In an effort to keep everyone in the loop, I'm going to attempt to add regular blog entries concerning the latest news in EOK.

I was invited to a meeting this morning to brainstorm on the best use for the old Knoxivi space under the Knoxville Chamber on Market Square.  For those not familiar, the space is located at 17 Market Square, Knoxville, TN 37902.  It's about 2000 square feet of space; is located on the ground floor with storefront glass to Market Square; and is located…

I received a note from a good friend about not being able to afford EOK's membership fees of $100/year or $.27/day.  My immediate thought was how can you afford not to be a member of EOK.  EOK provides more tips, tools, contacts, real-world examples, rubber to the road content, than any other organization I've seen.

I've launched two new businesses since I've been a…

I have the opportunity to observe and learn about many organizations when I speak on social media. Most organizations are interested in providing members with an understanding of how social media can help their members individually, but rarely does an organization apply the techniques as a group to take advantage of the social collective.

Social Collective is one of the most powerful benefits any organization can provide. As a social collective, members can unite to expand their reach…

Fellow EOK Members, 

Many of us are working hard at our businesses and being judicious on how we spend our dollars. EOK is requesting you to consider being an EOK Sponsor for the Empowered Teen Entrepreneurship Camp. Most of us realize the important influence we have on young people and want to encourage them to explore being entrepreneurs. Leo and Kerri and I also want everyone in the Knoxville area to know about what we do to help entrepreneurs. What better way than have a…

It’s that time of year--graduation season.  If you are like me, you are receiving those graduation invitations in the mail.  I actually have three nieces graduating from college or high school.  Let me encourage you, as you are writing those graduation cards, and perhaps slipping in a little financial incentive, to also include a suggestion to help them get their professional careers off on the right foot.  Here are five graduation tips for 2012’s women grads:

1.    Immediately clean up…

At our last EOK meeting, I asked everyone to help build a quick website for our friend, Ron Carlson.  The response was pretty amazing.  Imagine, if we did a little work like this for every member...

I'm sure if we wanted to go further, we could build a nice twitter page, facebook page, and more.

Crowd-sourcing to kickstart a member's online…

Business Records in both paper and digital formats are a major entrepreneurial asset for all organizations – large or small. Being organized so information is accessible and making sure you retain records needed for the future is critical to any business.…

1. Kickstarter.com is a great funding site where entrepreneurs take a crowdsourcing approach to funding. 75% of kickstarter projects have made funding according to Mitch Joel.

2. Don't try to contain social media in one department. Make it part of your company's culture and make everyone responsible for integrating it into the plan.

3. Videos don't have to be expensive productions to serve a purpose. Make your own short video (a few minutes at most) and get your message…

EoK Episode 172 (Adam Slack and Chad Ridner) from Entrepreneurs of Knoxville on Vimeo.

I don't know about you but book keeping is one of my least favorite tasks. I like having the data to make decisions but don't like the constant…

I know that there is a lot out there about what it means to be an entrepreneur, including plenty of case studies and real-life examples. What I find most fascinating are the characteristics of people who excel as entrepreneurs. 



If you do some research, the word enterprise comes from the French word “entreprendre” or “to undertake,” dated as far back as 1852. The word defined means one who organizes, manages and assumes the risk of a business or…