Entrepreneurial Pet Peeves
Thursday February 23, 2017, another gorgeous “winter” night here in sunny Downtown St. Pete, Florida. Oh how “terrible” our winters are here. Burr!! Ahahhahaa!! Tonight we gather, as we do every Thursday since 2009 for our weekly Entrepreneur Social Club meeting, then dinner and more drinks. A table full of Entrepreneurs, Students, Startups, Mentors and more… who will all air out our Entrepreneurial Pet Peeves tonight!
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Time for Cocktails!! Above is our pal Arthur InjuryClaimCoach.com Guelli and below are the lovely Kym TheFlavorCrate.com Jenkins with Teresa TenaciousChic.com Rae Gay, just beginning to lubricate!
Above is Chris Jenkins CIO of Symphony Agency, next to superstar wifey Kym, looking up from a business text. Below is Urban Farm Broker Michael James (wearing hat), Julia (pink hair) then Jason Deutsch of Healthful Hydration, and finally on far right is newcomer James Jackson. James is in from Gainesville, owner /operator of Whiskey House. Yes please, I want to visit!!
Below are newcomers Carl and Nicole Knaak, of AroundTheLeaf.com, their digital business consulting company. They hail from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, nearby where my father Michael F. was from; Waukesha. Welcome to sunny St. Pete! On the right is our fav Harvard Journalist Keith Long, welcome back Keith!
Above, left to right, Mr. Cool Tony Michaelides, the delightful Ms. Kathi Hat-a-Tude.com Harris, plus newcomer Somkey and returing photographer Rhatia Renee.
Below, left to right, is the Divine Service Corp gents, Cody and Joseph, with newcomer (finally!) my pal Sophia Sanh a stylist extraordinaire. Check out her beautiful green hair! Plus newcomer Lori Bremer.
What a cool bunch of Entrepreneurs! Welcome and Welcome back!
Business Card Reviews:
Fruityz via 5DollarFacials.com has some good ideas, you’re making good progress Julie… now you just need to hire a professional designer.
Cards are a communication piece. Who are you communicating to with your card? What is the response that you want? Everyone wants to get a check (payment for the goods / services you’re pedaling) at the end of of the response… so get your card done correctly! #1 mistake is NOT hiring a pro graphic artist. If you light their fire, everyone will notice… find and be niche, be specific, be clear, be compelling!
Pictured Below:
Curtis Blakey (bottom left, shorter black hair, gray long sleeves) is in start-up mode with their Local Business Takeover event, full of local vendors and performers. Think KSPL with an emphasis on our local African American families. Vendors and customers are looking to BE LOCAL, so this is great. Check the Saturday Morning Market. Find and target your specific niche. Keyaries, to Curtis’ left and Gennea with the beautiful braids to his right, are Curtis’ partners here. Welcome to the ESC!!
GINA TRACY (bottom right tank-top) says regarding biz cards, less is more. And get rid of www. and (phone) as we know what they mean already.
AroundTheLeaf.com Nicole and Carl Knaak new to ESC, their card was a bit over the head of small businesses… so again pick your niche… everyone is NOT a niche.
I was frustrated, forgot exactly why, over some business that I was trying to do business with. So I created a new segment called “Entrepreneurial Pet Peeves”. Everyone offered at least one PP, when they are trying to do business with a person / company and that person / business does something to aggravate them…
Entrepreneurial Pet Peeves
When trying to hire a business…what is your PET PEEVE?
= Can’t make a payment online (Nick)
= No instagram for photographers (Pierce)
= Remind people to do their job and them asking you to do that (Gina Tracy)
= Hiring an expert then telling that expert how to do your job (Chris Jenkins)
= Non mobile responsive website (Cody) (One quick fix short term solution is BMobilize.com $10 / month)
= When they (owner /salesperson) won’t shut up (Carl Knaak)
= Your email address does not = you website address (Teresa) (Use Google Alias)
= When answering your phone and it’s SPAM (Kathi Harris)
= Response time from initial call / contact (Jason)
= When walking into business and being ignored (Hunter and Keyaries)
= When companies hide behind policies – lack of empowered employees (Mike the farmer)
= When cold calling businesses and no one will talk to you (Keith) this was a joke Keith later explained
= People who pretend to specialize in everything (Daniel Nyiri)
= When policies aren’t consistent (Craig)
= Overpromising and under delivering (James Whiskey House) Offer a Bonus or Penalty
= (Lack of) Honesty about what you can / not provide. And flexibility (Gennea)
= 800-Fuckoff (curtis) [Meaning big corporations push their “customer service’ to a 800-we-dont-care system of being on hold, inability to understand the CSR, etc.]
= People make unnecessary appointments with you (Carman ManFredy)
= When I tell people I’m in XXX, then they proceed to tell you so much about what they do (they talk too much!) (Joel)
= Doing work for family / friends who don’t understand / appreciate value of your time (Nicole) (Simmy)
= People who invite you to things and you politely decline, and they won’t take the NO (Tony M.)
= Business professionals who cannot explain what they do clearly and succinctly (Smokey and Me)
= Free Advice wanted from our old clients who never want to pay for that advice (TonyLaPorta.com)
= Company wants survey / some info but it’s nowhere online so they require a PDF or fax (Rithatia)
= Cluttered Business Stores (Steve)
= Lack of communication in the channel I requested (Lori)
= Self proclaimed experts with nothing to back it up (Sophia)
= Dealing with people who don’t proof read their writing (Joseph) SOLUTION = Grammerly.com (Chrome extension)
= Autocorrect when it gets things wrong (Art)
= Hidden Fees (Dan Novello)
= (Lack of ) Honesty. A power not everyone can handle. (Julia)
Pictured pitching above (the table was full so he’s speaking to be heard at far end) is Joel Hoo who runs a financial management think tank, Clear Capital Management. Ask Joel about his “Questions Every Business Owner Must Answer”.
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Late arrival is recovering entrepreneur – now a web developer – who previously had a rug company, Simmy (not pictured).
Hey Entrepreneurs! Looking to host a wedding, reception, corporate event or film shoot? Find out the many reasons why NOVA 535 is the #1 rated venue in St. Pete / Tampa by people just like you! Hint, because our 5-Star NOVA Way system is all about you!
Dinner at The Queensheads at 2501 Central Avenue (727-498-8584) was as always, tasty, fun, relaxing and most enjoyable. Tracy the owner is always kind enough to let us linger…probably cause we keep buying bottles of vino and drinkys. Bravo!
PS. here are all the photos from tonight’s event at historic wedding and event venue NOVA 535:
