Tag: small business
First Boost Your City Business Chosen
We’ve finally chosen the first ever Boost Your City business and we’re incredibly excited to get this project started! We’d like to send a big congratulations out to Saskia Scott and the whole team at Sweet Revenge Bakery in Olde Riverside. Young, fun and motivated to the max, Saskia sees big potential for her bakery to expand in size to start taking on my orders and expanding services. We can’t wait to learn more about her inspiration and her goals so we can give Sweet Revenge the boost it needs to succeed! Stay tuned to our social channels for event teasers and post-event updates as we progress!
Startup Canada's Day on the Hill 2014
This month was one of our most anticipated events of the year – Startup Canada’s Day on the Hill. An annual event that brings together government leaders and the entrepreneurial community to create dialogue and advance Canadian entrepreneurship. As a Media Sponsor, Blab Media was responsible for creating content, taking photos/videos, managing social channels and generating conversation online throughout the event. Our goals were to lead the conversation online, generate excitement for attendees and keep the rest of the Startup community informed online. While it was a very busy job, working with Startup Canada makes me proud to be an entrepreneur and after attending Day on the Hill in Ottawa, I definitely felt the growing passion other Canadians have for it too.
This one day event brought together nearly 1,000 attendees – a mix of seasoned entrepreneurs willing to share their insight and young startups trying to make meaningful connections. It featured some of Canada’s top entrepreneurs, inspiring Startup Community leaders, media personalities, and government decision makers. The day program was fast paced and fed off of all the positive energy from the attendees. I’ve been to a lot of business events (surprise right?) and sometimes I feel like the networking gets impersonal and well… boring. This didn’t happen for a second and it honestly shocked me. There was a sense of camaraderie – everyone was there with the same goals and it was a collective effort to get to know each other. Where else am I going to hear Frank O’Dea (Founder & CEO of Second Cup) tell the most inspiring rags to riches journey of starting a business, meet Kellie Leitch (Minister of Labour and Status of Women) and Kerry-Lynne Findlay (Minister of National Revenue), laugh along with Dr. Sean Wise (consultant to CBC’s Dragon’s Den), and still get the opportunity to have real conversations with them? I was in entrepreneurial heaven. Packed bootcamps, free mentorship clinics, meaningful government roundtables, an evening soiree, and a bbq after party – it was tough to see it come to an end but I came home inspired and motivated to be a better entrepreneur.
Between all the tweeting, hand shaking, note taking (old school pen and pencil style), device charges, and awkward photo bombs I put together a highlight of my most loved moments from Day on the Hill 2014.
– Jessica
The Art Of Entrepreneurship 2014
This month I (Katie) had the opportunity to attend The Art Of Entrepreneurship Conference in Toronto courtesy of our client Startup Canada, a sponsor and strong supporter of the event. I joined 1500 other passionate and driven attendees for an afternoon of presentations from internationally renowned bestselling authors, thought leaders and entrepreneurs, who shared with us an exciting blend of cutting edge thinking and real world experience on today’s most critical business issues. My favourite speakers were Debbie Travis (largest celebrity brand in Canada) whose personality and stage presence really blew me away, Alexis Ohanian (co-founder of Reddit) whose crazy stories and laid-back attitude made him a blast to listen to and Eric Ryan (co-founder of Method Cleaning Products) whose sense of humour and outlook on business was both refreshing and hysterical. Overall it was a fantastic networking opportunity and a day filled with inspiration, insight and energy. I absolutely have to share the following closing remarks from host Ron Tite who summed up the day’s lessons and advice from all the speakers and turned it into a truthful and incredibly witty outlook on entrepreneurship:
We learned that business – aka selling shit – is about depth. We learned that Entrepreneur is French for “Has ideas. Does them.” It’s someone who will work 24 hours a day for themselves opposed to working 1 hour a day for someone else. But that dedication isn’t enough. How do you start it? How do you build it? How do you grow it?
