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Reading the Chicago Tribune business section I learned that Barbie, the world’s most popular doll, had lost her “Wow” and the president of her division at Mattel, Neil Friedman, had sent his team on retreat to go and find it. They returned with a new slogan, “Dream Big In Pink Heels” and as soon as [...]

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Entrepreneurs solve problems in a never-ending spiral of adaptability, innovation and deployment of new tools. We are in the market and the market is a current, flowing as opposed to solid ground. What I’ve learned over the past two weeks after knee surgery was how to walk again and the parallels of the process are stunningly similar [...]

Call it a Village Industry, the galvanizing of an entrepreneurial community and the leveraging of our strengths, individually and in concert. My deepest gratitude goes out to Dr. Ray Benedetto, Kevin Gross, Gaye van den Hombergh, Rebecca Berneck and Craig Hickman for their strategy, vision, development and brilliance. To Ina’s Restaurant – and Ina, the Breakfast Queen. – to [...]

I asked Dave Mischler, President of Inner Circle, an expert in peer to peer business advisory groups, to share with us his top three reasons why we need each other in business. Enjoy his wisdom.   Top Three Reasons Why People in Business Need Each Other 1. Nobody can know it all – It is a complex world we live [...]

Susan Fignar, President of Pur*sue Inc. gives us 4 top tips in becoming new.    To change you must be OPEN to change. Here are her thought provoking questions.   Optimistic - Do you truly believe that new people and opportunities will come your way? Do you expect positive outcomes?   Prepared – What action steps have you taken to [...]

Build and Evolve Your Company If you are building a start-up or updating your current company – and you need quality professionals – call the Big Ooga – we’ve got great people. Build Your Skills If you want to learn social media, SEO, how to set-up a blog, start a Twitter page, streamline your process, [...]

There are 27,000 current members in Linked n Chicago, thousands of members & friends of Big Ooga, Local First, BNC, Evanston Chamber, West Suburban Chamber, the Naperville LinkedIn Business Group and the Evanston / North Shore Business Group. Among them, the owners, founders, leaders, volunteers and members share a common vision, to create a working, [...]

If I blog, the comments come from Facebook or email. If I email, I might get Tweeted.  If I Tweet, I might get ReTweeted and if I call, I might get emailed.  I’m your typical entrepreneur on Social Media without advanced social media skills.  In my defense, the entrepreneurs with whom I communicate can’t be [...]

The real heavy lifting for Chicago entrepreneurs is the thinking – it’s the figuring out and adjusting  – what is my product or service? What needs to change and improve? What words should I use to describe it? The ongoing evolution process is agonizing!  Real entrepreneurship means hitting moving targets and constantly adjusting to the [...]