferably Green-related for our raffle. We are also seeking cash sponsors ($100 and up) for event food + beverage. In return, you will get up to 5 minutes to promote your business/give out prizes & certificates as well as two months of free advertising on our event website! For more information, contact us at info@skyboxcreative.com

RSVP info@skyboxcreative.com

We ♥ our earth!

Last night – Thursday, November 19th – I attended the Wilmington Young Professionals November Business After Hours at The River Room in Wilmington, North Carolina. As many of our clients and business associates know, Skybox Creative + Skybox Ink are expanding our offices to North Carolina in August 2010. We are extremely excited to get involved with the local Wilmington businesses. So far, I have received a warm welcome from each person I have met! Everyone in Wilmington seems to love it here, there is a strong sense of camaraderie and community that is felt immediately.

One of the gentleman I met, Brian McArtan is co-owner of The River Room as well as VP of DJ Professionals & Video. Awesome guy. He is a man on the move with big plans for the future, I am looking forward to hearing all about them! The River Room is a venue with 2,500 sq ft of meeting and event space available for all types of meeting, rehearsal dinners, corporate events or simply a cool place to hang out. They can seat 80 with a dance floor and cocktail style parties, they can accommodate up to 140. It must have been close to that last night, WYP brought a diverse and entertaining crowd of over 100 to fill the colonial style, yet contemporary venue.

Jackie Willse, was the host of the event. Jackie is one busy woman, organizing events for WYP, Owner/Candlemaster of Port City Candles and more! Chris Davis and I had a chance to chat about his photography work, which is amazing by the way! His focus is on Conceptual Ad Photography as well as Portrait work, check out his work here.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Courtney Shaver of The Bride’s Book (A bridal magazine), Monica Tockman – Wedding & Event Coordinator of Something Blue Productions, Steven Capo of Intelligent Placement Solutions (A physician job placement agency), among many others!

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We had the pleasure of attending the San Diego Small Business Fair last week on Thursday, October 21, 2009 at the Handerly Hotel. This FREE event was sponsored by Michelle Steel, Board of Equalization Member and Southern California’s Elected Taxpayer Advocate. The Small Business Fair held a series of seminars or workshops with information on Surviving the Downturn (presented by SCORE – San Diego), Sales and Use Tax: How to Avoid Common Pitfalls (presented by BOE), Employee vs. Independent Contractor (presented by EDD), Better Business through Better Records (presented by the IRS) and Top Dollar Advice for Tough Economic Times (presented by FTB, EDD, BOE and IRS). The informative seminars presented a plethora of useful information for small or newer businesses in San Diego.

In between the presentations, there was an Expo with several Exhibitors including but not limited to BBB, City of San Diego, Franchise Tax Board, National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), Board of Equalization, Accion San Diego and many more. We gathered a ton of useful information including “How to do Business with California State Government”, “Taking Care of Business Checklist”, Information on 401(k), Simple IRA Plans & SEP Retirement Plans (for Small Businesses), FAQ’s Booklets, Brochures and more! As all business owners know, time is our most precious asset, so it was extremely helpful that all of this information was available in one place. Now the trick is finding the time to read through it all?!

We did get some important questions answered from the staff members manning the booths. One friendly man from the IRS said something to me that stuck: “Pension means required. Go with a retirement plan that is based on profit, if there is not profit, you don’t have to make any payments.” Wise words…and although it is such a simple concept, it was never so clearly laid out for me.

We stopped by the NAWBO desk and spoke to a savvy business owner by the name of Jere Batten, Treasurer of NAWBO San Diego and president of Batten Accountancy, Inc. She gave us her undivided attention and advice on growing a business. We dropped a couple cards in for the raffle to win a free NAWBO lunch and I won!

I never win ANYTHING, but I guess I was due The monthly luncheon event typically draws around 65 women business owners for a speaker presentation, lunch and mixer. Non-members are welcome but there is a fee to attend the events. For more information on NAWBO events in San Diego: http://www.nawbo-sd.org/component/option,com_jevents/Itemid,92/task,month.calendar/

During the Expo, we also had a chance to mingle with a few business owners that were browsing around. Among these, Antonio de la Cerda of VNet Professionals Inc., Justin R. French of Social Networking San Diego, Gabriel I. Collignon of AKB Solutions, Jenn Vela of 5byseven, Maria Montano of Accion San Diego and others.

It was one of those busy days at the office and we weren’t sure if we should leave, but it turned out to be an eventful and educational experience. I would highly recommend attending an event in the future if you have the opportunity.

For more information on this event and others like it, visit: http://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/tpsched.htm

To growth + prosperity!