Category Archives: Entrepreneurs Corner

August 2, 2007   Entrepreneurs Corner, Guest Author   No comments

Enhance Your Relationship Building Through the Power of Blogs by Fellow Chicagoan and Guest Author, Jason Jacobsohn

Enhance Your Relationship Building Through the Power of Blogs
 

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Personal branding is so important for your credibility and longevity in the business world. You want to resonate positively with others so they will remember you.  Make sure you don’t get lost in the crowd. You need to spend time branding yourself around a particular area of interest. Examples of subjects include search engine optimization, networking, channel marketing and investing.  Pick a subject you’re passionate about and enjoy talking to people about. By doing this, you will become more credible and will find it fun to share your expertise.
 
Blogs are a great way to extend your personal brand. As you likely know, they are essentially an online Web journal of your thoughts. Blogs are public and virtually anyone can read what you write. It can be a powerful way for you to share your knowledge with the world.  Creating a blog was a perfect way for me to extend my brand. I started Networking Insight, which is a place for me to share additional perspectives and observations about networking.
 
Display Your Subject Matter Expertise




Another great tool for building relationships with other bloggers is to sign up at MyBlogLog.com, which allows you to create a blog profile. As long as you visit another blog that has signed up for this service, the blogger will know that you have visited his or her blog.  Once you see who has visited your blog, you can then reach out to these people and view their blogs as well. It is similar to LinkedIn. It has had so much success that Yahoo! acquired it in 2006. 
 


Final Thought
Take blogging seriously. It’s not going away. Whether they’re for business or personal satisfaction, blogs come in all forms.
 
They are a great way to connect with new people and to show the world that you have an expertise. As a result, you will have the opportunity to extend your personal brand.


Jason Jacobsohn


A blog about effective relationship building for business and life

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July 11, 2007   Entrepreneurs Corner, Inspirational Quotes, Recommended Reads, Socially Responsible Companies   No comments

From Waitress to CEO: The Rise of Carolyn Gable



Carolyn Gable graduated from beautician school in the early 1980s, and then found herself working as a waitress at the revolving restaurant atop the Chicago airport. She liked watching the high-powered businesswomen she’d see come through the door. “They used to come in carrying briefcases and wearing those power suits with big shoulder pads,” Gable recalls. “And I thought, “I can do that.’ ”


Carolyn  didn’t have a college degree or a background in running a business, but as a waitress and mother of seven, she says she developed the skills of a CEO.  Carolyn was on Oprah & Friends radio show today talking about now being the CEO of her $28 million company and her new book, Everything I Know as a CEO I Learned as a Waitress.


“I didn’t have any supporting family or education,” says Gable, who has overcome that and has been recognized for her entrepreneurial savvy — in 2004, she won The Right Award for workplace excellence from the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, and in 2002, the Ernst & Young Midwest Entrepreneur of the Year award for outstanding customer service. “If I can do it,” she declares, “anyone can.”

Carolyn says waiting tables near Chicago’s busy O’Hare airport was “life school.” “What an education that was,” she says. “How do you teach someone to communicate? How do you teach someone to have a personality and be enthusiastic? You need to have all of those things to be a waitress.”

Carolyn shares ways that waiting tables prepared her to be a CEO:



  • She says waiting tables helped her showcase her values of honesty, initiative and hard work.
  • Carolyn says she is always upfront with her customers in the transportation business just as she was with customers in a restaurant. If something isn’t to the customer on time, she lets them know exactly what’s going on, rather than making excuses.
  • While handling money is part of waiting tables, Carolyn says it was her experience of balancing her personal checkbook that helped her run her company. She says she followed the simple rule of balancing what comes in with what goes out every single day.

At a book signing last night, Carolyn reminded us, “Customers will tell us what they want…..listen to them. Don’t give them what you think they need. We sometimes forget that customer care is # 1.”

   “Expect a Miracle” foundation. The purpose of this Foundation is to offer assistance to the single women and men that are working and trying to do well for their children, but are unable to provide the extracurricular activities that help a child build strong character for the society we live in.
   

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April 24, 2007   Community Events, Entrepreneurs Corner   No comments

TOP 3 FREE ONLINE TOOLS TO PULL BUSINESS TO YOU May 19, 2007



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The WEST SUBURBAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS have hired me to speak for them at an event around the topic of WEB 2.0.

What is so amazing about the shift from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0, is that the world has changed! The cheese has been moved! Think of it this way – when the Internet and web development first started, it was this huge cyberspace  to post things to be read. There was no interaction. Web 2.0 is all about interaction! and sharing! and linking! It’s social  now and everyone can play in the game! Everyone from IBM to my grandmother who lives  on a farm in Flint, Michigan!

In the old days, you had to chase business; “push” business. Now you create a worldwide “pull” marketing strategy to bring prospects to you! The secret is knowing what new tools to use and how to use them effectively. So on Saturady, May 19th, the WSWE has invited me to speak to their group, and guests, about this new evolution of the Internet and what is called Web 2.0. We’ll explore the potential of what I think are the top 3 free online tools available – blogs, article hubs, and LinkedIn.

So mark your calendar if you would like to attend! 

Saturday, May 19th, 2007, 10am-1pm, downtown Chicago at 200 S. Wacker.

Non-members of WSWE can attend for $80, payable at the door by cash or check.

RSVP to Karen Hanrahan, WSWE Program chair, programs@wswe.org –

for more info call 708-482-0678. Snacks and beverages will be provided and it will be a lot of fun!


Derrick Sorles
Helping You Build Better Business Faster in a Web 2.0 World
Strategic Business Coach and Consultant, Web 2.0 Strategist and Social Media Evangelist,
Blogger, Entrepreneur, and Speaker.

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September 25, 2006   Entrepreneurs Corner   No comments

DO YOU NEED TO RAISE MONEY FOR YOUR COMPANY?

How Can Entrepreneurs Fund Their Dreams?

Do you need to raise capital for your company?
Do you seem perplexed about how to raise money?
Do you find the cost of hiring accounting, legal or other professional help
beyond what you can reasonably afford?

There is a new e-book out and a company that can help!



 

This may look  like  an infomercial, but I came across this company recently and wanted to help spread the word! This is one of those, what-every-entrepreneur-should-know-things! Commonwealth Capital Advisors have a fantastic e-book called “The Secrets of Wall Street – Raising Capital for Start-up and Early Stage Companies” – and it’s available now!

Commonwealth Capital Advisors has demystified the process of raising capital. They have created the FINANCIAL ARCHITECT system for companies who need to raise  between $100,000  and  $10 million  for working capital (seed, development & expansion). Or if your company needs to raise $5 million to $20 million maybe to launch a new product or service, and cannot tap into traditional commercial bank financing, this is the program you need.

You can click our links here to get the e-book. And they have lots of information on their site www.commonwealthcapital.com  and they are launching a blog next month  www.Capitalraisingblog.com


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