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| Visit/Join the YES Network |
Young Entrepreneurs of Sarasota (YES) share success strategies every Tuesday. All ages welcome (100 yrs or younger), no membership applications, no dues. YES is a positive oriented volunteer educational support group for entrepreneurs. Relationship building starts 11:30; lunch 11:45; YES workshop starts at 12:15 and ends at 1:15. The entrepreneurial support/workshop, a tasty meal, tax and tip at the door is $13.00. See you at Clayton's Siesta Grille, 1256 Old Stickney Point Road on beautiful Siesta Key, Sarasota. Check out our website: www.yes941.com. ENTREPRENEURIAL WORDS OF WISDOM by Olga Ovichiyan "Our attitudes control our lives. Attitudes are a secret power working 24 hours a day for good or bad." ~ Irving Berlin, songwriter JOHN GREER says INTERNET TRENDS ENTREPRENEUR OF THE WEEK PRESENTATION Mical Johnson spoke about Madame C. J. WALKER – the first African American woman millionaire (born 1865), founder of a variety of hair products for African American women. Why did he choose her as the famous entrepreneur of the week? • She was the first self-made African American woman millionaire We welcomed Kelli Lampkin as one of our featured speakers and she gave us a good understanding about SIFE and what it is all about. One of her entrepreneurial projects was to create a company. They decided to found a company called “Campus Mix”, which sold a mix of 15 different ingredients. Their “customers” could choose from items like, nuts, raisins, and other goodies. Her team had to go through all the steps of inventing a name, to designing a logo, creating a marketing and selling strategy. This made them realize a real life situation. In the end, they sold the company, realizing that they did not make any money, but they gained first-hand knowledge about their mistakes and their successes. They were proud to pass this information on to a younger generation of students. Other projects involved a cupcake company, they seem to be very popular these days; a basket company, a laundry service, although the students outsourced the laundering, college students just don’t like to do their laundry! SIFE is a global organization active in over 1500 colleges in 40 countries that promotes five key educational topics; entrepreneurship, financial literacy, business ethics, market economics and personal success skills. SIFE students implement programs that influence members of their student communities. They have some corporate sponsors, such as Coca Cola Company, Northwestern Mutual Financial Network and BB&T Bank. Kelli, we thank you for your interesting presentation, the YES group wishes you continued success for your future. WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE POLISH MINT? Jarek Zaremba shared an international tale with the YES group. He invited two guests along, Artur and Andrzey that had a role in the story he was about to tell us. Jarek remembered that last time at YES, we discussed how people like to hear stories when you sell them something. Apparently, the top three Mints in the world are in Europe. The Polish Mint is rated third in Europe. In 1796, after the 3rd partition of Poland, the Mint was closed down. It received the new statutes in 1810 and restarted its activity for a short period for the needs of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. Artur took over the marketing. They sent catalogues to different groups of people, and then analyzed the groups to see what they liked. Artur brought the business from zero to 23 million sales in 18 months with 2 million in profit. He used the “story” technique. He invented a story for each coin, first, the polish kings, then some dinosaurs, zodiac signs and cars. They created series for collectors; they had 15 different lines, all worth approximately $40-$50 dollars a series. The business went from no employees to 19 people in a short time. They outsource a big part of their work and keep only the major functions at their Head Office in Warsaw. All three gentlemen pointed out that the success of this business is to pay attention to the customer and provide them with what they want and like. Thank you Jarek for your interesting story, it definitely proves that the customer is “King”. OLGA OVCHIYAN –the entrepreneur She started out jokingly saying that she would give us a presentation on “how I became a Russian spy!” She was not afraid to make money; she took a job as a Pizza maker and worked her way up to become the manager of the place. Olga worked 12-hour days six days a week and with the money she made, she invested in real Estate when she went back to Russia. She tells us that life threw her a curveball and she had some tragedy in her life. She lost her husband to a car accident while she was pregnant with their first child. Olga noted that she always remembers the Russian saying “The man plans and God makes the decisions”. Well, she made the decision to come to the United States to stay. Olga, we thank you for sharing your entrepreneurial story with us. It give us a better idea of your background and the wonderful person you are. MORE ON THE CROSLEY MANSION YES GALA We are still working on putting together a memorable evening for the YES entrepreneurs. It seems that cost is an issue with the YES group. Also, some participant mentioned that it may be easier to dress as “entrepreneurs” in business attire and not necessarily in “Black Tie”. We understand that Rusty McClure has some pull with the historical society and we are waiting to see what pull he has with Manatee County. We also have to make sure that we keep a date in mind and commit to his schedule. Stay tuned for more on this subject! HONESTY GOES A LONG WAY! At the end of the meeting, I asked Colin Masterson if he enjoyed the meeting. He looked me strait in the eye, waved his hand and said, "hmmm, ahh....not really!" I can sympathize with him. When my grandfather used to take me to some of his business meetings, I could not wait for them to be over! Colin, one day when you are all grown up and in business for yourself, you may remember this moment and smile and thank your grandfather for having taken you to YES. ANNOUNCEMENTS: A great place to make your announcements is the YES website. Login to www.yes941.com, add your profile, then proceed to add an event and invite all members. Also read about EVENTS, DISCUSSIONS and BLOGS some YES participants are writing about, voice your opinions, get involved and help out if you can. Notes of the meeting contributed by Nelly Camardo. www.bijeau.biz YES, the answer is always YES! |
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