March 2011
13 posts
What The Network Hub looked like in 2006…
Let’s turn back the clock a few years… in 2006 my partners and I were all in university. John and I were both attending SFU and Jay was attending UBC. School wasn’t the only thing on our mind, we were also juggling clients from our web company – building databases and designing network infrastructure between classes was normal since we’ve been doing it since high school. Between...
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So you got high Klout score… so what
With the emergence of social media “experts” popping everywhere and some are aggressively flaunting their Klout scores to intimidate their potential clients and friends, I feel the need to do a breakdown of how this works. Here is a little bit of a preamble, I appreciate Klout and I have advised some of my friends to use Klout as one of MANY tools out there to analyze how they are doing on...
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Tool Tuesdays: What time is the best time to...
One of the big questions right now in social media is what time is the best time to tweet? There are a few ideas out there. Guy Kawasaki mentioned in his blog post, “Looking for Mr. Goodtweet: How to Pick Up Followers on Twitter” Tip 9: Repeat your tweets. Try this experiment: take your most interesting tweets (as measured by how many people retweet them, perhaps) and post them again three...
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A Colourful Discussion on Being Green
Last week, a diverse group of community leaders from the South Asian, Filipino and Chinese communities gathered at city hall for a roundtable discussion with the goal of making Vancouver the Greenest City in the world by 2020. The discussion was moderated by two media professionals from the local Filipino and South Asian media – Marieton Pacheco of Balitang Vancouver Filipino TV news and...
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Events in Vancouver: Fashion’s Night OUT
It’s cold, it’s rainy and it feels better to be hiding under a blanket at home than to be outside BUT there is an event worth getting OUT for! Fashion’s Night OUT is presented by The Bay at White Space in V Lounge on March 8. It indeed it will be a night to remember with cocktail reception, silent auction, live DJ and gift bags with a fashion show presented by The Bay. The wonderful thing...
Things to do in Vancouver: When you are snowed in…
So it’s snowpocalypse in Vancouver, you stored away your winter gears and is weary of motorists who freak out when we get a cm of snow so what to do? Here are some suggestions: 1. Get a blanket and curl up with that book you’ve been meaning to read but haven’t gotten around to it 2. Curl up in front of the TV, turn to TVtropolis or channel 48 and watch reruns of old sitcoms – instead of a blast...
Friend Friday: The Future of Social Gaming
I first met the cofounders of A Thinking Ape – Kenshi, Eric and Wilkins when they first moved into The Network Hub, literally within weeks after they moved Vancouver from Silicon Valley. Unfortunately their explosive growth meant their time with us was short, they quickly outgrew our space within months of being here. Their first game “Kingdoms at War” is consistently in the Top 10 grossing...
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Events in Vancouver: Lean Startup Conference
As some of you know, my cofounders and I all come from a technical background. We use lean startup processes in our development work and we also apply it to The Network Hub. Lean startup is powered by three drivers – use of platforms enabled by open source and free software, application of agile development, customer-centric rapid iteration. A lot of people think it is for high tech only, I...
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Places to eat in Vancouver: Campagnolo
Can I please gush about this place? Let me set the stage, it is a Sunday night and as usual there is always people working at the office. By the time 8′clock came around, we realized well we are pretty hungry from working hard all day. We were split between Chambar and Bao Bei but after a bit of negotiation, we decided on Bao Bei. John (yes the REAL John Chow), Jaeny and Kevin (a friend from...
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Tool Tuesdays: How not to forget ever again… well...
Have you ever read an email or suddenly remember someone’s name but you don’t know how you know them? You search your emails but if you are like me, sometimes your emails provide more confusions than clarity, especially if your email thread is a continuation of something discussed in person. I host a monthly networking event for Vancouver Entrepreneurs with between 100-160 people attending each...
Strange Findings: Breakup Notifier
During my late night reading, I came across the Breakup Notifier – a Facebook app that allows you to follow the friends you’re interested in who are in a relationship and an email will be sent to your email to notify you whenever there is a relationship update. I’m guessing the big sell here is if you interesting someone, you can follow their relationship updates in hope when they update their...
