What is EOK?
EOK (Entrpreneurs of Knoxville) is a collection of
Entrepreneurs/Investors/Business Owners who meet weekly to share
ideas and provide support to each other. If you go from one idea or
concept to the next at the speed of light; if people stare at you
blankly when you're explaining your new idea or gadget and say,
"that'll never work" or "someone else is probably working on that
right now"; if you feel alone and frustrated because you know the
answers but no one will listen; then this is the place for you. We
welcome you and your ideas. We can help you turn your idea into a
business. We have small group meetings, larger social times,
speaker series, fund raising events, etc. Please consider joining
us and participating.
Here we help each other become more successful. We don't sell to
each other; this is not a business card trading group. Your skills
and experience can be used to make every other member as successful
as possible.
Meetings
E.O.K. members meet weekly on Wednesday mornings at 8:30 a.m.
Topics for each week are located on the EOK Delicious site
http://delicious.com/eok/episode#.
; All who attend are introduced on the podcast and live stream. We
discuss the topics in a rotation around the room. There is time at
the end of the meeting to present a business idea and ask for help
launching your idea. Often members stay and work on joint ventures
after the meeting is over. If you are interested in sharing or
presenting, just post a comment on the appropriate meeting event
with your intent, or contact
Shawn Van Dyke.
How can I help?
Create an account. If you have a twitter account, follow
eoktown; if you don't have a
twitter account, get one. Add the
EOK badge to your
website, facebook, blog, etc. linking back to EOK. Start posting
blog entries about cool, new, exciting ideas, products, concepts,
etc. Tell your story in the form of a blog entry. Share articles.
Start a group. Tell us about your latest project. Suggest a speaker
or venue for our next meeting. Schedule an event and invite other
members to join you for dinner, drinks, brainstorming, etc. Donate
time to working on the site. We need a logo, some graphics,
advertising, etc. Just jump in and start doing.
What does it cost?
Not a dime...we're all in this together. Everyone contributes. We
all learn. We all get something out of it. There are costs
associated with hosting and maintaining the site so we do run some
advertising. The book recommendations section is ad based; so, if
you are planning to buy one of the books we recommend, please use
the link from the site giving us a small commission. You can always
donate a few bucks ;)
Can members advertise?
Sure. I've paid the $20.00/month fee to ning to allow us to
advertise on the site according to the
TOS. Feel free to plug away.
Write a blog about your business. Create a group and place ads in
the header section. Ask for partners in your latest money-making
scheme. Looking for investors? Write up a good pitch in the form of
a blog or video and see if anyone is interested.
Also, if you just want to run an ad on the site, contact Leo at
lrknight@eokhq.com or
send him a message. We'll hook you up!
Membership Benefits?
As a member of EOK, you receive discounts to events and priority
seating. In addition to the large venue meetings, we have small
group meetings for members to have a more intimate relationship and
work on projects together. These smaller groups are encouraged to
brainstorm together and even form partnerships or joint ventures.
We would love to hear success and not-so-success stories.
How do I customize "My Page"?
You can drag-n-drop sections up or down on your page to change the
order. You can also add HTML to any section of your page to get as
creative as you like. You can change the Theme, modify the CSS, add
files, add pictures, video, etc. Go crazy. If you need more help,
checkout the
Ning
Network Creators and the
Ning Developer Network Also, you
can checkout this quick screencast by Leo using JingProject.com
software
Customize
Your EOK Profile
Is there a member chat?
Yes, similar to Facebook in a bar at the bottom of your browser
window.
How do I cancel my account? Or leave a network?
Here is a link to a help page on Ning.com to help you with
canceling your account.
Leave
a Network
How can I become a featured member?
1. Members of E.O.K. are featured if they volunteer to lead a
discussion at one of our Wednesday Morning Meetings.
2. Members of E.O.K. are featured if they contribute 20+ hours of
support to EOK.
3. Members of E.O.K. are featured if they contribute financially
$500 or more to E.O.K. (which is equivalent to 20 hrs at $25/hr).
We use $25/hr for all Sweat Equity contributions.