We are in school by 8am, and not home till around 5pm. We take advantage of any chance we get during the school day to check emails, brainstorm ideas for events, or advance the cause. Once we are home, we both complete our homework as soon as possible, so we can dedicate the rest of our time to our charity.

What are your ‘can’t live without’ Smartphone or desktop applications?

• Hoot Suite
• Facebook
• Calendar
• Email
• Drop box

What are your tricks for time management?

We are high school students, have full days, homework, and other responsibilities. We start off by setting goals for the day. We make a
“to- do” list, and complete our tasks by the end of the day. It is a matter of time management, and making time for our passion. Our passion is to raise money to beat pediatric cancer, and A Dollar Campaign has a daily schedule that we are very disciplined about, so that we accomplish things each day to advance our mission.

What was the best advice you received when you started your career?

No matter how tough the job may be, keep your focus on your goals and mission.
Given the current economic climate, what has been your strategy for building awareness of A Dollar Campaign for short term and long term growth?

This question is at the heart of our thinking. The economic climate is still weak. People are not donating what they once did. But everyone can spare a dollar, and feel like they are making a contribution.
What is your proudest achievement as an accomplished entrepreneur?

We have already begun to raise awareness about pediatric cancer, and inspired some people to participate in a charity foe the first time. We are creating a chain reaction of goodness, and giving.

How do you achieve balance in your life?

We make sure to take a little time for ourselves because that’s important, and it refreshes us to devote every day to making a difference.
Your top 3 book recommendations?

Notes Left Behind, a terrific book about the experience a family whose daughter has limited time to live due to a brain tumor. The book is about their journey. You learn how a family deals with such a tragedy. Also, Growing Up Laughing, which is the autobiography of Marlo Thomas, who used her fame to promote St. Jude’s Research Hospital. In addition, we have been truly inspired by the poetry of children with cancer, written during their treatment, and which we feature on our website.

What are your most rewarding charitable involvements?

All of our effort is put into our charity, and other charitable organizations that we partner with.

Who has influenced your career the most?

For Arielle, it’s her mom, whose wisdom and love always guide her. For Seri, it’ s Marlo Thomas, who leads a charity whose policy is to never turn anyone in need away.
What is your advice for someone interested in entrepreneurship?

To find what you love to do, pour your passion into it, and give it your all. And be prepared for anything, because anything can happen. And most important, never let anyone tell you that you can’t pursue your dreams. You can.

Discover Roxbury designs, organizes and conducts tours of Roxbury’s historic sites, arts commu

Please share with us how you got started with Discover Roxbury.
While working as a freelance designer in 2008, Candelaria Silva-Collins, one of Discover Roxbury’s former board members, suggested that I submit my resume to the organization because of my background in sales. I had never heard of Discover Roxbury before and didn’t really know what it did. But, I figured that at the very least it might lead to some additional design work. A few days later I sent a resume. Within weeks I was interviewed and eventually hired to assist Discover Roxbury’s marketing efforts.

Shortly after starting, I skeptically attended my first tour. I had no idea what to expect and doubted that I would learn anything new since I am a Roxbury native. I couldn’t have been more wrong! As the layers of history and culture were systematically peeled away, my eyes and my mind were opened to a level of understanding and appreciation for my community in ways that I never had before. Prior to the tour I liked Roxbury and said that my commitment to living here demonstrated that. After that first tour, I became passionate about sharing my newfound knowledge of Roxbury and supporting Discover Roxbury’s role in the community. Four years later I’m still here and loving every minute.

There is no typical day in the life of an entrepreneur. Please share with us a sample of your day, start to finish.
My mornings start off the same way: I eat breakfast, read email, and peruse the online newspapers while watching the Today show. I try to arrive at the office at least 30 minutes before any of my staff does in order to take care of the easiest tasks without disruptions, to set a course for the day’s events, and to know which questions I need to have answered before I attend meetings and begin making calls and responding to emails.

My small staff is very friendly and outgoing. When they arrive, we welcome each other and talk for a few minutes before settling down to the day’s work. Work, however, is not an isolating experience. Despite our respective disciplines (programming, marketing, design), we work in a highly collaborative environment where discussion and question-asking are encouraged in order to draw upon everyone’s expertise and experiences. My staff asks me for input on their projects as often as I ask them for their perspectives on some of my initiatives.
Lately, it’s become rare to have a day without meetings with partners and colleagues. Whether I’m hosting meetings, attending them offsite, or involved in conference calls, I’m always looking for ways to develop and enhance collaborations that advance our mission and raise the visibility of Discover Roxbury and our home community.

I usually try to leave the office between 4pm and 5pm. Depending on the day, I may go biking, to the gym, or head home to cook dinner. Usually there’s another round of email check-ins to read messages sent by colleagues who prefer working after 7 or 8pm. After that, I shut down my computer and enjoy the remaining awake hours away from work-related items.

What are your ‘can’t live without’ Smartphone or desktop applications?

• Boston BusMap
• Business Calendar
• Tweetdeck

What are your tricks for time management?
The “trick” is basic organization and using the apps listed above. I make sure that all my calendars are up-to-date and synced so that I always know where I’m supposed to be and what I should be doing. The transit app helps me reach my destinations in the shortest amount of time. Tweetdeck keeps me informed of goings-on and in the loop, and it allows me to communicate while on the go.

With so much on my plate, I also maintain flexibility with my schedule. If a meeting is cancelled or postponed to a later time, there’s always something to fill the void and keep me productive.

What was the best advice you received when you started your career?
Ask questions.

Given the current economic climate, what has been your strategy for building awareness of Discover Roxbury for short term and long term growth?
Social media has been a major factor in building awareness of Discover Roxbury. Frequent tweets and regular posts on Facebook have been great at building short term growth. Long term growth is being achieved by being present. If we only pursued a social media strategy, I don’t believe that our participants would feel the sense of connection that we believe is important for long term, sustainable growth. As such, my staff and I make a concerted effort to be present and visible at a variety of local and regional events and to participate in the cultural life of the city as much as we would like others to participate in our events.

What is your proudest achievement as an accomplished entrepreneur?
I think I’m most proud of the heightened appreciation and improved sense of value that growing numbers of people have for the projects and initiatives that I’m involved with. I’ve chosen to attach my name and professional reputation to issues and situations with no easy fixes, limited resources, and few people who understand in their worth. As such, it’s exciting and rewarding to see a growing number of people supporting the causes and joining organizations that I care for and extending themselves to help me in my work.

How do you achieve balance in your life?
Given how much I enjoy my work, finding balance can be tricky because sometimes I don’t want to stop what I’m doing! However, I find balance in two ways. First, during the course of a normal week I go to the gym, bike, cook, spend time with friends, and make time to do nothing more than read. In addition to that, I take a multi-week vacation once a year during winter to someplace warm and sunny, usually to visit friends living overseas (previous trips have been to Guatemala, Australia, and Tanzania). Going abroad feels like pressing the proverbial reset button and helps me re-establish a sense of perspective that I may have lost over the course of the previous year.

Your top 3 book recommendations?

• Good to Great by Jim Collins
• The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman
• The Big Sea and I Wonder As I Wander by Langston Hughes

What are your most rewarding charitable involvements?
I enjoy community building in the variety forms that it takes. As such, my most recent and most rewarding charitable involvements have been:

• Joining the board of Egleston Square Main Street, which allows me to be active in supporting the improvement of one of Roxbury’s prime business districts.
• Teaching social media seminars to other local non-profit organizations. It’s great to share my knowledge and seeing it being put to use by others to improve their capacity and ability.

Who has influenced your career the most?
There’s isn’t one person who has had the most influence on my career. I’ve been extremely fortunately to have a community of strong, interesting, and talented people who have been personally and professionally supportive. My peers and colleagues also continuously encourage me to pursue my own vision and to develop a style of leadership that is unique and best suited to my set of skills and challenges.

What is your advice for someone interested in entrepreneurship?
Develop a clear vision of the results you want to achieve and the path by which you hope to achieve them. Once you have both of those in mind, share them. Be open to feedback and critiques, and be willing to incorporate those into the vision. There’s nothing wrong with revising an idea and being open to change and collaboration.

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR DISCOVER ROXBURY

DEREK LUMPKINS’ BIO
Derek Lumpkins is the Executive Director of Discover Roxbury. During his tenure, he has expanded and diversified Discover Roxbury’s portfolio of programming, including adding new biking and walking tours of Roxbury’s heritage, and the revitalization of community-wide events including Roxbury Open Studios and the Franklin Park Kite Festival with a creative community of partners.