Start with what you have. Coming up with great ideas is easy. Coming up with your values is easy. Writing down what you want to do is easy. Doing it and sustaining it is entirely different. Ideas are worthless. Execution is everything. And luck, my friends, has nothing to do with it.
Freedom is what we want and value is how we achieve it. And you don’t need to open a factory, just open your laptop.
Don’t play house. Find your passion. Figure out if you have a good idea.
Surround yourself with the best. After all, others can steal your ideas or steal your products. But they can’t steal your culture. And they can’t steal your relationships.
Admittedly, no one has any idea what they’re doing. So just… trust your gut. Be authentic. Be helpful. Be balanced. Be happy.
- Be in the right place. At the right time. With the right offer.
- Market in the year you live in.
- Have a sense of humour.
- Think “yes and”, not “yes but…” And on that note, say yes to the doughnut.
- Don’t care about your competition. Care about your people.
- Reality isn’t a solution. So…
- Embellish. Lie. Hustle.
- Create from scratch.
- Make great stuff.
- Marry a team player.
- Embrace risk. Embrace mistakes.
- Attack monsters, not villains.
- Experiment with pricing.
- Stay in your lane.
- Protect the daisy.
- Inspire advocates.
- Sleep your way to the top. But remember, sex is like marketing. Only losers pay.
- Keep it weird because weird people change the world.
- We’re all in this together. So let’s all make the world suck less.
Live it. Dream it. Do it.
– Katie
Entrepreneur Profile: A Pair Of Blabbing Entrepreneurs
The Windsor Star
By: Yvonne Pilon
March 30th 2012
Social media is what this entrepreneurial duo does best. If I had to sum them up in a 140 characters, it would read “Social media lovers, inventive thinkers, collaborators, young professionals, and community enthusiasts”.
Even as a startup, these entrepreneurs are making time to engage with their community through various events, including Startup Drinks Windsor, volunteering and of course, social media.
They’re also very ingenious in the ways they’re building buzz and awareness about their business. It was only a few months ago that they showered the downtown core with wallets filled with ‘Blab’ dollars and business cards. Why? Well, if you can imagine, as soon as a wallet was discovered, the contents were searched. If you were one of the dozens of people who found a wallet, you’d know that the owner was none other than Blab Media. The team also hand delivered branded homemade candy apples to customers and supporters in celebration of their 1 year anniversary. What a sweet gesture! (pun intended)
Entrepreneur Profile: Blab Media
Name: Katie Stokes/Jessica Apolloni
Age: 23/26
Business Name: Blab Media
Location: 131 Elliott Street West Windsor ON
Type of Business: Digital Marketing Agency
How long in Business: 1.5 years
Website: www.getyourblabon.com
Twitter/Facebook: @blabmedia www.facebook.com/blabmedia
Idea Origination: We worked together in a corporate marketing environment and realized there was a serious lack of education in regards to social media and digital marketing efforts. We wanted to simplify the process so businesses could start taking advantage of digital platforms to increase awareness and sales.
Prediction for the Future of Your Business (5 Year): Growing into a full digital marketing agency offering a range of digital services and expanding into other Canadian and US markets.
Toughest Part About Being an Entrepreneur: The “behind the scenes” work like taxes and payroll.
Best Thing About Being an Entrepreneur: The freedom to coordinate your own schedule.
First Job: Katie – Retail Jessica – Theatre Technician
3 Tips/Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs: Don’t be afraid to take risks, invest your time in networking within the community, and always play an active and accountable part of your own business
Best Career Success: Getting an office!
Favourite Quote: “The people who think they are crazy enough to change the world, are the ones who do” – Apple, Think Different Campaign
Favourite thing about Windsor-Essex: The people and their contagious positive attitude for change.
Why do you support Entrepreneurship: We support entrepreneurship because we admire the qualities that entrepreneurs like us exhibit and how people with these qualities help make the community a better place. We’re always striving to be the best and to find success in everything we do. It’s about having a serious passion, ambition and the guts to take risks.
