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Todd Buckley has a plan to hit it big and hit it local with his budding new line of Vodka.  He’s done the research, attended the conferences, crafted a very tight business plan – now all he needs is a little bit of capital.  He’s got two different versions of how to start off – small, using another distillers facilities and licenses – or all out, with the cost of all new equipment a location and ready to run licenses.  Difference in cost:  $20k or $500k+.

Either way, he is looking for investors / partners and this would be a great opportunity to get into the liquor business here in Washington state.  It could be an ideal situation for a chain of clubs, restaurants, bars, owners of any local bars would be good partners and would benefit from a lot of great exposure Todd will create with the major social media campaigns planned to launch the brand.

If you are interested in being considered as a partner and/or investor, please let me know and I will make a person introduction to Todd.  He’ll be happy to share his business plan with you, but please do be prepared to sign a non-disclosure agreement.  Thanks!

The good news is that while working on a ‘Professional Profile’ and following the new book by Don Burrow and Deborah Drake called “Burn Your Resume – You Need a Professional Profile’, I’ve remembered a couple of the early social media conferences I was involved in organizing – and want to do a more current version, with a lot more practical knowledge.  Disclosure:  It might also help me get some work.

Previous conferences have all had some awesome speakers and valuable content, but they were at an even earlier time in social media, a time when many businesses had not yet seen the impact of social media and had still not bought into it.

Today, most reasonable businesses have seen that they NEED to be using social media marketing in their business just to keep up with the competition, and the savvy businesses know they need to be using social media well to stay ahead of their competition.

At any rate, I have begun to plan Social Media Marketing Confab 2012.  The location and date have yet to be determined, but I am hoping for a nice venue, that will hold around 200 conference attendees, that is looking for some awesome visibility with the social media marketing crowd, either in Bellevue or Seattle, but will consider all possibilities.  It would be great to have it at Google or Adobe, especially considering that we’ve had the last two conferences at the Microsoft Conference Center and the local Microsoft Local Engagement Team doesn’t seem to want to engage locally any longer …

(I’m thinking there will be additional Confabs in other cities as well, so if you are in Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Orange County or San Diego are interested in discussing, please contact me).  At this point, the target date is somewhere in the first week of June for the Seattle version.

So at this point, I’m looking for a venue, sponsors and speakers.  I’ve got a number of speakers lined up and will post a rough Program for the Confab in the next day or so.  Hoping to have a nice rousing session on live broadcasting – including people from spreecast, LiveStream, U-Stream, Social Cam and more, as well as a session on Using Video in Social Marketing – and really hope to get someone from YouTube to talk and let us know what maybe up in the future.

If you can help, or want to get involved – please let me know!

That’s right – both BellevueBusinessJournal.com and the Eastside Entrepreneurs Social Network are looking for some new blood, in the form of a highly energetic and motivated partner or buyer looking to engage and connect with businesses and business owners here in Bellevue and on the Eastside.

It’s very difficult for me to think about no longer being associated with these two sites, but they do take quite a bit of time to run and I just have not been able to dedicate the time or resources required to make them super successful …

Hopefully there is some information of value to you presented here, I realize it is a pretty rough draft.  I do want to deliver this type of news on a regular basis – and would love to hear your thoughts.

Here are the links mentioned on the broadcast:

http://www.shellypalmer.com

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2012/04/05/business/05reuters-google-viacom.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1333646242-8LnEYdGAWokvpoMG5mb7Qg

http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-report-apple-investigates-wifi-issue-in-ipad-20120405,0,7986462.story

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2012/04/flashback-trojan-reportedly-controls-half-a-million-macs-and-counting.ars

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2402595,00.asp

http://mashable.com/2012/04/04/twitter-opens-detroit-office/

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/04/google-glass-visor-geordie/

You should know that if you are the one person responsible for helping me secure ongoing employment, I will pay you a referral fee equal to one week salary.  That’s right – I will work the first entire week for YOU!

