Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

One of the many many things that I LOVE about what we do here at StartupNation is how we practice what we preach.

As we continue our constant team efforts to improve the StartupNation website, we look to you to tell us what you think of the site, what you want to see, what you don`t like, what you love!

One of the strategies that you`ll hear us talk about over & over again is the power of testimonials. So, here`s what we want to know from you ...


"How has StartupNation made you more successful?"


We will use these testimonials as we promote the site and share with new visitors how powerful and life-changing StartupNation.com can be. Please be honest and speak from your personal experience here at StartupNation.com.

Be pithy AND mind-blowing! You may end up seeing your testimonial on the StartupNation homepage!!

Oh gosh, where do I start??

New friends.
New clients.
New ideas.
New directions.
`Hearing the voices` of other small business owners.
Feeling less alone in this crazy start-up business.
Making connections with other people in the same situation.

Is that a good list?

I can mention the serious jump in my search engine ranking ...

Maybe I should edit this later to be in, er ... actual sentences.

OK let`s see ...

In a true lesson in marketing, I saw the ads for StartupNation when I signed up for my bank account over 2 years ago. (This was Washington Mutual.) And yet, it took me 2 years to come here. So, without a single other source of advertising from SUN, I remembered the name for 2 years .. and then showed up here one day, just like that.

So what happened in that 2 years?

When I started out, I was an IC for just under 2 years. Those 2 years for me, personally, were all about getting by (it was during my pregnancy and after the birth of my daughter), so being an IC was all I could handle. After 2 years, I decided that `good enough` wasn`t good enough anymore - I was someone`s mom now, and I had to do something better. So thus began my whole personal and professional metamorphosis - that change we all go through somewhere between employee and business owner.

Why do I come to SUN? I know how to put together a business plan, marketing plan, get funding, do taxes, and all the rest. What I needed, after my web relaunch and company relaunch, was to surround myself with those ideas and with the people doing those things. I need to see them every day and be reminded of them to give myself that extra push to do it. I needed the support and camaraderie to push myself. I needed the subtle reminders to do bigger, to think bigger. I needed to be around like-minded people to get me thinking about my business instead of just working in it. And when I was veering off on the wrong path, I needed unlike-minded people to push me back on it. For all these reasons, this is why I still keep coming back to SUN.

And yes, there are a hundred more excellent perks to being here, from me now being everywhere on Google to getting an open mike to hear the technology concerns of small business owners across the country. But really it`s about growth, personally and professionally.

did joel say "pithy", nikole?! this time, try "verbose." now THAT i`d like to see.



-------------------------

Rich Sloan , Co-Founder, Chief Startupologist, StartupNation

Have I wandered off into Craig territory here?

Oh, you know me, always thinking too much!

You guys have an editor ... he`d just cut out everything but the 5th paragraph.

Well, besides becoming a more conscious and active business thinker. I have also become more actively focused on my patented golf invention, and it’s inevitable development. It is also as a result of STARTUPNATION, that I’ve become more “action oriented”, as opposed to an isolated planner of action. It is the “impetus” of STARTUPNATION that provides the most for me (and most). It is (generally speaking) a means/catalyst for provoking action, and eliminating isolation from an equation that can only be completed through relationships.

It is thanks to STARTUPNATION that I was contacted today by an Australian businessman, regarding my patented golf invention. Which is the result of my “Elevator Pitch” last week on SuN Radio. THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH!! That’s right! A mere 60-seconds of “bat out of hell opportunity”…it works wonders. I will keep you all informed of any developments.

Wait! I’m not done yet. Just a few days ago, I was contacted by a part-owner of “Golf Shop Live” (not a producer). Which is a 30-minute product-show that is produced for the Golf Channel. As of right now, we are discussing a potential collaboration. And I don’t think it’s about “buying air time” either. I attribute this more than “serendipitous” week

to the existence of STARTUPNATION. DID I SAY THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH?

“The usual suspects”: I’ve made invaluable friends!…I’ve discovered invaluable mentors…I’ve learned invaluable lessons…You’re invaluable!…continuing…

I`m still a few months away from having my actual product in hand  and because of SuN I have made connections and friends who can`t wait to buy buy buy!  The national exposure from talking to people on SuN in invaluable.  I can`t wait to give a testimonial once I`m actually out there selling something!

-------------------------

Leslie
Founder and President
Charmed Life Products LLC
Grill Charms™… The MUST HAVE grilling accessory that is revolutionizing the American Cook-out AND The perfect gift for any occasion!
Grill Charms
                                                                                                    

I discovered the podcasts before I discovered the site and community. I
listened to nearly all the archive of SuN podcasts while driving from
Colorado to Chicago and back. I was so inspired that it was on the return
drive that I thought up my second business idea which is turning into my
first real venture, Zingerding.

Getting involved in the community has been a remarkable resource of
inspiration and information. The positivity that can come through over an
internet forum is unbelievable and it helps fuel my productivity!

I am just now finally getting all of my ducks in a row and should be a real honest to goodness company in a couple of weeks. Startup nation has given me the inspiration to get off of my tail and actually pull myself out of the 9 to 5 rat race. At this time two years ago, I never would have seen myself running a business of my own, especially one that allows me to create on my own terms.

Website coming soon.

Thanks to Rich Sloan for attending our first San Francisco meeting.  Although it was a rather small group. we received personal feedback and excellent direction from a very savvy coach.  I soaked up the suggestions like a sponge.  I totally screwed up my elevator pitch and lost my voice in the middle of it. That in itself was an experience. Rich, buddy, I hope you deleted it.  It was an excellent lesson to practice, practice and practice to be prepared to give it.

Start Up Nation for me has been a well of information to draw from.  At times when the impossible task has been for my brain to engage in gear, I can check the forums for conversations that affect most of us entrepreneurs on a daily basis and find some helpful suggestions. 

I have been working on another endeavor with a very successful entrepreneur and expert for the Marble Institute of America.  His name is Robert Moody and he is one to aspire to be like.  He has been in the natural stone business 45 years and has shared all aspects of business with me; what he had to offer his employees to keep them, contract law, jobs that went good and bad and why they did. He is probably the best business man I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and working with.
He is a highly regarded person who says that while attaining the age of 70 yrs has lived his life around his family, lived a good life and is 100% satisfied  of the way  he lived his life. 

We should all aspire to be that lucky .

Three cheers for the S.U.N. team and everyone who came to participate in a really fun event.  I can`t wait until next month.