Amanda Hollowell the founder of JL Events, LLC tells her story.
I was asked to do a small piece about my wedding planning business in Savannah, GA. The who, what, when, where and why. Check it out!
Comments Off on HEARpreneur Story Amanda Hollowell YouTube
Posted in African American, Atlanta, Black Enterprise, Deep Thoughts by Amanda Hollowell, Entrepernuers, Event Planning, MMA, Public Relation Clients, Public Relations, Savannah, Small Business, Social Media, Urban, Wedding Planning, Weddings, Women
Tagged Amanda Hollowell, Arts, Atlanta, Black Business Women Online, Business, Business and Economy, Dramas, Entrepreneurs, Event Planning, Facebook, Forrest Gump, Free Press Release.com, HARO, Hosting, JL Events, Limited liability company, LLC, Mandarellla, Marketing, New York City, Online Communities, Programs, Public Relations, Relationships, Savannah Georgia, Small Business Owners, Social media, Television, Third Watch, Tom Joyner Morning Show, Twitter, United States, Urban Marketing, Website Design, Weddings, Youtube
Cover via Amazon
I have been in the entrepreneur spirit since January 2011. During that time I have read 7 books from management to emotional stability. All these books have been great in inspiring me and giving me direction. Here is a little recap of these books and what I took from them. Please note; the one major lesson that I am learning during this experience is that it is not about just growing your business, it is about growing you. Emotionally, as a small business owner you go thru just the same amount of ups and downs that your business goes through. What I am finding no ones tells you about this part of the business experience, it is organic to say the least but not for the faint of heart. So entrepreneurs beware! On your shoulders actually does sit the negative you and the positive you and it gets crazy fast. On to my reading list…
(Disclaimer: All books were purchased on sale at Books A Million and Big Lots, remember your budget people)
1. Russell Simmons – Do You!: 12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success
This was a good book where I felt like he was more open and honest about the emotional journey you go through in the hustle game and staying to true to yourself. Not a lot of business resource advice, but definitely got my mojo going.
2. Glinda Bridgforth and Gail Perry-Mason – Girl, Make Your Money Grow!
This book is special to me, I had the pleasure of having dinner with the amazing Gail Perry Mason in Savannah, GA and she signed this book. There is a simple premise in this book, financial empowerment but with a minority voice for the tone of the book. I loved it, clear debt understanding the market and the next thing you know you are on Scott Trade. Not that simple but a great 101 Intro to securing your financial freedom.
3. Rhonda Byrne – The Secret
I read this book when it first came out. What works for me most in my journey is the practice of envisioning your dreams, staying focused and meditating.
4. Jeffery Gitomer – The Sales Bible
The Bible is The Bible; I will never replace that in my life. However, The Sales Bible is a great road map to selling yourself and your business. It is easy to read. It is written in more of a resource style that you can pick up and read a chapter to help you at that moment.
5. Kevin Phillips – Bad Money
Great read! Talks about the rise and fall of the American economic system 2006 – 2008. This gave me great perspective as a business owner in a global economy and shit does roll down hill.
6. Marcus Buckingham – GO Put Your Strengths To Work
Just like the title says it puts you to work on a series steps to achieve success. I am still a work in progress on this book because you have to keep working on it and remembering to do it.
7. Tyler Cowen – Discover Your Inner Economist
There is nothing wrong with thinking like an economist, economy =money hello? This book helped me understanding my motivations and potential consumers or business partners motivations and how you can motivate people to your way.
This is just the beginning of my reading journey. I plan on journaling this process which I think will help with the moments of doubt or concern. I recommend everyone start their own reading adventure in life, you never know what you might learn or the knowledge you might gain. I do not think one person has the one right answer for you. But through research and having a good perspective, I believe we all can find the answers we are look for.