Although I did eventually send Ron a link to my online resume, along with an email expressing interest in working for him – I first reached out through a number of social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest and a few of my websites.  Even though Ron has been busy in Austin at SXSW this week, he did reach out via Twitter and suggest that we talk today when he gets back in the office.  I’m really looking forward to finally talking with him and finding out exactly how I can make his life easier and be of the best service possible to Spreecast and the amazing and rapidly growing Spreecast Community.

The position Ron is looking to fill has been advertised or talked about as a Social Media Manager position, which would really fit in with my experience, but before actually speaking with Ron, it seems like there is probably going to be a great bit of Spreecast evangelism and community building going on as well.  I’m super passionate about social media and how it is evolving, and ever since starting the local Eastside Entrepreneurs Social Network a few years ago, I’ve been looking for the opportunity to help grow and nurture a larger community, one that is national and even international, just like the Spreecast community.  This is the perfect opportunity for me and I’m super excited about the possibility of being part of the Spreecast team and helping it grow into a social media platform that is used by all.

Some of the things that I’ve done in the past week to engage Ron and help promote Spreecast include:

• I created a HelpRon board at Pinterest:  http://pinterest.com/joekennedy/helpron/
• I’ve tweeted and retweeted about @Spreecast somewhere around 100 times  https://twitter.com/#!/kennedyiam (I do apologize to Ron if this was overkill, but I have backed off A LOT in the past couple of days).
• I’ve joined the Facebook Spreecasting group and ‘Like’ Spreecast on Facebook
• Multiple posts and shares on Google+, Facebook, Posterous and more
• I’ve produced 5 Spreecasts and have two more scheduled, including a reunion of the Social Media 101 Conference that I produced at Microsoft three years ago.
• I’ve invited many, many people to join Spreecast and am currently following 147 fellow Spreecasters.
• I’ve including complimentary banner advertising for Spreecast on my websites at BellevueBusinessJournal.com and EastsideEntrepreneurs.com.
• I’ve promoted my Spreecasts via the above sites and also blog posts at JoeKennedy.biz and here at JoeConnector.com.

11 Reasons You Should Using Spreecast in Your Business Today, Bonus: #HelpRon, #HelpJoeConnect

http://joekennedy.posterous.com/11-reasons-you-should-be-using-spreecast-in-y

Get a Cool New Social Media Tool FREE Right Now – Help Joe “The Connector” Kennedy #HelpRon and #HelpJoeConnect

Joe “The Connector” Kennedy’s First Spreecast – #HelpRon #HelpJoeConnect

BBJ Publisher Joe “The Connector” Kennedy Invites You to Join Him on Live Broadcasting via Spreecast

Eastside Entrepreneurs Make History with Virtual Networking Event on Spreecast, Now You Can Too

BBJ Holds First Spreecast, Hosts Local Authors Deborah Drake and Don Burrows

I’ve also made several posts on the VK Social Network (it is much like Facebook for Russians and other Europeans).  http://vk.com/id164951242

I’ve also attempted to create some LinkedIn discussions to start to figure out how to best expose people in other countries to Spreecast.

Heck – I even made my own Spreecast t-shirts – who else would do that?  Nobody but me – someone who is totally passionate about Spreecast, social media and helping grow the Spreecast community.  Hire me today Ron – I will make your life a lot easier and be a great asset to Spreecast and the Spreecast Community.  I’ll be looking for an invite to a Spreecast later today, or you can call me at any time (425) 213-4176.

If you are not yet using it for your business, here are 11 reasons you should be using Spreecast in your business.  If you need a bunch of reasons to use this cool new tool, read the article, if you want to jump right in – just head over to my,  Joe “The Connector” Kennedy’s profile on Spreecast and connect with me there – and start Spreecasting away.  It’s a lot of fun and can be used very effectively in your business.  I look forward to becoming a fellow Spreecaster and hope I get to see you on a Spreecast in the very near future.