• Social Media

  • Feb18

    No Comments

    Scott Hastings – PrivateSuites.com

    Posted in: Directories, Ecommerce, Internet, Social Media, Sports, What's Your M.O.?


    Scott Hastings

    PrivateSuites.com

    MMATraining.com

    CrashMMA.com


    A person considering whether or not to start a business often hears advice from others to “follow your passion.” In many cases, the building of a business is itself the entrepreneur’s passion. However, there are those times when the passion to build a business can meet with other things an entrepreneur is passionate about. When I owned and operated GolfCourses.com and GolfResorts.com, I was in that position, experiencing the excitement of building a business around something I truly enjoy, golf. Now, truth be told, I golfed a lot more AFTER I sold those, but hey, it really was great immersing myself into the golf biz for that time. I mean, heck, I was in the position to go on golf trips and be able to tell my wife I had to go . . . for the sake of the business!

    Scott Hastings, President of PrivateSuites.com, seems to have taken the “follow your passion” mantra to the next level while building his interrelated Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) businesses. Scott is a big fan of MMA and his sites CrachMMA.com and MMATraining.com cater to fans and devotees of the white-hot sport. Scott has really done an amazing job of leveraging each business to help grow his others. MMATraining.com focuses on fighters and their training regimen and builds relationships with the MMA participants. CrashMMA.com puts together tour packages for attending MMA events and through its MMA relationships can put together some great opportunities for MMA fans to meet the big names in the sport, folks like Randy Couture, one of the biggest names in the sport of Mixed Martial Arts.

    Now tie in PrivateSuites.com, Hastings’ business which offers companies, groups, or individuals a great opportunity to catch an event from a, well, private suite at various venues across North America. This business weaves in nicely with CrashMMA.com and the tour packages it puts together for MMA fans. However, PrivateSuites.com also services fans for other events such as concerts and other sporting events.

    MO:

    Scott, how about we start with a recap of last week’s CrashMMA.com trip to Las Vegas for UFC 109. This had to be an incredible weekend to be in Vegas with it being Super Bowl weekend in addition to the big MMA event. We all know the dirt stays in the desert, but what morsels can you share from that trip?

    Scott Hastings:

    Overall it was another fantastic UFC weekend. I have been to every major sporting event in North America, and I can honestly say that a live UFC event tops them all.

    This was our 4th trip to Las Vegas with a CrashMMA event, and they keep getting better each time. We had a Private Suite rented for the fights, filled with food and drinks, had a great Private training session on Thursday at the world famous Xtreme Couture, and an after-party at an awesome Las Vegas club on the strip, with a number of UFC fighters hanging around. CrashMMA.com

    We stayed at Mandalay Bay and enjoyed all the sights and sounds that Las Vegas on super bowl weekend has to offer.

    We’re trying to give fans the weekend from an ‘insider perspective’ and at the same time trying to expose a new group of people to Mixed Martial Arts and the UFC. It’s a great sport and an unbelievable live experience. If we can offer things like meeting a favorite fighter and access to an unbelievable after-party, we know the customer is getting that ultimate VIP treatment, and that’s what we want.

    MO:

    People who read MO.com and who know me, know I am a big believer in getting a great domain name on which to build your business. MMATraining.com is solid and clear on the subject matter, CrashMMA.com has the sizzle that goes with the sport, but PrivateSuites.com is a real gem, perfectly describing the offering. How much weight did/do you put in the naming of the business and tying that in with your ability to secure the matching domain name?

    Read More | Comments

  • Feb8

    No Comments

    Entrepreneur Jeff Edelman – Student.com

    Posted in: Internet, Social Media, What's Your M.O.?

    Jeff Edelman

    Student.com

    Based in New York



    Entrepreneur Jeff Edelman – Founder of Student.com

    If you want to read about the evolution of a great social website for students, be certain to check out the history of Student.com here:

    Student.com/history

    I think this is a great read on how something that started “very, very small, with not much content” can evolve into a website with 940,000 members. Folks, we’re talking about nearly a million members! MO.com only needs a million more members to hit that mark.

    About Student.com

    The site was founded by Jeff Edelman in 1995. I’d venture to guess many reading this interview were not yet even ON the Internet yet in that year, let alone founding a website. I’m not even sure I could spell “www” at that stage of the game. The website caters primarily to high school students and college students, providing helpful articles, forums, blogs, advice, and much more.

    MO:

    Jeff, you were clearly an early mover on the web. How were you introduced to the Internet? Were you a student at the time yourself?

    Jeff Edelman:

    I was already over the hill by the mid 90’s. :) I had a friend from college who was one of the original computer nerds. He was one of the founders of Physicians Online, a successful Internet community for Doctors. In early 1995, I was the head of a catalog of New York City designed t-shirts, hats, and boxer shorts called Soho Design. My friend called me over to his office to show me the Internet and told me that I had to get my catalog online. In time, I saw that it made sense to create a community of students online just like he had created a community of doctors. And we got the site up and running in June 1995.

    Read More | Comments

  • Feb4

    2 Comments

    Bruce Marler – Show Me The Entrepreneur

    Posted in: Blogging, Internet, Social Media, Web Design, What's Your M.O.?

