This Skin We're In by Dale Beermann

My Favorite Posts From the Last 6 Months

I realized a little while ago that I've been blogging, in some form or another, for about three years now.  This blog is just a small part of that, but I think that most of my best content has ended up here.

The blog has turned into a mix of writing about entrepreneurship and social media, for the most part.  I've had some interesting experiences, both as an entrepreneur myself and as the co-chair of an entrepreneurial committee for young professionals (still the only one of its kind that I know of), and most recently, in founding a non-profit for entrepreneurs.

This page post will be a rolling account of some of my favorite posts in those topics, so check back every so often to see what's here.

Entrepreneurship

1. Why the Term "Serial Entrepreneur" Makes Me Want to Vomit 2. Entrepreneur or Small Business Owner? Does it matter? 3. Innovation and Entrepreneurship: 9 Ways to Create New Opportunities

Social Media

1. What [Insert Primary Keyword Here] Taught Me About [Insert Secondary Keyword Here] 2. Social Media: Leveraging the Conversation

What's interesting about blogging is that your favorite posts are very rarely your readers' favorite posts. In addition, your readers favorite posts are very rarely your most commented on. If you have others that you like, please let me know.

What [Insert Primary Keyword Here] Taught Me About [Insert Secondary Keyword Here]

I really like blogging.  Mostly because I really like writing.  Two of my favorite classes in college were English and Modern Literature, yet somehow I ended up being a Computer Science major.  I still remember writing a paper about the literacy of the Simpsons.  I couldn't tell you a whole lot about most of the programs I wrote.

What I really love about blogging though are the things that I learn along the way.  The title of this post reflects that feeling.  It was actually a title I wrote because I got so sick of all of the "What Obama's Innauguration Speech Taught Me about Puppies" posts.  In fact, this was the second title I chose for the post.  At first it was "Why I Didn't Write Your Stupid Obama Post."  Then I realized that you can't really write an Obama post about how you don't like the way people use Obama posts to drive traffic.  I also think I'm a pretty nice person and I don't want to turn into someone who hides behind the thin veil of the internet.

In addition to the titles, I wrote up two complete posts to go with them before I wrote this one.  The first one was just a rant.  After the Obama post, I wrote one about how to write headlines.  I can't stand headlines that fit into the template defined by the title above and I wanted to try to give some advice.  I even did a bunch of research and had links to Copyblogger and ProBlogger.  But then I realized that I don't really want to write about blogging.  There are a lot of people that do that much better than I will ever be able to.

This is post number three, under the exact same title.  The title could have been "What Blogging Taught Me About Me," or something along those lines.  But that title sucks and I like to try to be witty (I usually fail). 

More importantly, this post is really about the whole process of blogging.  Everything I write about teaches me something along the way, whether it's through my own reflection or the conversations I help create.

My friend wrote a really good e-book about why students should be blogging.  Career wise, I agree with everything he has to say.  In addition, I think that it should be part of every liberal arts education (at UW-Madison, Comp. Sci. is in the College of Letters & Science.  Maybe that's why I made it through).  Obviously, because it "develops the student’s ratiocination and intellectual capabilities."

I've been telling a lot of people that they should start blogging recently, generally citing career prospects.  Your experiences as a blogger are worth just as much though, albeit in a slightly less tangible way.  So go start blogging and see what you find out about yourself.

Ning and Non-Profits: A Match Made in the Cloud

Image via CrunchBase

Yesterday, we announced that we were launching the website for a new non-profit, Propel Wisconsin Innovation.  I developed the site myself, but what really impressed me was the ease with which I was able to do it and the amazing value that Ning brings to the table, especially for a non-profit.

Features

Ning provides out-of-the-box social networks complete with member registration and profiles, blogs, RSS feeds, forums, events, groups, photos, videos, music, chat, and activity feeds.  As far as look and feel, different themes can be selected and customized fairly easily.  There is also an additional layer of customization in defining styles via CSS.  I did have to use this a bit more than I hoped, but with a bit of CSS knowledge it wasn't too bad.

HTML can be used to layout information in text boxes which can be dragged and dropped just like any other item.  Ning is also part of Open Social, letting you integrate third party widgets such as news feeds, sports scores, or just about anything.  If you require functionality that isn't available, it can almost certainly be implemented via an Open Social app or widget.

Cost

We use three premium services, for a total of $55 a month.  The services allow us to use our own domain name and remove the ads and promotional links to Ning.  To someone unfamiliar with Ning, we look very much like a home-grown site.  And had we been, there's a really good chance it would have cost us $5K-$10K to have all of this built and integrated, even with existing products such as phpBB.  With that kind of budget, we can host the site for well over 10 years at Ning's current price.

