When your credit is sleeping with the fishes

October 9, 2016October 9, 2016 Michael Scott Novilla Leave a comment

When your credit is sleeping with the fishes

It’s Thursday night in Downtown St. Petersburg, Florida! The weather here could have been playing a major factor in our decision making. Luckily for the west coast of Florida, Hurricane Matthew stayed just east of the east coast, sparing Florida much of its deadly potential. Many many homes and businesses elsewhere were trashed and flooded. Ugg. We feel for those who were affected and send them our love and support. Thursday also means it time for us Entrepreneurs, Business Owners, Start-Ups, Dreamers, Students, and Wizened Mentors to gather for our weekly Entrepreneur Social Club (ESC) meeting. It’s most always at my beautiful event venue NOVA 535, except tonight NOVA 535 is booked for a wedding. So the ESC is off site, back again at the well gorgeous modern sushi restaurant, Souzou. 2016-10-06-esc-at-dtsp-restaurant-souzou-194832

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Celebrating Bishop’s Coffee and Tea Prohibition

September 30, 2016October 9, 2016 Michael Scott Novilla Leave a comment

We are Celebrating Bishop’s Coffee and Tea Prohibition here in downtown St. Pete, aka DTSP. That means it’s Thursday Night, that time when Entrepreneurs, Business Owners, Students Start-Ups and the Curious gather (mostly always here at) historic venue NOVA 535 in beautiful Downtown St. Pete, Florida. The Entrepreneur Social Club: a mix of networking, partying, socializing, and schmoozing, plus mentoring, evolving, learning, growing and sometimes even sampling delicious new products! Thursday September 29, 2016, was a large rowdy group, with lots of newbies. People from every industry, ex-Military, coffee and spirits companies, mortgage brokers, action coaches, and team building puzzle companies came together… Welcome to the ESC!

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2016 08 25 ESC afterparty home from mons venus michael holding image one and done

Just One and Done

August 27, 2016September 3, 2016 Michael Scott Novilla Leave a comment

Hey there fellow Entrepreneurs! This is the Entrepreneur Social Club, and I DO warn everyone that Social is in the heart of our name and attitude. Yes we are super productive and helpful. Yes we have lightbulb moments each Thursday night during our meetings. Yes we provide real, honest constructive feedback, starting with your pitch and business card. Yes we create a ton of real value and new business, plus global connections and new friendships. Yes this is a business social club. However, as previously aforementioned, this IS a SOCIAL CLUB and we will get completely dark alley, sideways now and again. Watching a gorgeous downtown St. Pete sunrise on Friday morning, after a hilarious and SAFE uber ride home across the Howard Frankenstein Bridge, enjoying a morning-cap of apples, cheeses, gourmet organic pickles, super hydrating coconut waters and such is the way to complete a night FULL of tom foolery. Especially when we “promised” ourselves that at Ruby’s Elixir, we’d be “Just One and Done” HaHaHahaaaa!! Just One and Done, really, just one and done…. that’s Hilarious!

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No Religion No Politics No Liars No Bullies No Thieves and No Racists

August 14, 2016August 25, 2016 Michael Scott Novilla Leave a comment

Hi I’m Michael Novilla. As I travel the world connecting with my fellow Entrepreneurs, I found that we all need a help and support, so I created a system called the NOVA Way. In 2005 is used the Nova Way to built my hometown St. Pete our own unique world-class event space called NOVA 535. In 2009 created a charity, the Entrepreneur Social Club, and now I also own and operate DowntownStPete.com, where everyone goes for the Best of what’s Local in DTSP. Again I’m Michael Novilla. So that is my general social pitch, a quick way of describing me and my enterprises. We always spend about 20-30 seconds each pitching the group (always seated here at ESC, it’s a fun casual SOCIAL club, not a boring seminar with people standing up and droning on and on and zzzzz…) after I’ve explained the Entrepreneur Social Club Rules.

No Religion No Politics No Liars No Bullies No Thieves.

