2/23/10: Sue Sullivan from Hot Squeeze + Robbie Kukler and Michael Erickson from Fifth Group Restaurants
Laura, GFR's great Guest Host!
Today’s show made me hungry. All we talked about was food! It was great though because I had an awesome guest host, Laura Scholz, filling in while Erik is on vacay.
First up we were joined by Sue Sullivan from Hot Squeeze. Sue is an Atlanta-area entrepreneur who was a caterer for a long time before making the leap into the retail food business. She had used the Hot Squeeze recipe in her catering business for years and then finally decided that she should bottle it and sell it. Four years and a lot of hard work later, she has a great product that a lot of people love! She didn’t go the traditional route though. Most people start by making batches of their products for family and friends and then selling at farmer’s markets and growing from there. She went straight to the New York Fancy Food Show. The rest is history and again, a lot of hard work. Sue is a self-described “workout-aholic” so she has a lot of energy. Her free advice to anyone looking to launch a product was to be ready for the long hours. She’s still going it alone but you can tell just from talking to her that she is passionate about this product and won’t rest until it’s on every table in America. She calls it “ketchup for adults.” I love that! If you’re looking for her online, she’s got a Facebook and Twitter page and there’s even an iPhone app! As for the product, it can be found in Whole Foods as well as many other specialty grocers and online.
Michael Erickson and Robbie Kukler
Next we were joined by Robbie Kukler and Michael Erickson from Fifth Group Restaurants in Atlanta. Robbie began with just one restaurant, South City Kitchen which turns 17 this year. The other Fifth Group restaurants are: La Tavola, El Taco, Ecco, South City Kitchen Vinings and their catering/special events company Bold American. Michael is the Director of Marketing for Fifth Group restaurants and does a great job using social media to spread the word about promotions and upcoming events. We talked about how their marketing efforts have changed with the new media phenomenon. They said that they do far less print advertising and that any that they do today is focused on publications which might be in hotels or for tourists. Michael uses Facebook and Twitter primarily to connect with guests and monitor what people are saying about any of the Fifth Group restaurants.
One thing we learned which I think is pretty amazing and because Atlanta doesn’t really tout itself as a “green” city as much as it should is that Ecco has NO DUMPSTERS. They compost or recycle everything. That is amazing! So, whenever you eat there, you can feel good knowing that you aren’t contributing to the landfills. Surprisingly, Atlanta is actually ahead of the curve on the environmentally-friendly efforts in the hospitality industry. Robbie got the chance to showcase that at recent conference for event planners which was held at the Georgia World Congress Center.
Robbie and Michael’s free advice was that you really have to love what you are doing. Michael used to be in advertising and now gets to use those skills in an industry he is more passionate about. Robbie also said that being a restaurateur is hard work and anyone considering getting into the business needs to be prepared to work long hours and have well over six figures to invest in their business since they won’t be making any money for at least the first eighteen months.
Thanks to all of our guests and to Laura for being such an awesome guest host! See you next week!
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2/15/10: Talking Small Business Legal Issues with David M. Walker and Workshifting with Steve Rae of Roam Cafe
One of the most daunting challenges about going into business for yourself is the legal aspect of it. Chances are you aren’t an attorney and when you’re working with a limited budget, the prospect of writing a $5,000+ check for a retainer to hire an attorney may be out of the question. Enter TheBom, attorney David Walker’s answer to helping small business owners and startups without bankrupting them before they’ve even gotten the doors to their business open. The Business Owner Movement (BOM) is an innovative concept where David spends every Saturday from 10-12 helping startups and entrepreneurs over the legal hurdles that may be holding them up. For a small fee, attendees can come learn from David as well as other small business advisers. They can even leave a BOM session with an LLC formed.
