The Power of Mutual Collaboration is Alive and Well in South Lake County

The Bible's most famous rule is perhaps "The Golden Rule." Quite simply it says, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." The key word in that passage of scripture is the first word, "Do." Even fans of Twitter seem to understand that rule. Why? Because unless you agree to follow someone else...first...Twitter is a useless service. It simply will not work at all. But, once you start to follow other folks, guess what happens? Other folks start to follow you. It is an amazing phenomena. It seems that the ethics of reciprocity kicks in almost automatically when you agree to first become a good follower of other folks.

Imagine what could happen if you were to agree to collaborate with some of the folks you decided to follow or folks who agreed to follow you? Well, you can see the impact of mutual collaboration all over Lake County on Satuday, October 31st regarding festive events - including at the Hidden Valley Community Church. October 31st this year will be the 19th Annual Harvest Party for the church. The theme for the free family event is “Blast From the Past.” There will be a wide array of contests – involving costumes, hula hoops, Bazooka Bubble Gum Blowing and pumpkin carving. There will be two grand prize raffle drawings, plus drawings for bikes, gift certificates, movie tickets, an art basket and lots of candy for the kids. The Beaudettes will provide musical entertainment. The party begins at 6 p.m. and lasts until 8:30 p.m. The Hidden Valley Community Church (or HVCC as the parishoners often refer to it) is located at 18160 Spruce Grove Road Extension. For more information, visit Fun Times or call 707-987-3510.

However, mutual collaborative efforts are not just found at parties or at good will gestures toward the community. They can be found in the business world as well. The idea that your business can prosper by helping another business prosper is nothing new. But, with the growing impact of the Internet - especially social media - the term "wikinomics" has been used a great deal. Wikinomics is based on four ideas: Openness, Peering, Sharing, and Acting Globally. The use of mass collaboration in a business environment, in recent history, can be seen as an extension of the trend in business to outsource: externalize formerly internal business functions to other business entities. The difference however is that instead of an organized business body brought into being specifically for a unique function, mass collaboration relies on free individual agents to come together and cooperate to improve a given operation or solve a problem. This kind of outsourcing is also referred to as crowdsourcing, to reflect this difference. This can be incentivized by a reward system, though it is not required.

Recently, the Ryze Business Network reached out to Lake County with magnetic to-do-list boards. While supplies last, you should be able to pick up a board at the Hidden Valley Food Mart, off Hwy. 29, near the Putah Creek Bridge. (The Doug Reams Dental Clinic, off Hwy. 20 in Lucerne also has a limited supply of the same boards.) These boards were created in Canada, designed by Ryzer Sherry Simoes and shipped to Lake County. This is simply one phase of a five-year outreach to Lake County by the Ryze Business Network. This outreach actually began when South African Althea Garner came to visit Middletown in June of 2005. She participated in the town's "Middletown Days" parade and then conducted a business networking seminar at the Calpine Visitors Center for the Middletown Merchants. Those interested in connecting with Ryzers on their special network can freely do so by going to Clusters.

The growing interest in social media here in Lake County has not only resulted in the Lake County Chamber of Commerce starting monthly "59 Minute" seminars on social media tools, but has resulted in a brand new "hands-on" workshop kicking off Sunday, Nov. 8th at the Hidden Valley Food Mart. At that worshop registered attendees will be encouraged to bring their own laptop or mobile device for training purposes. A free flash drive with special software on it to help make computers run faster and more efficiently will be handed out at the workshop to all registered attendees. For more information on the workshop - including registration - visit Lake County Social Media Workshop Meetup.

Ting's Thai Kitchen, Spirit Lake Bed and Breakfast, the Hidden Valley Food Mart, and Ocean Spirit Vacation Rental are finding cost-saving value through collaborative advertising. By working through CDMM-Synergistic Marketing, these businesses not only save money advertising, but highten their media exposure through a process known as "PR optimization." They not only advertise on the printed page, but send out press releases with news through a wide range of online channels. They actually create a "buzz" for their business BEFORE their ad gets published in the newspaper. For more on these amazing social media options, visit Lake County Events or call 707-709-8605. #