    Bruce Marler

    LocalTek, LLC

    Missouri.me

    BruceMarler.com

    HyperlocalSEO.com

    Show Me The Entrepreneur

    Spending most of my day online, I communicate with folks from all over the world via email and online forums. The Internet has truly made the world smaller by opening the lines of communication like never before. But every now and then… ya bump into someone online, that’s essentially right in your own back yard (in Internet distance). Bruce Marler is a fellow “Show Me State” entrepreneur right here in MO, or Missouri, as he may like to call it (See: Missouri.me). I first came to know about Bruce by reading a story that he was the owner and developer of Missouri.me, which caught my interest. I’m proud of my home state, and I had to see what this was all about. The more I researched, the more I realized Bruce must not sleep much. He is a very active entrepreneur with his development company, LocalTek; his power blogging at BruceMarler.com; and his newly launched HyperlocalSEO.com. Just visit his websites, and you will get that sense also. So I had to reach out to my fellow Missourian and get to know him a bit more. This interview will help you get to know him a bit more also and get a sense of how “alive and well” entrepreneurship is in Missouri.

    MO:

    It’s great to see a resource being built for our fellow Missourians. How is the build-out of Missouri.me going? Have you all been out pounding the pavement talking to local businesses about the site or is it primarily by phone and email?

    Bruce Marler:

    We believe a “feet-on-the-street” sales team is the only way to accomplish our goals. Although we focus on search engine optimization and bringing businesses online, at the end of the day many of these businesses in the rural areas need to be educated on the value of being found in the proper places online. They also need to be taught to realize how the Internet is changing their marketing plans for the future.

    This means we are conducting seminars, speaking to chambers of commerce, and in some cases going business to business. We have been fortunate to get 100 customers in less than 6 months of selling.

    Read More | Comments

  • Jan14

    2 Comments

    Brian Benko: Backbay Ventures

    Posted in: Directories, Ecommerce, Internet, Social Media, What's Your M.O.?

    Brian Benko: Backbay Ventures
    Find A Dentist

    Social Media Monitoring

    Social Media Marketing

    Brian Benko – Backbay Ventures

    MO:
    Brian… Congratulations for being the inaugural interview on MO.com,what a thrill this must be (I kid… I kid…). You have been doing business online since before the turn of the century, when did you get started and do you think that early jump online has given you an edge as you’ve seen things unfold?

    Brian Benko:
    The web makes it easy for everyone. Nobody, for the most part, gets preferential treatment. We are all given free access to powerful tools, and we can work with anyone on the planet to build the next best thing. I really got started in 1998. Not too early and not too late. What 12 years will provide is a little bit of wisdom and a priceless rolodex. I had an economics professor in high school that would constantly argue that it is what you know and not who you know. At 16 years old I argued that it is who you know and almost never what you know. Twenty years later, I feel the exact same way and with even more passion. One good reason why I still feel this way: what I knew in 1999 is fairly useless today, but the people I met in 1999 are priceless.

    MO:
    It’s safe to say the Internet has been an all-time game changer for destroying the barriers to entry into the world of entrepreneurship. With so many opportunities now and so many folks chasing the brass ring… do you think people are born to be entrepreneurs or can it be learned?

    Brian Benko:
    No doubt it can be learned. I never had the desire to own a business. The first one just happened, and ever since then it has been an addiction. Nobody is born an entrepreneur, just like nobody is born a senator. It is up to the individual, and the internet is the perfect place to get started, regardless if you want to be a Senator or the next CEO of the biggest dot com to hit the information highway.

    MO:
    What 3 things would you tell people just starting out to focus on? Mine would be passion, capital, and cash flow.

    Brian Benko:
    Tough question and no right answer, and it is impossible to be unbiased. Speed, Cash, Focus Number 1. Do not waste time trying to get things perfect. They will never be perfect, and if you wait too long your competition will roll right over you. Number 2. Without cash you will never be able to focus or grow. I am not suggesting you need tens of thousands of dollars, but you need to be able to pay yourself and a small staff for some period of time to get the company off the ground. Number 3. Do not get distracted by your competition. Do not get distracted with useless partnerships. Forget about perfection and “JUST GET IT DONE.” The most valuable four words in life in my opinion.

    MO:
    Do you typically create a formal business plan or do you wing it?

    Brian Benko:
    I prefer to dress in formal business attire and wing it… Seriously…. business plans are for VC’s, lenders, and lawyers. They are meaningless when they start predicting trends, numbers, revenue etc; You need a mission statement and a short term plan. Anything more than that is just some words on a piece of paper that anyone could write in a day or two.

    MO:
    What have been some of the bigger disappointments along the way? For me: Tax on Capital Gains. Ugh.

    Brian Benko:
    The biggest disappointments come from failed partnerships. Business is never easy. Relationships are never easy. I have seen and been through partnerships that have destroyed friendships, and nothing is worse than losing a good friend over business.

    MO:
    Do you seek out the next big thing or do you let the next big thing find you?

    Brian Benko:
    The only thing that ever finds me is SPAM. I am always seeking opportunities but never looking for the next BIG thing. It is impossible to predict the next big things. What is important is to find a void and/or a problem and fix it. Trying to come up the next Viagra or Twitter is impossible. Both were started or born out of a different product or project and neither party could have predicted the product or service.

    MO:
    Any inspirational pearls for MO.com as we prepare to dictate and dominate in 2010?

    Brian Benko:
    Most parents want their children to be passionate and dedicated but also have fun. Business is no different. We only get one life so enjoy it and learn to be happy. Do not take anything too seriously and for goodness sakes make sure your next business plan includes happiness and fun. One more! Never Never Ever tolerate mean people. Put them in their place and move on regardless of what they might offer or provide.

Return to the Homepage