Posted in African American, Atlanta, Black Enterprise, Deep Thoughts by Amanda Hollowell, Entrepernuers, Event Planning, Public Relation Clients, Public Relations, Savannah, Small Business, Social Media, Urban, Women
Tagged African American, Amanda Hollowell, Bad Money, Black Business Women Online, Black Enterprise, Book, Business, Coffee Table, Crowdfunding, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurs, Facebook, Gail Perry Mason, Glinda Bridgforth, Inspiration, Investments, Jeffrey Gitomer, Kevin Phillips, Kickstarter, Marcus Buckingham, Marketing, Money, Online Communities, Public Relations, Rhonda Byrne, Russell Simmons, Scott Trade, Shopping, Small business, Small Business Owners, Social media, Social Networking, Start Ups, The Bible, The Sales Bible, The Secret, Triberr, Twitter, Tyler Cowen, Urban Marketing, Zig Ziggler
Image via CrunchBase
Like many Facebook members, I got tired of where Myspace page was going and the semiporn messages I was getting and people showing my page love (which I appreciated) but felt like I had outgrown. I saved a some pictures to my hard drive and moved on to Facebook. Years later, my biggest regret, is I still have a mysapce page up and wish there was a way I could download it and save those memories (Social Media Scrapbooking). Some how maybe even download it into a book. Whoa, low and behold I have two sources that can do just this for your Facebook Page. Check it out!
Website: www.yoursocialbook.com
Contact: yoursocialbook@gmail.com
Spotted by: Susan Hurwitz
Facebook users can already see their online content made tangible on real-world notebooks, mugs and photo albums. In fact, with Kodak’s Picture Kiosks, they can even print out their Facebook pictures at Target. Now adding to the mix is the SocialBook, a project currently seeking funding on Kickstarter that aims to bring the user’s whole Facebook experience into the concrete, physical world.
SocialBook — also known as “The Facebook Book” — is a personalized, 8.5-by-11-inch book that can be created from the status updates, published pictures, wall messages and comments shared between the user and as many as 10 selected Facebook friends. Pages in the SocialBook follow the chronological order of the user’s Facebook account, and its Facebook-blue cover — available in paperback or hardcover — is customized with the user’s Facebook account name. Pricing will depend on the length of the user’s Facebook history, ranging from USD 25 for paperback and USD 35 for hardcover for up to 6 months’ worth of online life (up to 50 pages) to USD 100 for paperback and USD 110 for hardcover when the user’s history spans two years or more (up to 400 pages). Sociams to raise USD 10,000 on Kickstarter each pledge can be counted as a pre-order for a Facebook Book of corresponding length. Shipping within the US is free.
Consumers’ social lives may be increasingly lived online, but that doesn’t mean the need for tangible offline evidence has disappeared. How can your brand help bridge the OFF=ON connection?
Website: www.socialmemories.de
Contact: support@socialmemories.de
Spotted by: Denise Kuperman
Deutsche Post DHL created in cooperation with creative agency Cosalux, Social Memories a Facebook application that turns users’ Facebook activity into a hardcover book with 28 glossy pages.
Now in beta, Social Memories aims to give Facebook users a way to preserve their virtual lives in physical form. Users of the app, which is available in both German and English, begin by specifying the timeframe they’d like their book to cover. A minimum of 10 uploaded photos and 10 status updates since June 2009 are required. Social Memories then scans and analyzes that Facebook activity, reproducing photographs as well as creating a range of infographics revealing highlights and trends. With a customizable color scheme, the resulting book can then be viewed online for free. If users choose to order a professionally bound copy, the price is EUR 19 plus shipping; worldwide delivery is available. The video below illustrates the premise in more detail:
There are other similar efforts out there as well — Egobook and BookofFame, for example — so users increasingly face a choice in this area. In which other areas can you offer a little ON=OFF innovation?
I love both of these sources. I hope they inspire you as well.
Information on these sources was received from my weekly feed to www.springwise.com (LOVE!)
http://www.springwise.com/lifestyle_leisure/socialmemories/
Posted in Black Enterprise, Deep Thoughts by Amanda Hollowell, Entrepernuers, Event Planning, Public Relations, Small Business, Social Media, Urban
Tagged Coffee Table Books, Cool Birthday Gifts, Facebook, Google, Hardcover Books, Kickstarter, Myspace, Online Communities, Photo Memories, Scrapbooking, Social media, Social Media Scrapbooking, Social Memories, Social network, Social network service, Spring Wise, Trend Spotting, Twitter
Image via CrunchBase
I recently had a birthday and this birthday I decided to look at my Facebook Birthday wishes in a different context. We can view this as a Facebook Birthday Case Study. According to Mr. Zuckerberg’s playground (Facebook) I have around 660 some odd friends on Facebook throughout the country. That is pretty impressive considering I only talk to 10 people daily, usually. That 10 almost stays in constant rotation due to my OCD personality to network and meet new people. That was a tangent, the focus of this “case study” is to track how many people would say Happy Birthday on my birthday, what this means to me as a person or a Facebook user and as a small business owner.
