Welcome To Startup Students

I came across this list the other day and wanted to share with all of you. I think you’ll find it timely, given the state of the economy. The labor markets is tightening, and unfortunately, graduates are having an increasingly difficult time obtaining employment in their respective fields. You can increase your chances with help from these blogs. Enjoy!

1. Collegiate Career Coach Blog Specializes in coaching college bound students, currently enrolled college students, and college graduates. Learn how to live up to your full potential and make your dreams reality.
2. CollegeRecruiter.com Blog: Learn how to bargain for your salary and impress the hiring manager. A good tool for acing the job searching process.
3. The Creative Career Observations on the transition from college into career. Insight on how students can adapt to the aspects in public relations, communications, and marketing that are always changing.
4. Job Hunting Tips Suggestions on resources and advice to help you choose a career before hunting for a job.  Topics are on best medical careers to salary negotiations.
5. Work Coach Cafe Work Coach Cafe is the new site from Work Coach.com. It’s a place to get advice on job interviews, job searches, workplace issues and much more.
6. The Emerging Professional Learn how to be distinct while still fitting in. This Ivy League career counselor’s articles include employment trends and what the recruiters are thinking.
7. Graduate Career Coaching Get detailed posts on recruiting, interviewing, training and development. View job searching from an insider’s perspective.
8. Brazen Careerist This blog is anything but your classic career site. Formed by a group of top Gen Y thought leaders, these posts provide forward thinking and encouragement to define your own path.
9. One Day One Job Provides listings of job opportunities for recent college graduates. Daily employer profiles are given for entry level jobs and search tips.
10. Daily Career Connection For individuals interested in growing as job professionals. When you’re just starting out or have been looking, this blog has many tips that can help.
11. EduPlan Blog This blog will inspire students and graduates into uncovering their true potential through education and maximizing opportunities for success. Brought to you by a consulting firm that offers over 15 years of expertise in the field of career development.
12. Internet Marketing Tips Denise Wakeman is a skilled internet marketing strategist, whose observations can help you grow your business. Her blog is full of marketing tips including 101 low and no cost marketing tools.
13. SoloPreneur.biz Janet Slack is the owner of Life Adventure Coaching and gives tips on business, marketing, the entrepreneur, and technology. In addition to her blog, you can download her free eBook, “Biz Tips: Entrepreneur Edition.”
14. The Savvy Entrepreneur Cristina Favreau helps virtual office assistants find their authentic marketing voice. You can make a ton of extra money by following her tips or sign up for the Get Clients Now!
15. Your Career by Design Learn from this bloggers experience as an entrepreneur running an executive recruitment firm.  Gain knowledge on how to differentiate yourself from my competitors.
16. Deb Bailey Transition Coach Get great advice from this sought after expert to discuss today’s most pressing workplace issues. Deborah Bailey helps entrepreneurs by helping them connect with their personal power in order to move forward in their transition from employee to entrepreneur.
17. Escape From Corporate America Pamela walked away from a six-figure job and a twelve-year corporate career to start her own business. Her posts are filled with practical guides for entrepreneurs and other renegades.
18. Purposefulentrepreneurblog.com dedicated to helping visionary entrepreneurs build successful businesses and share their spiritual gifts through articulating their purpose, activating their passion, and accelerating their profits.
19. Center for Balanced Living Existing solopreneurs can expand their success by leveraging their assets and clearing the inner blocks. There are also numerous articles on effective and authentic marketing to create wealth while doing something they love.
20. Instigator Blog – Lots of great entrepreneurial advice here. This Canadian entrepreneur’s blog is for entrepreneurs and small business owners, with an emphasis on how to start a business, run a business, marketing and technology.
21. Shaboominc.com A thriving business requires and provides resilience and continuity. How do you go about building a thriving career or business? Learn to regard mistakes as stepping stones to mastery.
22. Entrepreneur’s Journey Interested in Internet business and entrepreneurship? If so, you’ll love Australian entrepreneurs Yaro Starak’s blog. Perfect for those of you who are interested in making money online.
23. Gaebler Ventures Resources for Entrepreneurs At least once a week, serial entrepreneur Ken Gaebler posts a helpful article that provides great entrepreneurial advice. A must read for entrepreneurs.
24. Home Office Voice Martin Neumann shares his experiences as an Internet entrepreneur. There are nuggets of gold in his tips for building a web-based business.
25. Paul Allen-Internet Entrepreneur This Utah entrepreneur knows what he’s talking about and offers great advice and insights on all aspects of internet marketing and entrepreneurship.

