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“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
Small Business Owners of America is a full scale business development organization that specializes in assisting individuals with starting companies as well as helping them obtain funding.
Mr. Blanding has 10 years of experience directly working with entrepreneurs and business professionals in the networking and financial industries as well as the faith-based community. Mr. Blanding has assisted in funding close to $2 million in loans for small business owners across the U.S. in his role as Chief Operating Officer/Partner at Small Business Owners of America. His current role as COO at SBOOA allows him to lead this organization with his innovative leadership and high level of enthusiasm. He currently advises clients across the U.S. in the areas of lending options for business owners, providing small business development help, customer acquisition strategies, and sales strategies. He is also a public speaker in the areas of entrepreneurship, goal setting, and relationship building.
For those that don’t qualify for traditional bank financing, they have options available with faster approvals, less restrictions, and without risking personal assets. They can offer a variety of consulting services that are geared to create funding options. They can also provide a variety of products for entrepreneurs seeking investment capital as well as full scale nonprofit business development.
MO: What inspired you to launch Small Business Owners of America?
I think I have beaten the odds because I didn’t go into it thinking, “Hey, I’m going to open up a restaurant.” I went into it thinking, “Here is an opportunity in the market. It involves feeding people. I’m going to take it. And I’m going to execute well.”
Green Bean is a fast-casual, sustainable, salad and wrap restaurant located in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, MO. Our mission at Green Bean is to provide tasty, convenient, and nutritious salad fare to our Midwestern community in an eco-friendly manner.
Sarah Haselkorn is an undergraduate senior studying systems engineering and entrepreneurship at Washington University in St. Louis. During her junior year, she opened Green Bean, a fast-casual, sustainable salad and wrap restaurant located a few miles from campus. Haselkorn competed in the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards and was a finalist in 2012. She is currently working on expanding Green Bean, and starting an e-commerce business sock company.
MO: You impressively launched a restaurant at just 19 years old. The restaurant business is notoriously hard, what made you think that you could beat the odds?
“New gTLDs will have a huge effect on digital marketing strategy and brands once they’re launched in 2013/2014.”
Adam Grunwerg runs a digital media agency that manages websites in the finance, education and gaming industry. Searchable.co.uk is a sister site where he provides Internet marketing related services to start-ups as well as his own SEO blog.
Adam started his business during his final year of University in 2009/10. Since graduating, he’s spent almost 3 years working on his business full-time, developing more than twenty websites and owning more than 75 domains.
MO: What inspired you to launch your business during your last year of University? Did you keep from becoming overwhelmed by running a business and having a demanding school schedule?
“One of the best things about Acropolis is that we continue to grow at a nice, steady pace. That creates opportunities for employees and create jobs. When we got started, I was really just thinking about how I could benefit, but now I think about how our whole team can succeed and it’s a great to be a part of that.”
Slightly more than ten years ago, Chris Lissner, David Ott and Dannelle Ward left the banking industry to for Acropolis Investment Management, LLC., a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) based in St. Louis.
Acropolis manages investment portfolios for high net worth individuals, institutions and corporate retirement plans. They have a well-seasoned and tenured team, a large and stable client base and serve clients in a fiduciary capacity.
MO: What inspired you to launch your own company instead of working for a more established firm?
“Rather than sell off-the-shelf software products or rigidly defined service offerings, Icreon Tech approaches technology solutions as a consultancy in order to formulate specified solutions for each client’s unique circumstances and environment.”
Icreon Tech’s experience, process and attitude have facilitated the growth of a strong and steadfast portfolio of clients, ranging from leading Fortune 500 companies, small to medium sized businesses, public sector organizations, and growing start-ups. They have helped their clients realize the potential of technology, to gain instant, visible and measurable returns from their investments.
At Icreon, they go back to the basics; when technology had a purpose, when technology was a valuable means to an end, when technology was a tool for organizations to achieve their goals – however ambitious they may be.
MO: Can you expand on what it means that “Icreon comes on board as a technology partner as opposed to a technology vendor?”
“I help small businesses improve the customer experience on first time calls, minimize lost opportunities and convert more first time callers into appointments and sales.”
Founded by Kirk Gray, 10 Fold Consulting helps small business owners increase profitability by leveraging an asset they already have – their staff.
Kirk has helped dozens of small businesses in different market segments increase their new customer generation, sales and profitability by working with their staff to reduce lost telephone and web leads and improve marketing ROI.
MO: What inspired you to launch your own consulting firm? Have you always had an entrepreneurial spirit?
“Entrepreneurs deal with the legal aspects of their businesses on a daily basis, even when they do not realize it.”
The Law Firm of Ekaterina Mouratova, PLLC, headquartered in New York City, USA, is a national and international law firm.
The Law Firm of Ekaterina Mouratova, PLLC offers efficient and expeditious services to individuals and business entities with a forward looking approach to ensure that long-term goals of the clients align with an ever-changing regulatory landscape. In order to find and implement the most beneficial procedures for its clients and to provide exceptional services, Ekaterina often utilizes the combination of knowledge, experience, creativity and innovation.
MO: Where does your passion for helping entrepreneurs come from?
Why UpYourTeleSales.com?
UpYourTeleSales.com is here to take you from being good, to fantastic, at using the phone and related media to up your sales!
Let’s face it, we aren’t splitting atoms here – the concepts are simple, yet as people – change is never easy. Our irreverent and fun presentation of sales tips, tricks, and concepts makes it easier for salespeople and sales leaders to implement changes to the way they sell today.
“Stick with your specialty. Know your market because each one is different.”
Elite Lighting Designs specializes in the design/build of Residential and Commercial Outdoor Lighting Systems.
The owner Shawn George, has been designing and installing Outdoor Lighting for over 21 years. Elite Lighting is licensed and insured and their job foreman’s have been with them for over 10 years. The company is a member of the Greater San Antonio Home Builders Association, Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, and Shawn is a member of the Entrepreneur Organization.
MO: Where does your passion for lighting and design come from?
“We strive not to make a religion out of an individual idea — we have to let go if it does not work.”
Sam Lundin was an investor in technology companies at an $8 billion hedge fund, with a focus on the Internet space. In 2011, he switched from investing to operating when he launched Vimbly.to fix a personal pet peeve — the amount of time he would lose when researching & booking recreational activities.
Vimbly shows open time slots for activities, classes, & date ideas by different businesses on a single page and lets users book directly. These activities include dance, cooking, glassblowing, pizza making, wine tasting, intro to cigars, learning to DJ, improv, scotch pairing, samurai sword fighting, persuasion class, and hundreds more.
MO: How did you come up with the concept for Vimbly?
“The $0 ad budget marketing strategy that is driving Tower’s growth? Good old roll-up-your-sleeves PR! As my expertise is in search engine optimization (“SEO”), I knew exactly how to best leverage our exposure on ABC’s Shark Tank.”
Tower Paddle Boards garnered an investment from billionaire Mark Cuban on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” and was named one of the top 10 success stories in the history of the show by Entrepreneur Magazine. With only four employees, Tower has grown from $3K revenue in 2010 to a projected 2013 revenue of $4M.
Tower Paddle Boards is a design-centric, manufacturer direct stand up paddle board (“SUP”) company. We’re the brand, the importer, the retail shop, and the marketing arm all rolled into one. This allows us to sell comparable quality boards are $500 less than the competition. Tower’s intuitive website also simplifies the SUP buying process.
MO: How did you come up with the concept of Tower Paddle Boards?