The only other costs associated with creating the site were the domain registration ($7.50 a year at GoDaddy) and the image for the header (~$15 at iStockPhoto).  I did already have copies of Photoshop and Illustrator so I'm not factoring that in.  Also, we're only using email forwarding for now.  GoDaddy provides email services at less that $2 a month so it's pretty minimal to run an entire website without having to host it yourself.

Benefits

The cost itself is an obvious benefit.  However, the fact that a non-profit can operate autonomously, sans web and email server, is a huge win.  You also get a lot of support with your products.  GoDaddy and Ning both have their own support but you have a large community of developers behind you as well.  In addition, the site itself will be fairly easy to maintain and because it's hosted with Ning your uptime is going to be fantastic.

What's Missing

It's pretty easy to add new pages in Ning but there is a lack of any sort of content management system.  The place where this really makes a difference is on the homepage where you have custom text boxes.  Removing them deletes the content permanently.  This could be achieved with some data export tools, which Ning should have anyway to pull data out of the forums.

Another feature that I'd like to see is the ability to create default user profiles.  The user profile is defined by the theme, but I'd like to be able to add widgets by default and rearrange things.  As far as I'm aware, this isn't possible.

The text boxes could also use some better visual formatting tools.  Having to write out HTML tables is a pain.  Lastly, Ning really needs to implement two-column themes (you can do it via CSS, but it's a hack).  All in all though, Ning did what I wanted it to.

Alternatives

There are a few options out there for doing some of this in different ways.  Change.org provides a lot of the same features listed above and is targetd at non-profits.  It doesn't seem that there's support for hosting it on your own domain though.  Wild Apricot has its own membership software and website creator.  It's prices are comparable to Ning and there seem to be more options for page layouts but I haven't used it

If you went the open source route, you could take a look at Drupal and Wordpress, but now you'll probably have to host it yourself, and you're losing a lot of the benefit that the white-label social networks give you.  More importantly, you need a developer, which might not be in the cards for a non-profit.

The Bottom Line

I've been doing website development off and on for about 10 years now.  I'm sure this means that I'm a bit more able to put a site like this together than most people but I can also tell you that I've been recommending Ning to everyone recently.  It took me two days to design and build a site that would have taken at least a month otherwise, probably wouldn't have looked as nice, and would have had a ton of bugs.  If you're thinking about creating a website for a non-profit, go check out http://www.propelwi.com and you can see the results yourself.

Announcing Propel Wisconsin Innovation

I've always been very interested in helping younger people start their own companies.  That's why I was so excited when we started talking back in August of last year about a new statewide organization for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs.  We're really excited to announce the culmination of those talks, with the launch of Propel Wisconsin Innovation.

Propel Wisconsin Innovation is a new non-profit organization serving as the collective voice for entrepreneurs in Wisconsin. Our goal is to spread the best practices being established across the state, providing the necessary resources to fill in any gaps.  We have currently begun two programs, our Advocacy program and our Campus Outreach program.

The launch of the website is happening in conjunction with National Entrepreneurship Week and an event that we're putting on at UW-Whitewater.  The event, called the Entrepreneurs' Collaboration Conference, is targeted at students but open to everyone.  As the first event of our Campus Outreach initiative it is a great place to see what other young entrepreneurs are up to.

I've been the co-chair of the entrepreneurial committee of Madison MAGNET for nearly two years now.  I'm excited about Propel WI because it gives me a chance to take what we're doing with MAGNET and extend it to other areas of the state.  I've also had the opportunity to talk to a few local high schools about starting a company.  This will be another great avenue for pursuing those talks and getting more involved in the development of curricula for middle and high school students, and part of a future program that Propel WI will be starting this fall.

Please go check us out and stay tuned for more updates!

Innovation and Entrepreneurship: 9 Ways to Create New Opportunities

I get to talk to quite a few aspiring entrepreneurs as the result of my involvement with a local young professional organization.  Some of them already have ideas, some don't.  Very few, however, are sure how exactly to go get started. 

Entrepreneurship is something that is incredibly difficult to jump right into.  Futhermore, every venture is going to be a new experience you can learn from.  The important thing is to pick somewhere to start and continue to build on it. Here are a few ideas that should get you moving:

Networking

The entrepreneurial community is a pretty close-knit one.  Knowing more people will only increase the chances that you'll be able to find opportunities, experienced partners, funding, and experienced service providers.

1. Have Lunch With a Seasoned Entrepreneur

One of the best things that I've experienced about entrepreneurs is that most of them are genuinely willing to help out other entrepreneurs.  They're also pretty approachable and the type of people that appreciate networking.  So if there's an experienced entrepreneur in your area, see if you can buy them lunch.  Ask how they got started (most love telling you about this too) and ask what their suggestions are for how you might go about it.

