I spent 3 unproductive hours on the phone today with 3+ customer service departments. Interestingly, I needed to connect two separate customer service departments on one large conference call. Try entertaining customer service Agent #1 during a 20 minute hold time with Agent #2! What’s worse is waiting for Agent #2 to call their customer service department (Agent #3) to find an answer for you and Agent #1 who is waiting with you. Welcome to Corporate America.

In the last decade, we have found that the telephone is not an entirely efficient means for handling a chain of communications. For having a conversation they are great. When looking for a long or technical solution, however, we are left with a fairly ancient method for business communications.

So what do we do? We attempt to make communication processes a little easier. We start by launching Bizooki’s Internet-based platform, and the innovation continues from there. Not that we have an overnight solution to customer service processes, but these are the thought processes that drive the forward growth of Bizooki, as a network for virtual team building and virtual team communications.

In our brainstorm sessions here at Bizooki HQ, we are diligently working to provide a unique business networking realm for our prospective body of consumers, and more importantly, friends.

We know you have plenty of other options already at your disposal when it comes to business networking. You may have tried anything from Monster.com to BaseCamp with, let’s be honest, mixed results? Some people we have talked with have even written off such sites altogether due to user ineffectiveness towards their own personal goals.

“There’s certain nuances to (online business networking),” says David, a recent MBA graduate from Phoenix who has used LinkedIn. “I used the site to see which people who my friends from school knew, which enabled me grow my network, and I could kinda send messages to them. I’d say about 80 percent of the people I knew were through classmates.”

Our site aims for a more casual, direct environment.

Bizooki allows Michael, the disillusioned corporate bee burnout, to find a niche where he can be comfortable and thrive. Bizooki allows Kate, the passionate project manager with a freshly-dried-ink MBA, to find just the people she needs to get on board with her big idea.

(more…)

Email is strange. Enough said. As a stand-alone medium for communication, it simply does not accomplish all the tasks that are needed by a true multi-tasker. Seth Godin pointed out the pain of spam filters that tend to eat away at important messages each day.

When will email become obsolete, or will it? What is the next best communication medium?

He even referenced to inquiries from folks here at Bizooki who experienced issues with spam filters when inquiring about his internship opportunity (it’s filled!). As a side note, we created the official Bizooki lens on Squidoo, a nifty information web site founded by Godin. So nifty, that any profits generated on our Squidoo page are donated to a long list of supported charities.

It all begins with a vision. That is what I shared with a class in which I was invited to speak at Big Picture High School today. It was only 7 short years ago when I sat in a classroom as a high school freshman, at the beginning of a long road of entrepreneurial ventures. Today, I was reminded of my early visions — the days when many of my business ideas didn’t let out of my own mind. When I asked these students what businesses they want to create, they knew exactly what they were — and with the right tools, they will win.

One student asked, “can a successful business be operated as a one-man shop?”, and while there are many successful independents working today, a solid team is needed to reach your maximum potential. I experienced this when I was growing a services-based tech business. So let’s remove geography from the “big picture,” and what we are left with is a world of talent and opportunity. This is what we aim to connect with as we upgrade Bizooki from invite-only to a full release to the public in Summer 2008.

Hello, and welcome to the wonderful world of Bizooki! Will you be my friend?

Or rather, will you be my co-worker? My new boss? My extremely valuable and underappreciated new hire who is the missing piece of my organization?

Bizooki is a unique social networking realm that supports new generations of business. Better yet, virtual team environments like Bizooki are the future of communications for businesses that are sprawling across a city, state, country, and world.

Man, I love that word: Bizooki! Kind of sounds like a cross between “bazooka” and…”dookie”. Hmm. Or better yet! An amalgamation of “bazooka” and “wiki”! Like a wiki that explodes!

By now, you’ve heard everyone wax on and on about how “We live in a global economy” and “The world is getting smaller.” You might even have read a book like The World is Flat. While we do live in the midst of the alleged “Information Age”, many of our humble job inquires are quickly sent to the spam box. Who you know is, ironically, more important that it has ever been…

It’s official. Bizooki has entered the blogosphere! This blog will be utilized by Bizooki’s management team, customers, fans, and extraterrestrials if at all possible. The purpose of this blog is to engage the Bizooki community in continuous conversation on the latest market trends and how the Bizooki network is being used. Here’s how:

1. Weekly updates by the Bizooki blog team.

2. Bi-weekly updates by the founding CEO regarding Bizooki’s progress.

3. Q&A, guest bloggers, and special features!

Happy blogging!
-Bizooki