Build Coalitions, first and foremost. Beat down the door of the park board, local colleges, city, community centers, youth serving agencies, and folks who serve the homeless and the under-represented. Share the ideas around, get a feel for the landscape of your community. And gather like minded people for bike rides and coffee. Be fearless when approaching folks on bikes. Your idea will be contagious, I promise. Develop a mission statement together, then a business plan, then shop it shop it to everybody. And read the blog. So many great tools and templates.

On Mon, Oct 20, 2008 at 1:05 PM, bike against <bikeagainst@gmail.com> wrote:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mark H Hendricks <mhendri961@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Oct 20, 2008 at 10:17 AM
Subject: A Little Help Please!
To: coordinator@fcbikecoop.org

Dear Friends:

It's time to start a cooperative here in The Quad Cities (border of Iowa and Illinois). Please tell me what I am up against and the pitfalls you might help me avoid. I am 52 and very experienced at helping businesses market and sell. I used to run the largest independent Raleigh distributorship (ancient days) and have over twenty years of winter cylecommuting experience. Any advice you might offer would be greatly appreciated.
--
Best Regards
Mark H. Hendricks
Mhendri961@gmail.com
1-309-762-3252 (direct)

--
Rafael Cletero
Project Coordinator
Fort Collins Bicycle Co-op
ph (970) 484 38 04
www.fcbikecoop.org

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