| 02/06/04 | re: New here too! # |
Jack Spirko
 |
Diane welcome and thanks for joining and for posting. The key to getting a new network successful on Ryze is to get everyone to post just a bit every week. So you have a thriving active group.
That's why I added the feeds to give people something to talk about.
I think it might have been you who tried to IM me on Yahoo yesterday. If so I could not respond something was messed up I was logged in but the system seemed to make it like I was half logged in? I could receive but not respond and had to log off to fix it. Please feel free to try again I will answer I promise,
Jack
> Diane St James wrote:
> Hello!
>
>I joined yesterday myself!
>Thanks for the invitation!
>I live in Allentown, PA, and
>am a WAHM with my own mortgage
>consulting website.
>
>I am married and have two
>darling daughters...one of whom
>has turned 16 but is being lazy
>about reading the drivers manual
>(thank goodness)!
>
>If anyone would like to exchange
>links I have several sites that
>I could exchange with you.
>
>Love to support my fellow 'neighbors'!
>
>Diane St James
>Mortgage Mom
>http://www.abcmortgage.net
>http://www.dianestjames.com
>Reply by Private Message (new win) |
| 02/06/04 | re: { Jack }re: re: Hello From Waynesboro PA # |
Jack Spirko
|
I will add it today and I will be sending the whole group an email on how the news feeds have been improved. I learned yesterday how to program them for exact querries.
So now for instance I can querry only articles that contain
Greencastle and PA
or
Greencastle and Pennsylvania
This makes things a lot more accurate and I can now add Elizabeth NJ with out getting every article on every person NAMED Elizabeth or Reading PA with out getting every article about the improtance of teaching reading in our school, etc. I will let you know when the updates are added,
Jack
> Ally Brenneman wrote:
>Thank you for the welcome.. and Greencastle in Tiny Town but with a lot of awesome History. Would you be so kind into adding it? It would be greatly appreciated.
>
>Keep in touch,
>
>AllyReply by Private Message (new win) |
| 02/06/04 | New here too! # |
Diane St James
 |
Hello!
I joined yesterday myself!
Thanks for the invitation!
I live in Allentown, PA, and
am a WAHM with my own mortgage
consulting website.
I am married and have two
darling daughters...one of whom
has turned 16 but is being lazy
about reading the drivers manual
(thank goodness)!
If anyone would like to exchange
links I have several sites that
I could exchange with you.
Love to support my fellow 'neighbors'!
Diane St James
Mortgage Mom
http://www.abcmortgage.net
http://www.dianestjames.com
Reply by Private Message (new win) |
| 02/06/04 | { Jack }re: re: Hello From Waynesboro PA # |
Ally Brenneman
 |
> Jack Spirko wrote:
>
>> Ally Brenneman wrote:
>> Hello my name is Ally Brenneman. I lived in Greencastle Pa. Now living in Waynesboro. I go to Silver Spring Speedway in Mechanicsburg, PA during the Summer months to watch my dad race his Super Sportsman Race car. If any of you have been there.. his name is Danny Hager. Anyways, I am 23 single mom, working with two great companies, ForMor and Gloabal Investment International. I enjoy nascar, dirt track racing, poetry, fine foods and fine wines. I look forward meeting you.
>>
>>God Bless.
>>
>>Ally Brenneman
>
>Ally Welcome to the network! If there is a PA City like Greencastle you would like me to add to the news feeds just let me know,
>
>Jack Spirko
Hi Jack,
Thank you for the welcome.. and Greencastle in Tiny Town but with a lot of awesome History. Would you be so kind into adding it? It would be greatly appreciated.
Keep in touch,
AllyReply by Private Message (new win) |
| 02/06/04 | re: Hello From Waynesboro PA # |
Jack Spirko
|
> Ally Brenneman wrote:
> Hello my name is Ally Brenneman. I lived in Greencastle Pa. Now living in Waynesboro. I go to Silver Spring Speedway in Mechanicsburg, PA during the Summer months to watch my dad race his Super Sportsman Race car. If any of you have been there.. his name is Danny Hager. Anyways, I am 23 single mom, working with two great companies, ForMor and Gloabal Investment International. I enjoy nascar, dirt track racing, poetry, fine foods and fine wines. I look forward meeting you.
>
>God Bless.