To see the original article click here
Local Companies Weave Web Bond
The Windsor Star
By: Dave Hall
February 16th 2012
Two young Windsor companies growing together have found common ground on the Internet and on social media sites.
Michael Lapico, a game developer and publisher who owns Touch Village, has been working with Katie Stokes and Jessica Apolloni of Blab!Media, a social media company that helps businesses create a complete web presence, for the past year.
“It’s a good example of two new businesses working together, and our relationship just clicked from the start,” said Lapico, a marketing and web development specialist before getting into the exploding game app sector.
Lapico sold Web Heads, his web development business a year ago, and decided to shift his focus to the mobile gaming applications sector as both a developer and, more recently, as a publisher of developer’s ideas.
He developed KitchenPad Timer, which has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, an app for cooks and chefs that enables them to manage multiple cooking times on both range top and oven.
It emits warning sounds – a rooster for chicken dishes and a cow for beef recipes – warning multi-tasking chefs that dishes are close to being ready.
Now, he’s moved into the game publishing business with Dragon’s Rage, which was developed in Ukraine, and ChinUp, a product of Digital Harmony Games, a small gaming app studio in Austin, Texas.
“After attending gaming conventions, I realized that a lot of the developers just aren’t marketing people, and I saw an opportunity to become a publisher of these games and help developers get them to market,” said Lapico.
And it’s that same niche approach that has allowed Blab! to make an impact locally by guiding startups and established companies into the world of social media.
Stokes and Apolloni both said their expertise lies in helping companies with no local presence get their products and services in front of new customers and also developing that same local presence for clients such as Lapico, who is known internationally through his gaming app development.
“As our client’s needs change, we adapt to those changing needs,” said Stokes.
In the meantime, Lapico is looking to partner with local game developers who need help getting their apps into the marketplace. He’s also seeking investors to help his company expand. For more information, visit touchvillage.com or getyourblabon.com.
To see the original article click here
Windsor Star Reader Report: Social Media Day in Windsor
The Windsor Star
BY JASON VIAU/SPECIAL TO THE STAR
June 30th 2011
WINDSOR, Ont. — Social media has increasingly become a necessity for businesses in Windsor to achieve optimal client engagement.
Many local entrepreneurs are utilizing free online tools — such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn — to attract clientele, connect with consumers and stay competitive in both the local and global markets. Social Media Day marks its second annual event Thursday and encourages social media gurus all over the world to celebrate and interact with other likeminded web enthusiasts.
Known on Twitter as hashtag, #SMDay, the concept was created by Mashable — a news, technology and web culture source — and designed to foster the use of advanced technology and promote the ability to send real-time information around the globe. Last year’s event encouraged more than 12,000 tech fanatics to celebrate social media technologies at over 600 venues in 93 countries. The success of the gathering lead Victoria, B.C. to declare Social Media Day an official holiday. Human beings aren’t the only ones to attend communal events — an alpaca, the most social animal on the planet, pranced into the Social Media Day party in Cleveland last year.
Last minute efforts to assemble Windsor’s first Social Media Day came to fruition after Daryna Kulya, a business and computer science graduate from the University of Windsor and a local tech-savvy social networking advocate, supplied a location and promoted the event. Prior to this, the nearest location to celebrate the occasion was at Motor City Casino in Detroit, which is expected to attract 1,000 techies.
“I thought it would be good to increase awareness, have people connect and put Windsor on the map,” said Kulya.
Social media is one component of a business’s success and many seasoned entrepreneurs strongly encourage new startup ventures to integrate this marketing strategy into their business plan.
“I think with social media we are starting to see a lot more startup (businesses) and entrepreneurs especially in the younger generation,” said Jessica Apolloni, co-founder of Blab!Media, a Windsor-based company that assists other businesses with social media development.