We will start with my feelings as a person. Not to be too personal but I am on my second year into my third decade of life. It has been pretty nerve wracking this past year. Change of job, meaning loss of job and entering into the world of entrepreneurship. “Danger Will Robinson, Danger!” is the best way to describe my feelings about this endeavor.
This birthday I was going to change, this year I was going to be present in every moment of my life. This year I was going to engage every Facebook friend, well only those who engage me first, kidding. This year on my birthday I was going to launch my blog and take my event planning business to the next level. This birthday I was going to be a present to myself. After reading this last paragraph, there is plenty on my plate. LOL
My birthday rolls around and I turn on my Facebook alerts to my phone and I am ready, 660 or so emails here we go. The first 30 I was pumped, I was like oh yeah, you like me, you like me, you like me, then I was like who are you, but who cares you like me. At the end of my birthday evening exactly at midnight, I think I ended with 160 or so Happy Birthday comments on my wall. Now we do the math. Out of my 660 friends 160 of them posted Happy Birthday on my wall. Give or take that is 24% of friends said Happy Birthday, yeah! I felt good about this. It was a great feeling, but my mind wonders what is the average? I mean do I send a Facebook message to the 500 others who did not post and say, what the h…, I thought we were friends? Or do I take it for what it is worth, and say Facebook is a medium to track people at a distance and feel like you are still kept abreast of their lives through picture updates and sending them gifts through games. I mean is there Facebook etiquette? Should there be a disclaimer that says if you add me as a friend you better say Happy Birthday darnit or I will not help you build a darn thing in Cityville. You know, I do not know. I am just observing.
Once the Birthday posts all came in and it was time for the Thank You. I had said Thank You several times throughout that day. There was one Thank You I posted that got a fairly decent response. I posted something to the effect, “now only if I could get everyone one to send a dollar with that comment, I would be rich.” Well not rich, but I would have some money in my pocket. A few agreed with the comment, liked it and someone offered to mail a dollar, when in reality it would totally cost them more to mail that dollar instead of sending it through Paypal. I digress. What if we could do that? Let’s be honest, my 660 friends and I are a component of what makes Facebook worth billions. We all know now that plenty of our information is being sold, track, and used for marketing purposes. I mean come on Facebook is the Matrix, except we are not babies feeding on liquid humans with holes throughout our bodies connecting us to a main frame. Instead we are connected to Smart Phones, Panera Wifi (Loves me some Panera Wifi), Xfinity by Comcast, and however you are getting connected. Back to the point, the point is this would it be wrong to say for my birthday, can you Paypal me a dollar, will you like my business, could follow me on twitter, will you subscribe to my blog? Is that wrong?
The end result of my Case Study, is that not to maximize your Facebook friends for no reason, but maximize to change your world or others. I am always humbled when I read someone’s post on my wall, especially when I know we have not talked. It is always touching to know that you like something I am doing. Now, more than ever we should all take our Facebook Birthdays to the next level, ask for that help you need, spread some good news, or just follow through and try to wish all your friends Happy Birthday. It truly does make a difference.
Comments Off on Facebook Birthdays
Posted in Atlanta, Black Enterprise, Deep Thoughts by Amanda Hollowell, Entrepernuers, Public Relation Clients, Savannah, Small Business
Tagged Amanda Hollowell, Birthday, Black Business Women Online, Cityville, Comcast, Entrepreneurs, Event Plainning, Facebook, Free Wifi, Friends, Georgia, Holidays, JL Events, Mandarellla, Online Communities, Panera, Paypal, Public Relations, Savannah, Smart Phones, Smartphone, Social Networking, The Matrix, Twitter, Urban Marketing, Xfinity
Project Entertainment and Events 