>
>Ally Brenneman
Ally Welcome to the network! If there is a PA City like Greencastle you would like me to add to the news feeds just let me know,
Jack Spirko Reply by Private Message (new win) |
| 02/06/04 | Hello From Waynesboro PA # |
Ally Brenneman
|
Hello my name is Ally Brenneman. I lived in Greencastle Pa. Now living in Waynesboro. I go to Silver Spring Speedway in Mechanicsburg, PA during the Summer months to watch my dad race his Super Sportsman Race car. If any of you have been there.. his name is Danny Hager. Anyways, I am 23 single mom, working with two great companies, ForMor and Gloabal Investment International. I enjoy nascar, dirt track racing, poetry, fine foods and fine wines. I look forward meeting you.
God Bless.
Ally Brenneman Reply by Private Message (new win) |
| 02/05/04 | The usual greeting stuff: # |
Jeremy Wischusen
 |
Hello all My name is Jeremy Wischusen and I am involved in two companies in the PA/ NJ area:
The first is my own multimedia/web design/instructional design (as you can see I do a lot of different things with this one) company Visual Flow Designs. I specialize in the design of trainings for delivery on computers, over the internet, or even good old face to face trainings and paper manuals. You can see some of these at my portfolio site http://www.visulflowdesigns.com .
The second company is called Reckoning Board Communications. We specialize in the development of educationally related software. See http://www.digitallyu.com for a teaser page.
I look forward to meeting and conversing with all of you. Reply by Private Message (new win) |
| 02/04/04 | re: Chamber of Commerce # |
Jack Spirko
|
> Any ideas? I see such potential here for all concerned, just not sure the best way to go about it. I also don't want to great a giant project for myself.
>
> Cathy
Cathy I think your very smart to consider a online forum and group for your Chamber. Think of how all of us get to know each other online.
People are more apt to attend a mixer when they know, John, Bob, Sue, Ed ect will all be there.
You could
1. Do it on Ryze
or
2. Use a more typical forum
Either would work well. For a independent forum from Ryze I recommend www.aimoo.com and spending the 12 bucks a year to get rid of ads etc,
JackReply by Private Message (new win) |
| 02/04/04 | Chamber of Commerce # |
Cathy Markowich
 |
I joined my Chamber two months ago. We have a local Chamber with approximately 300-400 business and there are also many businesses who are not Chamber members. There are few active members and it would be nice to see it become more active with business card exchanges, meetings, etc. Apparently this has been done over past years but few people show up.
After talking with several members I think the problem is that there is a loose aggregation of businesses and no centralized location or town. The Chamber consists of the township which consists of 5 small towns, semi-rural, each has businesses, but they are all spread apart so their is no real community interaction and maybe no purpose or clear objective.
I was asked if I had any ideas on what to do to make it better.
I was considering: 1- contacting each of them and finding out what they would like to see in the Chamber.
2- creating a forum online and inviting everyone to it to share ideas and input.
Somehow creating a community where each business can refer each other, as it's supposed to be.
Any ideas? I see such potential here for all concerned, just not sure the best way to go about it. I also don't want to great a giant project for myself.
CathyReply by Private Message (new win) |
| 02/04/04 | Using Ryze Offline - 3 Part Follow Up # |
Jack Spirko
|
Thought I would share how to use Ryze to your advantage in offline activities.
This is what I term my three part follow up for new contacts.
1. Simple contact no agenda
2. Contact where I give something to the new contact
3. Contact to ask for meeting/sale/lunch/additional info/whatever
I mean have you noticed the following
You go to a mixer or networking event or meet someone in passing what have you. You exchange cards and the following occurs.
1. No one contacts anyone and the cards are added to the "Rolodex of Doom"
or
2. Contact is made and right away one side of the other is asking for something.
This is what I feel happens most often and I also know it does not work well. So here is what I do.
Step One - The very next day I call or email and say hello it was nice to meet you. Can YOU tell me more about what YOU do? Hope to see you again. (that is an short form of what I say but that is really all I say I ask for nothing and listen or read any response)
Step Two - Two days later send an email suggesting the contact checks out Ryze that explains how it works, why they should use it and how I have met contacts all over the US there. (This is providing them something of value again I ask for nothing)
Step Three - About 5 days after the meeting or first Monday of the next week if the 5th day is a week end I call. I ask how they liked Ryze, did they understand it, need any help with it. If they have no use for Ryze (some don't get it) I drop it. On this call I also suggest a meeting to learn more about each other and how we can work together.
