Day 29: Associations
Joining trade associations can give your business a bit of credibility. It is also an opportunity to network with others in your field -- exchange ideas, learn, and form strategic alliances. It works on Survivor, and it works in the real world.
Today, I joined the International Webmaster's Association. The IWA is the first such organization I have joined. I started with them for a few reasons: membership is free, they have local chapters, and their page validates.
The Oklahoma City chapter of IWA seems to be defunct, so this could be a good opportunity for us. If we can get permission to establish a new chapter, we can take a leadership role among area web designers.
Other organizations to consider:
Week 3: Doing Donations
Since my parents are going to be visiting this weekend, and since we're spending the time until then busily cleaning house, I'm not going to even try to squeeze in an hour of volunteer work this week. So week three becomes my first week of donations. I'm counting the membership fee I had to pay Pets and People to volunteer for them (seem odd to anyone but me?) as half of this week's donation. I also chose to donate to The National Arbor Day Foundation, especially appropriate since Oklahoma celebrates Arbor Day this week. As an added bonus, the Arbor Day folks give a free gift of several trees in exchange for the donation... so we can help the environment by planting those once we receive them. I noticed the dog park was completely tree-free. I wonder if they would appreciate a donation of a tree or two?