Derek is also increasing Discover Roxbury’s sustainability and social capital with a pair of annual events: Heart of the Hub, a celebration of Roxbury’s food, music, art and interactive experiences, and the Black & White Party, a nod to the energy, vibrancy, and color that artists bring to our lives everyday.

As the head of Discover Roxbury, Derek also serves as the chair of the Roxbury Cultural Network, a collaboration of organizations and businesses around Roxbury, which collectively promote and develop new audiences for Roxbury’s physical, cultural, culinary, and historic assets.

A native of Boston, Derek Lumpkins graduated from Boston Latin School. Afterwards, he attended Swarthmore College, earning a B.A. in English Literature, and the University of London (SOAS) earning an M.A. in International Studies and Diplomacy. He returned to Boston determined to make an impact at a local level and remains committed to this goal. In addition to working at Discover Roxbury, Derek serves on the board of directors for Egleston Square Main Street and is on the steering committee for ArtMorpheus.

Please share with us how you became involved with WEST (Advancing Women in the Business of Science & Technology).
WEST was looking for an Executive Director at the time that I was looking for a new career, one where I could express my passion for what mattered most to me: developing women in science and technology as leaders; to advance in their careers so they can make a difference in the communities they serve.
I started my career as a chemical engineer and was hired as the only women engineer, an affirmative action candidate, for a large defense company.  The expression of my commitment to women started in 1976 when I founded one of the first battered women shelters in the US and was the president of the Northeast PA chapter of N.O.W; we were focused on the Equal Rights Amendment Extension. For over 20 years, I expressed my career by designing, selling and delivering organizational change consulting and leadership development for management gurus Peter Senge and Tom Peters.
Since designing, selling and deliveri,ng consulting, mentoring and leadership development is my core competency and I have a science and engineering background the position at WEST seems to perfectly match my experience and skill set. The position as Executive Director at WEST is a calling, given my commitment to developing women as leaders in science and technology. For many years, I expressed my commitment for women through volunteer work:  board of director of the Healthcare Business Women’s Organization accountable for their executive women’ dinners and by leading an Boston based organization of women executives in Life Science healthcare.

There is no typical day in the life of an entrepreneur. Please share with us a sample of your day, start to finish.
I start my day at 6am and meditate for 20-30minutes. This helps me to start my day centered, grounded and present. After meditation, I get ready for the day. I look over my weekly and monthly calendar and my priority list. I answer emails that I did not have time to answer the day before. I then have a call with my assistant and we align on what needs to get done for the week, and for that day.  I work with the interns on their priorities. My day might consist of attending networking meetings in Boston or meeting potential sponsors, speakers or alliance partners for lunch or coffee. I usually have a mix of 4-8 calls, meetings or networking events per day. I meet with an advisory board member every week to brainstorm and to think through strategy. I might spend time during the day to find speakers for events or meet with a panel of speakers to prepare for an upcoming event. Every week, I open and close business with corporate members or sponsors for upcoming events. I might work on the content and design of our website or write our weekly newsletter. At night, I will either lead a workshop, attend a WEST program  (kick off the program) and if I am not at a program in the evening, I might lead a volunteer meeting or spend time writing a grant, or creating a calendar of programs for a three month time period or design and create operational plan for our vision and strategy. I also spend time each day communicating and reading on Linked In, Twitter and Facebook. My day ends between 9-11pm each night.
At the end of the evening before I got to bed, I will meditate again, letting go of the day.

What are your ‘can’t live without’ Smartphone or desktop applications?

• Opentable. I am always making last minute reservations for lunch and dinner meetings.
• Weather App on my iPhone
• New York Times App.

What are your tricks for time management?
I schedule time in my calendar to complete tasks as well as meetings. Many people just schedule meetings and do not necessarily schedule time to complete things. Once I have a deadline, I work backwards and schedule the time I need to complete it. This helps me to get it all done. I also look out 3 months and work backwards, create milestones and schedule what needs to get done at each milestone.

What was the best advice you received when you started your career?

To be true to myself, follow my passion and success will follow.

Given the current economic climate, what has been your strategy for building awareness of WEST for short term and long-term growth?
WEST created our strategy based on research by Catalyst.org, the Anita Borg Institute and Harvard Business School. WEST’s strategy focuses on four key success factors for career growth:

• Performance,
• Visibility,
• Leadership, and
• Sponsorship (an advocate for success).

Two-thirds of women enter STEM careers because they are committed to making a profound difference in humankind. Despite having motivation and dedication, 52% of these women leave their careers. To change these statistics, WEST provides the following:

Education, workshops and panels that enhance performance and visibility;

Experienced women role models as mentors;

Volunteer programs for hands on leadership development; and

Opportunities for visibility through recommendations for awards.

WEST’s long-term growth is based on building alliance partnerships with major corporations, other non- profits, government agencies and universities.
WEST has also created a competent grant writing team that identifies and responds to grant possibilities. For the long term, we are looking to expand internationally and nationally.
WEST was asked by the US State Department to speak to women in science and technology in Italy. This has helped to leverage us with multinational companies that have a presence in the US and Italy and are interested in growing women in STEM globally. Our short- term growth is based on developing infrastructure to operationalize our strategy while simultaneously generating revenue through corporate memberships and partnerships.

What is your proudest achievement as an accomplished entrepreneur?
When I joined WEST we were a very small non-profit with a part-time Executive Director and part time assistant. Our constituency was mainly early and mid -career women in life science and all of programs were offered in Cambridge, MA. Since I became the Executive Director we have expanded WEST’s presence in Technology and Engineering as well as Life Science. We have expand our constituency to include executive women and now offer programs through-out the state of Massachusetts. We have more than doubled our revenues and I am now a full-time Executive Director and we have a fulltime assistant and five college interns. We operate from our researched based model so that we can ensure success in developing women as leaders. One of my proudest achievements is  the creation of  an amazing advisory board of executive women that have opened up what is possible for the organization.

How do you achieve balance in your life?
I achieve balance in my life through my daily meditation practice and by going to spiritual retreats four times a year. I also lead meditation classes once a month.

Your top 3 book recommendations?

• Onenessby Rasha
• Serious Play by Michael Schrage
• Walk Out Walk On by Meg Wheatley

What are your most rewarding charitable involvements?
Founding one of the first battered women shelter in the US in 1976 and leading the National Organization for Women in Northeastern , Pa in 1976-1979, working to extend the equal rights amendment. During that time I was on the radio, television or in newspapers every week for 2 years, on a slow news day the assignment editors would call me for a story. We were so visible the public thought we had hundred of women working with us, when we had approximately 20 members. We made a difference in women’s rights in PA.

Who has influenced your career the most?
My mother, she taught me that I could be anyone and have any career I wanted.  She taught me to never give up and to be fearless. She also taught me to fight for human rights. She believed that each person made a profound difference in the world and I operate from that stand and have taken what I have learned form her to inspire others.

What is your advice for someone interested in entrepreneurship?
Say grounded and centered. Create a team of advisors that you can brainstorm with and bounce ideas off of; advocates for your business. Be willing to work hard and do what ever it takes to be successful. Do not give up even if things look bleak. Be fearless.

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR WEST

ILENE FISCHER’S BIO
Ilene Fischer is the Executive Director of WEST, a non-profit organization whose mission is to develop women in science, engineering and technology as leaders so that they achieve success in their organizations and make a profound difference in the communities they serve.
WEST is a community, a forum, for early, mid-career, executive and entrepreneurial women in STEM careers. WEST members are committed to developing themselves as leaders through education, mentorship, networking, and information sharing. WEST encourages women to cultivate entrepreneurial thinking and creative risk-taking.
Previous to her appointment as Managing Director of WEST, Ilene served as Managing Director for consulting services for management guru Tom Peters Company, who authored “In Search of Excellence”.
She was a Partner accountable for organizational change at PA Consulting Group, a British based, large global business consulting company.
She was a Partner at Innovation Associates (IA), founded by Peter Senge, Professor at MIT Sloan school and author of “The Fifth Discipline; The Art and Science of a Learning Organization”.
Ilene was a Quality Manager at Honeywell’s electro optic division, and a chemical engineer at Raytheon.
Ilene Fischer has a B.S. in Chemistry and studied  business at Harvard University. She published an article on culture change in Business 2.0 and she was a contributor to “The Fifth Discipline Field Book” by Peter Senge.
Ilene Fischer has been a mentor for women through different women’s organizations for over 10 years.
She was Chairperson for Executive Women’s Series and Board member for the Healthcare Business Women Association. She led the Boston Chapter of Wealth (Women Executives Advancing Life Sciences, Technology and Healthcare), She has been a member of The Boston Club for 12 years and is a member of Women’s Business Leaders.
Her pioneering efforts on behalf of women include establishing one of the first battered women’s shelters in the US in 1976, and serving as president of the National Organization for Women, Northeastern Pennsylvania chapter working on the Equal Right Amendment extension from 1976-1980.

