n his LLC in order to focus on some excellent career opportunities with his employer of the past 17 years. He had been working 48 hours per week on his job ... and another 30 hours per week on his business. He worked through various alternatives and determined that he wanted to focus on career advancement with his employer. I met with this entrepreneur early in the morning. His last day at our incubator will be March 31st.Later in the morning I met with a branch manager from Huntington Bank. She is currently working on a potential loan package for another of my CBI clients. My client is looking for a $50k line of credit. My meeting with the branch manager focused on the idea of Huntington Bank becoming a corporate sponsor of our non-profit incubator. I think that that meeting went well. Time will tell.
I had a lunch-time meeting as a guest for the community advisory committee of our Cincinnati-based Public Broadcast Service (PBS) --> WCET. One of the delightful aspects of the meeting was a live webcast of their 1-year old project known as CET-Connect. The amount of content available on this portal was amazing to me. I am hopeful that CBI will become the 31st "partner" for CET-Connect. We may be able to have one or more of our lunch'n'learn seminars webcast on this portal. We would do other cross-promotion. I would love to see interviews and discussions on topics of interest to small business owners in this portal. The most amusing part of the meeting came at the end when the hostess asked if I would be interested in becoming a member of their community advisory committee.
However, the coup-de-grace for the day occurred just a few moments ago when I was informed that the "Cincinnati Opera could use your assistance". It turns out that the Cincinnati Opera is planning a remarkable project for delivery in October 2007. They plan to stage a newly commissioned opera inspired by the life of Underground Railroad conductor John P. Parker. Cincinnati Opera has engaged distinguished composer Adolphus Hailstork to create a new work, aimed at informing young people and families about this admirable man. Parker moved to Ripley OH, after purchasing his own freedom. He launched a successful business as an iron maker and inventor, but he also helped people fleeing from slavery -- often imperiling his own life in the process.
This October project will be known as RISE FOR FREEDOM ... and it will be about 60 minutes in length, and presented at the Aronoff Center in downtown Cincinnati. Anyhow, I've been asked to serve on the advisory committee for this event. I replied that I would be honored to do so ... as long as I wouldn't be disqualified for only attending one opera in my life. I attended San Francisco Opera (by accident!) in the early 1980s. Our group thought we had bought tickets to a Whoopi Goldberg concert ... an example of why you shouldn't drink too much at happy hours
Anyhow, today was a good day at the incubator. Public television ... the opera ... who sez that I ain't got no class!
