Don’t miss this great event for Philly Entreps!
Annual PSL Entrepreneur Expo
There has never been a time like the present to start your own business and become successful at what you do best. Entrepreneurship is hot right now. You can major in it at college, you can be your own boss, and you can dictate your own future in this troublesome economy.
We find that our business is starting to lean more towards those wanting to get the word out about their venture, or grow their existing business. Some of the major ways we help these clients is by providing internet marketing campaigns, social media management, research and sales strategy development, website design, and branding.
Enter to win our tricked out Flip Cam.. ours is even hotter!
One great way to get the word out about your business is to network and embrace your local entrepreneurial community. We are doing just that by sponsoring and attending the upcoming Entrepreneur Expo on March 31st in Philadelphia. The Expo will have over 200 attendees as well as 3-4 dozen vendors all taking about their passions and dreams! Not only will we be there to share how our business can help others grow, but we will also be giving away a great tool for growing your business and branding – a Flip video camera! 
Our custom designed Flip Mino video camera prize will help you start vlogging and recording all your business successes! So make sure to stop by our booth, share your business ideas, and enter to win the coolest Flip on the market!
More details on the Philadelphia Entrepreneur Expo 2011:
It’s FREE to attend!! The Entrepreneur Expo is a showcase of work by entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial community. If you’re an entrepreneur, you will be able to talk about your work and hear about the work of others. If you’re interested in new ideas, new business plans, the uses of new technology, or are simply curious about the creative energy in this region, you’ll have a chance to see and meet those beginning to make a difference.
This event is open to the entire community and all are welcome!
Who Will Be There?
Entrepreneurs, students, educators, investors, leaders in the political, legal, and business communities, members of the media, and the public.
March 31, 2011 6 pm – 9 pm
Solmsson Court, Hamilton Hall University of the Arts Pine & Broad
Get excited about the future. Get excited about the entrepreneurial spirit of Philadelphia. Come to the Entrepreneur Expo. Come and see tomorrow, today.
REGISTER:
http://psl.ticketleap.com/entrepreneur-expo-2011/
Coworking: A New Way to Network!
Sampling of our attendees
UPDATE: Try Coworking for Yourself! Join us on Tuesday, April 19th @ Cake and the Beanstalk! Get all the details and register here.
Recently, Cheryl and I were asked to present to the International VA Association on the topic of Coworking for their Expert of the Month series. We ran a quick poll at the beginning of the presentation asking participants if they had ever participated in Coworking. Remarkably enough, 80% of the audience had not!
One week prior, we hosted our own #EECoworking event, and received all sorts of questions from participants, looking for a better understanding of the Coworking concept. “Was it a seminar?” they wondered, “What does it cost?”, “Why do you run these events for free- what is the benefit for you?”
Our response- quite simply “Because we believe in investing in our local entrepreneurial community.” It’s true, our events are free. We’re not selling anything or requiring anything in return. It takes a reasonable amount of our time to plan, coordinate, market and run the events each month. Our time during the event is mostly spent facilitating introductions between attendees, and we couldn’t be happier about it!
Coworking, at it’s core is about reciprocity- the giving and exchanging of information. It’s the most collaborative, encouraging, authentic type of networking that you can engage your business in.
Our events are structured in such a way that you can come and get a modest amount of work done, get your burning business questions answered, learn about a new tool that can streamline your business, make a new friend who could potentially become a JV partner or introduce you to a client, and most importantly- have a genuine, engaged conversation with other local entrepreneurs and share about your business. Our participants consistently say that they always leave our events with at least one great piece of information to help their business.
In comparison to other types of networking groups- we don’t require you to bring in a certain number of leads for the group, and our casual environment is worlds away from walking into a giant room filled with people you don’t know, and trying to explain what you do in an elevator speech. Just come over, grab some coffee, open up your laptop, get some work done and make some new friends who are doing all sorts of interesting things in their businesses!
We’d love to have you out to join us! And whether you’re here in Philly or around the country, here are some great coworking spaces you should definitely check out!
In Good Company in NYC (ladies only!)
Indy Hall right here in Philly!
LooseCubes – find a space around the country!
Learn more about all of the coworking options available to you via our shared presentation below!