David is passionate about helping small business owners. He began his legal career as a corporate attorney but realized that he wasn’t helping the community of people that he was most passionate about–small business owners. He left the high-powered corporate world and now really loves helping small business owners realize their dreams of becoming their own boss and not having an income cap. David had some great free advice and you can find him at www.DavidMWalker.com or www.thebom.biz
Next up we talked to Steve Rae from Roam Cafe here in Alpharetta. Roam is a unique concept for those small business owners
or corporate employees who may not have permanent office space. For any of us who have tried to have a serious meeting at a coffee shop or restaurant, you know how challenging it can be to do that. Roam is a game changer in this regard because it offers great open space but also has private meeting rooms and a forum room if you needed to conduct a larger meeting or training. Unlike a co-working facility, you do not need to be a member to come to Roam. They offer food and beverage service in their open area. And, memberships start at just $50 and go up to $150/month. With the highest level of membership, the great thing is that you get reciprocal privileges at other business and golf clubs making this a really great value and alternative to permanent office space. With more and more people “workshifting” or working from anywhere, it’s nice to have a place that provides not only a social environment but one where you can be more focused and professional as well. Roam has terrific coffee, by the way. So if you want to try it, stop by and mention Gravity Free Radio and you’ll get a free cup of coffee and a guided tour of the space.
For everyone here in Atlanta, we hope to see you on Thursday at Strongbox West for our marketing presentation and book signing. 6:30pm. RSVP here.
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02.09.10: OUR BIGGEST SHOW EVER! Shawn O’Keefe of SXSW Interactive, Tom Lynch of Worthwhile Wine, Dru Dalton of Realthread.com, and Isabella Padua from Zielo Dreamwear!
This was a show full of great guest with great stories and terrific free advice.
We started with Shawn O’Keefe from SXSW Interactive (SXSWi). Shawn is the producer for this year’s conference. We talked about the fact that SXSWi has been steadily growing–rapidly over the past two years–and that attendance is expected to be up over 40% this year. Last year there were about 12,000 attendees for the conference which is considered one of the premier technology, developer, and social media conferences. Taking place in Austin, TX each year, SXSW Interactive is part of a three-part conference which also includes Film and Music. What’s cool about this conference is the way the panels are chosen. With over 2,000 entrants, the job of the organizers is to narrow it down but that process is helped by the Panel Picker which allows attendees to vote on what panels they would like to see each year. For such a big conference, it is incredibly well-organized and I know that Erik and I are looking forward to speaking this year.
Next up we were talking socially-responsible business practices in for-profit businesses. We had Dru Dalton from Realthread and Tom Lynch, founder of Worthwhile Wine. Realthread uses environmentally-friendly ink for its products but also gives back by supporting children in Africa. Worthwhile Wine imports sustainably made wines, but also runs their operations guided by “triple bottom line” business principles; the focus is on Profit, People, and Planet (versus the more traditional philosophy of business that is only focused on Profit). They both said that running a socially responsible business is much more rewarding but that you can’t just do it as a marketing ploy. It has to be something that you truly believe in and are willing to invest the effort (and perhaps extra money) in to making it successful for both yourself and the cause you are supporting.
Our last guest brought me a pair of pajamas. It’s a wonder I didn’t put them on right then and there because they are soooo soft! Isabella Padua, one of the three founders of Zielo Dreamwear, talked about what encouraged them to get into the business of designing comfortable and fashionable sleepwear. She talked about some of their biggest surprises–the demand for plus sizes which are some of their best sellers–as well as what she would do differently if she were starting over. She claims that being more organized has been really key in helping them continue to grow. Her free advice was to be flexible and be willing to adapt and change with your business. And, they are offering a 40% discount to any Gravity Free Radio listener until next Tuesday. Go to www.zielodreamwear.com and enter the code “gravity” when checking out to take advantage of that great offer!
Announcements:
We’ll be at Strongbox West on February 18th for a presentation and book signing for Marketing: Unmasked. RSVP here.
Great show and we’ll see you all next week!
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Our 1 Year Anniversary show! 2/2/10: Amy Pedersen of Slimpressions + Michael Tavani from ScoutMob
We had a fantastic time in-studio today chatting with two terrific Atlanta-based businesses. Amy Pedersen of Slimpressions talked about some of the unexpected highs of entrepreneurship and how she and her sister-in-law built their business — selling slimming shapewear to women — completely from the ground up from manufacturing to distribution and marketing.
