BLOG POST ABOUT... Interviews!
Event: ELECTRIC LIVING Book Signing
Check out Author Kolie Crutcher III at Hue-Man bookstore in Harlem for the signing of his book Electric Living. Go to ElectricLiving.net for more information. Check out his new publication Get Money Magazine as well!
Potential Facebook Competitor DIASPORA
Diaspora, defined as the privacy aware, personally controlled, do-it-all distributed open source social network is a project begun by four students at NYU’s Courant Institute. They propose to build an open-source, distributed social network as an alternative to companies such as Facebook. See the the below flyer and and below video for more info….Interesting….
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Building a Hugely Profitable Blog
INC.com talks to the founder of one of the most popular blogs on the net, and goes into the story behind MediaTakeOut.com. With the very low start-up cost, and all the fun you have running them, blogs are always an attractive project for entrepreneurs. Check the interview out here.
If you are interested in starting your own blog, UtterJargon can get you all setup! – UtterJargon Blog Package
Wrap up From WordPress Wordcamp NYC 2009!
Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to go to WordPress Wordcamp NYC 2009. It was awesome! It really gave me a greater appreciation for the utility and definitely more of an understanding of where it is going. See some of the scenery, useful websites, music (yes, music), and reoccurring quotes of the conference below…
The Reoccurring points for WordPress Users:
– “When deciding to build a site, its always better to go with CMS over Static…”
– “Wordpress is like the swiss army knife of the web”
– “Wordpress is 508 compliant” (accessible to people with disabilities.)
– “Aways Always Always back up your database! (But you already knew that…)”
The Scenery
- WordPress Wordcamp NYC 2009 Schedule
- Session Speaker Starting off with Good Tunes
The Music
Music From WordPress Wordcamp NYC 2009
The helpful Links
Favorang.com
While on the web looking for different business networking opportunities, I came across a very interesting website with an awesome yet simple concept; “Give Favors, Get Favors”. The site is Favorang.com. I was able to conduct an interview with the founder Mike Beares and he definitely dropped some very useful knowledge:
1. What is Favorang.com
Favorang is an open networking service facilitating the exchange of favors between previously unconnected people. It’s built on the on the concept of indirect reciprocity: I help you and somebody else helps me. Favorang helps users quickly build reputations for giving and then leverage it to get the help they need.
When you register with Favorang you can build a profile similar to other professional networking services. However, the similarities end here. Member interaction is explicitly focused on giving and receiving favors. Favor requests can be posted to the community or sent to specific individuals and once completed, each party can leave feedback.
2. What inspired you to come up with that concept?
The inspiration for Favorang came from a confluence of factors. When I started getting involved with online professional networking services I thought there might be a more effective format. There seemed to be a lot of noise, but not much action. At the same time, I watched the classic film “The Godfather”. As you may recall, at the beginning of the film, Marlon Brando, playing the Godfather, was holding court and a petitioner requested help for a particularly thorny issue. The Godfather was happy to help, but expected the favor to be returned some time in the future.
The light bulb went on. We could use technology to capture favor exchanges, provide recognition, and codified the norms of exchange. Favorang could be much like the Godfather’s system, but on a larger scale and minus the broken kneecaps.
3. I read about your background, and it looks like you have a lot of high level work experience. What skills from your past professional experience do you use the most while working on this venture?
I do have a fair bit of experience consulting to Fortune 500 companies and some start-ups. It is hard to pin down specifically what has helped me the most, but is probably the breadth of my experience. When starting a new business, you need to grasp the big picture, but also have a modest understanding of each aspect. You can’t be an expert in everything, but having a basic understanding of each element helps you set priorities and identify were you need to bring in other folks for help.
4. Are you employed? Have you had to work on this venture while at a job? How did you find the time to work on it? Is there any regiment that you ended up following?
Yes, I do have a full-time job and am starting up Favorang mornings, nights and weekends. This is an incredible challenge, but one that more and more entrepreneurs will need to manage during this economic down turn.
I have a challenging full-time job so I have to be flexible. Typically, I try to squeeze in an hour before the start of the work day and a couple at the end. Also, I block out a day and a half over the weekend. What has made this possible is having a great technical team in India and strong marketing partner.
5. From the point of conception until today, what would you say have been your biggest obstacles with your project?
My biggest obstacle, like many entrepreneurs is time. There are always dozens of different things that you could be working on, and you need to identify and focus on the couple of things that add the most value. Each day, I try to focus on a very short list of activities, sometimes just one or two, and do them well. I can’t say we have always gotten it right, but I think we now have a good balance.
6. What goals do you have for Faverang.com? Short term? Long Term?
Over the short-term, we have some relatively modest goals of refining and proving the concept through our private beta launch on May 5. Once we prove the concept, the world will start to open up for us. It will allow us to build the team, refine a revenue model and explore financing. Over the longer-term, we would like to grow Favorang into a mainstream tool that can help all professional networkers meet their goals.
7. Any book, website, blog, magazine, movie, TV show, etc. that you revert to that keeps your entrepreneurial spirit running?
I am an avid reader of the Wall Street Journal and Economist, but the publication that gets me most excited from an entrepreneurial perspective is Inc. Magazine. They have great stories about regular folks meeting common challenges and building great companies. I think they do the best of any publication in that niche.
8. What advice would you give to other aspiring entrepreneurs?
Give it a try. I am not suggesting to launch a business without thinking through all the different angles and down side risks, but at the end of the day, a business plan can only tell you so much. You need to get on the ball field an give it a try.
Once you are ready to start, build an expense model that lets you stay on the ball field as long as possible. Inevitably, things won’t work out exactly as you plan or as quickly as you plan and the longer you can stay in the game and adjust your business to what works, the better chance of success.
– What do you think about social networking sites?
Social networking sites can be tremendous tools, but also big time sinks. If you are using them professionally make sure you stay focused on very specific objective.
– What do you like the most about entrepreneurial ism?
Entrepreneurial ismis what makes America great. Without it the economic foundation of everything this country stands for would decay.
– If anything good could come out of these hard financial times we are facing, what would it be?
These difficult times providing a weeding out process (Schumpeter’s “Creative Destruction”). Weaker, but still problematic competitors will fall by the wayside and when the economy turns, the strong firms will be in an even better position.
– Favorite animal and why?
We have a dog. I have always grown up with dogs and find them to be fantastic companions. No matter what happens during the day they can help bring you back to the basics and what is most important.