Boston Rising is an antipoverty fund. Our mission is to end the cycle of poverty in Boston by clearing the way for the Rising Class. We do two things: we catalyze resources and we invest for huge impact.

Please share with us how you got involved with Boston Rising ( as well as the other notable charitable organizations you’ve spearheaded: Catholic Charities, Hauser Center for Non-Profits)?
I knew from the beginning of my career that I wanted to work in nonprofits at least once, if not more.  I grew up in a family full of entrepreneurs (my father started a business with 7 children and an 8th on the way), but also full of volunteers and people who cared about social justice.  My first job out of college was in microlending in Chicago.  After a stint in Fortune 100 consulting, it was clear to me that I wanted to work with organizations whose missions were socially focused.  That brought me back to nonprofits, and eventually, senior leadership in places like the Hauser Center, then Catholic Charities, and now Boston Rising.

There is no typical day in the life of an entrepreneur. Please share with us a sample of your day, start to finish.
My day starts with my kids.  Depending on the day of the week, it may include getting them ready for school and walking them, or handing them off to our nanny while they are still in their PJ’s eating breakfast.  I spend my day in a combination of meetings that include usually one or two internal operations conversations, at least two networking/fundraising meetings, some writing, and two or three nights a week, an event.  At home at night, it’s back to motherhood, preparing lunches, schedules, backpacks, etc. for the next day.

What are your ‘can’t live without’ Smartphone or desktop applications?
My iPhone, for sure.  I use the Google Maps app a ridiculous amount.  I also thrive on TweetDeck for my laptop.  My laptop is a good quality Windows tablet.  Wouldn’t trade it.

What are your tricks for time management?
An outstanding assistant to help me with it, for one.  I think that’s actually really important.  You have to have someone who has your back.  Blocked time to focus when I have work product to create, too.  Otherwise, if you aren’t careful, your day can be absorbed in meetings.

What was the best advice you received when you started your career?
Always seek out mentors.  I always have, and it makes a huge difference.

Given the current economic climate, what has been your strategy for building awareness of Boston Rising for short term and long term growth?
Building awareness comes from a combination of the strength of your ideas, constant networking at all levels of the organization (meaning all of our staff build networks), and good early impact.  Our long-term growth comes from sustained fundraising efforts, combined with building and deserving constant trust with the people we seek to support.

What is your proudest achievement as an accomplished entrepreneur?
I guess I don’t really think that way.  I feel like I have accomplished very little in my life that I did truly on my own. It’s almost always a group effort, and I think a successful entrepreneur, or any successful leader, remembers that and stays focused there.

How do you achieve balance in your life?
For me, the key is remembering that you absolutely can have it all.  You just can’t have it all at once.  So what’s important now?  What was yesterday’s gift, and what can wait until tomorrow?  Being at peace with those trade-offs is critical to finding balance, I believe.

Your top 3 book recommendations?
They change over time. Right now?  Probably:

• Destiny of the Republic by Candace Millard
• Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

What are your most rewarding charitable involvements?
I serve on several nonprofit boards, in addition to running a nonprofit.  I consider the whole field rewarding.

Who has influenced your career the most?
A long-time mentor and friend named Fr. Bryan Hehir.  He has been an academic, spiritual and professional guide throughout the years.  I respect him deeply.

What is your advice for someone interested in entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is an unstable existence.  You have to enjoy the ride.  You also have to find other parts of life to provide you some stability.  I learned a long time ago that all the parts can’t be moving at the same time.  Fix one or two in place, and then the rest can be in flux.  What can you tolerate being in flux for you?  What needs to be stable and in place?

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR BOSTON RISING

Please share with us how you created The Hot Shots Network.
Well, it started out as trying to help some friends of mine who were affected by the down-turn after 2008. I also looked at it as a way to “give back.” I’ve found that usually, when you help others, they’re willing to help you in return. So there was an under-current in my thinking that I would get some help from the membership that I wasn’t getting from those less altruistic in the Boston community.

There is no typical day in the life of an entrepreneur. Please share with us a sample of your day, start to finish.
That’s not an easy one. I’ve found that the more responsibility you assume, the more hours it takes to get your job done ‘effectively.’ That, when combined with the current economic slow-down and the overall hostility of the Boston community in terms of those less fortunate professionally or needing assistance, translates to “working whenever you have to.”

Most days are between 3 and 7 meetings per day, peppered between phone calls from those you’re contacting to further other activities, endless e-mails required to support those meetings, phone calls and conference calls. All of this is pretty much non-stop throughout the day. In cars, at lunch, in the men’s room, while walking, etc. I’m usually up at 6:30 a.m., responding to emails and Linkedin by 7:30, in Boston (while talking on the phone) behind traffic by 9:30 and home by 7:30 pm. Then tying-up loose ends and preparing for the next day while sitting on the couch til 11:00 pm. That’s all pretty standard.

What are your ‘can’t live without’ Smartphone or desktop applications?
I’m a BlackBerry guy at the moment. I would say the entire MS/Outlook suite, Linkedin for sure, google search and SalesForce.com (as I’m actively engrossed in Business Development at the moment). These are all integrated, wireless, backed-up and addictive.

What are your tricks for time management?

• Constantly prioritize, review & re-view tasks as some will drop-off the list.
• Weigh what “needs” to be done vs. would “like” to get done.
• Get help from all factions and advice from friends and associates. You’ll do more things effectively as the advice you garner helps reduce the priorities you’re constantly reviewing.

What was the best advice you received when you started your career?
Waaaay, back in the day I was riding the train home from NYC and happened to be sitting with a VP from the Bank I was with (BNP (before Parrabis was added)). He and I have actually reconnected via linkedIn after almost 30 years. He would later become my boss. I was a young manager, looking to make my mark and generally seeking lots of advice (an activity which has never really ceased). He knew I had been having trouble (performance, attitude, lack of results, etc.) with an employee on my staff – we’ll call him Raymond. He asked me how it was going and asked “is he hurting you?” I said yes. He then said what are you doing about it? I said nothing at the moment. He said “then I’d fire you!”

What I learned from that is, as a manger if you’re not adding value, thoughtfully planning and endeavoring to be one step ahead, your value is diminished. Never have forgotten that.

Given the current economic climate, what has been your strategy for building awareness of Boston Rising Ewing Hill Advisors for short term and long term growth?
By accepting today – you must work twice as hard for the same results as in years past. Securing incrementally more help and guidance from the friends and associates I mentioned previously, embracing and helping promote (another part of giving back) the newest tools and technologies. Not to be confused with ‘trends’, which are yet to be proven beneficial.

What is your proudest achievement as an accomplished entrepreneur?
I’d say there are two.  The first is helping other entrepreneurs. The second is that in my first role as an investor / CEO / entrepreneur, I grew the company I was with 400%, its profitability almost 50%, built a new team (whom I am still in touch with) and then sold the firm to a new slate of investors.

How do you achieve balance in your life?
I don’t. I’m a border-line workaholic and love it.

Your top 3 book recommendations?

• Anything by Peter Drucker
• Endless Presidential Bio’s (both Roosevelt’s, LBJ, Nixon, Jefferson, Washington, Adams, etc.)
• How to Become a CEO by Jeffrey Fox

What are your most rewarding charitable involvements?
No one specific thing. I guess it would be realizing the importance of “giving back” and carrying oneself accordingly throughout their day and career.

Who has influenced your career the most?
No one person really. Professionally, it would be the mentors I’ve found at almost each job really. They span a 30 year career so some are no longer with us – Dave MaCay, Dan Maglio, Hy Waxman, Cathy Welsh, Frank Finlayson. Personally, it would be my maternal grandfather.

What is your advice for someone interested in entrepreneurship?
Know and acknowledge what you don’t know.

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR HOT SHOTS EXECUTIVE NETWORKING GROUP

CHARLES FARON’S BIO
Charles E. Faron is a founding member & Managing Director of Ewing Hill Advisors, Inc. (EHA) Providers of corporate business development & rainmaking, M&A intermediary services and fund sourcing assistance. The firm helps executive decision makers mitigate their company’s unforeseen risk. Clients gain peace of mind knowing they have direct access to a network of highly specialized companies with a proven track record for achieving immediate results.

