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In Carol Tice’s article for Entrepreneur magazine, she culled stacks of forecasts to create a Top 10 List of Small Business Predictions for 2012. What struck me most was the 10th prediction, because it was hers and mine. 10. Companies that collaborate with each other and help each other have a better chance of prospering. [...]

Get inspired and energized by Nancy Sharp, CEO of Food For Thought Catering who started in her mother’s kitchen with her husband and sister and built a multimillion dollar company from the ground up. Hear the inside story of how she did it, what it took and what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. [...]

Featuring Phil Gerbyshak Learn the fastest and simplest best practices for creating a company social media strategy that can be executed in 3, 5, or 10 minutes per day. At this presentation you’ll learn how-to create your own Social Media Strategy Playbook to socially engage your customers and prospects more effectively, hit your target markets [...]

If you crave intelligent life in Chicago and are an entrepreneur or solo-preneur  looking for a business community to lift and support your company, here are a few really good reasons to consider joining Big Ooga. Not all groups are equal.  Not all workshops and teachers are equal.  Both have to be worth your time [...]

We opened the meeting with some real-time analytics, asking new faces to introduce themselves and tell us how they found us.  90%  said word of mouth.  It was either a friend, a direct experience, direct invite or event  listing – in that order. In other words, it was personal. Just like the writing of this [...]

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 [...]

If you want to think outside the box, don’t use a box as your reference.  To be original you need to break convention. To break convention you need to break your routine and get inspired. To get inspired you may need to go inside (like meditation) or to The Far Side with Gary Larson to Pago Pago.  What you don’t need is to [...]

We are challenging the social construction of entrepreneurialism - a system that is minting chaos.  Going it alone as small business owners has given rise to enormous personal tolls. Doesn’t it make sense if we want better results, to build a better system?  Isn’t that what entrepreneurship is all about? Seeing a problem and fixing or improving it? ( I hear the coaches whispering, NO! Don’t call it [...]

Yes, it’s going to take a village to raise happy, healthy companies, but being out there on your own isn’t the only way.  Ask yourself,  “If I don’t have to do everything myself, why would I want to?”  By putting a community behind you, you’ll have more resources, less stress, and more time to focus on [...]

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 [...]