Came across this post on Under 30 CEO the other day and had to share it in full.  You can find the original post here.

Crush it – Gary Vaynerchuk

Do you have a hobby you wish you could indulge in all day? An obsession that keeps you up at night? Now is the perfect time to take that passion and make a living doing what you love. In Crush It! Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion, Gary Vaynerchuk shows you how to use the power of the Internet to turn your real interests into real businesses.

Gary spent years building his family business from a local wine shop into a national industry leader. Then one day he turned on a video camera, and by using the secrets revealed here, transformed his entire life and earning potential by building his personal brand. By the end of this book, readers will have learned how to harness the power of the Internet to make their entrepreneurial dreams come true.

Step by step, Crush It! is the ultimate driver’s manual for modern business.

The New Community Rules – Tamar Weinberg

Blogs, networking sites, and other examples of the social web provide businesses with a largely untapped marketing channel for products and services. But how do you take advantage of them? With The New Community Rules, you’ll understand how social web technologies work, and learn the most practical and effective ways to reach people who frequent these sites.Written by an expert in social media and viral marketing, this book cuts through the hype and jargon to give you intelligent advice and strategies for positioning your business on the social web, with case studies that show how other companies have used this approach.

Many consumers today use the Web as a voice. The New Community Rules demonstrates how you can join the conversation, contribute to the community, and bring people to your product or service.

Trust Agents – Chris Brogan and Julien Smith

This book is your guide to a new form of power broker–web natives who trade in trust, reputation, and relationships using tools you may never even have heard of. You will learn what you need to look for in such an agent for your business or how to become one yourself. Trust Agents is your guide to the deep end of meaningful relationships on the web.

The book explores how business people can use the Web’s new social software tools to build awareness, influence, reputation, and eventually authority. It focuses on methods of building trust and wielding influence, and how these efforts impact business processes and goals. In three parts, the book defines the landscape of this generation’s web, explains who trust agents are, and analyzes the mechanics of trust in today’s economy where reputation is key. Part career advice, part communications management, and part technology know-how, Trust Agents aims to deliver high level theory, actionable next steps, and stories and case studies to bolster the opinions and experiences of the authors.

Anatomy of Buzz Revisited – Emanuel Rosen

A new edition of the definitive handbook on word-of-mouth marketing, completely revised and updated for today’s online world. With two-thirds new material and scores of current examples from today’s most successful companies, The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited takes readers inside the world of word-of-mouth marketing and explains how and why it works. Based on over one hundred new interviews with thought leaders, marketing executives, researchers, and consumers, The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited shows how to:

* Generate genuine buzz both online and off.
* Encourage people to talk about your products and services—and help spread the word among their friends, colleagues, and communities.
* Adapt traditional word-of-mouth strategies in today’s era of Facebook, YouTube, and consumer-generated media.

Smart, surprising, and filled with cutting-edge strategies and insights, The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited is essential for anyone who wants to get attention for a product, message, or idea in today’s message-cluttered world.

Upstarts!: How GenY Entrepreneurs are Rocking the World of Business and 8 Ways You Can Profit from Their Success – Donna Fenn

Generation Y is creating startups at an unprecedented rate, and their approach to business is unlike anything you’ve seen. The generation described by the media as spoiled, entitled, even narcissistic, is proving these notions false every day. Inspired by the rock-star entrepreneurs of previous generations and driven by a burning desire to control their own destinies, GenY is rewriting the entrepreneurial playbook one cool startup at a time.

Inc. magazine writer Donna Fenn interviewed more than 150 young CEOs to learn what makes them tick. While upstarts are motivated by similar aspirations of past generations, their way of doing business is radically different—and it’s changing the way everyone must do business now.

Upstarts examines and analyzes this entrepreneurial revolution to reveal eight critical lessons every entrepreneur and marketer must learn. Fenn describes a generation of entrepreneurs that is highly collaborative and team-oriented. It’s quick and alert when it comes to new technologies. It’s hell-bent on changing the world. And it’s totally impatient with outmoded business models.

