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!
entrepreneurs
Dining in with Spotlight Catering after another Fabulous ESC
Tonight Thursday September 8, 2016 was another gorgeous yet hot St. Petersburg evening as we rolled into historic venue NOVA 535 for another ESC gathering. Instead of heading out after our scheduled ESC meeting, which runs 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, dinner was in tonight, testing out Spotlight Catering. Hint! Their food was delicious! Who am I? Michael S. Novilla the founder of the Entrepreneur Social Club (ESC), way back in 2009, in honor of Ben Franklin’s Junto Club. Also I own and run NOVA 535 Unique Event Space and DowntownStPete.com. But tonight isn’t about me (below) it’s about my fascinating fellow Entrepreneurs like good old Ben….do read on!
Just One and Done
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!
Our Summer 2016 Community Cafe Visit
Each Thursday night the Entrepreneur Social Club (ESC) meets in person, most always at my meticulously renovated, historic wedding and event venue NOVA 535 Unique Event Space in beautiful Downtown St. Pete, Florida. Last week, Thursday August 18, 2016, NOVA 535 was booked for a WIFT event, that’s Women In Film and TV. It was hosted by Rose Rosen, of Casting by Rose, she’s fabulous! I wrote a story about it, “I Make Films Like a Girl” , if you’re interested. As to tonight, since I was co-hosting WIFT at NOVA, Nick “I’m You When you Can’t Be” Mazeika and Audrey Jennifer, ESC’s new Hostess (with more than the Mostess!) met Jason (it was his birthday, happy birthday Jason!) and Mandy Keys Owners of Community Cafe at their really cute location at 2444 Central Avenue for our weekly planned ESC gathering.
No Religion No Politics No Liars No Bullies No Thieves and No Racists
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)…
When the Cat was away the mice did play
Summertime in Florida is hot and sticky, even here in Downtown St. Pete, aka DTSP, with the cooling breezes off the gulf and bay. So when I can, I escape to somewhere else. Not a vacation, which implies NOT working. Traveling is how I describe it. I know, whaaaa poor me! See we created a digital system to run NOVA 535, my historic wedding and event venue, remotely. NOVA is where most every (physical) Entrepreneur Social Club (ESC) meeting is held. So this week, July 21, 2016, When the Cat was away the mice did play. Play, well mainly some “forgot” to show up for our weekly Thursday night ESC meeting. I mean we’ve only been holding these EVERY THURSDAY night since February 2009. Some habits take longer to sink in I guess…haha! Though some of my favorite meetings have been when there are under 20 guests; it allows for much deeper discussions than where our table is overflowing with 50 and more. Tonight big
Athen’s Surprising Street Art Scene
Athen’s Surprising Street Art Scene.
So I arrived late into Athens Saturday night, about 11pm, and “Tubered” to my AirBnB apartment. “Tubered” meaning using the Uber app but riding in a taxi. See many cities around the globe caved into the taxi union’s pressure and don’t allow Ubering they only allow “Tubering” with taxi (new word =Tubering). It DOES make the shitty taxi service better, less chance to sit around waiting, getting “lost” and being ripped off. (Props to all our fellow Entrepreneurs for making traveling in the 21st Century SO MUCH EASIER!! AirBnB, Uber, Expedia, Google Flights, etc. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!) Anyhoo, so after skipping dinner, and finally getting an excellent night’s sleep (check out my previous blog’s as to why), I awoke to a spectacularly gorgeous 1st day in Athens. Time to go out sightseeing! I was having some stomach issues, likely from
Lovely Vilnius Strange Little Uzupis
Lovely Vilnius Strange Little Uzupis.
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and was chosen as my post Riga next stop on my Summer 2016 Entrepreneur Social Club travel adventures. I didn’t know exactly what to expect, which, when you plan weddings and complex events for a living (NOVA 535 Unique Event Space) it’s nice to just let things happen as they happen. Minimal planning involved. So I took the 3.5 hour bus ride from Riga, easy peasy, and landed here in lovely Vilnius, on a beautifully sunny day. And Sunny night as this part of the world seems to enjoy looooooong days. Let’s explore!
Just the Fax Ma’am
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!
Design and Decisions. Good Bad Ugly Beautiful.
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??