As a quick reminder, tonight is the Office Nomads Spring Open House and it’s gonna be a good one. Those of us in the space regularly have been loving Andrea Huysing’s photos that are on display. We’re also all excited to show off the brand new library conference room.

We’re cohosting tonight with BALLE Seattle, an excellent local business support organization, so in addition to the usual gathering of good people to celebrate new art and enjoy some yummy snacks and beer, there will be some lightly facilitated talks about local business issues for those that want to take part.

So come on by and say hi, check out the new art and find out a bit more about Office Nomads.

WHEN: 6:30 – 9pm (lightly programmed portion of the event to begin at 7pm)
WHERE: Office Nomads – 1617 Boylston Ave, Second Floor
WHY: Our spring open house & BALLE Seattle networking event!
FOOD/DRINK: Provided. Please don’t forget to bring your own cup!

Lord knows we here at Office Nomads LOVE local businesses. Not only are we one, most of our members run or work for local businesses and we frequent ones in our neighborhood often (with a focus on the Redwood Tavern down the block and Honey Hole sandwiches a block away). That’s why the 3/50 Project caught my eye on the coworking Google group this morning:

The 3/50 Project is an effort to get people to spend $50 a month in three local brick and mortar businesses on a regular basis. The goal is to make sure the business that drive the economy in which you live survive and thrive. When they do, your community does too. Simply put, if half the employed population spent $50/month in locally owned businesses, it would generate more than $42 billion in revenue, according to the 3/50 site. It also says that for every $100 spent in a locally owned business $68 returns to the local economy versus $43 when its spent in a national chain.

There’s another benefit too: You have a connection to the product or service you bought. There’s a person behind it, not just a giant mega-corporation (or maybe the mailman) which means your needs, your concerns and your accolades are heard and receive responses. So join us and support local businesses as much as possible.

I remember the first time I came across this video I just couldn’t get enough of it.  I recently chatted about this video with a friend and realized it was time to share it again – enjoy!

Andrea Huysing's "xxx Rootbeer." Happily, I get to look at it all day long at Office Nomads right now.

Spring is in the air and it’s time for another open house at Office Nomads!

WHEN: Monday, April 27th, 6:30 – 9pm (lightly programmed portion of the event to begin at 7pm)
WHERE: Office Nomads – 1617 Boylston Ave, Second Floor
WHY: Our spring open house & BALLE Seattle networking event!
FOOD/DRINK: Provided.  Please don’t forget to bring your own cup!

There’s a ton of great stuff going on at the Spring Office Nomads Open House, we hardly know where to begin:

• We have room for new members and want people who have been curious about ON to see the changes in our space, including the new library! Since our Pink Slip Special is still going on, now’s a great time to check us out.
• It’s time for new art from photographer Andrea Huysing, who says she’s “been capturing shapes, pieces & parts and color for as long as I can remember” in “photography [that] is not specifically complex,” but she hopes, “create curiosity and emotion.”
• We’re co-hosting with BALLE Seattle, a networking group that aims to connect, educate and promote King County businesses supporting local living economies. They’re adding a new spice to our regular Open House format: the opportunity to take part in a few short breakout discussions about building the local economy from a business and consumer perspective. BALLE Seattle + Office Nomads =

For more detailed information, read on, or just come by on Monday, April 27th from 6:30 – 9 and remember to bring your own glass for beverages!

BALLE Seattle + ON =
We are incredibly excited to co-host this open house with BALLE Seattle, who is teaming up with us to run their quarterly networking event.  Never heard of BALLE Seattle?  Well, it’s about time you did – these guys are awesome.  BALLE Seattle is the local Seattle chapter of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies.  BALLE Seattle’s mission is to connect, educate and promote King County businesses supporting local living economies.  Pretty great, right?  They achieve their mission by hosting educational events, connecting local businesses to support one another, and promoting local businesses through their network.  They are an incredible partner of ours, and will create an incredibly dynamic addition to our classic open house model.

Along with plenty of networking, there will be a chance to delve into the challenges of building the local economy from both the business and consumer perspectives during short breakout discussions.  These are a new addition to our open house model, and should provide for some great, relevant conversations to independent business folk in the neighborhood. These conversations are meant to be casual, and are a great time to connect with others on the topics that impact you the most.

Spring featured artist: Andrea Huysing
We are excited to open our doors to show off the space and the new artwork by Andrea Huysing! A little bit about Andrea:

I’ve been capturing shapes, pieces & parts and color for as long as I can remember.  My friends and family know me as the shutterbug, always with camera in hand, finding beauty in the simplest things.  I find so much happiness in charming and bold moments of everyday life.

My photography is not specifically complex, however if it can create curiosity and emotion, I have succeeded in relating to each person.

I hope you find even one photo that seizes your attention, creating feeling and thought that you enjoy experiencing, sharing and revisiting.

To view the rest of my work, please visit http://www.andreadesigns.com.

Support ON!
Please come and join us, and bring a friend or two!  We have room for more members at the office and are excited to have interesting, fun indie workers join the office community.

Additionally, we are still running our Pink Slip Special for anyone who has recently been laid off.  So if you’ve just gotten your pink slip handed to you, come on over to the office for a free month of coworking with us!  We like to think of it as our own little economic stimulus package.

Hope to see you on Monday the 27th!

Pardon me while I toot the Office Nomads horn a lot but I have to because an excellent example of how great our community is has popped up in our bathroom this week, and I have to share it.

One of the Office Nomads’ bathroom doors has become a vehicle for the expression of a lot of smart, witty, fun people (not at the same time, thankfully) which directly correlates to how smart and fun the ON community as a whole is.

Check out the recent conglomeration of words on the door (painted with chalkboard paint) that started as a real-world version of a standard Internet meme and quickly morphed into something, well, much more unique.

We got from Blank to Acropolis in just a few short days.

Office Nomads is a member of our Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce.  And we are proud of it.  Particularly proud today, as the CHCC was featured in the Capitol Hill Times!

Why join your local chamber of commerce?  Let me give you a couple of reasons:

1. It gets you engaged on a local level. As a member of the CHCC, we get regular communication digests from the Chamber about interesting events, important happenings in our neighborhood, as well as updates on what the Chamber is doing to represent us as Capitol Hill businesses.  It’s a great resource, it’s well put-together, and it is a constant reminder of the world that is right outside our door.
2. They advocate for businesses. It may seem obvious, but one of the central roles of a Chamber of Commerce is to support the local businesses around them and ensure greater support from local government and individuals.
3. Increased visibility of your business. Being a member of the CHCC has provided us with a certain amount of visibility that we could never get on our own. The Chamber offers marketing and publicity for its members that is simple and speaks directly to our audience: our neighborhood.
4. Networking! I know, I know. There are a million outlets for networking these days. But the cool part about networking with your Chamber of Commerce is getting to connect and chat with businesses that are right around the corner. Some of them you know, and some of them you never would have heard of otherwise – the Chamber is a dynamic catchment system of businesses and organizations of all sizes and types that are all interested in supporting one another. It’s a no-brainer for us.

Got any other reasons you’d like to share?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you think!

Jacob first told me about Giraffe Labs back in early 2008 or maybe even late 2007 when it was just called Saturday House and we were looking around for communities we had a natural kinship with. Although I never personally met the people who were a part of Giraffe Labs/Saturday House, I loved their story and model and know that Jacob was very much a fan of them. So it was with great sadness that we read late yesterday that Giraffe Labs’ founders decided to close up shop and move on to other things.

According to TechFlash:

A dwindling membership base — not to mention a lack of windows and an expiring lease – sealed the fate of Giraffe Labs.

Apparently the founders had other things going on that demanded their attention more than building membership numbers and in this economy, realized that was not a sustainable model.

We congratulate Brian Dorsey and Anders Conbere (the founders) on their run as GL and wish them both all the luck in the world on future endeavors. We also hope the Giraffes who worked at GL land safely and happily in a new community. With a wealth of great coworking spaces in Seattle, we’re sure you will. To help, we’re extending the Office Nomads Pink Slip Special to any of them that want to come and try us ouf, since losing one’s workspace is akin to being laid off. We also know that StartPad is doing the same thing.

Good luck and Good bye Giraffe Labs!

Man, Web Worker Daily loves coworking. They just covered the Coworking Visa.

The Coworking Visa project, a community-based effort, is essentially an exchange program. If you’re a member of one participating coworking center, you can work at another participating coworking center without having to pay the fees.

It’s really no surprise that the site keeps heaping the love on coworking. It’s aimed directly at the same people who make up a large contingent in the coworking community after all. I don’t know the folks there, but I bet many of them have worked from home or the cafe for too long and were chomping at the bit for coworking when it came along. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if you told me that some of the people who run WWD run or helped start up coworking spaces.

Oh, yeah, what’s the Coworking Visa, you ask? If you’re newer around here, it’s likely you may not have heard of it as it is something Office Nomads fully supports but doesn’t talk about much. Basically, if you’re a member of coworking space that takes part in the Visa program, then you can visit any other member of the program when you’re traveling, for free. Each space sets its own limits and requirements, but most are pretty easy going and willing to make an effort to make visitors comfortable. So next time you’re on the road and need a place to work, look into the Coworking Visa on the coworking wiki and find a space waiting to welcome you.