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Things to do in Vancouver: Vancouver Flea Market
One of my favorite things to do on a nice sunny day is to grab a nice Chai Latte and stroll from Commercial Drive to Main Street. Somehow I usually end up at Vancouver Flea Market, I love this place because it is one of the few places you can find amazing vintage jewelery and little knick knacks. One of my goals is to reduce consumptions and reduce waste. I try my best to find knick knacks and...
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The NOW Revolution Event
Unwinding the cable Jay Baer hits the stage and utters his first words of the night “This is so very Mick Jagger”. Instantly he has my attention. Let me take a step back and give you some background information. I attended The NOW Revolution event put on by Jason Baker, Teri Conrad from Red Barn Group and Kemp Edmonds, hosting Mr. Jay Baer as well as a local panel at Caprice, February 15th. I...
January 2011
5 posts
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Hungry Girl’s Guide: Little Ongpin
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Tips For Planning An Event To Promote Your Brand
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ABL’s ARTFELT AFFAIR – The Sleeper Event Of The...
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Recent FAQ On Our Virtual Office Services
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Virtual Office For Savvy Entrepreneurs
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November 2010
20 posts
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The Order Of Importance
Today I was in a super gloomy mood. The reason is I broke up with my boyfriend yesterday because of his ex-girlfriend. To take my mind off things, I went to Wink Beauty Lounge to attend Wink Beauty Lounge Friends and Family Night. Everything was so cute!!! The main colors at the shop are white and pink. Displayed were various cosmetics and jewellery! There was also finger food going around:...
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Vancouver Street Vendors
Have you ever wanted to try all the different street vendors in one day? Today, Minna, Yvonne and I gave ourselves a tour around downtown Vancouver to at the various street vendors. We picked some stands and headed towards the drool-worthy aroma! Licious Located on Granville at West Georgia. The company has its own philosophy – healthy living, liciously easy. They have other services like meal...
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November Entrepreneur Meetup!
November 18(Thu) 7:00PM Location: 422 Richards Street 3rd floor Vancouver, BC V6B 2Z3 The Network Hub (www.thenetworkhub.ca) Where has the year gone? We are nearing the end of 2010 and this will be the last Vancouver Entrepreneur Meetup of the year! We are going out on a bang with a topic that everyone has been asking for – generating more traffic to your website! I hope to see you all at this...
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October Entrepreneur Meetup!
October Entrepreneur Meetup! “Can social media help grow your business?” On October 21, The Network Hub held the Vancouver Entrepreneur Meetup at the office (422 Richards Street, Vancouver). We had a guest speaker Yu-kai Chou and over 150 people in attendance. Yu-kai is a Serial Entrepreneur and Social Media Advisor with over 5 years of adventures in the high tech startup world. He is the...
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Salmon Rush-Hour
When a salmon jumped, I unconsciously said “Go!” Yesterday, I went to Capilano River hatchery. The facility is operated by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to protect important and rare fish species. After seeing the salmon exhibition and reading about the facility, I went to see the fish ladder. Amazingly, salmons jumped up the ladders against the rapid stream. The ladders were almost the...
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An Arresting Experience
No, I didn’t run into any trouble. It’s just an exhibition at The Vancouver Police Museum. It’s a small museum but it collects, preserves and interprets the history of the Vancouver Police Department. Visitors can learn how to detect counterfeit bills and other crime related topics- like forensic entomology to determine the time of death from the flies’ growing speed. I also saw an autopsy room...
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Beautiful Yaletown
My favourite singer/actor, Akihiro Miwa, said “Humans are made up of body and mind. Now we can easily buy enough food or nutritional supplements. So, do you know what the food for our mind is? It is culture – beautiful music, art or scenery can make our mind calm and stable.” Today I visited Yaletown – formerly a heavy industrial area dominated by warehouses and rail yards but since Expo’86, it...
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Small Business BC
There was never a business figure around me. So, I had in mind that applying at a company or working for the public was the only way to go. I always thought of business women and businessmen as strong, powerful individuals. They have to study tax law, municipal licensing requirements, think about insurance and accounting, marketing plans and publicity, etc. These issues put me in confusion!...
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Korean Pork BBQ
I can’t stop talking about how amazing Korean pork BBQ is. I’ve been eating it for the past few weekends at Westender Korean Restaurant (854 Denman St.). And the flavours deepen my love for Korean BBQ every time! When I smell it, I keep wanting more even if I’m not hungry. With Korean BBQ, you cook the meat yourself on the grill that’s on the table. The food isn’t as greasy as other places...