Michael Tavani introduced us to ScoutMob, a local web business featuring one incredible discount every day and talked talked about their innovative model for promoting local businesses via web, email, text message and iPhone. ATLians should definitely visit the web site and sign up for the daily updates.
More details will be available soon, but be sure to mark your calendars for February 18th when Erik and Stephanie will be doing a book signing and presentation at Strongbox West.
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1/26/10: Holly Green, Author + Pete Canalichio of Licensing Brands, Inc.
Great to have Holly Green on Gravity Free Radio again! She’s been busy having written some chapters for two separate books: Shift Happens and A Cup of Cappucino for the Entrepreneur’s Spirit. She gives us some great advice for how to make 2010 an even better year than 2009. She’s really focused on strategic planning and believes that any business needs to make sure they are 100% focused and that they keep focused on their goals or as she says, “Get clear on winning.”
Next up we were joined in the studio by Pete Canalichio who is an expert on licensing which is a very interesting business topic. We both learned a lot about what big brands are looking for in a licensee and vice versa. He also talked about how to balance your private products with your licensed products. Pete is heading off to Vancouver soon where he is working with Coca-Cola’s their licensing program with the Vancouver Organizing Committee.
Definitely a very interesting show so if you have any questions about strategic planning or licensing, listen to this one!
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1/19/10: Mike Michalowicz, The “Toilet Paper” Entrepreneur + Billy Hoffman of Zoompf
Both guests we had today were awesome! Mike made us laugh and Billy brought in HOT Krispy Kreme doughnuts. (Hint: If you would like to be on Gravity Free Radio as a guest, feel free to bribe us with doughnuts.)
Mike is best known as The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur and is the author of a book by the same name. His book, website, and blog are great resources for entrepreneurs and small business owners. The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur philosophy is based on the notion that not only can one start a business with fewer resources (his analogy being a near-empty roll of toilet paper that you have to work with), but that having fewer resources can actually work to your benefit. For example, having fewer resources can force the business to address an issue in highly innovative ways versus simply spending money blindly to solve it. Great free advice from Mike at the end of the interview.
Next up was Billy Hoffman from Zoompf. Given Billy’s high energy and personality, it’s no wonder that he created a company that helps makes websites faster. Zoom + Oompf was the inspiration for the name which we love. According to the Zoompf website, here’s what Zoompf does:
“Zoompf analyzes your entire web application for over 150 performance deficiencies. Zoompf detects a wide range of performance problems, from the obvious (like HTTP compression and caching) to the advanced (like CSS rule issues, web font issues, WordPress and other applications), and Zoompf even identifies performance issues with Flash and Silverlight and Ajax.”
We couldn’t have said it better.
Definitely two very informative guests. Download the podcast and get some great advice from both guests!
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1/12/10: Todd Miechiels and Jamie Turner talk conversion rates and SEO
Welcome to our first show of 2010! Search engine and B2B marketing expert Todd Miechiels (author of SOWGRO) joined us on the air along with our good friend Jamie Turner of The 60 Second Marketer to talk about conversion rates, search engines and setting good goals for online marketing efforts.
This was definitely one of the most eye-opening sessions we’ve ever done on the topic of online marketing and search engine optimization in particular. Todd and Jamie talk through the what’s and why’s of conversion rates online, how you track them, how you impact them and pitfalls to avoid along the way. We also discussed the basics of landing pages and what to expect from search engine optimization efforts.
This is a must listen!
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12/15/09: Michael Berthelot and Jim Caruso of Media First PR
Michael Berthelot and Jim Caruso tell small business owners what they can do to prepare for 2010.
