Well it looks like I am going to be home recovering for another week. I tore my ACL at the beginning of February while tearing up the ski hill and recently had surgery. I have really enjoyed the time off from work and as you’ll soon see, there are many changes to bizMe that I finally had time to complete. Since I launched the first bizMe issue I have wanted to create a blog so my readers know that I am a young professional too, learning the ropes of the career world right along with you.
Today’s agenda is contacting advertisers who I feel would be a good fit for the site. I want to include advertisers of products that you’ll like, products and services that you’ll want to use. My vision is that the advertising will enhance the site and will encourage readers to click to find out more.
I have a background in advertising sales so I know the lingo but the most difficult and time consuming job is finding the right person to talk too regarding online advertising. I leave so many messages only to find out three months later that the person I am stalking . . . isn’t even the right person! I am persistent and I like results!
For today bizgals, my advice is “it’s a competitive world and only the strong and the annoying survive!!
A little frown,
Amanda
www.bizme.biz
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
This is why I love doing what I am doing!
Today is a day that makes everything I am doing both rewarding and humbling. I checked my facebook account and a bizMe buddy (I started a bizMe facebook group page, you should join! ☺) sent a message asking me to participate in an Entrepreneur pageant. This pageant has 15 male and 15 female contestants and the judges interview the contestants on their business idea. The winner receives $500 to start his/her venture. I am so excited that one of my peers enjoys bizMe and admires the work that I am doing to ask me to judge her pageant.
My friend is a senior at the University in Chicago and she also wants me to be a mentor with a business group she is starting. This is what bizMe is all about and why I feel so strongly about what I am doing. I want my readers to feel comfortable asking me for advice, asking me to participate in activities that they are doing because that is truly what I love to do.
Thanks bizgals!!
Smiles,
Amanda
www.bizme.biz
My friend is a senior at the University in Chicago and she also wants me to be a mentor with a business group she is starting. This is what bizMe is all about and why I feel so strongly about what I am doing. I want my readers to feel comfortable asking me for advice, asking me to participate in activities that they are doing because that is truly what I love to do.
Thanks bizgals!!
Smiles,
Amanda
www.bizme.biz
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
What is my typical day like?
I mentioned that when I speak to college classes I get asked a lot of questions about the start of bizMe and this is the second most popular question:
What is my typical day like?
Most people are very surprised when they learn that I work full time for a regional newspaper selling advertising during the day. My evenings are consumed with bizMe often into the early morning hours. bizMe is the absolute focus of my life; however, I still must pay the bills and as you can see, bizMe currently does not have any advertisers so bizMe is supported by me. That’s why the bizMe catchphrase is “bizMe, just like you and me” because I am just like my readers—going to a job that I enjoy but am not really obsessed with and waiting until I can get home to do something that I truly love.
My typical day is never the same. My advertising position at the newspaper is selling advertising to specific territories. I have a monthly goal and a quarterly goal that I am “encouraged to make.” I enjoy this job because it is very much like running your own advertising agency. For many clients, I am their media consultant and not just a salesperson. I work directly with the owners of the business and I learn the structure and vision of their business. I enjoy the constant learning that goes with working for a large corporation but I enjoy working for myself a little bit more. Wink wink!!
Once 5:00 hits, the fun begins—it’s bizMe time! bizMe is a two-woman show, my mom and I. We wear many hats. My mom’s title is editor, which means that she and I brainstorm all the great article topics that we assign our freelance staff and I am very proud to say that all the article ideas are bizMe originals. She corresponds with the freelance writers, sends assignments, finalizes the articles, and then we format our articles. The best part of working together is that we’re more than mother and daughter—we’re colleagues and best friends! She’s the perfect partner!
My duties cover everything else. My title is publisher, which means that I am responsible for finding monetary support from investors and advertisers. I need to step up my game in finding funding; my focus recently has been developing partnerships and marketing bizMe.
My days are crazy busy right now but I would not change my workload for the world. I get to work with my mom every day and every day bizMe continues to grow!
Smiles,
Amanda
www.bizme.biz
What is my typical day like?
Most people are very surprised when they learn that I work full time for a regional newspaper selling advertising during the day. My evenings are consumed with bizMe often into the early morning hours. bizMe is the absolute focus of my life; however, I still must pay the bills and as you can see, bizMe currently does not have any advertisers so bizMe is supported by me. That’s why the bizMe catchphrase is “bizMe, just like you and me” because I am just like my readers—going to a job that I enjoy but am not really obsessed with and waiting until I can get home to do something that I truly love.
My typical day is never the same. My advertising position at the newspaper is selling advertising to specific territories. I have a monthly goal and a quarterly goal that I am “encouraged to make.” I enjoy this job because it is very much like running your own advertising agency. For many clients, I am their media consultant and not just a salesperson. I work directly with the owners of the business and I learn the structure and vision of their business. I enjoy the constant learning that goes with working for a large corporation but I enjoy working for myself a little bit more. Wink wink!!
Once 5:00 hits, the fun begins—it’s bizMe time! bizMe is a two-woman show, my mom and I. We wear many hats. My mom’s title is editor, which means that she and I brainstorm all the great article topics that we assign our freelance staff and I am very proud to say that all the article ideas are bizMe originals. She corresponds with the freelance writers, sends assignments, finalizes the articles, and then we format our articles. The best part of working together is that we’re more than mother and daughter—we’re colleagues and best friends! She’s the perfect partner!