Our group is like a big welcoming family. We are TOUGH, but in the kindest of ways. We are here to help and love and support you and your enterprise(s)…

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Just the Fax Ma’am

July 13, 2016August 25, 2016 Michael Scott Novilla Leave a comment

Just the Fax Ma’am. Fax? Don’t you mean Facts? Er, nope. Read on… Spending a day experiencing the Belarus Consul (and their delightful 1950’s style of customer service, brought to you by Stalin.Inc) to a modern, friendly, tech savvy Latvian Entrepreneur named Dovainis Sinkevičius, owner of a new, really cute cafe, Localt. End to end of the spectrum here ladies and gents. See while traveling through the delightful Latvia and Lithuania, I decided to pop over to neighbor Belarus, into the capital Minsk….but not before a few days here in lovely Vilnius!

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Design and Decisions. Good Bad Ugly Beautiful.

July 5, 2016August 25, 2016 Michael Scott Novilla Leave a comment

Design and Decisions. Good Bad Ugly Beautiful.

What goes into decision making? Does it feel good or bad? Is it beautiful or ugly? Would you do it again? Ultimately, for me, it’s would I do it again? Yes or No. It’s a binary answer to a complex set of questions. Would I go back to a restaurant? Take someone out for date #2? Watch a film again? Buy a 2nd bottle of that same wine? Take a 2nd or last bite??

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2016 Entrepreneur Social Club at Souzou DTSP

Sushi Night at Souzou Downtown St. Pete

June 17, 2016June 17, 2016 Michael Scott Novilla Leave a comment

Sushi Night at Souzou Fusion Restaurant Downtown St. Pete

Tonight, Thursday June 16, 2016 we are off-site at Souzou Fusion Restaurant, located at 435 5th Ave N, St. Petersburg, FL 33701. Call (727) 823-4050 for reservations. Typically we are at my historic wedding and event venue NOVA 535, but tonight NOVA is booked for a private affaire, a glamourous wedding ceremony and reception. So we’ve ventured out to my pal Mike Harting’s (owner of 3 Daughter’s Brewing) swanky spot Souzou for our meeting, dinner and drinks. A night filled with sushi and sake! Compi!!

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Why we should not discount our pricing

June 10, 2016June 11, 2016 Michael Scott Novilla Leave a comment

Tonight we are delving into “Why we should not discount our pricing when asked by a prospective client.” Aside from the fact that it’s irritating – like when you’re in Outback Steakhouse and you offer them $15 for their $23 Ribeye. Huh? My mortgage holder, tax collector and insurance men would laugh in my face if I suggested 15% off. When you agree to give a client a discount, you are undermining your business, value and reputation. You are now open to negotiating everything, including the value you place on your time and efforts. Once you know, really know your costs and value, then you set your pricing to where it needs to be at and that’s that.

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Where Science meets Science Fiction

June 3, 2016July 14, 2016 Michael Scott Novilla Leave a comment

Tonight June 3, 2016, here in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida at the award-winning, historic venue, NOVA 535 Unique Event Space, we gather once again to enjoy, celebrate, network, schmooze, teach, learn, and blow off steam. Who are we? We are the Entrepreneur Social Club, aka the ESC. We are the risk takers, the dreamers, the inventors, and the doers. Where is the place where science meets Science Fiction? Read on and find out!

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Foundations for a Successful Business can be found at the Entrepreneur Social Club at wedding and event venue NOVA 535 downtown St. Pete DTSP

The Foundations of a Successful Business

May 6, 2016May 6, 2016 Michael Scott Novilla Leave a comment

Foundations of a Successful Business. May 5, 2016. Entrepreneur Social Club.

Many people start something, print business cards and think they are on their way to success. HOLD YOUR HORSES. Starting and growing a SUCCESSFUL business takes a whole lot of smart planning, tons of hard work, patience and good listening skills, plus some good luck along the way. So let’s start at the beginning.

Why are you starting this business? Read the Book Start with the Why. What problem are you solving? Find a niche, one that is focused on the customer (the demand) that you are solving the issue for. Go after and master a specific niche. Make sure that enough people are ready, willing and able to pay you for your solution.

Naming your business. Iamtheirwebguy.com is an example of a great name. Is your name clear? Does it describe what you do? Is it searchable?

Be consistent with your name, using the exact same name everywhere – website, social media and email. Business Cards are to be created by a seasoned PROFESSIONAL designer.

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