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12/8/09: Brandon Sheats Talks WordCamp Atlanta, TurnHere’s John McWeeny Discusses Video For Small Biz, and Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk Talks About Marketing for Professional Services Firms
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12/1/09: Jennifer Bonnett Talks About Entrepreneurship and Startup Chicks
Jennifer Bonnett has been in technology for 22 years and in the startup community for about ten years. But, when she looked around, she noticed there weren’t many other women showing up to some of the startup events here in Atlanta. She began Startup Chicks after Startup Weekend last year because out of about 120 people who participated in Startup Weekend, there were only six women. What began as a way to get some entrepreneurial women together for drinks once a month has flourished into a community of like-minded women who support and encourage each other in their ventures. Jennifer believes that women feel more comfortable in a group like this and ultimately it gives them the confidence to pitch their ideas into larger audiences.
Jennifer is also part of a new startup called XpenseTrack which was launched over this most recent Startup Weekend here in Atlanta.
To find out more about Startup Chicks check out their website at http://startupchicks.net or follow Jennifer on Twitter.
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11/24/09: Bert Dumars of Rubbermaid and Chuck Blakeman Talk About What Little Brands Can Learn from Big Brands (and vice versa!)
What works for big businesses isn’t always something that could work for a small business (and vice versa) yet there are a lot of commonalities between the two. We talked to Bert Dumars, VP of E-Business and Integrative Marketing about the strategies some of the brands of Newell Rubbermaid have executed to grow their business. He maintains that an integrated approach to marketing whether you are a big brand or small brand is always best. Don’t just put all of your eggs into one basket such as social media, for example. It should be part of an overall strategy that may include print and/or television ads if applicable. And, make sure you know who you need to reach. If you’re in a B2B space, your target audience may only be a very small number. A lot of the brands of Newell Rubbermaid aren’t all that big so they employ marketing strategies that would work well for entrepreneurs and small businesses. The most important thing is to be tenacious, persistent, and think of ways to work effectively within whatever budget you have.
Next up we had Chuck Blakeman from Denver, Colorado author of Making Money is Killing Your Business. Chuck thinks small business need to learn strategic planning and long-range marketing planning from big business and not cling the “random hope” philosophy of doing business. He also thinks that marketing processes are important for small business. Big businesses do this well but small business owners get bored and don’t stick to the “recency and frequency” formula. You need to see your customers recently and on a consistent basis. Most small businesses are so focused on the passion of what they do that they can’t build a good business. They are so focused on their craft that it gets in the way making money.
It was great to talk to both Bert and Chuck. If you are a small business owner, definitely check out this show!
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11/17/09: Real-Life “Mad Man” Patrick Scullin and Mike Schinkel from Ignition Alley
So, Patrick did not show up with a drink in hand so I guess things in the ad world have indeed changed from what we see on Mad Men. He did, however, show up with his cane and pillows as he was just two weeks out from hip replacement surgery so we appreciate him making the tremendous effort to come talk to us. As guests go, he has one of the most interesting backgrounds–he actually joined the circus at one point–in terms of all the places he has worked and lived. After many companies and many moves, he finally realized is that he isn’t a very good employee and joined forces with two former Ogilvy + Mather execs to form Ames, Scullin O’Haire, an Atlanta-based advertising agency back in the late 90s. He talks about how they first started out and what has changed in the past decade. He doesn’t believe advertising is dead. It’s just changed. Definitely listen to this interview. Good stuff in it! And, follow Patrick on Twitter or via his blog. He’s quite the funny guy!
Next up we had Mike Schinkel from Ignition Alley. He was also joined by one of his loyal members, Edison Thomaz who heads up Slife Labs. Ignition Alley is the first co-working space in Atlanta but it goes so far beyond just providing a physical space for people to go hang out and get their work done. They are truly interested in forming a community of entrepreneurs who can help each other and help develop Atlanta into one of the next big hubs for startups. Mike and his business partner, Tim Dorr (who couldn’t join us) have some very big plans for Ignition Alley. If you live in Atlanta and are looking for someplace other than a coffee shop to work, definitely check out Ignition Alley located just off Ponce de Leon near midtown.
