I’m working on a new business idea with a friend and we continue to run into problem after problem. What we want to do is time consuming, hard to schedule, risky, and our equipment costs are turning out to be very expensive. Prohibitively expensive for what we are wanting to offer. Vendor after vendor gives us prices that are just too high. It’s getting frustrating and becoming clear why there are not many people doing what we’re trying to do. I should be depressed right now.
For some reason, I’m not! I’m actually excited! Focused. Determined. I feel like we’ve really run into a wall, but I think of all the other people who have given up and turned away because of it. This is where we prove how innovative and creative we are. We have to throw away our conventional thoughts on solving our problem and get a little crazy. If we can solve this problem, we’ll be in great shape and will greatly multiply our success.
I know this is all vague. I just needed to share a business epiphany I’ve had today where I feel I’ve turned a corner on how I handle problems. Instead of taking the easy road and giving up on an idea, I feel compelled to charge ahead.
I think this will be fun. More details eventually. 
While planning for the Blog Indiana conference next month, an idea was put forth about a creative way to have some fun with a normal networking event. The concept involves having people wear “tags” or keywords representing areas of expertise or knowledge they have.
The idea is if everyone wears 2-3 tags, others will easily see who knows what and it will prompt discussions that may not have otherwise happened. We’ve been calling this concept PeopleTagging.
For example, I may see someone at a networking event who is tagged with “videocasting” or “photography.” Both are areas I have an interest in, but am only at the hobbyist level. I would definitely want to strike up a conversation with those two. Whereas, normally in a crowded room of people, I may have never had the chance to randomly start chatting with that person.
This concept may also work well as a replacement for name tags (or word just below/above name tags).
At the Blog Indiana conference next month, we’ll be trying this concept out with actual buttons attendees will get to “tag” themselves with during the conference. Think of it as a conference-long networking booster! You can read more about our plans at our conference blog.
What are some unique activities you’ve seen at networking events?
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