Charles is a former President & Chief Executive Officer of venture-backed portfolio companies and operating divisions of US multi-nationals. He has served on private boards, worked with numerous investment banks in pursuit of acquisitions, provided sourcing services and now performs strategic Business Development activities supported by a consortium of affiliates that provide Restructuring & Turnarounds, myriad Financial Services, Risk Management, interim Executive & Fundless Sponsors, Asset Management, I-Banking & IT Consulting to organizations throughout the greater northeast & Canada.

EHA provided strategic business development, origination & technology consulting services for:

Duff & Phelps – an international Financial Advisory & Investment Banking firm.
WTAS – (former Arthur Andersen) a global provider of Tax & Valuation services
The Pinnacle Financial Group – a boutique, personalized benefits, insurance consulting & brokerage firm.
Patina Solutions – a provider of Executive Services & Fundless Sponsors for the M&A community.

Previously, Charles held progressively responsible senior executive positions in organizations of various size and commercial emphasis. These range from the President & CEO of Navitas Technologies Inc., a clean-tech, R&D and manufacturing company located in Toronto, ON, the President of ServiceConnection, a subsidiary of PC Connection, a $1.5B public company located in New England as well as the Vice-President of US Operations for a global IT Outsourcing, Consulting & enterprise software company. There, he directed the efforts of large, geographically-dispersed executive teams, managed a network of 65 + clients, and successfully managed a $140m P&L and a staff of more than 1,100 professional services and business executives. He also held leadership positions for Canopy Int’l, an early-stage, middleware integration company, BNP-Paribas, Merrill Lynch and the Manufacturers Trust Co. of NY.

Charles attended Northeastern University where he majored in English & Journalism & Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, studying Management. He is an annual Mentor for the Ignite Clean Energy (ICE) program at MIT, Cambridge MA & an EIR with the Richard Ivey School of Business, London, ON.

Board of Directors (former) – Navitas Technologies & Magnacom Technologies, Inc.
Member – Detroit Economic Club (former), CEO’s Club of Boston, Assoc. for Corporate Growth (Committee member),
Boston College Club (Membership Committee), Tech Capital Network & ATA.

Please share with us how you got started with Ploutos Global Advisory and Kalikajaros.com.

When I looked back, I too can recall constantly reaching out to others for such help.

Time and time again, I realized that most people get professional consulting on setting strategic visions and business plans but there always seems to be an inadequate focus on being very clear and focused on how to execute.

I realized I could share my experiences and leverage my skills and capabilities to others; hence Ploutos Global Advisory and Kalikajaros.com was formed.

In addition, I retained my wealth management skills and capabilities by providing innovative solutions to stakeholders in international wealth management and banking markets. I service sovereign wealth funds, global banks, private wealth managers & brokers, institutional investors, professional services firms, government and regulators, High Net Worth investors, Affluent Investors and Mass Affluent Investors and their advisors.

There is no typical day in the life of an entrepreneur. Please share with us a sample of your day, start to finish.
There are some key components to the day I set as ‘non-negotiable’ rules.

I break up the day to

• Research and Learning Development Activity – Gain insights into key market and key data globally, regionally and locally.
• Setting the Day Ahead – Being very clear on what must be achieved today, what activities are moveable if needed
• Activating – Completing the daily goals and challenges set.
• Networking – They key to survival. Developing and reaching out to the network using direct contact, social media platforms including Kalikajaros.com, Twitter, Google + and LinkedIn.  I want to take the opportunity here to comment on networking.  I have a very strong belief that most people focus on networking focusing on ‘what’s in it for me’. I have a completely different view, my view on networking is that your sole focus on attention should be focusing being helping people with the utmost sincerity. Work mandates become outcomes but that’s not primary my focus on networking. Helping people is the key focus.
• Review – What I set out to achieve and start to plan the new goals for tomorrow
• Switch Off – At the end of the day, all the technology tools get switched off. It’s time for focus and attention to be given to my family and also finding a bit of quiet time for me.

What are your ‘can’t live without’ Smartphone or desktop applications?
Well being an Apple follower for over 30 years, I am starting to wonder why Apple hasn’t reached out to its consumers for such milestones!. On the desktop side of things, the iWork’s iLife and iWeb packages are essential

I’m a huge fan of Tweetdeck and Wunderlist.

My communication tool is Skype and Apple’s Facetime

On the SmartPhone, my favourite 10 apps (excluding games!) are

1. Tunein Radio – Handy for accessing radio stations globally via the net!
2. PriorityPass– Finding those airport lounges all over the world is handy
3. Bloomberg – Giving me access to worldwide financial news and market data
4. Card Munch – Converting business cards to electronic cards for me Apple Contact Book and connecting with people through Linkedin
5. Regus – Finding and booking location for Regus Offices, Meeting Rooms and business lounges globally!
6. Dragon Dictation – Converting voice to text for SMS, Email etc. when my hands are firmly locked on that steering wheel!
7. Skype and Skype Wi-Fi – Great reliable VOIP and Skype Wi-Fi. It lets me use my Skype Credit to leverage off user pay wifi globally
8. Booking.com – In my opinion, the best hotel finder in the world and instant booking capabilities are simply fantastic
9. Skyscanner – The App that finds me air travel solutions globally and enables me to book instantly
10. iBook and iTunes – I have over 3000 books and 26000 songs in my library and being able to access via the iphone and ipad is simply brilliant

What are your tricks for time management?
Without the structure or the camaraderie of office mates, it’s easy to feel disconnected or to let work run my life. If you have a flexible schedule, I consider these three things to make my work life easier:

Clearly delineate your workday. Make a schedule and stick to it. Without boundaries between work and non-work time, you’ll feel guilty if you’re not at your desk.

Start your day right. When you don’t have to clock in by 9, it’s tempting to fritter your time away. Make your mornings time for work to get a jump on the day.

Give yourself time off. Working alone can be intense. Don’t feel guilty about not working a full 8-hour day. Do what you need to get your work done and then clock out.

What was the best advice you received when you started your career?
Never Stop Learning – It’s a simple statement often pushed aside because we fall into the trap of treating learning as a ‘cost’ to the business and also an intruder of time management in a busy world.

Given the current economic climate, what has been your strategy for building awareness of Ploutos Global for short term and long term growth?
Remain focused on who and what is important – It might sound a bit boring but my view on this is simple.  Awareness primarily comes from the cliens I service who become my off-balance sheet marketing division.  My only interest is ensuring the clients that engage me are completely satisfied and that expectations are exceeded as opposed to simply being met.

Networking, I’ve touched on earlier is focused on talking to people and organizations to offer help, rather than try and push my own profit agenda.

Social Media has too become very important for the business. Again, my own view on social media is to focus on helping people and organizations think about issues and items that are on their mind and offer to help.

What is your proudest achievement as an accomplished entrepreneur?
Surviving the first 12 months. Sincerely, I think its important for people to understand that the first twelve months of any business is the most challenging and often what you undertake to achieve here really sets the scene for whether the business will go on and prosper or alternatively fail.

Resilience is key and if you haven’t got it in your DNA, get help!

How do you achieve balance in your life?
I know my family love me responding to this question.  To be honest, it’s a struggle, but I think the reason it is a struggle for most people is that we are told that balance is dependent on working in a set structure or discipline and switching off after that. Usually, I see for many people that means we should all work from 9am to 5pm. (I honestly can’t recall when that last happened to me!)

Flexibility is key, there will be times where work will require you to work extensive hours and there will be times where you can switch off earlier than planned.

They key is that you must commit to switching off. For those with family, it’s important to ensure that you give your family 100% attention during the time that you have set aside for such.  We tend to allow technology to intrude here, our iphones and deskptops tempt us with sound alerts, pop up messages that someone has reached out to us.

Whether you have a family or not, having time set aside for yourself is also important to do things you like to do. For example, read, play golf, paint, meditate.  The point is, that you need to ensure you set some time aside for yourself.

Your top 3 book recommendations?

• Slowing down to the Speed of Life by Carlson and Bailey
• CEO of Earth by Simon Hammond
• Scores on the Board by Bill Lang

If I could however add one more, I always read once a year as a firm rule – Tuesdays with Morris by Mitch Albom

What are your most rewarding charitable involvements?
I am very passionate about Juvenile Diabetes (also known as Type 1 Diabetes).  My wife has had the disease for 20 years and I fail to understand why this disease, which is increasing every year globally, is not getting the priority attention of health, political and financial leaders consistently enough.

The JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) organization is one I have very high regard for.