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11/10/09: Chris Brogan Talks About Trust Agents and Jamie Turner, THE 60-Second Marketer Joins Us in Studio
We’ve interviewed some fabulous guests on GFR but it was a real treat to have Chris Brogan join us to talk about his new book that he co-wrote with Julien Smith, Trust Agents. Also joining us in studio was Jamie Turner, (who Erik likened to Ozzie Guillén ) who is the Chief Content Officer for the 60 Second Marketer, an online magazine that provides tools, tips and tutorials for marketers around the globe.
Chris talked about why he and Julien decided to go the traditional publishing route for their book and about being followed by robots. :) We also discussed some of the future trends we see happening in social media–everything from augmented reality to how social media will ultimately change how companies do business.
A big thank you to both Chris and Jamie for joining us today. Definitely download it and listen to it. It’s full of some great free advice from both of them.
Have a wonderful week everybody!
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11/3/09: Steve Bistritz, Author of “Selling to the C-Suite”
This week we were joined by Dr. Steve Bistritz, author of a new book on sales strategy called “Selling to the C-Suite.” Of all the reasons to read the book though the biggest one may be in the way it’s written. Where most sales books are written from the perspective of a seasoned sales professional providing anecdotal tales and suggestions about what made them successful, Bistritz and his writing partner Nicholas A.C Read wrote Selling to the C-Suite from the executive’s perspective, an important decision that we discussed at length during our interview.
The other significant lesson that we learned during this interview was the importance of finding the “relevant executive” to target during the sales process — and it may not be the executive who wrote the RFP or called you in for a meeting. This was a terrific interview with a true expert and we definitely encourage that you listen to the podcast below. Anyone looking to get in touch with Dr. Bistritz should visit his website http://sellxl.com.
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10/20/09: Sharon Drew Morgen and BB Webb
Our show today show featured two very impressive women in business. We began with Sharon Drew Morgen author of Dirty Little Secrets, featuring tips and tricks on how to sell more effectively by changing the rules of the game.
After the break we spoke with BB Webb, an Atlanta-area entrepreneur who has a thriving event company focusing on bridal receptions. BB is the owner of the Carl House in Auburn Georgia.
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10/13/09: Shotput Ventures and Looxii
If you recall earlier this year, we were joined by Jeff Hilimire who is one of the partners with Shotput Ventures. Shotput Ventures is a ” a technology startup accelerator fund that focuses on capital-light web services companies and assists in the conception phase” according to their website. But, they are so much more than that to the entrepreneurs who go through the program. They mentor these young entrepreneurs and help them come up with a viable business at the end of the program which they are planning to do again next summer. Joining GFR today was Sanjay Parekh from Shotput Ventures along with Adam Rice and Daniel Lipton from one of the SV companies called Looxii (look-see).
Looxii offers businesses a simpler solution for navigating and understanding the social web. Their customizable apps make it easy for users to track what’s relevant to their company on Twitter, blogs, and in the news. With Looxii apps, users can streamline marketing reports and research, identify new advertising venues, and improve marketing strategies. For more information, go to www.looxii.com
For information about some of the other companies from the Shotput Ventures Class of 2009, visit their website at http://www.shotputventures.com/class-2009
A big thank you to Sanjay, Adam, and Daniel. We’d love to talk with any of the other Shotput Ventures companies so consider this an open invitation!
See you next week everyone!
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10/6/09: Robyn Cobb of Cliqset + Jennifer Jacobson
Jennifer L. Jacobson is a communicator specializing in Public Relations, Brand Identity, and Strategic Sales. As a Public Relations Professional, Jennifer creates powerful campaigns that have had her clients featured on Oprah & Friends, DisneyFamily.com, The Huffington Post, and The American Marketing Association’s Marketing News. As a strategic sales professional, Jennifer has the unique ability to grow a sales campaign from the ground up and turn cold leads into clients almost overnight.
Jennifer joined GFR to talk about her book, 42 Rules of Social Media for Small Business.