Viral Loop – Adam Penenberg

Many of the most successful Web 2.0 companies, including MySpace, YouTube, eBay, and rising stars like Twitter and Flickr, are prime examples of what journalist Adam L. Penenberg calls a “viral loop”–to use it, you have to spread it. After all, what’s the sense of being on Facebook if none of your friends are? The result: Never before has there been the potential to create wealth this fast, on this scale, and starting with so little.

In this game-changing must-read, Penenberg tells the fascinating story of the entrepreneurs who first harnessed the unprecedented potential of viral loops to create the successful online businesses–some worth billions of dollars–that we have all grown to rely on. The trick is that they created something people really want, so much so that their customers happily spread the word about their product for them.

All kinds of businesses–from the smallest start-ups to nonprofit organizations to the biggest multinational corporations–can use the paradigm-busting power of viral loops to enable their business through technology. Viral Loop is a must-read for any entrepreneur or business interested in uncorking viral loops to benefit their bottom line.

Career Renegade – Johnathan Fields

Renegade in the title is appropriate, especially if readers are searching for a traditional career guide, which this is not. Instead, former high-powered New York City lawyer turned serial entrepreneur Fields leans heavily on the 75 percent of employees who are dissatisfied with their jobs. The first part involves discovering one’s secret passion, via a few exercises. What makes the journey with this author worthwhile are his sections on determining the exact work path (yes, via research on the Internet) and on developing a business. The references and ideas will inspire; he also interviews quite a few renewed careerists, whether it’s the tale of the young mother who started the Young Rembrandts franchise or an artist who found her passion in creating edible art through her family-owned Rivera Bakehouse. Part 3 zeroes in on honing online knowledge and creating an authority figure, via such social networks as MySpace or through blogging and word of mouth. –Barbara Jacobs

B-A-M!: Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World – Barry Moltz

BAM! Is a no nonsense book that teaches companies why they want to deliver effective customer service in this self-service world and how to do it The book debunks the 20 common myths of customer service-from “The customer is always right” to “Customer service means the same thing to everyone,” to “Companies achieve customer service by under-promising and over-delivering”-myths that too many companies use automatically to run their customer service practices and policies without ever questioning them. BAM! replaces myths with a tactical approach that shows companies how to make more money through attitudes and actions that will help their customers feel satisfied in good times or bad.Creating satisfied customers is the only enduring competitive advantage left in a world market where virtually everything is a commodity. Forget the customer service platitudes. The only reason a company should offer excellent customer service is because it will make money for the business.

Free: The Future of a Radical Price – Chris Anderson

The New York Times bestselling author heralds the new future of business in Free. In his revolutionary bestseller, The Long Tail, Chris Anderson demonstrated how the online marketplace creates thriving niche markets, allowing products and eager consumers to connect in a way that has never been possible before. Now, in Free, he makes the compelling case that in many instances businesses can profit more from giving things away than they can by charging for them. In order to succeed in the twenty-first century economy, Free is more than a promotional gimmick: It’s a business strategy that is essential to a company’s successful future.

In Free, Chris Anderson explores this radical idea for the new economy, and demonstrates how this revolutionary price can be harnessed for the benefit of both consumers and business alike.

The Facebook Era: Tapping Online Social Networks to Build Better Products, Reach New Audiences, and Sell More Stuff – Clara Shih

The ‘90s were about the World Wide Web of information and the power of linking web pages. Today it’s about the World Wide Web of people and the power of the social graph. Online social networks are fundamentally changing the way we live, work, and interact. They offer businesses immense opportunities to transform customer relationships for profit: opportunities that touch virtually every business function, from sales and marketing to recruiting, collaboration to executive decision-making, product development to innovation. In The Facebook Era, Clara Shih systematically outlines the business promise of social networking and shows how to transform that promise into reality

Right this minute, more than 1.5 million people are on Facebook. They’re interacting with friends–and talking about your brands. They’re learning about your business–and providing valuable information you can use to market and sell. In the Facebook Era, you’re closer to your customers than ever before. Read this book, and then go get them!

Many of you are fresh out of college or approaching your final semesters.  Now is the time to start exploring your opportunities.  Here is 27 fresh links to do just that.