As I said in my bio you have to do something different to separate yourself from the 18 other business cards the contact got at that mixer. For me this approach works very well,
Jack SpirkoReply by Private Message (new win) |
| 02/04/04 | Is Professional Baseball Comming to the Lehigh Valley # |
Jack Spirko
|
It seems that this week there is a lot of buzz in the Allentown news about a potential new baseball stadium in the valley.
Allentown seems to be opening the door wide and willing to accept 12 Million in state money and pay the other 10 from city funds and taxes.
Bethelehem is taking a different stance though the owner of the Reading Phillies seems to prefer to build near the Brew Works, Bethelehem officials are taking the stance of, we will build the stadium and take the money but if it doesen't cost us any of the money we want for other programs.
I for one would like to see a minor leauge team in the valley. I think it would be a big boost for the economy and it would let families especially those with little "Mike Schmidts" go to a game with out blowing a weeks pay and still get the kids in bed on time for school the next day.
Any thoughts on what a new stadium (even minor leauge) could be to the Lehigh Valley area. I generaly don't like to see state money spent on such projects but it this case at this cost it may be the best use of the money. From what I can see it is a Federal Grant to the state and is going to be spent somewhere.
Jack SpirkoReply by Private Message (new win) |
| 02/03/04 | Member Requested News Feeds are now added # |
Jack Spirko
|
Well from the Groups main page is a link now that says
"Additional Areas Requested By Network Members are Located Here"
The first additions are
- Salem, NJ
- Wilmington, DE (hey lots of PA/NJ companies do business there right?)
- Lancaster, PA
I am happy to add any city, county or area just understand the more common the name the less effective the feed will be.
For instance I did not add Reading because it pulls things that say things like "President Bush announced a new program to encourage more indepent READING in our school systems.
Elizabeth NJ would get us evey major feed mentioning anyone with that Name etc.
The more odd or specific to the state the city name the more accurate the feed will be.
For instance
Philadelphia
Hoboken
Raritan
Allentown
Trenton
etc all seem to do well!
Jack
Reply by Private Message (new win) |
| 02/03/04 | re: re: News Feeds # |
Jack Spirko
|
> Bryan Zane wrote:
> Jack-
>Thanks alot. it is salem, NJ however. Keep in touch.
>
Bryan,
Adding it as we speak. Give me about 5 more minutes and go take a look,
JackReply by Private Message (new win) |
| 02/03/04 | re: News Feeds # |
Bryan Zane
 |
Jack-
Thanks alot. it is salem, NJ however. Keep in touch.
> Jack Spirko wrote:
>
>> Bryan Zane wrote:
>> Jack-
>>
>>The news feeds are great. How about adding something further south like SALEM or even WILMINGTON, DE. Though I spend most of my time in Cherry Hill at work, I live down there and would like to keep up.
>
>I am happy to do it what I will do is add a link called additional cities that will go to the place holder for this stuff on ProvideTechnology.com. It takes a lot of extra work to do these on the Ryze Page. With FrontPage it is a lot faster on my own server so additional cities I will add to the place holder. Thanks for the suggestions and the additons are on my list. Would that be Salem DE by the way? Cities like Salem are tough because there are so many Salems but I can give it a shot. Wilmington will work great!
>
>Jack Reply by Private Message (new win) |
| 02/03/04 | re: News Feeds # |
Jack Spirko
|
> Bryan Zane wrote:
> Jack-
>
>The news feeds are great. How about adding something further south like SALEM or even WILMINGTON, DE. Though I spend most of my time in Cherry Hill at work, I live down there and would like to keep up.
I am happy to do it what I will do is add a link called additional cities that will go to the place holder for this stuff on ProvideTechnology.com. It takes a lot of extra work to do these on the Ryze Page. With FrontPage it is a lot faster on my own server so additional cities I will add to the place holder. Thanks for the suggestions and the additons are on my list. Would that be Salem DE by the way? Cities like Salem are tough because there are so many Salems but I can give it a shot. Wilmington will work great!
