Gracious Thank You Gratzzi

October 26, 2017October 27, 2017 Michael Scott Novilla

Gracious Thank You Gratzzi

It’s Thursday again… tonight, a beautiful October 19, 2017, just 24 hours before my annual Halloween Costume Party, Novaween He11even, begins. Last night my brother Chris, friend and co worker Melissa and I went to Universal Studios Orlando, for Halloween Horror Nights, what a blast. And what a late night; way too much party time! Wow, so much fun! So tonight I’m going to end the meeting early and head to Gratzzi Italian Restaurant about 815 pm, instead of closer to 9:00 pm. A delicious dinner, some laughs and interesting conversations, then a good night’s sleep in preparation for the Madness of Novaween He11even!.

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Oyster Dinner Gives Us Pearls of Wisdom with the Entrepreneur Social Club at historic DTSP venue NOVA 535 in beautiful downtown St. Pete, Florida

Oyster Dinner Provides Pearls of Wisdom

October 16, 2017October 17, 2017 Michael Scott Novilla

Oyster Dinner Provides Pearls of Wisdom for the Entrepreneur Social Club, on this lovely Thursday night, October 12, 2017. We return to our HQ, the historic DTSP venue NOVA 535, located in beautiful downtown St. Pete, Florida. Another lively and packed house, fellow business owners and Entrepreneurs eagerly gathering to connect, to share and mentor, to enjoy blowing off some steam. And don’t forget another delicious dinner, plenty of drinks and lots of laughter. Let’s see what tomfoolery we got ourselves into this week, and what Pearls of Wisdom we can recall the next morning!

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Welcome Home Michael S Novilla Entrepreneur Social Club

Entrepreneurs Welcome Home Michael S. Novilla

September 30, 2017October 3, 2017 Michael Scott Novilla

Thursday September 28, 2017, my fellow Entrepreneurs Welcome Home Michael S. Novilla, that’s me, to Downtown St. Pete DTSP historic venue NOVA 535 for our weekly ESC meeting.

Hey! I’m back after almost 3 months of travel, through South America: Guayaquil, Galapagos, Santiago, Valparaiso, Easter Island, Asunción, Foz do Iguaçu, Sao Paulo, Rio, Lima, Cusco, Ollantaytambo, and Machu Picchu. Check out my travel videos… WOW, what an adventure! I met so many incredible Entrepreneurs, and experienced my Bucket List’s Bucket List. Then because of the heat and eventually because of Hurricane Irma, I headed north to Boston, then to Toronto for TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) where I met up with my filmmaker pal Kevin Kincaid, with whom I’m laying the groundwork for a TV show centered around my next project CustomerServiceCollege.com. Mom is in Blowing Rock North Carolina, so I was able to spend a week with her in the mountains, then wrapped up my adventures in Atlanta for my best friend and fellow Entrepreneur Drew Edward’s 1st baby, Daphne! Whew! I’m now home here in St. Pete, Florida!

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Michael S Novilla enjoys the Eat Rio Food Tour with Tom Le Mesurier

September 22, 2017September 26, 2017 Michael Scott Novilla

Michael S. Novilla enjoys the Eat Rio Food Tour with Tom Le Mesurier.

On Tuesday August 8, 2017, at around 9:15 am, I’m freshly awoken with 1st coffee in hand. The phone rings, and I’m being pressed to make a quick decision on the fly, all based upon the compelling advice of persuasive local Rio tour guide Lauren Quinn. On the phone, she’s telling me I gotta take Tom’s Foodie Tour while here in Rio. And it’s offered today at 10 am. So I scrambled to get ready, then Ubered to the meeting spot, running uncharacteristically about 20 minutes late. Typically I dig into reviews galore before spending my hard earned $$, but this time I just took, what will prove to be, excellent advice, and just did it.

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Drew Edwards Relaunches Brides Against Breast Cancer

July 16, 2017September 30, 2017 Michael Scott Novilla

ESC member Drew Edwards Relaunches Brides Against Breast Cancer

My pal Drew Edwards, from way way back at University of Florida days, has relaunched the BABC brand and business, Brides Against Breast Cancer, this time as a Social Enterprise Company. “Since 1997, over 50,000 affordable dresses have been sold around the country raising millions for breast cancer causes.” Drew and I met back in 1988 when I was an unpolished teen, more focused on drinking, smoking weed and chasing the ladies, vs. studying 2nd order derivatives and business calculus. Unfortunately without a passing grade in Business Calc, there was no upper level classes available to me. So luckily, for so many reasons, I found one of those (literally) old-school 8 1/2″ v 11″ papers, (more…)