The Entrepreneurial Spirit
The Harvard Business Review ran an article this summer on How To Start An Entrepreneurial Revolution. How interesting I thought to myself; we have a great group of entrepreneurs here in Philadelphia that are all very active and networked, but are we really creating a revolution? In reading on it was very interesting to hear about other countries and how their government is getting behind entrepreneurs and supporting them for who they are and what they are trying to do. How refreshing; build upon skill sets and knowledge rather than pushing them to be a certain way or provide a certain service to fit the mold. As Rwanda’s president put it, “Entrepreneurship is the most sure way of development.”
Here in Philly experts in their field are stepping out of the mold to start their own companies and provide services they know best. We entrepreneurs are a strong force and growing every day. We are providing quality and necessary services ranging from web design to copy writing and everything in between. As a result of all sharing common goals, and the City of Brotherly Love, we are creating the ecosystem to foster growth and support for entrepreneurial success. In the article, 9 steps are outlined for Creating an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, and sure enough, step two is to the shape the ecosystem around local conditions to tailor the suit to fit its own local entrepreneurship dimensions, style and climate. We are doing just that; entrepreneurs in various fields are coworking, there are weekly meet ups to meet the needs of any level of networker, and above all, entrepreneurs are accepted and celebrated for their efforts.
The opportunities for an entrepreneur to be successful in this current market are high. Many companies are seeing the value of outsourcing and slowly starting to open their checkbooks to bring in these expert entrepreneurs to help their business grow. Many groups are also supporting entrepreneurs by hosting coffees, lunches, happy hours, meet ups and conferences to allow for networking, sharing, and learning.
In doing our part to support the entrepreneurial ecosystem, we have been hosting coworking and networking events around the city. Our next event will be on Thursday, January 20th, in Northern Liberties at One Shot Coffee. Here we meet with dozens of other entrepreneurs to work as a community for the day; sharing stories, asking questions, making new introductions, drinking coffee and just enjoying eachother’s company as we meet our work demands.
As a bonus for the new year, we will follow coworking with a Philly Entrep Hapy Hour, starting at 5:30pm at PYT in The Piazza
Please join us for our next coworking day!
Date: Thursday, January 20th
Coworking: starting at 2pm
Location: One Shot Coffee
George Street (and American) behind Liberties Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19123
Come and go as you please; we will be grabbing some food and making business introductions all day!
Happy Hour: starting at 5:30pm
Location: PYT @ The Piazza in Northern Liberties
1015 N @2nd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19123
*Parking available on the street or in the free lot located on Germantown Ave on the Northeast side of the Piazza.
Be sure to RSVP here.
The Entourage Summer Reading Guide for Entrepreneurs
As we take in the last few weeks of summer and prep for an ever-busy fall, take some time to relax with some entertaining and educational reads for your business! There’s no better time to invest in your own business than when you can get a breather from your client work. The books below are a great resource for new approaches to entrepreneurship fundamentals to run your business by. Read more
What the heck is a Vlog and why do I need one in my biz?
Video Blogs, also known as vlogs, are entries that are primarily composted of embedded video or video links rather than text. Vlogs are taking on almost any topic imaginable from documenting research, to delivering news, to sharing a special moment. Video Blogs have been around for almost a decade, but it was just in the last couple of years that they have become an accepted form of marketing and communication. Vlogging started gaining momentum in 2005-2006 with the launch of YouTube and then the creation of the first annual video blogging awards – the Vloggies in November of 2006!
And the users of video blogging might surprise you. While all vlogs are experimental, some have a little further reach than others. Politicians are hosting their own vlogs to share information and answer questions. Radio and TV shows are using video blogs to interact with more listeners and viewers. Even iTunes allows you to upload video through their podcasts! Check out a sample here:
There are many sites to host your video blog. If you already have a blog check there first, as almost all allow video uploads. Some good sites for hosting a blog as well as a video blog are WordPress, Blogger, and Typepad. If you are launching with just a vlog then look into a video hosting site. Sites like WordPress have specific video themes (skins) that you can purchase to kick up your vlog. We went with a Woo Theme, “Groovy” to host our vlog, www.watchuslaunch.com. Install some google analytics and you’re good to go!
Tip: To shoot easy video for your vlog, check out a Flip Cam- available at Best Buy, etc for around $100! This cool, palm-sized camera has a built in USB port that snaps right into your computer. Just shoot, flip and upload it right to your YouTube account. And it even comes in cool colors like pink, orange and green, so you can fully personalize your vlogging experience!