JackReply by Private Message (new win) |
| 02/03/04 | News Feeds # |
Bryan Zane
|
Jack-
The news feeds are great. How about adding something further south like SALEM or even WILMINGTON, DE. Though I spend most of my time in Cherry Hill at work, I live down there and would like to keep up.Reply by Private Message (new win) |
| 02/03/04 | Agere Closing Creates a Loss # |
Jack Spirko
|
On the Allentown news feed today is a story stating that Agere poste a large loss for the fourth quarter last year. It also goes on to say that the loss was incured by the closing of two PA locations.
Those are the ones outside of Reading and the one right where I live in Allentown.
I find this a little amusing in that there is an expense involved in killing off the jobs of thousands of people. As in my last job I watched many people with more then 10 years of loyality dumped on a merger this hits close to home for me.
I also see this as a clear indicator of the future of Allentown and Reading and other PA and NJ "minor" markets. Large opperations like Agere are better served in states like Texas and Arizona where the labor, cost of business and cost of property is much lower then the North East.
Taxes are lower too. A LOT LOWER
Until states like our's stop taxing large corps out of existance they will continue to move out. However the opportunity for the small to mid size corp is huge in these markets. Recently I attended a "New Member Mixer" at the Lehigh Valley Chamber. There were more then 200 NEW members in attendance. While the large companies closing hurts a lot of folks, business is actually booming in many areas and sectors. The key for the business owner and sales person is to identify and conquer the niches left when the big companies are forced out.
Today if you want new customers the key is to show them how you can help them
1. Make more money
2. Get more customers
3. Reach more prospects
4. Cut Expenses
In that order by the way. As I have talked to business owners from the sole propritor to the mid sized company CEO they are far more interested in discussing growing business then in cutting expenses.
While I think that is a mistake I lead with increasing revenue because it is more exciting. Once we have a relationship established we can look at cutting expenses,
Reply by Private Message (new win) |
| 02/03/04 | re: re: From the Ground Up! # |
Jack Spirko
|
> Kathi Iacovelli wrote:
>
>Hi Jack! I live in Lancaster County PA. We're kind .of >the hub of the wheel with all the spokes heading towards >the cities you've mentioned. Lancaster County is thought >of as farming country but the business opportunities here >are amazing. Our unemployment numbers are low. We are the >home to many small businesses that seem to just grow and >grow.
Hi Kathi,
Glad to have my first posting member. Yep I know Lancaster well. I used to hunt just north of Lancaster in those farm lands and you're right there is a lot of opportunity in the area. To me it is a lot like Allentown and highly under rated by those in Philly etc. I will try to add Lancaster to the news feeds on the network home page but I am not sure how well it will work.
The news feeds seek only a single word so we may hear about Lancaster Ohio etc. This is why I did not include Edison as a NJ city. I simply is too common of a term to work with the news feeds I use.
Jack
Reply by Private Message (new win) |
| 02/03/04 | re: From the Ground Up! # |
Kathi Iacovelli
 |
Hi Jack! I live in Lancaster County PA. We're kind of the hub of the wheel with all the spokes heading towards the cities you've mentioned. Lancaster County is thought of as farming country but the business opportunities here are amazing. Our unemployment numbers are low. We are the home to many small businesses that seem to just grow and grow.
I was born in New Brunswick NJ and grew up in Edison.
I lived in a tiny town called Highlands and worked at Monmouth Medical in Long Branch and for the VNA in Red Bank. After 20 years in CT the family moved to PA and basically started over! I'm an RN by education but work out of my home with several businesses. I wouldn't have it any other way! Looking forward to meeting and greeting others in your network.
Kathi
> Jack Spirko wrote:
> Well I am starting from zero but I think this can become a great Ryze Network pretty quickly.
>
>I added the news feeds to stir the conversations. As I said they are not perfect but hopefully they can help this group become one of Ryze's really active networks.
>
>Jack Spirko
>866-994-1212 Reply by Private Message (new win) |
| 02/03/04 | From the Ground Up! # |
Jack Spirko
|
Well I am starting from zero but I think this can become a great Ryze Network pretty quickly.
I added the news feeds to stir the conversations. As I said they are not perfect but hopefully they can help this group become one of Ryze's really active networks.
Jack Spirko
866-994-1212Reply by Private Message (new win) |
