Lay's Farmers-Steve and April

What I am loving about these new Lays Potato Chips commercials is that the fact that they are featuring the people behind the scenes. In my honest opinion, I prefer to see the people who create the product than the actual product itself, especially if I already know about the product. It makes me want to buy a brand more when I get to learn different aspects of what makes a brand what it is. I liked this commercial because it reminds me of how the beau and I interact when it comes to collaborating with our businesses. Ha Ha!



The Unemployed Entrepreneur

4 Things I learned from Starr Hall

Last Wednesday, I had the pleasure and opportunity to attend a free seminar sponsored by Entrepreneur Magazine, Sprint, and Deluxe [for Business]. The key note speaker was a beautiful woman, in spirit and in face, by the name of Starr Hall.

Starr Hall is an international speaker, author of Get Connected, a contributor to Entrepreneur Magazine, an entrepreneur, as well as a slew of other titles. What I enjoyed about her most as our keynote speaker is her ability to keep the audience engaged and to broadcast a lot of knowledge in a way that is interesting. Even though we were at the seminar for about two hours, it just didn't seem like enough time. I wanted to learn more, know more, acquire more. Not only did she teach me about social media (I'll get to that later), but she inadvertently taught us how to be better speakers. This post isn't about what I learned at the Social Media Crash Course because it's too easy, plus I'll post it tomorrow. This post is about what Starr inadvertently taught me about being a better speaker.

I've been told that I too am a great speaker, articulate, eloquent, and intelligent (tooting my own horn...beep beep), but as a life long learner I always want to be better. Being a great speaker is cool in conversation or nice with strangers, but eventually I want to be the type of speaker that teaches and inspires.

What I inadvertently learned from Starr Hall as a speaker is...

• jokes go a long way when breaking the ice. The first thing Starr did once we were seated and attentive was make a series of jokes. It got us laughing and comfortable with her and what she had to offer. And of course, laughter is the best medicine...so why wouldn't we want a healthy dose or be the ones to provide it?
• be engaging. When I say engaging, I'm not necessarily talking about the content, I mean engaging like interacting. Starr was definitely guilty of interacting with us regularly. Although she was supposed to stay on stage and basically "preach," at any opportunity she would be in the crowd talking directly to us.
• be organized but fun. As we watched Starr go through the powerpoint, we were also given paper copies of it. She was very organized in her style but she kept it fun with interesting facts and examples.
• be yourself. When you meet Starr, you know that her personality is genuine. How she speaks to you in a conference is pretty much how she speaks to you in person. When you are speaking to people, whether for conversation, inspiration, education, or whatever...BE YOURSELF!

Free information is priceless. Certainly I went to the seminar to learn about branding my business through social media. Absolutely I went to network with other entrepreneurs and Starr Hall. You best believe I went because it was free, but the information I received inadvertently will likely stick with me more than everything I was supposed to be learning.

Check out Starr Hall and all her accolades and definitely stay up to date for Entrepreneur Magazine's next FREE conference.

The Unemployed Entrepreneur

PS Check out my website: www.shawntelasemota.com!!!

Vision Boards: How your business can benefit

How many of you have a vision board? Do you know what a vision board is?

"A vision board is a tool used to help clarify, concentrate and maintain focus on a specific life goal. Literally, a vision board is any sort of board on which you display images that represent whatever you want to be, do or have in your life."

       Courtesy of Make A Vision Board.com
In my personal life I have three vision boards: a digital one that is the background picture on my laptop since I am always on it, another one that serves as personal inspiration with pictures of my female role models, and one that I created with the boyfriance.

The reason why I chose to do three is because of separate goals and separate impacts I wanted to make on my own life. You don't have to do three, but it is always good to do at least one every year. You and your business can really benefit from it.

Five Ways Your Business Can Benefit From A Vision Board:

• As an owner, you can visually see and project your goals to others within the company. Want to increase traffic in a particular area? Want a specific department to step their game up? Creating a vision board with your company's annual or quarterly goals can help you get your message across.