1. Collegiate Career Coach Blog Specializes in coaching college bound students, currently enrolled college students, and college graduates. Learn how to live up to your full potential and make your dreams reality.
2. CollegeRecruiter.com Blog: Learn how to bargain for your salary and impress the hiring manager. A good tool for acing the job searching process.
3. The Creative Career Observations on the transition from college into career. Insight on how students can adapt to the aspects in public relations, communications, and marketing that are always changing.
4. Job Hunting Tips Suggestions on resources and advice to help you choose a career before hunting for a job.  Topics are on best medical careers to salary negotiations.
5. Work Coach Cafe Work Coach Cafe is a place to get advice on job interviews, job searches, workplace issues and much more.
6. The Emerging Professional Learn how to be distinct while still fitting in. This Ivy League career counselor’s articles include employment trends and what the recruiters are thinking.
7. Graduate Career Coaching Get detailed posts on recruiting, interviewing, training and development. View job searching from an insider’s perspective.
8. Brazen Careerist This blog is anything but your classic career site. Formed by a group of top Gen Y thought leaders, these posts provide forward thinking and encouragement to define your own path.
9. Student Loan Blog With topics on everything from budgeting your student loans to how to make a lasting impression at that interview, this blog gives helpful hints to college students and graduates to help them be successful and choose the right career for them.
10. One Day One Job Provides listings of job opportunities for recent college graduates. Daily employer profiles are given for entry level jobs and search tips.
11. Daily Career Connection For individuals interested in growing as job professionals. When you’re just starting out or have been looking, this blog has many tips that can help.
12. EduPlan Blog This blog will inspire students and graduates into uncovering their true potential through education and maximizing opportunities for success. Brought to you by a consulting firm that offers over 15 years of expertise in the field of career development.
13. Internet Marketing Tips Denise Wakeman is a skilled internet marketing strategist, whose observations can help you grow your business. Her blog is full of marketing tips including 101 low and no cost marketing tools.
14. SoloPreneur.biz Janet Slack is the owner of Life Adventure Coaching and gives tips on business, marketing, the entrepreneur, and technology. In addition to her blog, you can download her free eBook, “Biz Tips: Entrepreneur Edition.”
15. The Savvy Entrepreneur Cristina Favreau helps virtual office assistants find their authentic marketing voice. You can make a ton of extra money by following her tips or sign up for the Get Clients Now!
16. Your Career by Design Learn from this bloggers experience as an entrepreneur running an executive recruitment firm.  Gain knowledge on how to differentiate yourself from my competitors.
17. Deb Bailey Transition Coach Get great advice from this sought after expert to discuss today’s most pressing workplace issues. Deborah Bailey helps entrepreneurs by helping them connect with their personal power in order to move forward in their transition from employee to entrepreneur.
18. Escape From Corporate America Pamela walked away from a six-figure job and a twelve-year corporate career to start her own business. Her posts are filled with practical guides for entrepreneurs and other renegades.
19. Purposefulentrepreneurblog.com dedicated to helping visionary entrepreneurs build successful businesses and share their spiritual gifts through articulating their purpose, activating their passion, and accelerating their profits.
20. Center for Balanced Living Existing solopreneurs can expand their success by leveraging their assets and clearing the inner blocks. There are also numerous articles on effective and authentic marketing to create wealth while doing something they love.
21. Instigator Blog – Lots of great entrepreneurial advice here. This Canadian entrepreneur’s blog is for entrepreneurs and small business owners, with an emphasis on how to start a business, run a business, marketing and technology.
22. Shaboominc.com A thriving business requires and provides resilience and continuity. How do you go about building a thriving career or business? Learn to regard mistakes as stepping stones to mastery.
23. Entrepreneur’s Journey Interested in Internet business and entrepreneurship? If so, you’ll love Australian entrepreneurs Yaro Starak’s blog. Perfect for those of you who are interested in making money online.
24. Gaebler Ventures Resources for Entrepreneurs At least once a week, serial entrepreneur Ken Gaebler posts a helpful article that provides great entrepreneurial advice. A must read for entrepreneurs.
25. Home Office Voice Martin Neumann shares his experiences as an Internet entrepreneur. There are nuggets of gold in his tips for building a web-based business.
26. Paul Allen-Internet Entrepreneur This Utah entrepreneur knows what he’s talking about and offers great advice and insights on all aspects of internet marketing and entrepreneurship.
27. Mind Petals Smart, creative, and young entrepreneurs from all over the world hang out at this site. It’s a community that produces informative, inspiring, and motivating content to spark the minds of all entrepreneurs.

Class dismissed.