Next we had Robyn Cobb from Cliqset to discuss this new social media site. Cliqset lets you aggregate your information from other social services, communicate and share in real-time, and create individual conversations around different items that you or a friend shares with the service.
They are just now in private beta and will be going live soon so definitely check it out!
Thanks for a great show and see you next week!
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9/1/09 - Riding Resource + Interviews from the Pam Slim Event
Today we had the pleasure of speaking with Erik Jacobs of Riding Resource who we met at the Pam Slim event a few weeks ago. Riding Resource is a website that enables equestrians to search for all things riding related or as their website says,
“Riding Resource is the only fully-searchable online database of riding stables and tack stores that lets you find exactly what you’re looking for. Founded in 2007 as a way to help riders connect with local facilities, Riding Resource is unique in that our visitors can fine-tune their searches with specific criteria in regards to location and services offered.”
Ainsley Hyman (who could not join us this time) and Erik built the site due not only to their love of riding but also because they saw that such a service was lacking within the riding community. Many of the over 13,000 database entries were painstakingly researched and added by hand by Ainsley herself. It is through their dedication and hard work that Riding Resource has become THE place for finding everything from stables, breeders, vets and beyond.
A big thanks to Erik for joining us and we’ll have him (and Ainsley!) back in a few months to check up on them and see how things are going.
For the second part of our show, we did a few interviews at the Pam Slim event. Again, that was a great event so definitely check out what people had to say if you weren’t able to attend. We hope Pam will make it back to Atlanta sometime soon!
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8/25/09: Ivan Reyes shares about audio sharing and Marna Friedman discusses self-publishing
We had a great show this Tuesday and we were happy to welcome our regular Stephanie (Frost) back this week. Another big thank you to our good friend Stephanie Lloyd for guest co-hosting with Erik last week.
First, joining us this morning was Ivan Reyes, CEO of Chirbit a free online tool for audio sharing. People can record, upload, and share smaller recordings, from about two minutes long to two hours. A few great practical business applications are to share small daily tips with clients or highlight smaller segments of larger shows. Launching his first startup, Ivan shares that the biggest hurdles to overcome are networking and getting the word out. But thankfully, Twitter and Tweet-ups have been doing a great deal to increase business networking.
Marna Friedman, self-publisher and small business consultant extraordinaire also joined us. She talked about how accessing information on the Internet can be difficult when you don’t know what you are looking for. Her book, “The Small Business That Could,” makes the search much easier by listing all of the sites that a small business might need. She also went on to publish a book specifically for women entrepreneurs, “The Small Business That Could For Women.” The books come with space to record your passwords and tips on how to make them both easy to remember and secure. Marna lets us in on some self-publishing insight, including some common stumbling blocks regarding ISBN numbers. She also created a chapter in her book with details on self-publishing and all of the different companies that offer self-publishing services.
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8/18/09: Steve Tingiris of Enthusem.com talks about turning the sales funnel “upside-down” and Justin Daniels + Ted Schwartz give great tips for landing office space
We had a great show this week! First though, we’d like to thank our good friend Stephanie Lloyd for stepping up and guest-co-hosting while our regular Stephanie (Frost) was off.
Our first guest of the morning was Steve Tingiris of an innovative startup enthusem.com which allows users to create, personalize and send customized printed greeting cards to their contacts. The enthusem.com tools even provide the means for users to provide an online attachment for each printed greeting card and track the number of times it’s accessed. But the most remarkable thing about what Enthusem does isn’t in the tools themselves, it’s in how they can be incoporated into an effective selling strategy.
Steve talked about how the traditional model of a “sales funnel”, where businesses market to a large market segment and then filter down to the prospects most interested, is an outdated approach to small business marketing. He instead recommends turning the funnel “upside-down” by focusing energy on a very few targeted outstanding prospects. We definitely recommend checking out enthusem.com and all you Twitter geeks out there should check out the innovative social media applications of their program.
We also spoke to our lawyer friend Justin Daniels and commercial realtor Ted Schwartz about how to negotiate your office lease. Ted quickly dispelled the myth, by the way, that bad market + real estate surplus = practically free office/retail space. He also gave us some great insight on what to look for in a landlord.