• Has your boss ever tried to boost the morale of all the employees with sugary snacks or awkward 5 minute meetings? You leave those meetings wondering what the point of it was and feeling like you're on a sugary joy ride. With a vision board "party" at the office, the boss can better boost the morale of their employees by allowing them to work together for a common goal on something that's not necessarily work. Also, the employees have the opportunity to have their voice heard by adding their part to the board.


• I've heard of CEOs hiring life and business coaches to create team building events for their company. They have games from the old, trust games to the get the chip off your shoulder games. All of those are great, but how does it cause all the employees to work well together and get to know each other? A corporation wide vision board "party" can be a great team building event. Departments can get to know each other and CEOs can get down to their employees level.


• The point of a vision board isn't just to visually see your goals, it's meant to be a tool to track performance. It helps you to track your achievements and move on to the next. Bosses can see how their company's progress and achievements are going. They can also see where improvements need to happen for company growth.


• A vision board can be a lot of things to a plethora of people, but the main thing it will always be no matter if you are a boss, employee, entrepreneur, or unemployed is a fantastic motivational tool. When you can effectively visualize your goals, you are more motivated to achieve them.

A vision board is a great tool, personally, because it can help motivate you to accomplish any of your goals. But professionally, a vision board is a great cost effective tool to not only track your performance and achievements, but also motivate your employees to accomplish those goals and get to know their co-workers.

So, my dear bosses. Try it! All you need are poster boards, magazines/ pictures/ graphs, and art supplies. So what's stopping you? Visualize your company's greatness.

The Unemployed [but Empowered and Goal Achieving] Entrepreneur

Vistaprint: The Unemployed Entrepreneur's secret weapon

Yesterday I got my postcards from Vistaprint! I'm super excited. These postcards are an integral part of my business' current marketing strategy and they match the business cards I purchased from them a week before. No, I am not paid to endorse them [although that isn't such a bad idea]. I just know a good product when I use it.

I've gone to many a networking event and heard people bad mouthing Vistaprint, saying how cheap (meaning crappy) they are or how they just plain don't like them. I never really understood why because I've always had a positive experience with them. To me Vistaprint is the unemployed entrepreneur's secret weapon.


Six reason's why I love Vistaprint:

1. They are affordable- I know some people who have spent hundreds of dollars on business cards. Why? The purpose is to pass them out. Sure you want them to reflect what your business stands for, but you can do that without dipping heavily into your business account. Plus think about it, you're going to need to continuously order refills and remakes.
2. They are efficient- Vistaprint gives you the option of either customizing one of their thousands of templates or simply uploading your own for free. I've seen other sites who charge you to upload your own artwork in order to convince you to use their templates. No way Jose! I'd rather save my money.
3. They are friendly and accessible- I bet you didn't even know that Vistaprint is on Twitter. You did? Okay. Well I bet you didn't that they actually reply to @replies. Whether you want to say thank you or ask a question, the Vistaprint PR team is there to talk to you.
4. They are fast- I remember getting my very first set of business cards from another company. Although the business cards were of really high quality, I mean UV gloss coat, F/B color, and heavy cardstock nice, but they took FOREVER to arrive. By the time they arrived, I had missed like three plus weeks worth of networking opportunities. And as an entrepreneur, that is three weeks too long. Vistaprint gives you an estimated time arrival, but often the package arrives days even weeks later. That's what I call fast service!
5. They're legible- I've seen some websites, not just for business cards, that are very confusing to navigate through. Where you think one thing is, it isn't. Vistaprint has a pretty straight forward site. Even your computer illiterate Aunt Jane could understand Vistaprint's site.
6. Lastly. The Deals!-If you receive email from Vistaprint like I do, you'll notice that Vistaprint has more sales than the grocery store. The best thing about their deals is that they are actually deals. None of that 'buy three get two free' or 'take a percentage off the next time you visit' kind of deal. Vistaprint has deals like "Get 250 premium business cards...FOR FREE" All you have to pay is the shipping, which is cheaper than your daily coffee habit.

I like Vistaprint for the sheer fact that they are within my company's meager budget, they are fast and friendly, and they have so many quality products to offer other than business cards.

Whether you are a Bougie Budgetista or an Unemployed Entrepreneur, Vistaprint has everything you need to market yourself properly.

The Unemployed [but Empowered and Savvy] Entrepreneur