Young entrepreneurs come in all shapes and sizes.  But what truly makes an entrepreneur, is his or her desire to win.  A willingness to lead and a commitment to succeed.  These are just a few common characteristics that successful entrepreneurs share the world over.  Do you posess the traits below?  Any other traits you think should be added to the list?

1. Laser Focus – The best entrepreneurs stick to their guns.  Find your passion and then follow it through.
2. Confidence – You need to have the confidence to make a decision without always being concerned about other’s opinions.  Stand by your decisions without caving in to the pressures around you.
3. Creativity– Young entrepreneurs must think outside the box in order to stand out in a sea of conformity.
4. Fearlessness – Don’t fear the competition. the consumer, the reaper, or failure itself.
5. Leadership– You must have the ability to lead your ideas to fruition, and leverage those around you to do so.
6. Scholarship – True entrepreneurs never stop learnin, especially those young entrepreneurs out there still in college!
7. Financial Savvy –  Knowing where your money is going and where it is coming in is very important.

Did I miss anything?

Class dismissed.

Entrepreneur Magazine has a great article on the top five fears of entrepreneurs. But why stop at five? I’d like to expand the list to 10 common fears I hear about during my work as an executive coach.

First, Entrepreneur’s top five fears of entrepreneurs. They are:

1. Fear of Failure: “Without a doubt, an entrepreneur’s biggest fear is failing–understandably, because 95 percent of all businesses fail within the first five years. When you’re starting with those kinds of odds, it’s OK to be a little freaked out.”

2. Economic Uncertainty: “Five years ago, the economy may not have been of forefront concern for a startup entrepreneur. But today, businesses big and small, young and old, are worried about what the declining economy means for them.”

3. Being your own Boss: “As a small business, especially during the startup stages, there’s very little stability and security. Unlike traditional employment, you probably don’t have an office, employees, benefits or a paycheck. And what you definitely don’t have is a boss, someone guiding you along.”

4. Consuming Your Life: “The idea of not having any time for yourself, neglecting your family and giving up your social life can be terrifying.”

5. Staying Afloat: “You need money to start up; you need money to operate; and you need money to grow. Throw the dismal economy into the equation–when people are spending less and it’s taking longer for small businesses to get paid–and money is even harder to come by.”

Why stop at five? Here are five more:

6. High-Wire with No Net: When you have been in your own small business and survived the early years that weed out most startups, you have the fear that you can never turn back to “the devil you knew” (i.e. traditional employment). The struggles of entrepreneurship make you forget why you left corporate America in the first place and your memories become revised to dwell on how easy and happy it all was “back then.”

7. Losing Ground to the Jones’s: Even though your business may be getting more profitable every year, you look at your old car in the driveway and the Jones’s new Lexus and feel that if only you’d stuck to being a corporate (fill in the blank) you’d have new toys, too.

8. The Merry-Go-Round Stopping: Your business is cooking, but you worry that somehow, someday, and soon, the phones will go silent and no one will want what you sell anymore.

9. Stuck in Third Gear: You know how to cruise at 40 MPH but you need and want to do 90 (this is metaphorical). You fear you will never break through the wall of your business being merely “okay”.

10. Emperor Has No Clothes: And the big-daddy of all entrepreneurial nightmares–you dream that you’re walking down the street and suddenly you discover that you forgot to put your shorts on. Perhaps if you act natural no one will notice. Lots of entrepreneurs think everyone else is smarter than they are and live in fear of the world finding out their secret.

I could go on. So could you, so let’s have it: five more entrepreneurial fears from the front lines.

Oh, you were waiting for some advice on how to cure yourself of all these? How’s this: You can’t! Not completely, anyway. And I don’t think you’d want to. Fear is a great motivator. Ask anyone who owns a business if fear helps them get up in the morning and do what has to be done.

Contributing blogger Mitch York coaches executives who are evolving into entrepreneurs. Find York — and his personal blog — at www.e2ecoaching.com.

According to a recent study by the Kauffman Foundation, the answer is yes. Kind of. By the way, if your aren’t familiar with the foundation, check them out NOW because they have tons of great resources for entrepreneurs, young and old alike. At any rate, I must admit I was quite surprised by the findings of their study on the correlation between age, education, and forming a tech startup. As you know, I focus more on the needs of student startups, but as it turns out they are the minority – even when it comes to technology based startups.