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What Does A CEO Do?
I have often pondered this early in my university years. In one of my business classes the professor pulled out the graph to demonstrate the hierarchy and with it role descriptions were so long I could hardly understand. That is also one of the reasons why when we started The Network Hub our business cards did not bear any titles. We figured since we didn’t know what they really mean or what it...
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Stage Earth
Yesterday I watched ‘Stage Earth’ at the Nikkei Place in Burnaby. It’s a performance by psychiatrist Dr. Norihiko Kuwayama where he shares his experience as a volunteer medical doctor in developing countries and in conflict areas. He is striving to connect with children worldwide through visuals and music. Over 2,000 performances have been held since its launch in January 1996 in Japan. This...
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The International Buddhist Temple
On Sunday, I went to The International Buddhist Temple. It’s also called ‘Kuan Yin Temple’. It has an amazing building that follows the traditional Chinese imperial style with multiple beautiful Buddhist statues. For example, Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva (Thousand-Hand-Thousand-Eye) who’s each hand and eye symbolizes the Bodhisattva watching over humankind and protecting them from danger. The...
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GUEST BLOG POST: The Case For Going To School...
This is Bobby himself!Robert Park is a very good friend of mine who is always very opinionated and his latest blog post is fantastic one that I thought I should share. You can visit his blog at http://www.pakg1.net/ — Seeing that Mark Zuckerberg is the latest billionaire darling of the tech world who dropped out of school (who the heck has multiple books AND a movie made about them while they’re...
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Hungry Girl's Guide: The Narrow Lounge
Paul (@fire) in our office is a cool kat, he is always trying to hipsterize me by introducing me to places that are usually unknown to a lot of people unless you are in the “know.” After a fantastic night at Red Galleria for South East Asian Heritage Society fundraiser, Paul (@fire) insisted that I have to try out this place that is uber chic and hip. I wasn’t too convinced but Jay (@jaycatalan)...
Small Trip To Chinatown
I know that smell!…This smell is like my grandmother’s house or Buddhism temple in Japan. The smell of incense reminded me of my hometown and my grandfather’s funeral ceremony. When I was child, I stayed at my grandparents house during vacations and he taught me so much – for example, how to dive and get clams in the sea, or how to gather honey from a honeycomb. At the time I was living in...
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Sure Let’s Grab A Coffee But Before That…
One of the most requests I get is, “Can we grab a coffee sometime?” I sometimes hesitate because some meetings are fantastic but there is that odd time when the meeting has no directions whatsoever and I feel like I have wasted not only my time but the valuable time of the person I am meeting. I love Quora and this has got to be THE BEST QUESTION and THE BEST ANSWER in all my time on Quora,...
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Picnic At Canada Place
Today I went to one of my favorite places in Vancouver – Canada Place. I like to go there because I can always enjoy a picnic! Eating outside is a magic spice, every food can be yummy food even my cooking! In Canada, the most popular foods we think about for picnics are sandwiches, pizzas, hamburgers, and fruits. I love those but I like my country’s preference – Japanese rice balls. It’s the one...
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Programs For Kids At The Vancouver Public Library
“Please get married and have a baby soon!” my father said to me when I lived in Japan, even though I didn’t have such a plan and I didn’t have a boyfriend! At that time I felt bad because of him but I’m a very good and serious girl. To prepare for unknown future, I visited the Vancouver Central Library to attend a program for kids without kids. These programs are offered in many branches and are...
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Community Building And Social Media
I’ve been having an on going and spirited debate with a good friend about the value of online social networks, and the usefulness of social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook. The other day, he sent a provocative email addressed to me and our group of friends. In it, he quoted several articles from psychology magazines that in essence claims the only value of Twitter is to create and...
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Collaborative Act Of Urban Transformation
On Sundays, there is a good chance you can find me wandering around on Commercial Drive half asleep, looking for a sunny spot to have my coffee and enjoy my book. Today was a bit different, my jaw nearly dropped and my eyes were wide opened when I saw a tree growing out of a trunk. After checking in with myself to confirm that I was indeed awake, I circled the car and checked out the plants. I...
