Leading the Way Entrepreneur Social Club photos at historic downtown st pete venue nova 535

Leading the Way to a Better Pitch, Z Grille then Ruby’s Elixir

Leading the Way to a Better Pitch, Z Grille then Ruby’s Elixir

Thursday Feb 25, 2016 was a beautiful evening as we all met, once again at my historic, modernized wedding and event venue NOVA 535, for our weekly (since 2009) gathering, the Entrepreneur Social Club. This weekly gathering is the perfect time to blow off our business and entrepreneurial steam, to grab a drink, or 3, and meeting new people, and for enjoying our long-time ‘family’.

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Dining in Downtown St Pete DTSP with the Entrepreneur Social Club

Our 2015 Favorite Restaurants in Downtown St. Pete for Dinner After the ESC

After our weekly Entrepreneur, Social Club meeting ends, we head further into downtown St. Petersburg to one of our favorite, delicious restaurants, where we eat, drink (more!) and continue to be merry! The ESC is a purely social club infused with strong, real-world business wisdom, mentoring, networking and problem-solving. And all of that work’s up our appetites, so I’ll get right down to the sharing of our 2015 Favorite Downtown St. Pete Restaurants for Dinner after the ESC. They are in alphabetical order for ease and fairness, I’ll note the ones that are member-owned and / or exceptionally great! Keep in mind that we only go to restaurants with adult beverages, though some here only serve beer and wine. Also, a key factor is lighting, ambiance and being able to sit 12-20+ of us all together. No sitting apart, this is a group event, the Entrepreneur Social Club. And yes, it’s ok to buy me, Michael S. Novilla, the founder, dinner. =D

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Entrepreneur Social Club at venue NOVA 535 downtown St. Pete DTSP Queens, Cards and Illustrations

Queens, Cards and Illustrations

Queens, Cards and Illustrations. February 18, 2016

Every Thursday night, since 2009, we meet, most always at my historic venue NOVA 535 Unique Event Space, located in beautiful downtown St. Pete, Florida, for the Entrepreneur Social Club, aka the ESC. We spend the first 30-45 minutes drinking, socializing and schmoozing, in a fun, casual atmosphere, before we sit down for the meeting. Our rules are simple, NO religion NO politics, just come and enjoy a fun and productive couple of hours with like minded Entrepreneurs – from ideas and start-ups to Billion $ businesses. NO need to register, just check the MEETING LOCATION (most always at NOVA, occasionally offsite when NOVA 535 is booked for private wedding or event).

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CES 2016 Las Vegas

Interesting Entrepreneurs I met in Las Vegas during CES 2016

Every year I head out to Sin City, aka Las Vegas, aka Lost Wages, Nevada for the CES 2016. CES = Consumer Electronics Show, the world’s largest showcase (and getting larger every year) of everything in the tech and electronics industry. Health, Robotics, 3D Printing, Automotive, Entertainment, Phones, Gadgets, 8k HDTVs; I mean everything. For those of you who have never been to Las Vegas, huh, really? Gambling, strip clubs, pool parties, dining,  dancing, drinking, shopping and entertainment options galore; plus world-class shows like Cirque du Soleil (amazing!!!) and newcomer Absinthe (incredible!! adults only), wow what a great way to spend a week networking and enjoying yourself. WORK CAN BE FUN…

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La Basilica in Quito Equidor

Quito boasts up in the clouds hotel Rumiloma plus La Basilica

Ok so I decided to do the ‘ol hop, skip and jump, from Cartagena, Colombia to Quito, Ecuador, finally jumping onto Peru as my final destination during my latest travels, during August 2015. So the “skip’ was here into Quito, the capital of Ecuador. I knew nada about Quito, just trusting my instincts, and so everything was a complete surprise. And what a pleasant surprise it was!