What may be most memorable from our discussion though was Justin’s analogy comparing a commercial lease to an octopus with it’s tentacles perpetually reaching for your wallet. There is obviously a lot of detail there that many business owners aren’t going to be able to easily navigate without an eye for fine print. So, until octopus-proof pants are readily available on the mass market, Justin recommends consulting with a lawyer before entering into a long-term lease with a landlord.
Feel free to email Justin or Ted with any questions!
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8/4/09: Author Pam Slim + Dan Greenfield of Bernaise Source Media
GFR is excited to be a sponsor of an upcoming event on August 15th with Pam Slim, author of Escape from Cubicle Nation and the blog by the same name which she has been writing since 2005. Pam joined us via phone to talk about her book and her upcoming workshop, Reduce the Risk of a Failed Startup: Lessons from the Field.
Pam escaped her cubicle in 1996 and began working as an independent contractor. She had a more flexible schedule and really enjoyed having more control over her time. But, as she worked for various corporations, what she noticed is that many people were not happy with their corporate lives. They wanted to work for themselves but didn’t quite know how to “escape.” She began her blog as a way to evangelize the benefits of being an entrepreneur and it is now one of the top career and marketing blogs on the web. Her book was an outgrowth of the blog and it is what she calls “a coach in a book” which people can use as a guide to help them transition from the corporate world to that of an entrepreneur.
The workshop will be an opportunity for attendees to not only interact with Pam but other aspiring entrepreneurs which Pam says is invaluable. Being around other entrepreneurs can be very helpful and energizing.
Finally, Pam’s free advice was the best: “Test often and fail fast.” She said that it helps to view your life through the lens of a scientist. Instead of seeing something that didn’t work out as a “failure,” view it as a hypothesis that simply didn’t get the results you wanted. Move on. Learn to laugh at your mistakes and try again.
Next up we were joined by Dan Greenfield, a veteran communications executive and principal of Bernaise Source Media, a new and traditional media consulting practice. Dan is also the organizer of an upcoming “unconference” called PR Camp which will take place on August 21 from 8:00-12pm. PR Camp will focus on the shifting role of PR in the age of social media and increasing transparency. Companies can no longer filter their message through a well-crafted press release. On the flip side, they now have an opportunity to develop more meaningful relationships with their customers and have the ability to truly listen to them and perhaps learn from them as well. PR Camp is for any company or anyone interested in learning what this new landscape looks like and how they can benefit from it. Here’s the lineup of speakers or “counselors” for the event:
- Katie Mingo, Senior Marketing Associate, Delta Airlines
- Marilynn Mobley, Senior Vice President, Strategic Counsel, Edelman PR
- James Andrews, Managing Partner, Everywhere
- Carol Flammer, Managing Partner, mRELEVANCE, LLC
- Christopher Jones, Digital Strategist, Ketchum PR
- Melanie Babcock, Senior Vice President, Digital Strategy & Services, Manning Selvage & Lee
- Peter Fasano, Principal/Lead Catalyst, mass+logic
- Bert Dumars, Vice President E-Business & Interactive Marketing, Newell Rubbermaid
- Irfan Kamal, Vice President, Digital Strategy, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide
- Jenny Schmitt, President and Director of Client Strategy, CloudSpark
- Shirley Powell, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications, Turner Broadcasting System
- Debbie Curtis-Magley, Public Relations Manager, UPS
Thanks to both Pam and Dan for joining us. Great show and we hope to see you at one or both of these terrific local events soon!