September 2010
13 posts
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Next phase of working at home is coworking
STORY HIGHLIGHTS Restless at-home workers improve by collaborating face to face Home-based workers say “coworking” balances freedom, teamwork Coworking groups are meeting or forming in more than 40 U.S. cities The trend comes as single-person businesses increase “The reason people work alone, is because they’re looking for freedom,” said Bachman, a 34-year-old Web developer who telecommutes part...
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The Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dream
There are so many people I admire but if you ask me to list the top 10 people I admire, I would have to name Randy Pausch as one of them. A young college professor who chronicled his battle with cancel and delivered the kind of lecture that not only make you stop to pay attention but also touch your heart and soul. It is the kind of lecture that makes you ask yourself, if I knew I was...
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More people find freelance lifestyle attractive
A quick plug for Freelance Camp: If you are a freelancer, find out about Freelance Camp! An ad-hoc gathering of freelancers to share and learn in an open environment. There is one in Vancouver – www.thenetworkhub.ca/freelancecamp/ According to the Elance report, the economic downturn is no longer the primary force driving professionals to start a freelance career. Less than 5 percent of those...
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Coworking: Creating a sustainable city
Coworking is more than just a distributed-working model. It’s a philosophy and an exercise in community-building. Coworking offers numerous opportunities to implement sustainability/greening initiatives in the workplace. Coworking also helps address several of the objectives proposed in the Greenest City action plans and programs. Here, we focus on the following aspects –...
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Coworking: Rethink Office Space
The coworking movement is one that has every one rethink how they work. With technology giving us the ability to work wherever and whenever we want to, it then creates a unique situation where we crave for colleagues and social interactions after being cooped up for a long period of time. “As working from home becomes more and more common for creative professionals – be they freelancers or...
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Coworking: Lower office space cost with more...
When you are operating a business, you want to minimize your expenses as much as possible and commercial lease is a huge expense for most people. Freelancers, part-time workers, self-employed, startups, entrepreneurs and even small businesses find themselves saving thousands of dollars. With shared resources such as internet, printer, fax, meeting room and included amenities such...
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Colleague-craving freelancer gives coworking a try
We often get freelancers who come into the office thanking us for opening a coworking space. Freelancers who operates out of the house or coffee shop, especially those who have been working from home for a long time crave the casual conversation with “coworker” or they are hoping for separation between work and home. Coworking spaces are set up for freelancers who enjoy the casual chatter or...
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What is coworking?
Coworking is a concept still very new to a lot of people and for us it was important to make sure all your questions are address, it is a paradigm shift to work in a shared office space. It is very new and we want to provide all the information that we can about coworking to you… please feel free to contact us if you have further questions. Enjoy the read. Coworking 101 by GigaOm Reimagining...
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Dealing with a challenging day in a musical way
After a long rough day, especially a day where it all feels all overwhelming. I turn up “Dirt off your shoulder” by Jay-Z real loud! Jay-Z is an inspiration to me, he came from the ghetto to creating an empire and becoming one of the richest man in America. I hope you will enjoy this song as much as I do! Jay-Z‘s most inspiring quote: “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man. Let me handle...
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Coffee shop versus coworking
Coffee shops have a special place in my heart – especially The Grind on Main Street. It was THE place for me to study at all hours when I was at SFU. If it weren’t the kindness of the staff, the unlimited coffee supply and endless amount of sweets, I would have gone through school half-asleep and none of the assignments would have been complete. It was the place that, through out most of my...
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How we incorporated our business
Must be something in the air but at least a dozen young entrepreneurs have asked me, “How can I go about incorporating my business?” It is a wonderful thing for the economy when someone decides to venture into the world of entrepreneurship but it can also be very overwhelming. Sole proprietorship or corporation? What name should I use for my business? What logo? Should I trademark my logo?...
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5 Reasons Coworking is More Productive than...
On my daily reading, I came across this awesome blog post about coworking! Oh, I know what you’re thinking. Why wouldn’t people like us just stick to our home offices? Simple: 1. It’s lonely, and 2. Two brains (or three or four or five) are smarter than one. So without belaboring the topic, here are 5 Reasons Coworking is More Productive than Working Alone Read more here: 5 Reasons Coworking...