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I couldn’t get the word Ooga out of my head. It sounded so Google, so Yahoo, but with a honk.  Instead of foolishly following my instinct, I conducted market research and asked professional women, business women’s groups, businessmen, entrepreneurs, friends and everyone I knew what they thought of the name Big Ooga. Here were my findings.  
90% of people had a strong reaction to the [...]

It was an ordinary day at Ooga.  Jean Pickering sized the Big Ooga Logo on Facebook because she wanted to. My daughter sent a picture of me that landed in the Met. Melinda sent a thank you and link to a hilarious video. Ray sent a brilliant economic video that supports our work. Marcy sent an article relevant to the Revolution, Joanne sent a slew of [...]

In her You Tube video interview after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Jody Williams said the secret to making a difference in the world is to get off your a#$ and do something. Betty Williams, another winner started out as a secretary.
Laureates have come from the finest schools and the most impoverished streets. They have [...]

Imagine juggling five balls in the air while running through a plate of spaghetti - then meet people who have done it well - and you’ve got the entrepreneurial journey.
Tonight, with an expert panel and a room full of seasoned and new entrepreneurs,  we will be talking about navigating business chaos and making strategic choices [...]

Join In! For members and non-members alike!
We are delighted to report that the entrepreneurial coffees last month were not only a hit, but a smash!
Of those who attended 95% would like to return.
What we discovered is that while our companies are different and our professional experience varies, our  journeys are indeed very similar.
We share the [...]

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, rearrange your office, [...]

I competed in Toastmaster’s Smack Down this week and came in last behind the mental patient.  To make it worse, it was the easiest topic in the easiest division AND I did my best.   In cream on cream wool with matching stilettos, my first 30 seconds were a breeze.  But for the next 60 seconds, [...]

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, generous, [...]

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 [...]

Until recently I was a hardcore how-to reader, spending time inhaling nonfiction.  Why waste time on made-up stories when how-to do everything is indexed neatly in the library?  How-to books make you smarter. They break things into steps even a monkey can do! They strip away narrative and serve up facts gathered from lifetimes of [...]