Katie Stokes, co-founder and CEO of Blab, said companies who don’t take advantage of social tools to market their business on the World Wide Web are “missing out.”
Ali Al-Aasm, co-founder of Red Piston, a company specializing in building applications for mobile devices in Windsor, said he surmises social media to be a new advertising concept, one where others advertise for you even though they may not realize it.
“People will push products to succeed if they feel a connection with the company,” said Al-Aasm.
The amount of time spent on social media websites will dictate the return on your investment and Pina Ciotoli, co-founder of WindsorEats, a company which showcases local eateries, refers to social sites as an “invaluable” resource. Although they are free, she says, you’re essentially paying with the amount of time spent socializing and interacting with your followers.
“I definitely don’t say that having a social media account for your business is free. Sure, the application is free for you to use but you have to input the time and the energy to keep it going. It’s not something that you just create and leave on its own and think ‘I’m done with that,’” said Ciotoli.
Ciotoli’s brother, Adriano Ciotoli, is the co-founder and has been the “face” of WindsorEats since its inception in 2004. He said applications such as Facebook and Twitter have been essential to achieving truthful and honest feedback from his patrons but cautioned that if used improperly it can lead to a loss of traffic to any business.
“A lot of the things we do is through feedback that we’ve gotten from people through social media.” said Adriano
“If you use (social media) as a one-way communication it’s almost certain you will fail. You really have to leave it open for dialogue. It has to be a two-way street and you have to give as much as your taking but you can’t think of it as traditional advertisement where your just pushing a message,” he added.
When selecting specific tools, social media whiz Stokes says companies shouldn’t spread themselves thin and attempt to use every platform but instead track down an audience, seek out competition and assess which programs best suit the businesses’ needs.
“I think it’s important to note that just because there are hundreds of social media networks does not mean that every business needs to go out and open an account on every single one of those,” said Stokes.
“Social media is not the be-all (and) end-all. You can’t just have social media accounts and expect your business to have sales through the roof. It’s more so apart of a successful marketing strategy … if you choose to ignore it you’re ignoring a place where you can interact with your customers.”
Large corporations such as Kodak are taking note of the growing trend and realizing the importance of social media as it has become more prevalent in recent years by employing a chief listening officer (CLO). Beth LaPierre is Eastman Kodak’s first CLO and compares herself to an air traffic controller as they are responsible for safe and efficient flow of air traffic; she is at the helm of ensuring the efficient flow of social media data.
“As far as importance goes you’re seeing large corporations now creating positions called CLOs … it just goes to show how serious that businesses are taking it and rightly they should be,” said Adriano
Social media use amongst small businesses has doubled over the past year from 12 per cent to 24 per cent and one-fifth actively used social media as a snippet of their marketing strategy according to a study sponsored by Network Solutions, a company with the sole objective of providing resources to small businesses, and the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. The study also revealed that 75 per cent of small businesses surveyed have a company page on a social networking site. Firms in the education, health and social services sectors rely more heavily on social media to convey their message.
“It’s really neat to see the kind of scope that social media does bring to a small business who can’t afford to pay the regular prices for advertising. It’s hard for me personally to front that cost until my business gets to a point where I can really really justify it. Social media is my primary source to get out there,” said Shane Potvin, founder of a locally-based web design, branding and illustration company.
He added that the vast majority of his business comes through referrals, whether it be word-of-mouth — which he describes as “old school media” — or social networking sites.
Potvin said he utilizes his iPhone as a mobile social tool and interacts with clients via Twitter and Facebook and responds to emails, all while waiting at the dentist’s office. He said he believes the future of social media will be a lot more automated and hopes it will promote more entrepreneurship.
We’re still dealing with the old way of things and the new way of things. I’m tired of not being able to do everything in one place. I hope it moves towards a world where business people can latch on in a certain way and personal can latch on and there is some division,” said Potvin.
“Moving forward we’re going to get so heavily connected …”