Who has influenced your career the most?
There are three people that influenced my career, they have been part of my world for over 20 years. At the time of first contact, each was my direct manager in particular organizations and they have remained influential and very important to guiding, inspiring and teaching me.

Today they continue to be my sounding board or ‘reality check’

The other is the late Steve Jobs (aka Apple’s Co-Founder and Savior).

What is your advice for someone interested in entrepreneurship?
For the entrepreneur, I have the following advice based on Steve Jobs, the man who has inspired me for over 30 years.

• Do what you love. Jobs once said, “People with passion can change the world for the better.” Asked about the advice he would offer would-be entrepreneurs, he said, “I’d get a job as a busboy or something until I figured out what I was really passionate about.” That’s how much it meant to him. Passion is everything.
• Put a dent in the universe. Jobs believed in the power of vision. He once asked then-Pepsi President, John Sculley, “Do you want to spend your life selling sugar water or do you want to change the world?” Don’t lose sight of the big vision.
• Make connections. Jobs once said creativity is connecting things. He meant that people with a broad set of life experiences can often see things that others miss. He took calligraphy classes that didn’t have any practical use in his life — until he built the Macintosh. Jobs traveled to IndiaandAsia. He studied design and hospitality. Don’t live in a bubble. Connect ideas from different fields.
• Say no to 1,000 things. Jobs was as proud of what Apple chose not to do as he was of what Apple did. When he returned in Apple in 1997, he took a company with 350 products and reduced them to 10 products in a two-year period. Why? So he could put the “A-Team” on each product. What are you saying “no” to?
• Create insanely different experiences. Jobs also sought innovation in the customer-service experience. When he first came up with the concept for the Apple Stores, he said they would be different because instead of just moving boxes, the stores would enrich lives. Everything about the experience you have when you walk into an Apple store is intended to enrich your life and to create an emotional connection between you and the Apple brand. What are you doing to enrich the lives of your customers?
• Master the message. You can have the greatest idea in the world, but if you can’t communicate your ideas, it doesn’t matter. Jobs was the world’s greatest corporate storyteller. Instead of simply delivering a presentation like most people do, he informed, he educated, he inspired and he entertained, all in one presentation.
• Sell dreams, not products. Jobs captured our imagination because he really understood his customer. He knew that tablets would not capture our imaginations if they were too complicated. The result? One button on the front of an iPad. It’s so simple, a 2-year-old can use it. Your customers don’t care about your product. They care about themselves, their hopes, their ambitions. Jobs taught us that if you help your customers reach their dreams, you’ll win them over.
• There’s one story that I think sums up Jobs’ career at Apple. An executive who had the job of reinventing the Disney Store once called up Jobs and asked for advice. His counsel? Dream bigger. I think that’s the best advice he could leave us with. See genius in your craziness, believe in yourself, believe in your vision, and be constantly prepared to defend those ideas.

LEARN MORE ABOUT NICK ON HIS WEBSITE

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR NICK KALIKAJAROS

NICK KALIKAJAROS BIO
Nick is the CEO and Founder of Ploutos Global Advisory and Kalikajaros.com

He is an experienced leader in the Financial Services Industry with particular emphasis in Domestic and International Private Banking, Premium/Priority Banking, Wealth Management and Corporate Advisory for over 30 years. He has worked at a number of leading organisations including Credit Suisse (CEO & Managing Director of Credit Suisse Private Bank. Australia), Merrill Lynch (Head of Global Private Clients, Australia and New Zealand), St George Bank (General Manager and Head of Private Bank and Private Client Services), UBS (Co-Head of UBS Private Clients, Australia) and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (Senior Executive positions in Private Banking, Business Banking and Credit).

Providing innovative solutions to stakeholders in international wealth management and banking markets, Nickservices sovereign wealth funds, global banks, private wealth managers & brokers, institutional investors, professional services firms, government and regulators, High Net Worth investors, Affluent Investors and Mass Affluent Investors and their advisors.

Nick’s primary focus is on emerging markets in Middle East (MENA), Asia Pacific and Central Eastern Europe (CEE) as well providing coverage on Australia, USA, UK and European markets.

Nick has a successful track record of establishing and building wealth management business for domestic and global financial institutions and entrepreneurship, setting a foothold in several industries with significant exposure to global networking. He has knowledge and experience in General Management, Start-ups, Turnarounds, Leadership, Operations, Human Resources and Strategy.

Nick’s private client base has ranged from sovereign wealth funds, family offices, small corporates, entrepreneurs, executives of both publicly quoted and unlisted companies, professionals such as solicitors and accountants, sportspeople and entertainers.

Nick is a Senior Fellow of FINSIA , as well as a member of both the Network for Sustainable Financial Markets and Network for Family Businesses and has completed a postgraduate degree at Sydney’s Macquarie University in Banking Management.

Nick is the founder of the Linkedin Groups ’Global Private Banking and Wealth Management”   “China Private Banking and Wealth Management” and “India Private Banking and Wealth Management”

Nick is also a, Senior Industry Advisor to a Global Consulting and Advisory Group covering banking and wealth management, Regional Director Asia Pacific & MENA for an organisation that provides advisory and consulting services on clients strategic business issues and their impacts on professional development, Regional Leader Asia Pacific & MENA for a soon to be launched web platform globally catering for islamic professionals and executives and Project Director and Thought Leader for a Global Research Group covering banking and wealth management.

Nick’s Passions are diverse but primarily are focused on Diabetes, Wealth Management, Nurturing Human Talent, Greece and Armenia.

Success for Solopreneurs is a community and blog that shares tips, tools, resources and articles with other small businesses and solopreneurs

Please share with us how you got started with Success for Solopreneurs?
Like many women, I more or less became an accidental entrepreneur.  I’m a former elementary school teaching and trained marriage and child therapist.  Yet I don’t work directly in either of those fields (though I dabble in teaching technology to middle schoolers part-time).

When I was planning my wedding years ago, like many brides-to-be, I spent most of my time in the wedding forums.  After my wedding, I started my own women’s community forum, Constant Chatter.  This all happened right about the time when blogging was getting big and social media was just starting out.  And being an early adapter, I jumped right in.

Once Constant Chatter was able to survive without my constant attention, I decided that I needed to get back into the “helper” market and joined a local women’s networking group.  While I was there talking with other women, I realized how so many of these women weren’t very comfortable online and were spending way to much money trying to get websites out there.

I started leading workshops for this group and taking on one-on-on clients.  And voilà, Success for Solopreneurs was born.  Of course, it’s evolved over the years as I fine- tuned my niche and my ideal client.  But that’s the short version of how it all came to be.

There is no typical day in the life of an entrepreneur. Please share with us a sample of your day, start to finish.
Currently, I’m teaching part-time as well as running my business.  So my typical day would probably also be a day that I’m teaching (Mon – Fri with Thursdays reserved for my VIP and one-on-one clients).

• 7:30AM: Wake up, take care of the pets and check email
• 7:45AM: Get ready for school
• 8:15AM: Catch up on Facebook and set up my automated social media updates (making sure I have some specific tips, tools, quotes or links to share live and without automation)
• 9:00AM – 10:30AM: Head to school and teach technology to my 6th graders
• 10:30AM – 12:30PM: Head to the local library to write and create content (newsletter, blog posts, new products, etc.) and return emails and phone calls
• 12:30PM – 1:30PM: Back to school to teach technology to my 8th graders
• 2:00PM: Grab lunch and head home
• 2:30PM – 5:30PM: Work with clients, participate in various social networks (usually in 15 min blocks between client calls),
• 5:30PM – 8:30PM: Dinner with the husband, maybe the occasional teleclass or networking event thrown in.
• 8:30PM – 11:30PMish: Call it a night.  I rarely do direct business work after 7:30.  But while I’m watching TV, I will peruse the web and collect and compile online resources to share across my social networks. I’m always compiling resources to share as I feel that when you’re looked to as an “expert” in your field you should always be sharing tips, tools and resources with your community (I feel that it’s a big part of what makes you an “expert,” knowing what’s important enough that others need to know about it).
• After 11:30PMish: read a little then it’s off to bed.

What are your ‘can’t live without’ Smartphone or desktop applications?
I am a Google Fan Girl through and through. I access all my business and personal email through Gmail.  I use Google Cal to create different calendars for the different areas of my life (personal, teaching and business) that I can share with those I need to share it with (like my husband).  And I use Google Docs quite a bit (more for my teaching and less for my business).  And of course, I can access everything from my iPhone.