Entrepreneurs make things better for everyone

June 23, 2017June 26, 2017 Michael Scott Novilla

Hey! It’s Thursday night again, back here in our DTSP venue HQ NOVA 535 for the weekly gathering of the Entrepreneur Social Club (TM). It’s every Thursday night, well except an occasional holiday respite, since 2009. That’s a lot of faces, laughs; oh man, so many laughs. Real long, belly shaking ones that let out the stresses of our working lives. We are the Entrepreneurs, dreamers, business owners, visionaries, mentors, students and start-ups. Those of us who cannot help but to make things better. Smoother, faster, less expensive, more reliable. Or just new. New technologies, new systems, new solutions. That’s us. It certainly isn’t the politician, oh no! In fact club rules EXPRESSLY forbid religion and politics. Because then we all get along, arguing about what’s best, not about what’s just best for me. Entrepreneurs make things better for everyone. Better for all is better for all. Think about that. When things are better, that’s better for EVERYONE. So we take that positive, can do better attitude, for ourselves, our businesses, our customers and for our species, into, through and hopefully well beyond our weekly meetings. This is a time for us to connect, network, regenerate, grow and enjoy. So read on and join us on another ESC adventure!!

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Swarm.City Boardwalk Release for Blockchain Enabled Commerce

June 18, 2017June 19, 2017 Michael Scott Novilla

Thursday June 15, 2017 we welcome back #Pioneer #Visionary Cate Colgan to our weekly Entrepreneur Social Club (TM). We’re back at our headquarters, the historic DTSP venue NOVA 535. Cate’s been working, as usual, on the bleeding edge of things. She’s a force of nature, always sniffing out the newest of the new, leading those around her into the future. Back in 2009, Cate appeared and talked me into our first Tweet-Up. Actually it was one of the first anywhere. Tonight she’s got us tuning into the launch of Boardwalk, by Swarm.City. We’ll learn more about Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain. Let’s call tonight’s story “Swarm.City Boardwalk Release for Blockchain Enabled Commerce.” Title, keyword and URL all gotta match up, ya know!

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Things Hotels Just Gotta Get Right by the Entrepreneur Social Club

Things Hotels Gotta Get Right

June 15, 2017June 16, 2017 Michael Scott Novilla

No means No! Not ‘Maybe’, nor ‘Sometimes’. It means NO!! Please. PLEASE! This hotel has gotta get it right. Please!! Please hotel peoples, listen here to things hotels gotta get right. That little sign you hang on your door must be very clear. I love the RED for “leave me the F alone!” and GREEN for “yes please come and tidy up my messes.” Excellent hotels get this concept, like those in Japan and the Kimpton chain, for example. Others the maids may be banging on your door just to piss you off. Because we know they are way overpaid (sarcasm alert!) for that (mostly) thankless and difficult job. See I owned, before the great crash, 100 apartments, and let me tell you, I’ve done PLENTY of cleaning. Down to the bone clean. So here’s a big

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Sunshine Grind Rain Rain Rinse and Repeat

June 11, 2017August 4, 2020 Michael Scott Novilla

During a week of much needed summer rain showers, we gathered like massive storm clouds once again, at our Entrepreneur Social Club (TM) headquarters, the historic DTSP venue NOVA 535. Our ESC weekly gathering can offer just the “sunlight and rain” we “wilted” business owners and Entrepreneurs need. Needed dearly after our hectic weeks to refresh, learn and grow. Tonight we saw many lovely, new faces, from all different industries, backgrounds and ancestries. Much of the fun and excitement of our gatherings is welcoming new people, with their unique stories, backgrounds and perspectives. Of course dinner, drinks and the afterparty party also offer us a chance to blow off the proverbial steam! So let’s call tonight’s story, from Thursday June 8, 2017, “Sunshine Grind Rain Rain Rinse and Repeat.”

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A Peek into Our Future with the Entrepreneur Social Club at DTSP historic venue NOVA 535 then restaurant Brick and Mortar

A Quick Peek Into Our Future

May 27, 2017June 21, 2017 Michael Scott Novilla

A Quick Peek Into Our Future

Thursday May 25, 2017 is another delightful St. Pete, Florida day, though it’s getting hotter fo sho. SUMMER IS COMING!! (yelled with a Game of Thrones enthusiasm) Yet with the breeze it’s still quite enjoyable. We gather every Thursday since 2009, to schmooze, network, mentor, listen, learn and hopefully get a bit smarter and wiser. The world is changing faster and faster, and even us cutting and bleeding edge Entrepreneurs are having an increasingly difficult time keeping up. We do what we can to keep it all together, yet according to some really, really smart, visionaries, we are likely to get passed by. And bested. By Algorithms. Biology and data are all algorithms. All programmable. But before we get too worked up, let’s grab a drink and some laughs and dig into tonight’s human to human meeting!

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