What does this mean for you and your pursuit of the next great student startup? A couple things, actually. First off, the findings of this survey suggest that you (and I) are well ahead of the game. The small business experiences we are endeavoring in will only further the chances of success in the long run. Think about it this way, most people wait until they are in their late 30’s or early 40’s to take the leap into entrepreneurialism – many of whom will fail for a variety of reasons. But by starting young, you benefit from the fact that failing is virtually meaningless (financially speaking). You can then learn from your mistakes and build upon your successes and failures so that your next venture will be that much more successful.

So take the study with a grain of salt and do not give up your pursuit of creating the next great startup! Class dismissed.

I was scouring my favorite small business blogs when I came across an interview with Raj Jaswa, an entrepreneur from Arizona. It was a quick interview, but packed with great advice, so I would like to share it with you. Enjoy the excerpt below:

Question: Given your experience and the entrepreneurs you’ve observed, what are the fundamental attributes of a good entrepreneur?

Answer: Entrepreneurs need to develop three skills, and they are very learnable:

First is networking. You have to learn to connect with as many people as you can. Be committed to building your Rolodex.

Second is education and learning. You have to really like learning and reading random stuff. Become knowledgeable, not in depth but on the surface, because you’re going to be working with everybody.

Third is accessing mentors and people you can learn from. The fewer bad decisions you make, the better chance your company has.

Question: What does the economic slowdown mean to entrepreneurs and Silicon Valley?

Answer: Boom times are bad because it can be hard for entrepreneurs to get access to engineering talent, space and people who will listen.

No recession lasts forever. It’s a business cycle. It cleans out bad habits and practices, and then you have a much better environment.

Question: Where do you see the emerging opportunities for innovators and entrepreneurs?

Answer: Opportunities come from seeing problems around you and in your lifestyle . . . that you would like to do something about. Instead of doing it as an employee or a volunteer, do it as a company. I recommend the book Built to Last. General Electric, Sony, they all started because the founders wanted to build a company.

That’s all for today, class dismissed.

Okay Startup Students, let’s get right back into the swing of things. As you begin you new venture adventure, the “little” things can become lost as you attempt to adhere to your grand vision. One such thing you really shouldn’t overlook is maintaining the naming rights to your product or service. Trademarking is a simple process that can potentially save (or cost) you millions in the long run. We’ve all purchased aspirin, cellophane, nylon, or a thermos, and of course ridden an escalator. But, did you know that each of those began their storied lives as a brand name?

Here are some benefits to trademarking your brand name:

• If your copyright is infringed, you now have the right to sue in federal court.
• By the same token, you limit your ability to be sued.
• You will have evidence of ownership, and sometimes your name is your most valuable asset.
• Your registration can be filed with U.S. Customs Service to prevent importation of infringing foreign goods – that is huge!
• You will be able to have a small “tm” placed after your logo or design to signify that this is your trademark and that others can not use it. This adds a sense of professional to your clients.

Overall, it’s simply a good idea to do so.  For more information, or to get the ball rolling with TM registration, visit the USPTO.  Class dismissed.

It’s been 145 days since my last post, and contrary to what some of you might have thought I did not die a week after Thanksgiving 2007. I do admit to being a slacker though.

I always envisioned my last semester in college to be the easiest. I figured I would take a few classes and just coast through graduation. As it turned out, however, it was by far one of the toughest and busiest few months of my life. I’d like to take a few minutes to share with you some of my accomplishments and I promise to get back into posting quality content this week.

First off, as you might have surmised, I am graduating. In fact, this is finals week so I only have a few days of college left. I’ve been in school longer than the average student – since summer 2002 actually – but I have loved every minute of it.

Beyond school, it has been a banner year thus far for my web development company, Brett Adams Design LLC. I’ve had the pleasure of working with a variety of clients transcending numerous industries. Later this week I plan on profiling a couple of them – at least one of which could be integral in the development of the next great Student Start Up.

And while business is going great, after much thought I’ve determined that getting some real world experience of my own is integral to my long term success as an entrepreneur. After a couple months of searching for the perfect fit, I have accepted a position at New York based startup Yodle.com. Yodle is a leading provider of local online advertising that provides businesses with a simple and affordable way to get more phone calls.

That being said, I will be moving to NYC in about three weeks and I start my new position in June. I look forward to the new experience and promise to keep you in the loop through this blog. Thanks again to those who have stuck around in my absence and welcome to the new readers. Class dismissed!