Wednesday, May 25, 2011

What if Artists Were Trained as Entrepreneurs?

Our current standard of American arts education is one of “all arts technique and no real business skills”. Graduates often know how to create works of art, but not necessarily how to make a living from their art. This standard causes widespread unemployment for an extreme majority, leading to the starving artist stereotype and “actors really being waiters”. Our standard approach is an antiquated system. We need a new standard. Entrepreneurial training needs to become a central part of arts education, as it can help create jobs, with artists creating opportunities for themselves.

To read more, CLICK HERE

Jim Hart

Friday, May 13, 2011

Bootstrap B2B — Contracts & Rescue Pricing: How Not to Give Away the Farm or How to Get the Farm Back

When: Monday, May 23, 2011 7:00 PM

Where: Business Success Center
Chase Bank Tower 7600 Burnet Rd.
Austin, TX 78757
933-1983



Title: Contracts & Rescue Pricing: How Not to Give Away the Farm or How to Get the Farm Back

Speakers: Jeanine Lehman, Attorney & Jan Triplett, CEO, Business Success Center

This has become a huge issue. If you are thinking about using Groupon, Living Social, or any other kind of mass couponing or discounting, watch out for traps. There are lots of horror stories out there about businesses cutting prices to get customers and then customers expecting that price regularly. Business Attorney Jeanine Lehman will walk you through contract basics so you'll know what you are signing and what you're promising. She'll talk about what you can do legally when you get overwhelmed without finding yourself in violation of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act and other laws. Jan Triplett, CEO, Business Success Center will talk about the repercussions of getting caught in these situations and lead the discussion on "Rescue Pricing", how to regain the value-based pricing you need to have to stay profitable and keep the best customers.


This Meetup repeats on the 4th Monday of every month.

For more details, see the full listing:
http://www.meetup.com/BootstrapB2B/events/17551461/

Saturday, May 07, 2011

Are you one of Austin's Fittest Entrepreneurs?

With all the pressure of being an entrepreneur, growing a company, managing employees, generating new clients, and burning the midnight oil to stay on top of everything, is it possible to still prioritize health and fitness in your life and with your employees? The answer is not only is it possible, it is imperative for long-term entrepreneurial success!

In 2005, the Journal of Small Business Management completed a study with 366 entrepreneurs and concluded that there was a positive relationship between exercise frequency of the entrepreneur and company sales volume, along with extrinsic and intrinsic rewards*. In addition to this study, many interviews and articles have been written to attest to a positive relationship with an entrepreneur’s health and fitness regimen and their longevity, energy level and success as an entrepreneur.

This month, EvoTrain has partnered up with the Texas Entrepreneurs Network to host a competition to find Austin’s Fittest Entrepreneurs. The mission of the competition is to identify, reward, and promote those entrepreneurs that prioritize health and fitness in their lives and at their organizations. These entrepreneurs are leading the workforce health movement and are creating a better work environment, healthier employees, and reducing healthcare costs for the future by creating a culture of preventative care in the present.

We believe that the fittest entrepreneurs are not necessarily the ones that can do 500 push-ups, have 3% body fat, and run a mile in under 4 minutes. To be a leader in the workforce health movement requires the entrepreneur to lead by example and be physically fit, but also be able to influence their employees and community to live a healthy and fit lifestyle. If that’s you or someone you know, be sure to go to www.fittestentrepreneurs.org where you can register (registration ends May 10th!) and nominate someone you know to compete. The competition takes one hour to compete and we offer multiple dates and times throughout May where competitors complete a 20 minute interview and 30-35 minute fitness evaluation. See Cole Harmonson, CEO of Far West Capital, and Robin Thurston, CEO of MapMyFitness complete their fitness test and interview on our site at www.fittestentrepreneurs.org.

For all of us out there who want to prioritize health and fitness in our lives, but can’t seem to find the time, be sure to follow the competition on Facebook and twitter as we’ll be posting videos, pictures, and results of Austin’s Fittest Entrepreneurs. We hope these entrepreneurs will inspire all of us to make health and fitness a priority and at the same time giving some great tips on how to accomplish that.

We all know Austin’s fitness & entrepreneurial scenes rival any city out there, now it's time to show everyone what we got!

To your entrepreneurial success & health,

Brian Kelly
Director of PR for Fittest Entrepreneurs & EvoTrain
bk@evotrain.com
800-939-1056 ext. 504

To learn more about the competition and EvoTrain – Check out a recent article in the Austin Business Journal here.

*Entrepreneurship and Fitness: An Examination of Rigorous Exercise and Goal Attainment among Small Business Owners by Michael G. Goldsby, Donald F. Kuratko, and James W. Bishop, Journal of Small Business Management 2005 43(1), pp. 78-92