I also use DropBox throughout the day. I love that I can access my documents from my laptop and my desktop both at home and when I’m away (like now, at the local library).  I also love how easy it is to share files and folders with others.

Astrid is my latest new tool.  It’s the first online task list that I’ve found that I actually use.  And I can access it from my iPhone.  Which is always useful.

Expensify is a great tool for keeping track of your expenses and creating those expense reports.  And their iPhone app let’s you take photos of your receipts so you no longer have to keep track of all those small pieces of paper.

For creating travel itineraries (both business and personal), you can’t beat TripIt.

And for music on the go, I use Mog both on my computer and on my phone.  My students love that I have their favorite music at my finger tips (and I love that I don’t have to buy it).  Their phone app is great as well because you can stream full albums or create your own playlists to bring with you when you’re on the go.

Our house (and our extended family) also uses LastPass as our password tool.  It allows you to organize all your websites and their passwords without having to remember everything.  Instead, you remember one longer and stronger password that manages the entire account.  As they put it, it’s the last password you’ll ever have to remember (and it’s smart phone compatible).

As for my iPhone specifically, I’m a pretty social gal, so I love the more social apps like Path, Foursquare and Facebook.  I enjoy taking pictures so I really like Camera+ and PaperCamera.  And of course I must have my Groupon and Living Social apps on hand so I can always catch that deal!

What are your tricks for time management?
I’d be lost without a weekly To Do list and my accountability partner.  We’re in contact each Sunday and where share what we’ve done, what we said we’d get done and what we plan to get done this week.  When you combine that with the To Do list (and Astrid), I find that I stay much more focused and on task.  I also find that I need to automate as much as I can.  That might mean writing and scheduling my Monday Mantra’s for months at a time on Hootsuite or it might mean brainstorming every couple months for hot topics.  Having this list of ideas means that I know that I always have something to write, blog or create a video about.  There’s less of a chance for writer’s block to settle in.

What was the best advice you received when you started your career?
The best business advice I received sadly didn’t come at the start of my entrepreneurial career, but came about just a couple years ago…allow imperfection.  One of my mentors was telling us that we can’t keep holding out for perfection.  What I’ve come to realize is that holding out for “perfection” is really just an excuse to keep us from actually “launching.”  I make a point now to share this lesson with my clients (over and over)…imperfect action beats perfect inaction each and every time.   Any movement – in any direction – is better than no movement.

Given the current economic climate, what has been your strategy for building awareness of Success for Solopreneurs for short term and long term growth?
The majority of my client work is helping solopreneurs to realize their own expertise and then get them to own it and learn to leverage it.  So in that sense, my niche is pretty recession-proof.  Anyone can benefit from identifying what they do best and then getting out there and doing it – which often results in making more money in a new and maybe different way.

I’ve found that to reach more people and continue business growth, you have to get out there and in front of others.  That could mean speaking, leading workshops, offering virtual classes, offering yourself up as a guest speaker or guest expert…whatever it takes.  While I teach my clients how to do this, I also follow my own advice and regularly offer up my knowledge and expertise for others that are outside my network.

What is your proudest achievement as an accomplished entrepreneur?
My proudest moment as an entrepreneur would have to be the time that Joan Lunden’s people contacted me to be an expert on one of their shows.  It wasn’t the right opportunity (or subject) for my business, so I had to pass.  But just knowing that I caught the attention of such a high profile production team was such a wow moment.

And tied into that same moment was the knowledge that I could turn down this opportunity, knowing it wasn’t right for me and still carry on. Since then Success for Solopreneurs has been approached for many other opportunities (a couple nearly as huge). Some have been a good mix, others have been wrong for the business.  But being able to say no from a confident place is powerful thing.

How do you achieve balance in your life?
I’ve learned that to have balance (or what might appear to be “balance”) in my life, I need to be able to take time for myself.  If I need a sick day or a day off, I need to take it and not feel guilty about it.  There are often times where I take an entire day off, mid-week to read a book or catch up on movies.  This time is important to me as I love being able to support my more creative side.  Additionally, I find time to give back either through donating money, goods or time to causes I believe in.  This giving back helps me to feel like I’m living my life and running my business full out.

Your top 3 book recommendations?

• The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber – Every business owner needs to read this book.  Whether you opened a taco truck to make the best tacos ever, an online marketer or you’re a massage therapist…you’re still in business and need to learn how to run your business like a business.
• A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink – The current economic and employment model is quickly shifting and we all need to learn to embrace and encourage our creative side if we hope to succeed.
• Today We Are Rich by Tim Sanders – I loved everything about this book but mostly how much it reinforces that our thoughts and beliefs are what determines our success, not our current situation.

What are your most rewarding charitable involvements?
I make an effort to tithe 10% of my business income.  Lately, in light of what’s been going on with the economy, my favorite charity has been Feeding America.  I try to focus my donations during the times when my donation is matched by a corporate sponsor, so I can help more people.

A couple years ago I was lucky enough to volunteer with Remote Area Medical.  Typically RAM visits more rural, remote areas of the US offering medical, dental and veterinary services.  This time they reached out to Los Angeles (this was a first for them to spend a week in a major metropolitan city).  My husband and I spent the day manning the line where people waited for hours to get their prescription eye exam.

It was a very long day for most of the participants – many waited in lines over night and some were there multiple days so that they could get all the medical and dental work they and their family needed. I left that day utterly exhausted for being on my feet all day.  But at the same time, it was probably the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.

Who has influenced your career the most?
As corny as it sounds, I think my husband is my greatest influence.  From the time I first met him, he has been the one to encourage me to learn all I’ve learned about the Internet, social media, blogging, website coding and running a business.  For the most part, I wouldn’t have a business and I certainly wouldn’t be as confident in all things Internet, if it wasn’t for him and his support and prodding.

Other influences have been the various mentors and coaches that I’ve worked with over the past couple years.  They’ve inspired me to step up into the spotlight and grow bigger and bolder.  And of course, when you look at the Big Picture I

What is your advice for someone interested in entrepreneurship?
In this day and age, with our economic and employment models daily, striking out on your own is a great idea.  I think you need to keep a couple things in mind:

1. Know what success looks like for you: does it mean working 20 hours while you stay home with your kids making a comfortable 5-figure income, or does it mean you work 60-80 hours a week and bring in 6-figures?
2. Don’t hold out for perfection: throw it out there and see what happens.  As I said earlier, any movement is better than standing still. And these days it’s expected to launch and then tweak (Apple does it all the time).
3. Don’t try to do it all: yes, you might be able to do everything (or darn near everything), but don’t.  Get help.  Know your strengths and weaknesses…what to do, what to ditch and what to delegate.
4. Build a support team: not everyone in your close circle (spouse, friends or family) will get what you’re doing and why you’re doing it that way.  Find other solopreneurs and small business owners to go to for support and help.

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR KATY TAFOYA

KATY TAFOYA’S BIO
Katy Tafoya is a teacher, a writer, a small business coach, and of course, a solopreneur. She is the founder and editor of ConstantChatter, a premier community and online magazine for women.  With a passion for helping to empower women, Katy took her own experiences with the Great Online Unknown and created the Success for Soloprenuers community and blogsite. There she shares tips, tools, resources and articles with other small businesses and solopreneurs
When she’s not in front of a computer, she can be found reading anything she can get her hands on, enjoying a good cup of tea or great glass of wine, networking with fabulous women or helping others create the strategies necessary to take their business to the next level.
Katy currently resides in sunny Los Angeles teaching technology to middle schoolers with her native-Los Angelino, music-loving, web-genius husband and their adorable aging yet hyper, schnocker dog, their tuxedo-clad cat and a whole lot of computer equipment.

Savvy Media Marketing is a full-service internet marketing company that caters to every facet of your online presence, from website creation to personal/corporate branding to social media marketing.

Please share with us what prompted you to create your company.
I’ve always worked for myself. Starting at age 12, selling books door to door. During college, I worked at a document company and while going to grad school, I started an accounting services business. In 1994, a friend “introduced me” to the internet and it was love at first sight. I registered my first domain that year and built my first e-commerce site, Book-Net, in 1995. A couple years later, I founded an electronics website, specializing in GPS equipment. That was my first major success and it was addicting. The excitement of waking up each day to see what sales had come in over the night was amazing. Soon I was helping other people design websites and coaching them on internet marketing and search engine optimization. At that point, I decided to take a break and focus on my family. While I was busy burping and breastfeeding, Facebook exploded onto the scene. It was such an exciting time that I was lured back in to internet marketing, except this time it was social!