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2015 Entrepreneur Social Club downtown St Pete

Entrepreneurs bring the Social to the Entrepreneur Social Club

Every Thursday night we meet here in beautiful downtown St. Petersburg, Florida for the Entrepreneur Social Club affectionately known as “The ESC”. Most always it’s at my gorgeous modernized historic venue NOVA 535, and when NOVA is rented for a private wedding or event, we find another DTSP location. Yes having the ESC’s home at NOVA is amazing, yet the gathering of my fellow Entrepreneurs is the real secret sauce to this Social Club. People always complement me on how beautiful NOVA is, and after thanking them, I reply that, without them, it’s just a empty building. It’s the life and energy and excitement and new ideas and crazy thoughts and laughter that we Entrepreneurs, business owners, students, start-ups, mentors and even “regular” people with a positive attitude bring to the ESC every Thursday night.

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KPI wheel

Books I Keep Recommending for the Beginning Entrepreneur

Books I Keep Recommending for the Beginning Entrepreneur.

I’ve noticed a common occurrence recently, I was finding people who wanted to follow their passions yet didn’t know how. See I was spending 5 weeks abroad, from Budapest to Bratislava to Vienna to Prague (where my father’s grandmother hails from) to Split and Dubrovnik with a quick stop in Mostar with superstar tour guide Marko – wow what an adventure that 24 hours was! Then off visiting my delightful pal from back in MBA grad school at the University of South Florida, super stud Olivier,  in his hometown, the wild port city of Marseille. Afterwhich I went to hang with my best friend Drew Edwards, who married the beautiful, brilliant, lovely French Helene on the 4th of July 2015 (celebrating his loss of Independence – my words, really – haha) at my gorgeous unique wedding and event venue NOVA 535 here in beautiful sunny downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. Congrats to Drew and Helene!! =D

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Livraria Ler Devagar Bookstore Lisbon Portugal

Pinoquio is no liar – When in Lisbon go visit El Pep and the Professor at Ler Devagar

After marrying off my best friend since University of Florida Drew Edwards back in July 4th 2015 at my wedding and event venue NOVA 535 in beautiful downtown St. Petersburg, Florida to the lovely and French wifey Helene, I was told there’d be a party in the south of France with her family in early October. Well I managed to make it to Montpellier and was even able to score Drew’s possibly final week of travels alone with me before he heads home and gets to work on baby making. We decided to hit Lisbon, Portugal, neither of us having visited there before and it’s on the way home via London LGW.

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Michael Novilla playing pinball in Hungarian Pinball Museum Budapest

Hungarian Entrepreneur scores with the Flipper aka Pinball Museum in Budapest

Wow do I love pinball!! So you might imagine my raw excitement as I saw a listing for The Hungarian Pinball Museum , located in the heart of Újlipótváros, Budapest, billed as “Hungary’s first and Europe’s largest continuously operating interactive pinball exhibition.” You had me at Pinball. The only downside was it was closed on Monday and Tuesdays, opening at 4pm Wednesday, my last full day in Budapest. Us “kids” hate to wait, right?? Come on Wednesday!! (more…)

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July 30 2015 Entrepreneur Social Club at NOVA 535 and downtown St. Pete

Why Orange you here with us enjoying the Entrepreneur Social Club

If I had to describe this week’s, July 30th, 2015, Entrepreneur Social Club, aka ESC, in one catchy phrase, it’d be: Why Orange you here with us enjoying the Entrepreneur Social Club?! Huh? The citrus reference will make sense soon enough! Remember that the ESC is our weekly get together, our ever growing family of business owners, students, start-ups, rich and powerful mentors, designers, inventors and Entrepreneurs representing of every industry and corner of the globe. At time where we let off some steam and spend it helping each other. Last night was another fabulous continuation of this, since I founded officially the ESC back in January 2009. It’s most always held at historic venue NOVA 535, though occasionally we are offsite because NOVA is rented for a private event. – ya know – paying down the mortgage, one 5 star event at a time!

2015 07-30 Entrepreneur-Social-Club-at-venue-NOVA-535-downtown-StPete-3 (more…)

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