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7/28/09: Stephanie Lloyd Discusses Job Searching and David Eckoff Talks Startups
We had two excellent guests join us today. First up was Stephanie Lloyd, Founder and CEO of Radiant Veracity in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a National Careers + Workplace Columnist for Examiner, a division of Clarity Media Group owned by one of the largest media investment companies in the world. There she authors a highly-regarded career and job search advice column for 70 major markets nationwide. Joining her was one of her interns, Stephanie Perrett, to discuss job searching in a down economy. While it may be more difficult to find a job when the economy is down, it also presents some unique opportunities that recent graduates like Stephanie Perrett might not otherwise have if there was an abundance of jobs available. She is enjoying the chance to “try on” a few jobs to help guide her decision about what she ultimately wants to do. Stephanie Lloyd thinks this is a great idea and pointed out that for both recent graduates and those who have faced layoffs, an internship might be a great way to retool your career and transition into another field or broaden your experience. Both Stephanies think that the networking tools available such as LinkedIn and Twitter can be invaluable for expanding your network and meeting people who might be able to help you in your quest. Be sure to listen to this segment for other valuable job searching and recruiting tips.
Our second guest was David Eckoff. As a technology entrepreneur and president of Revolutionary Ventures, a consulting company that specializes in taking revolutionary ideas from the drawing board to market, Eckoff has been an innovator in start up companies and Fortune 500 alike. He is also the co-founder of Spitter, Inc., an early stage company with private Alpha already taking place July 2009, and Beta planned August 2009. Spitter helps users connect with other sports fans and stay in touch with news about their favorite teams. We talked about some of the mistakes startups and entrepreneurs make and what it takes to be successful as an entrpreneur. Mainly, entrepreneurs need to be willing to work and work very hard. There’s no such thing as building a company to achieve “passive income.” And, the most important work an entrepreneur does is also the least sexy but it’s the thing that will make the company profitable. David also pointed out that the ability to listen to your customers is critical and then be able to quickly adapt to their changing demands. If you’re working for a startup or you are an entrepreneur, David offers some great free advice. Be sure to listen!
Thanks to all of our guests for coming on and we’ll see you next week on Gravity Free Radio!
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7/21/09: Legal Matters with attorney Justin Daniels
Justin Daniels is a business attorney at Wagner Johnston & Rosenthal, P.C. here in Atlanta and had a lot of great advice on common small business legal issues. For example, how do you protect your intellectual property? Justin provided several scenarios that demonstrate how you, as a business owner, may not be buying what you think you are buying from your vendors unless it is spelled out specifically in the contract.
For example, you hire a web design firm and, in working on your web site, they come up with some text that they include in the site and that you approve. But who owns that writing? Unless your contract specifically assigns the rights for all work to you, your web firm owns that content and if you want to use it elsewhere you will likely need to purchase it from them after the fact.
Daniels also gave us some insight into choosing the right incorporation model for your business (LLC vs. S-Corp vs. C-Corp) and talked about some helpful tips to keep in mind when entering into partnerships.
You can reach justing through his law firm here if you have any questions. Justin has also generously provided his speaking materials for a seminar he gave recently on the question of LLC’s vs. S-Corps and you can download that here if you are interested. The full podcast for the show is available below.
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7/14/09: Social Media Guru Scott Allen and Networking Expert Taryn Pisaneschi join us on GFR!
If ever we’ve had a “must-listen” show for anyone looking to get ahead in their business using marketing, networking and social media, this is it. We jokingly referred to Scott Allen as the “Nostradamus of the Social Media Age” and it’s not far from the truth. Scott started writing The Virtual Handshake back in 2002, was blogging about it in 2003 and published the book in 2005. In other words, Scott predicted how valuable a tool online networking would be before MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube even existed.
Scott talked about an “open source” type of collaboration project he’s working on for small businesses and gave what amounted to s hort seminar on using social media — and especially Twitter — for effective marketing. You can reach Scott Allen via Twitter or on his web site.
We also spoke with networking expert Taryn Pisaneschi about effective networking and what does and doesn’t work when you go to events, trade shows and other venues where you might meet prospective business contacts.Taryn talked extensively about the importance of setting goals in networking and working towards acheivable results and gave us a lot of insight into how offline/traditional netowrking and online networking (via social media) work hand in hand.Taryn is available via Twitter or on her web site.
You can listen to the podcast below!
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