That is when I founded Savvy Media Marketing (http://savvymediamkt.com). I decided to go full-time into helping others reach their dreams online via web development services and social media management.

Recently, I founded a new website, QwikR.me. QwikR.me is a labor of love. I find technology, QR codes, in particular, fascinating. A couple of years ago, I was giving a friend my contact information and thought that it would be so nice if there was an easier way to let her have all: my social information like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, as well as the usual phone numbers and email. A centralized repository would be handy too. There really was not an easy way to share all of your social identities. It just seemed a natural to use QR codes to let people share information quickly. QR codes are a quick way of transferring information from the real world to the virtual.

There is no typical day in the life of an entrepreneur. Please share with us a sample of your day, start to finish.
My day typically starts at about 6:30. First thing I do is check my email, then check my EA ticker. Then I spend a few minutes jotting down must do tasks for the day. Next, I wake all the kids up to get ready for school. Out the door by 7:30 for my rounds to the different schools, then coffee at Starbucks. My “alone” time with my hubby. Then its the gym from 9:00 – 10:00a. After that, I am in my home-office for the next 4 hours, taking a break at 2:45p to pick us from kids from school and eat lunch. Then, I put in another 2 hours until its time for homework, chores and dinner. Then back to the office from 8-midnight. On Saturdays, its the same, except I don’t have to make the school rounds. Sunday is usually a day off. We like to go to church, to hiking or go on a picnic. Family time.

What are your ‘can’t live without’ Smartphone or desktop applications?
There are so many! I use Skype a ton. It is great for coaching clients. I can screen-share with them and it makes all the difference in the world. The internet is visual, so having a tool like Skype is invaluable. I also use Hootsuite and another program in conjunction with it called Bundlepost. I try to stay away from too much automation in my social media, but some repetitive tasks are better served with select tools like Ifttt. Scoop.it for content curation is a huge timesaver. Another tool, though technically not an app, is my iPad. I use it daily when I visit clients. It is such a great way to display specific information without lugging around a laptop.

What are your tricks for time management?
My only trick for time-management is more of a tip. Give up the notion of a 8 hour work day if you are self-employed. Success takes time. You HAVE to put in the hours. Simplify the tasks you can with automation tools so that you can spend your valuable time in tasks that need personal attention, like engaging with your audience. That can not be left up to an app.

What was the best advice you received when you started your career?
My grandmother, my role model, was an incredibly successful business woman in San Diego during the 60s and 70s. She told me that in all things, live by the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. In other words, treat others as you would like to be treated. Treat people with dignity.

Given the current economic climate, what has been your strategy for building awareness of Your work for short term and long term growth?
I think that we all recognize the importance of conservation in a world with scarce resources. This applies in business as well. I am much more cognizant of maximizing the effectiveness of my actions, especially in regard to social media marketing. There is no room for waste. I aim for maximum reach with each action.

What is your proudest achievement as an accomplished entrepreneur?
To this point, my proudest achievement has been QwikR.me. It has such a huge scope, but I have built it myself, on a shoestring budget, in my spare-time. The fact that it even exists is more a testament of my refusal to quit than anything else.

How do you achieve balance in your life?
Balance is a tricky thing. I do not believe you can have it all. Superwoman is a myth, a cartoon character (with really good…hair). In real life, something has to give and for me, since I refuse to neglect my kids, personal time is sacrificed. I can’t think of the last time I read a book just for fun. Or got my nails done. Or went on a vacation. Balance is find a way to make it all work, not necessarily all work on any given day. Or week. I try to find balance on a monthly scale. At the end of the month, did I accomplish what I set out to do, did my kids get the time and attention they need to be happy and healthy, did my husband feel at least a little bit appreciated ?

Your top 3 book recommendations?
All three of my top book recommendations come from the Bible: Genesis (How it all began), Job (Perseverance in the face of adversity) , and Revelations (How this chapter ends).

What are your most rewarding charitable involvements?
The JDRF – Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. My daughter is Type I (insulin dependent) diabetic. I pray for the day when a cure is found and she can be free of daily injections, blood sugar spikes and the general uncertainty that comes with being diabetic.

Who has influenced your career the most?
My grandmother. She passed away before I accomplished anything of note, but in my most uncertain moments, when I feel the least able to complete anything more complicated than a yawn, I remember that Gran is a part of me. If she could do it back when women were so under-valued in the workplace, so can I.

What is your advice for someone interested in entrepreneurship?
Never give up. Many time success is just the refusal to quit. I think entrepreneurs are born. It is something innate. Not every person is meant to be an entrepreneur – and that is ok.

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR SAVVY MEDIA MARKETING

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR QWIKR.ME

KIM REYNOLDS’S BIO
Kim has been designing websites since 1995, when she registered her first domain. Her specialty is Joomla based e-commerce sites. She is a social media aficionado as well as a self-professed Empire Avenue addict. When not designing websites or trading virtual stocks, you can find Kim either hanging with her family or at the gym.

Tools 2 Succeed provides business training, consulting, and coaching services to facilitate organizational growth and change. With more than 25 years of global business and technical experience in multiple industries, Tools 2 Succeed can provide you with the right tools to help your business to succeed.

Please share with us how you got started with Tools 2 Succeed?
After 25 years in the corporate world, I was laid off one too many times! As Director of IT for several major corporations, I realized that over the years, I had learned so much about supervision and leadership and wanted to share my skills with others who had also been promoted from a staff level position to management. As I had previously taught elementary school and hold a lifetime State of California Multiple Subjects Teaching Credential, teaching comes naturally to me.

There is no typical day in the life of an entrepreneur. Please share with us a sample of your day, start to finish.
My most exciting days are those that I spend teaching. As an example, I am currently facilitating a leadership workshop series for the management team of a hospital in Los Angeles. Once a month, I leave my house at 6:15 AM, arrive at the hospital at approximately 7:45 AM, and prepare to facilitate the morning workshop from 8:30 AM to noon for 16 managers. Our sessions are fun and interactive, with lots of laughter, exercises, games, role-play, as well as serious discussions on how to apply the topic to the workplace every day.  At the end of each workshop, participants write performance plans, pick “accountability partners”, and are given a homework assignment to be completed by the next workshop. At the next workshop the following month, we review the homework assignments, topics are reinforced and the concept of “a high-performance team” is discussed at each workshop. When we review the homework assignment, I feel a sense of pride in the accomplishments of the participants.  When the morning workshop ends at noon, I straighten up the room, set out the materials for the next workshop, take a quick lunch break, then repeat the workshop for another group of 16 managers from 1 PM to 4:30 PM.  Although it has been a long day, I am excited to have shared my knowledge and watched the changes in the participants.  After straightening up the room, I drive home in the LA traffic, thinking about next month’s workshop.

What are your ‘can’t live without’ Smartphone or desktop applications?
I use Dragon Naturally Speaking for hands-free dictation which helps relieve my sore hands after 25 years in IT!

What are your tricks for time management?
I constantly ask myself, “What is the best use of my time right now?” I make sure to schedule time for those things that are most important to me in the long run, as well as those things that must be done to keep my clients happy every day.

What was the best advice you received when you started your career?
I was advised to spend time on “high–payoff activities” every day — those activities that would lead to new business.

Given the current economic climate, what has been your strategy for building awareness of Tools 2 Succeed for short term and long term growth?
Targeted advertising, exhibiting at conferences, SEO strategies, consistent branding, and lots of networking have helped to build awareness of Tools 2 Succeed.

What is your proudest achievement as an accomplished entrepreneur?
Hearing about the positive changes taking place in an organization after a series of Tools 2 Succeed workshops makes me proud and keeps me passionate about my work.

How do you achieve balance in your life?
I am still working on the balance, but it is getting better!  My husband helps by encouraging me to plan fun activities and vacations well in advance.

Your top 3 book recommendations?

• Good to Great by Jim Collins
• Managing for the Short Term: The New Rules for Running A Business In A Day To Day World by Chuck Martin
• The Middle Class Millionaire: The Rise of the New Rich and How They Are Changing America by Russ Allen Price and Lewis Schiff

What are your most rewarding charitable involvements?
I serve on the Board of Directors for several Human Resources associations and use a lot of what I teach to help the leadership of these organizations.

Who has influenced your career the most?
I can’t say that a single person has significantly influenced my career. Over the years, I have learned so much as an employee, as a manager, and as an observer in many organizations. I ask for feedback and use it to learn and improve.

What is your advice for someone interested in entrepreneurship?
Learn as much as you can by talking to others in your desired field.  Write a detailed business plan, but realize that things may turn out quite differently than you originally planned. When something doesn’t work, analyze the situation and figure out whether you need to stop it completely or change it to make it work.