Getting your message out there: Whether you want to share your birthday party video with your sister, show a new product about to be released to your end users, or just give some insight into starting a business (www.watchuslaunch.com) you have to promote and market your vlog. Social media tools are an excellent grass roots campaign starter. Depending on the scope of your reach you may just want to keep the videos public on YouTube and promote them within your industry circle. Either way, using RSS allows others to subscribe to your site or have your content feed into their reader. This is simple if you have an existing blog that you can add your video to. Record yourself, post it, and share it! We hope to hear about more of your joining the video blogging world!
Email Marketing Service Comparison
Entrepreneurs whether online or brick and mortar all look to email as a crucial piece of their marketing campaigns. There are several great providers out there with a proven track record of delivery success and customer satisfaction. When you’re looking to initiate your next email marketing blitz, you may struggle with the decision of which company to use. Here’s a breakdown of the top two programs that we recommend and the differences between them:
Pros: Super-simple contact management and email creation, customizable autoresponders. Great customer support team!
Pricing: Free 60 day trial, $15/mo for up to 500 contacts, pricing increases per number of contacts.
Offers: Over 300 fully customizable HTML email templates for newsletters, announcements, cards, promos, surveys.
List Mgmt: Sign up box which can be added to your website, ability to easily import/ upload your contacts into segmented lists, a useful unsubscribe comment box. Real-time open and click tracking, above-average inbox delivery rate.
Cons: Because you can easily upload your contact list into their system, your list may not be as clean as with other email programs that may require subscribers to re-opt-in to confirm interest.
Pros: Small, dedicated team of developers, mandatory verifying opt-in helps you build a stronger list, and they take spam seriously!
Pricing: Free trial, $19/mo for up to 500 contacts, pricing increases per number of contacts.
Offers: In addition to email marketing, analytics and autoresponders, AWeber also offers website sign-up forms with split-test forms that let you test which headlines get the best response, the ability to send subscribers to any page on your website, or create hover pop-up forms. Over 100 html templates to choose from, split test messages (to track which gets the best results), blog newsletters, and autoresponders with download delivery. Integrated shopping cart capability.
List Mgmt: Zero spam policy, automatically processes unsubscribes and undeliverable addresses, detailed web analytics, verified list opt-in.
Cons: A third of the amount of selection in templates and while the required opt-in will eventually give you a stronger list, initially it could be tough for some to see their mailing list numbers deplete!
Our Recommendation:
If you are just looking for a simple way to manage your mailing list, and deliver a clean newsletter or html email to your subscribers, Constant Contact will give you the results you need. If you are looking to get technical, possibly integrate lots of shopping cart/ ecommerce functions eventually, and work to build out a streamlined list, consider AWeber for its additional features and stricter opt-in rules. If you only have a small list and want to send a beautiful html (simple, no coding required!) emails, check out MailChimp which is free if you send to under 100 recipients a max of 6x per month.
Entrepreneurship- why you need an Entourage!
Very consistently, I am asked the same question- “How do I know if I have what it takes to be an entrepreneur?” For me, it comes down to one simple mindset: “No guts, no glory!”
Entrepreneurship is all about taking risks… calculated risks that is. In my experience, that typically breaks out to about 25% innovation and 75% dedication and perspiration. Commitment is key in bringing any great idea to reality and eventual profitability. A great idea is useless if it is not developed and promoted properly.
This is where a team (or Entourage as we say at DS!) is critical. Even my commitment alone is not enough to launch an entrepreneurial venture. Along the way I learned (pretty quickly, actually!) that I’m only one person, and that no matter how much I work, there are still only 24 hours in any given day. By adding a reliable, skilled team, those hours dedicated to the launch process can multiply dramatically. In addition to manpower, my team gives me valuable feedback; each coming at any new idea with varying perspectives and a fresh set of eyes. Some may say, “adding a team just adds extra headaches.” I’ve learned that I’d much rather have faster, more rounded success to move my idea into a profit generator, than a drawn-out process in which I invest all of my time and have zero perspective.
Besides, like most entreps, by the time the venture is finally launched, we’re already onto the next great idea! Are you looking to launch an entreprenurial venture? If so, let us build out a customized team of support tailored to your specific needs to take your idea from concept to profitability.
Entreps Entourage: Customize. Strategize. Organize. Realize.