My duties cover everything else. My title is publisher, which means that I am responsible for finding monetary support from investors and advertisers. I need to step up my game in finding funding; my focus recently has been developing partnerships and marketing bizMe.
My days are crazy busy right now but I would not change my workload for the world. I get to work with my mom every day and every day bizMe continues to grow!
Smiles,
Amanda
www.bizme.biz
Monday, April 7, 2008
The start of bizMe
I thought for my first blog entry that it is only fitting that I address the questions that everyone wants to know. How did you start bizMe and what is a typical day like for you? Great questions so here we go:
How did I start bizMe:
When I read articles that talk about entrepreneurs that started great businesses they seem to have many traits in common. They were the children that started the lawn service at 5 years old or that generated revenue off their lemonade stand at the age of 3. It seems that all entrepreneurs from the age of 3 were destined to make tons of money and have the traits that most Americans dream of having. Well I never had any of those traits and when I look back on my childhood to try to connect the dots of how I got here.. I can’t find anything. I used to run around like any normal kid, my days were consumed by sports, not by making money. My dream was to get a Division scholarship for volleyball not to be the next Donald Trump.
When I went to college I wanted to work for an ad agency then that turned into sports marketing, then to a financial broker and then finally my junior year I took a magazine writing class and fell in love with the printed word, the four color glossy magazine and the way I felt when I went through the pages of my favorite magazine.
My first thought was “I am going to be the publisher of Vogue, InStyle magazine, People magazine,” dream big or go home, isn’t that what they always say!
bizMe was born listening to my friends talk about what they wanted to be when we left college next year, who we wanted to be, the type of lifestyle we wanted, how we were going to find jobs, where were we going to find jobs and just the plain freak out of leaving the safety net of college to move on to the “real world.”
I spent most of my senior year researching, conducting surveys, networking, talking to anyone that would listen to me about this idea I had of putting together a magazine for my demographic. People started to listen and the wheels were in motion. The deeper and deeper I got into bizMe the more and more it consumed me. I could not think of anything else expect the thought of actually doing this magazine.
After college I got a job working for a small publishing house where we actually launched a brand new magazine. This was an awesome experience because I was able to walk through the process of starting a magazine without starting my own. Then I was off to Chicago like many young professionals do. Amazing things happen in the big city…. Or so we like to believe.
I got a job with the Chicago Tribune working with the national advertising team. I enjoyed my time there but just could not shake the idea of bizMe. I started networking with I believe every Chicagoan in the publishing industry for about a year and realized just how hard it was to break into the industry. I didn’t want to give up so I decide that I would give myself the experience and start bizMe.
I quit my job and moved back home and started bizMe. I worked on bizMe full time for a year getting ready to launch it. Initally I launched a teaser website to get the idea and start a little brand developing. I loved my first website and always will.
You know what bizMe is now, check out what bizMe was that first summer I was home: http://bizme.biz/old
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Smiles,
Amanda
Publisher
www.bizme.biz
How did I start bizMe:
When I read articles that talk about entrepreneurs that started great businesses they seem to have many traits in common. They were the children that started the lawn service at 5 years old or that generated revenue off their lemonade stand at the age of 3. It seems that all entrepreneurs from the age of 3 were destined to make tons of money and have the traits that most Americans dream of having. Well I never had any of those traits and when I look back on my childhood to try to connect the dots of how I got here.. I can’t find anything. I used to run around like any normal kid, my days were consumed by sports, not by making money. My dream was to get a Division scholarship for volleyball not to be the next Donald Trump.
When I went to college I wanted to work for an ad agency then that turned into sports marketing, then to a financial broker and then finally my junior year I took a magazine writing class and fell in love with the printed word, the four color glossy magazine and the way I felt when I went through the pages of my favorite magazine.
My first thought was “I am going to be the publisher of Vogue, InStyle magazine, People magazine,” dream big or go home, isn’t that what they always say!
bizMe was born listening to my friends talk about what they wanted to be when we left college next year, who we wanted to be, the type of lifestyle we wanted, how we were going to find jobs, where were we going to find jobs and just the plain freak out of leaving the safety net of college to move on to the “real world.”
I spent most of my senior year researching, conducting surveys, networking, talking to anyone that would listen to me about this idea I had of putting together a magazine for my demographic. People started to listen and the wheels were in motion. The deeper and deeper I got into bizMe the more and more it consumed me. I could not think of anything else expect the thought of actually doing this magazine.
After college I got a job working for a small publishing house where we actually launched a brand new magazine. This was an awesome experience because I was able to walk through the process of starting a magazine without starting my own. Then I was off to Chicago like many young professionals do. Amazing things happen in the big city…. Or so we like to believe.
I got a job with the Chicago Tribune working with the national advertising team. I enjoyed my time there but just could not shake the idea of bizMe. I started networking with I believe every Chicagoan in the publishing industry for about a year and realized just how hard it was to break into the industry. I didn’t want to give up so I decide that I would give myself the experience and start bizMe.
I quit my job and moved back home and started bizMe. I worked on bizMe full time for a year getting ready to launch it. Initally I launched a teaser website to get the idea and start a little brand developing. I loved my first website and always will.
You know what bizMe is now, check out what bizMe was that first summer I was home: http://bizme.biz/old
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Smiles,
Amanda
Publisher
www.bizme.biz
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