Author Archive

Lisa-Marie Grillos and Heather Sanders are no strangers to what it means to be an unintentional entrepreneur.

“I could not find anything,” said Grillos. “It’s really frustrating, it’s hard to be heard when there’s 100, 200 people trying to get the same job.” With her brother she launched Hambone Designs; selling bicycle bags of their own creation.

Sanders left the corporate world to turn her passion into a small business and dogs love her for it. She now gives doggie massages and acupressure right in her clients’ homes; having founded Wags n’ Wellness.

With the contest to design the logo for Unintentional Entrepreneurs at a close, we’re pouring through the great logo submissions and pulling out a few of our favorites to show here.

Designer, Jim Valenti came to the event with a few idea from a take on our favorite potato to the various ways a tie becomes an accessory for new entrepreneurs. He strongly professes, “Everything produced with respect to a logo is the marketing for a business”. Ask Jim about choosing a logo design; he will tell you, “It is vital that you choose an identity system that properly represents your business so customers are able to make informed decisions about whether to deal with you or one of your competitors”

Tokyo artist and designer Kiona entered a minimalist and iconic approach. It was an vertical “un” “en” entry that first caught our attention; followed here by a horizontal presentation of the letters as the logo.

The fairly anonymous in_5_ide, who has nothing but a cute baby photo on their profile, went a few different directions with their entries. While the first few played with the “un” “en,” a popular theme, it was this very divergent submission that we thought worth sharing. The use of the entrepreneur’s “R” to create the logo, resulting in an almost lifelike icon.

dlogan22, who has picked up a few awards for his work, recognizes the ever working gears and creativity that goes with starting ones own company.

Finally, surprisingly only one entry paid homage to that honored paper signifying your forced departure from gainful employment. From 808, the “designer your art teacher warned you about,” we get a pink slip.

Stay tuned, we’ll announce our winning design shortly and feature the logo in a redesign of the site. If looking for a designer for a project of your own, check out the other great work from these artists and peruse other entrants for the Unintentional Entrepreneur.

Next Thursday, Unintentional Entrepreneurs in New York get together at Manhattan’s For Your Imagination for drink, some food, a little fun, and insight on what it takes to get a business started. The free event opens at 6; register now.

Joining us to share some thoughts on marketing a new business is David Berkowitz, Director of Emerging Media & Client Strategy for 360i, the digital marketing agency. With 360i, David develops social media and mobile programs for marketers spanning the media & entertainment, retail, travel, and CPG industries. He writes the weekly Social Media Insider column for MediaPost, with over 200 published to date.

Prior to 360i, he served as director of marketing for Viewpoint’s rich media advertising group Unicast and interactive agency iCrossing. Previously, with research firm eMarketer, he interviewed 175 executives, authors, and analysts on the cutting edge of technology and business. His writing has also appeared in DM News, MarketingProfs, iMedia Connection, and other publications.

A regular pundit on media, marketing, and technology trends, he has spoken at nearly 100 events including Digital Hollywood, CES, Web 2.0 Expo, Blog World Expo, ad:Tech, and iMedia, and dozens of others. He has also blogged extensively, contributing to Ad Age’s Digital Next, 360i’s Digital Connections, MarketingVox, nowEurope, AdTechBlog, and others; he has published his own MarketersStudio.com since 2005. He is frequently quoted online and in print, including Reuters, the New York Post, and The New York Times. You can follow David @dberkowitz

Joining David to discuss entrepreneurship, financial fundamentals, and more, are Network Solutions’ Sashi Bellamkonda and Group SJR’s Mitch Stoller.

Register now and invite your friends.

How did the time fly so quickly!? Here we are, having a great time at the fantastically attended San Francisco and LA meetups and with just a blink of the eyes, Atlanta is upon and we’ve neglected to share the details.

Here’s the lowdown:

This coming Tuesday, July 28th, at 8:00 pm we’ll be at the Gwinnett Chamber Building hosting a free event for entrepreneurs. This time, in conjunction with the Metro Atlanta Council for Entrepreneurship. Joining us are:

• Brent Leary, a crm industry analyst, advisor, author, speaker and award winning blogger. Brent is co-founder and Partner of CRM Essentials LLC, an Atlanta based CRM advisory firm covering tools and strategies for improving business relationships. Recognized by InsideCRM as one of 2007′s 25 most influential industry leaders, Leary also is a past recipient of CRM Magazine’s Most Influential Leader Award. He serves on the national board of the CRM Association, and as a subject matter expert for the Small Business Technology Task Force. In 2009 Leary co-authored Barack 2.0: Social Media Lessons for Small Business. He has written regular online columns for Inc. and Black Enterprise magazines, as well as for popular business sites including American Express OPEN Forum. Follow @brentleary
• Randy Windsor is a director of online marketing at Network Solutions®. Starting out in the e-commerce division of Network Solutions, for nearly five years Randy has tracked the dynamic changes occurring on the internet, helping business owners’ understand the most worthwhile trends. Randy has addressed thousands of business owners, offering seminars and webinars on topics such as: Getting Started Online, Search Engine Optimization, and Doing More with Your Website.
• Shannon King Nash is a CPA, Attorney, Author and Adjunct Professor. She is the President of the Nash Management Group, a business management firm based in Los Angeles and Atlanta. Shannon is the author of the award winning book, “For the Love of Money: The 411 to Taking Control of Your Taxes and Building Your Net Worth,” which uses popular song lyrics from Marvin Gaye to Snoop Dogg to teach tax and finance lessons. She also wrote the “Vault Guide to Tax Law Careers,” “Helping the Nonprofit Client, and “The Tax Exempt Toolkit.” Shannon has been featured as a tax/legal expert on many programs such as: The John Salley Block Party (KKBT 100.3 FM Los Angeles), Lamont King and Friends (XM Radio), and Washington Business Radio’s Market Close Live (WDMV 700 AM), Style Network’s Modern Girls Guide To Life and BET’s The Center.

You bring yourselves, we’ll bring some refreshments and topics:

• Managing financial transactions
• Bookkeeping basics and small business tax tips
• Getting started online; building your web site and brand
• Effective and efficient marketing methods

The Atlanta workshop is part of a five-city tour including Atlanta, San Francisco, New York, and Washington D.C. Subscribe now and we’ll send you details as they emerge.

Register for the Atlanta event here

The San Francisco meetup of Unintentional Entrepreneurs was a great evening and we’re glad so many could join us. Leading the discussion was Kevin Reeth, founder of Outright.com, with a review critical, financial fundamentals of starting your own business.

As a “Business Owner” you must… Generate your own income, fund your expenses, contribute to Social Security and Medicare, track and report income and expenses, pay income taxes on your profit, pay taxes at least 4 times per year, and track and report any payments to contractors. Already overwhelmed? Don’t be. With the resources available and a quick overview at your hands, you’ll find that getting started is easier than it seems.

Take a look at Kevin’s presentation and learn what it means to be in business for yourself. Get a better grasp of how to thinking about getting paid and paying others such as independent contractors. Most importantly, understand your taxes and learn about the opportunity to reduce liabilities and ensure accuracy with deductions.

If you are one of the millions of Americans who experienced a layoff in the past few years but now see that unkind cut as a “blessing in disguise,” then congratulations! You are in good company. According to a recent survey conducted by SnagAJob.com, 4 out of 10 laid off Americans feel that their layoff or the layoff of a significant other was actually a good thing.

If you do not yet share in the optimism, there is still reason to take heart. While 39% of respondents already see their layoff as a blessing in disguise, 26% aren’t quite to that point yet but predict that their layoff will turn into an opportunity down the road. If you are feeling worried, angry, upset or depressed, take heart. Many of the most optimistic about their post-layoff chances were in your shoes just a few months ago.

“Whether or not you see it coming, finding out that you have been laid off can be difficult, and it can seem like the end of the world,” said Shawn Boyer, CEO of SnagAJob.com in a statement. “But as this survey bears out, there is often a silver lining.”

So what are these laid off individuals doing? Nearly half report they have taken time to reconnect with family and friends. A little more than a third chose to focus on personal interests or hobbies, and 16% are focusing on volunteer work.

Some laid off people are seizing the opportunity to become unintentional entrepreneurs. Not everybody has what it takes to be an unintentional entrepreneur, of course. A mere sixteen percent of those surveyed by SnagAJob.com said they are using their layoff as impetus to pursue the job they’ve really wanted, which includes starting their own business.

For that other 86%, it is easy to dismiss entrepreneurship as an unattainable goal. But just like those laid off people surveyed by SnagAJob.com, it’s possible to turn feelings of fear, anger and depression into boldness, optimism and hope.

Unintentional entrepreneurs likely did not have the same amount of time and resources to devote to market research, seeking out investors, and taking other preliminary steps traditionally associated with starting a business. But on the bright side, this forces unintentional entrepreneurs to embrace their creativity in order to accommodate their shoestring budgets. Plus, for the resourceful business owner, free resources like Outright’s bookkeeping service, tools to manage expenses like those available from Shoeboxed, or services like formspring, to manage your business, are lowering the cost of doing business every day.