SHERYL TUCHMAN’S BIO
Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, is the founder and CEO of Tools 2 Succeed, a training and development company focused on improving performance, developing leaders, and engaging employees.  Tools 2 Succeed creates high-performance organizations in which every employee feels and acts like a partner in the business and is excited to contribute to its success.  She coaches people to reach their goals and dreams.  Her wide variety of business and technical experience includes more than 25 years working for major corporations and managing large IT teams and budgets. During her corporate career, Sheryl designed and implemented planning and governance processes for the IT departments of multi-billion dollar corporations, including Baxter Healthcare, Global Crossing, J. Walter Thompson Advertising, and Transamerica Financial Services. She provided leadership for IT in the areas of Organizational Development, Program Management, Process Improvement, Governance, and Mergers and Acquisitions.  She designed and built the worldwide internal IT infrastructure of Global Crossing and Transamerica Financial Services. Sheryl has managed large international IT teams, including employees in Australia, Asia, Latin America and Europe. Midway through her corporate career, like so many others, Sheryl suddenly found herself moving from a hands-on technical position to managing people.  She says that she learned the “hard way” how to hire, fire, motivate and empower her team.  In her corporate positions, leadership training was either not offered at all or was given at most once per year.  A short time after the training, it would be forgotten.   This experience led Sheryl to launch “The Compass Series”, a 12-month workshop series designed to teach managers and supervisors to lead, empower and motivate their employees. Each month, Sheryl and her trainers reinforce the skills learned last month.  Participants keep in touch throughout the series and help coach each other.

Sheryl holds a B.A. cum laude in Linguistics and Psychology from the University of California at Los Angeles and a State of California Multiple Subjects lifetime teaching credential.  She has been certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) by the Human Resources Certification Institute.  She is a Certified Professional Coach and a Registered Career Coach.  Her technical certifications include Novell Certified Network Engineer (CNE) and Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP).  Sheryl was awarded the Competent Communicator designation by Toastmaster’s International. Sheryl is the Webmaster and Communications Chair for PIHRA District 9 and Director of Career Services for the NHRA Ventura County. She was named the PIHRA District 9 “Member of the Year” for 2011.  Sheryl is a volunteer for Junior Achievement of Southern California, inspiring young people to succeed in life.

What prompted you to start Behind the Brand?
I started Behind The Brand Media after I sold my first company in 2010. I founded and created what became one of the first beauty boutique chains and websites in the USA called The Beauty Bar in 1998. At the same time in 1998, I began going on TV to talk about make-up, skin care, cosmetics, etc. I have now been on TV showcasing beauty brands longer than anyone else in my field. After I sold my company, I realized that all of those years that I had my chain of stores, I was never actually selling products to customers, I was telling the stories behind the brands that lined my shelves. Whether it was La Mer, Stila, Frehs, Kiehl’s ~ I was a story teller of how each of the products was created and why.

There is no typical day in the life of an entrepreneur. Please share with us a sample of your day, start to finish.
There certainly is no typical day. I consult for many different brands (all beauty) and each client’s needs are different. A day usually consists of a long early walk in Central Park with my dog, then off to do a TV segment. Then I meet with my producers at different TV stations to work on upcoming shows. I meet with brands to work on projects that I am doing with them. My work day could be anywhere from 10-16 hours. At night there are usually beauty launch events I go to or work dinners with clients. I usually get up at 5:30 am and go to bed at midnight.

What are your ‘can’t live without’ Smartphone or desktop applications?
I LOVE my IPad! I’m truly an Apple girl, and also a gadget girl through and through! I love twitter more than anything else and use it more than any other application I have. I find so many interesting stories through the people that I follow.

What are your tricks for time management?
Since my time is usually spent everywhere and not necessarily at one desk, it is important that I prioritize my days. I create lists on Sunday night and then create one every night for what needs to get done the next day.

What was the best advice you received when you started your career?
The very best advice I received was that I can’t be everything to every body. Be great at something and make that your platform. This is why I have always said that I am a beauty expert. I have never sold or talked about anything but beauty. I see people today who state that they are experts in a myriad of things which I find rather amusing – not many people are experts in everything!

Given the current economic climate, what has been your strategy for building awareness of your business for short term and long term growth?
I am continuously networking, always. I broadcast what I am doing nationally and internationally through Twitter, Facebook,etc. to show people that I am actually an international brand and what I do truly has no limits. I build the infrastructures for multi million dollar companies.

What is your proudest achievement as an accomplished entrepreneur?
My proudest achievement was listening to my heart when I started my first company in 1998. There was no Sephora, there were no other stores that I knew of that were doing what I envisioned. People thought I was crazy and said, no one is going to buy beauty outside of a department store or let alone a website. Amazon.com now owns the company I founded.

How do you achieve balance in your life?
Being aware of my moments and to take in the things going on around me are two of the best ways for me to stay grounded and be appreciative of the little things in life. Not to mention my family!

Your top 3 book recommendations?

• The Art of The Woo: Using Strategic Persuasion To Sell Your Ideas by G. Richard Shell
• Words That Work: It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear by Frank Lutz

What are your most rewarding charitable involvements?
All of them! Special Olympics and supporting those with disabilities.

Who has influenced your career the most?
My family has influenced me the most. I have been through quite a bit since beginning my career in beauty in 1996 and receiving a business degree in college in 1993. They said I could do anything and be anything I ever envisioned for myself.

What is your advice for someone interested in entrepreneurship?
Don’t be afraid to take a risk – I created a statement in 1998 when I was about to open my first store – I wrote on my wall:

Risk Is What You Take To Encounter Possibilities

I have lived by this ever since. I have also had my fair share of failures along the way but have been able to learn and pick myself up to keep going.

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR BEHIND THE BRAND

JENNIFER WALSH’S BIO
Jennifer Walsh has been a true pioneer in the beauty business. Her role within the industry began more than 15 years ago and has involved everything from being a celebrity make-up artist, a freelance beauty writer, a book contributor, producer of photo-shoots, a guest speaker, a veteran TV beauty expert, the founder and creator of what became a chain of beauty boutiques, the CEO of her own beauty company, and most of all her experience has made her a well respected beauty and skin care expert.

Jennifer Walsh has been noted as being the Queen of Beauty TV for her reoccurring presence on air as a beauty expert longer than anyone else in the country. Jennifer can be seen on TV 8-12 times a month across the country and has been doing so since 1998. She is the only TV personality that showcases and talks about the beauty and skin care industry, most others are lifestyle experts.

What makes Jennifer TRULY unique is her sheer knowledge of the industry, her longevity on TV as an expert, and her relationships with so many beauty brands. As the founder and creator of a chain of beauty boutiques, Jennifer was trained by more than 100 + brands and then had to educate and train her staff and her customers. She understood what it took to run a successful multi chain business. She was featured in a 30 day video diary and blog on Entrepreneur Magazine’s website in 2007.

Over the years, she has learned her craft through hands on experience. She has traveled around the globe to learn and experience the beauty business first hand. She has formed close alliances with some of the most sought after brands as well as getting to know the new kids on the block. This close rapport with industry insiders made Ms. Walsh not only a sought after retail partner, but also a strong media insider as well. She has been featured in countless magazines across the country throughout the years.

Since the late 1990′s, Jennifer has been on TV showcasing products, their ingredients, and telling the brands stories to her viewers. As an on-air TV expert nationally in the beauty industry for over a decade on ABC,CBS, NBC, Fox, Better TV, Daytime TV, etc.,  she is known as the one to go to educate others on their brand. As a long time make-up artist, Jennifer has had the pleasure of working with celebrities such as Jessica Simpson, Mandy Moore, John Travolta, top models, top athletes and others. Jennifer has also been an accomplished freelance writer for over a decade for books, magazines, and blogs.

Jennifer is also a small business expert on Fox Business News and Fox News. She is often asked to discuss branding, retailing and to lend her advice on what others can do to achieve success within their businesses.

Jennifer likes to be involved in all aspects of her business and the beauty industry in general. Motivated by her love of skin care products and make-up, Walsh made it her mission to learn all that she could about the industry and share that knowledge with people she met throughout the country. She continues to work closely with skin care and cosmetic companies on TV, on advertising campaigns, market research, trend forecasting, and PR. She even works with international governmental agencies on harvesting and selling their natural resources and conducting long term case studies for these agencies.

Ms Walsh’s story is one of true perseverance and passion for what she does; she is an educator and a true pioneer within her field and continues to be a serial entrepreneur in the beauty arena.