2. Join an Entrepreneur Organization

There are incredible number of entrepreneurial groups out there.  I was lucky that our local young professional organization had an entrepreneurial arm to it.  I've met a ton of people at our networking events and learned a lot from the speakers and peer support groups that we host.  Across most of the country there are also Inventor and Entrepreneur Clubs which are a bit more informal but similar in nature.  If you're a student, there are a ton of different groups as well, such as CEO, SIFE, SAGE, DECA, and FBLA.  Other types of groups are the Small Business Development Centers, Chambers of Commerce, and lots of states have entprenreneurial networks, all of which put on events for entrepreneurs.

3. Start an Entrepreneur Organization/Chapter

Can't find a group in your area?  Start one!  Not only does it help you gain credibility, but it's an amazing way to meet influential people in your area.  I also have a bit of experience here, so I can honestly tell you that it's not that hard.  There are a lot of young professional groups out there that don't have entrepreneurial aspects to them (even though we're all in fact supposed to be entrepreneurs).  If you are interested in starting an entrepreneurial group for young professionals, get in touch with me, I'll help you out.

There are a lot of other opportunities for starting chapters of existing organizations.  Browse what's out there and see what type of support you can get.  The UWW-Whitewater CEO club has had a lot of success, for example.  Most of these groups have people in your state already, so find out who they are and see why there isn't a chapter in your area.  If you can find someone near by, get the national contact.  They'll be more than willing to help.

Social Media

It's all the rage.  But there are some great ways to use it for entrepreneurship.

4. Social Networks

If you aren't on LinkedIn, start now.  I love the Groups feature of LinkedIn.  Join the groups for your industry, your school, everything of relevance.  I get a daily digest of the discussions happening in those groups and I try to respond when I have something to say.  This is a great way of getting to know people that are already in your professional network.

There are also some sites, such as PartnerUp, with the direct aim of linking up entrepreneurs. I'm a member of PartnerUp, but I haven't used it too much.  As should always be the case, just make sure you really get to know someone if you're going into business with them.

5. Blog

I can't tell you how important it is to blog, especially if you're a student.  People love seeing case studies in entrepreneurship as well.  I also use my blog regularly to help solidify my ideas and get additional feedback.

Gaining Experience

One of the most important things you can do if you want to start a company is get some experience.  This doesn't mean that you need to actually start a company. There are a lot of ways to learn different aspects of entrepreneurship without going through the whole process.

6. Participate in a Design or Innovation Challenge

This is a category of challenges that generally involve a relatively small time commitment but provide a great opportunity to start thinking in an innovative way.  There are quite a few different types of challenges hosted by various organizations, especially if you're a student, but you might have to look for them.  Here are a few examples to get you started:

• UW-Madison has a great event called the 100 hour challenge where you get 100 hours to develop a new product from scrap parts.
• Microsoft Phizzpop hosts both local an onlilne web design challenges.
• Just last weekend there was an event called the Global Game Jam that gave participants an opportunity to compete while creating games.
• Popular Science and Core 77 put on different challenges for industrial designers.  They have ranged from focusing on products for Speed, to Human Power, to Memory.

The benefit of doing these types of challenges and competitions is that you usually get some great feedback from the judges.

7. Compete In a Business Plan Competition

Granted, you need an idea to do it but this is a great way to flesh out an idea with lots of help along the way.  Here in Wisconsin, the Governor's Business Plan Competetion provides an excellent way to get feedback on your ideas.  Best of all, you don't have to write a complete business plan to get started.   The first phase is just 250 words.  Anyone can write 250 words!  Just about every state has their own, so go see what you can find.

8. Try out the Elevator Pitch Olympics

I was surprised to find out how many different groups host these events.  There is one here during the Early Stage Symposium, but I also found on in New Jersey, one at MIT, and another in at the TieCON conference.  I haven't done one of these myself, but I have watched them.  You really need to be able to take criticism in a very public environment if you're going to do this, but with the the right attitude you can gain a lot of information directly from the people who might be investing in your company.

9. Start a Side Project

Before we started Sharendipity, I was doing a side project with my brother for a website called MyOutdoors.net.  We were never able to take the site to the level we wanted to.  But, it's still up, and I can still show people that I did it.  Not only is this something that I can use to highlight my own ambition but it taught me and my brother a lot about starting a company.  As a result, we both went on to different startups as well.  Everyone loves to see that you've tried to do get out on your own before, even if it didn't succeed.

Have some other suggestions?  Please let us know in the comments.

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