How about you? Have you found that your layoff came wrapped in a silver lining? What steps are you taking to create your own income stream in these tough economic times?

Next Thursday, July 23, at 6:00 pm, Patrick Ford, a pioneer of the interactive entertainment industry, joins the Unintentional Entrepreneur meetup at BLANKSPACES.

Ford, founder of one of the earliest multimedia companies, Level Four Interactive, in San Francisco in 1983 led the development of the first interactive videodisc controller for the Macintosh; as well as the first spell checker, MacSpell+. He has worked in both pure start-up environments as well as with some of the largest corporations in the world such as Microsoft, Yahoo!, and Fujitsu. Patrick has perspective on the industry from all angles, having run production studios, marketing, business development, sales, and software development.

Register now to attend Thursday’s FREE event in West Hollywood.

Over the years Patrick has closed several rounds of private seed and venture capital and has executed on successful acquisitions. In addition to his corporate persona Patrick is also an active stand up comic on the LA comedy scene. Follow Patrick @patrickford

We’ll bring pizza and drinks. Please come prepared to network, mingle, ask some tough questions, and have a good time! We’ll cover a few fundamental requirements of running your own business, how to establish and maintain your brand, and tips on the growth of your business.

The event is free but please register here so we know to expect you.

Lorna Li joins us, and fellow new business owners, next Wednesday, July 15th, for the first in our series of meetups for Unintentional Entrepreneurs.

Lorna Li is an online marketer with expertise in social media, search engine marketing (SEO and SEM), and online reputation management. In particular, she specializes in Social Media SEO, the strategies and tactics of using the social web to create community, generate buzz, and maximize web presence around ideas, products and services using targeted keywords. She is the Founder of Search Marketing Salon, a virally-growing LinkedIn network of over 6,000 search engine marketers. Lorna is currently part of the SEO Team at salesforce.com.

Lorna blogs at Green Marketing 2.0, which is aimed at inspiring and helping activists, nonprofit professionals, social entrepreneurs, students – really anyone – understand the basics of how to use web-based tools to raise awareness around important issues, connect with each other and create community around causes.

Connect with Lorna Li on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

Register now for the FREE Unintentional Entrepreneur event, south of Market at Langton Labs. We’ll get started at 6 pm on July 15th and have food and drinks on which to fill while we network with new and veteran entrepreneurs. Lorna will join Outright.com founder Kevin Reeth and Network Solution’s head of social media and strategy, Shashi Bellamkonda, in sharing and discussing resources for entrepreneurs.

The San Francisco workshop is part of a five-city tour including Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington D.C. Subscribe here for details of the event in your town.

An ambitious, creative designer, artist and illustrator strikes first in our popular contest to design the brand behind the Unintentional Entrepreneur. The man behind Alexander Tankeloff Graphic Design shared an early impression, something light and easy; a sprouting seed, that resembles the torch to be carried by entrepreneurs.

Alex Tankeloff looks for opportunities to push artistic boundaries while still producing highly effective graphics. He understands that every detail is important though prompt execution, apparent in his turnaround, is essential.

His initial submission was followed by some brilliantly creative work.

“Actually one of my favorites. Its really versatile. One of my goals is too have it read as a symbol and as your company’s initials.”

Check out the work from Alex and use the *heart* option to indicate the designs that you love.

The contest to design the Unintentional Entreprenteur logo continues through July 13th with a cash prize of $400 and the chance to be featured here. Give it a go!

July 23, at 6:00 pm for pizza, drinks, and education for unintentional entrepreneurs at BLANKSPACES. Register now to this FREE event near West Hollywood and Beverly Hills.

BLANKSPACES
We’re people who admire the aesthetics and efficiency of great design, but without the headaches of corporate bureaucracy. We love the freelance lifestyle and casual dress, but with all the professionalism of business moguls. To us, this is not a company, this is a movement. Work wide open means to work the way you want to, but with all the resources, connections and power of an office and community to back you up.

Over pizza and beer in this local gallery, we’ll host an informal session with veteran entrepreneurs and discuss the basics of a new business:

• Managing financial transactions
• Bookkeeping basics and small business tax tips
• Getting started online; building your web site and brand
• Effective and efficient marketing methods

The Los Angeles workshop is part of a five-city tour including Atlanta, San Francisco, New York, and Washington D.C. Subscribe to the blog to be notified of the event in your town.

Register Now Here – though the event is FREE we need your confirmation for a count of attendees.

Curious if we’re going to visit your town? Let us know where we can find you in the comments below.