As I mentioned yesterday, this blog (and you) have been neglected. So here’s a list of what to expect for the rest of 2007.

Events :

October 18, BostonOffline.com is co-hosting Masquerade the Night, a Hurricane Katrina benefit put on by the Young Black Women’s Society.

November 24, we are co-producing the 1st annual Dorchester Holiday Bazaar featuring 12-15 ethnic vendors selling unique items.

November 29(tentative), the season finale to our After Work Mixer Series.

Website:

More events per week added to the calendar

More businesses listed in the classifieds

More nightlife listings

More job listings

New volunteer section

BostonOffline.com Toolbar

Feedback form on contact us page

Tutorials on how to use the event calendar’s special features

And much more!

Curious as to all the behind the scenes details involved in running Boston Offline Media?  Come here me speak about the company’s past, present and future at ONEin3 Boston’s Young Entrepreneurs meeting Tuesday, July 17 at 6pm, 9th floor of the City Hall building.

Technorati Tags: entrepreneur, onein3, boston

We will be vending at the Boston Soul Music Festival (formerly Collaborative cookout) on July 21 at Umass Boston. More details to follow as the date draws near.

[Update] The festival will be held from 12-7pm with performances by Raheem Devaugh, Dwele, Noel Gourdin, Choklate, Ahmir and Yahzarah.

More information on the festival can be found here: http://bostonoffline.com/pub/BostonSoulFestival.htm

Technorati Tags: boston soul music festival, boston soulfest, umass boston, boston event

Recently I put together a 10 Website Mistakes to Avoid for the Small Business Owner for the company’s May business mixer.   Here’s a copy:

1.      Not having a website!

In this era of technology, not having a website may make your business (and you) seem amateurish.  Some people believe if you are not on the web, then you are not serious about your business.

 

2.      Letting the kid down the street design your site

If you are going to invest in a website, get it professionally done.  A poorly designed website reflects poorly on your business.

 

3.      Not making your website user friendly

Is your website easy to navigate?  Can visitors find what they are looking for quickly?  Do you have any broken links? A frustrated visitor is a potential customer who will turn elsewhere to satisfy their needs. 

 

4.      Not making it search engine friendly

Millions of people (including you) search for products and services on popular search engines such as Google and Yahoo.  If your competitor ranks #2 for “babysitting services Boston” and you rank #200, your competitor will get more traffic…and more clients.

 

(more…)

Is the SBA helpful to minority businesses? [via BlackEnterprise.com]

Technorati Tags: sba, small business

Technorati Tags: Don Imus

This is a must watch video I saw a few months ago. Conceptualized by Dr. Claud Anderson, Powernomics is broken into a few parts since YouTube has a maximum size per video. Part 1:

Youtube:

Click on the video for links to the rest of the series.

ReIdren Business Group presents “Designing & Operating Stronger Black & Latino Community Organizations & Businesses” at the Dudley Branch Library.  Monday, March 26  5:30pm-7:30pm.

Technorati Tags: business, business workshop, nonprofit,

Event Description: http://www.eweek.neu.edu/2007/3.3.html

The event kicked off around 5:30pm. I was very suprised to see only about 10 people there. It’s a shame looking back on the turnout since this was one of the best entreprenuerial panels I have ever heard. One of the panelists in the guide was not there but the two “new” panelists more than made up for it. Each one gave remarks on how they got started and advice before the Q & A session. Here are a few notes I jotted down about their stories and words of wisdom.
Donna Gittens of causemedia: “The future belongs to the few of us still willing to get our hands dirty”; understand and overdeliver; business is a minefield; you are the CEO of your life.

Perry Catchings of Functional Pharmaceuticals, Inc: Created his own position at Polaroid, that’s where his entrepreneurial spirit took off; got current job through networking; be passionate, reflect and take risks.

Ky Nguyen of Kingston Cafe: Left world of hedge funds and owning a sucessful business to become a busboy->so that he can be successful at his true passion, which is owning a restaurant (opening in Spetember)

Diego Osorno of Su Casa y más: Been here for ten years; wife urged him to put resume on Monster.com which led to a financial services job in which he became the top producer among 52 offices, had to take the test mutliple times before passing; switched jobs and earned $500K, up from $30K the previous year; wants to open first Latino owned bank in New England in 4-5 years; 3 rules are passion, commitment and discipline

The diversity of the panel was great and I made sure to get some business cards lest I be a fool to not take advantage of all the resources these highly accomplished people have to offer.

Technorati Tags: entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, business

Here are some brief notes from yesterday’s Web 2.0 workshop.

• Focus on experience, delivering value
• Release early, release often
• Try not too spend lots of money until you get users
• Along the same lines, it is better to get users/clients than go after VC money rather than go after VC money from the start
• Web 2.0 is continual as opposed to defined

You can read the description of the workshop here.

Technorati Tags: web 2.0, venture capitol, entrepreneurship