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Once again, In Good Company is thrilled to participate in City Harvest’s annual food drive. Now serving New York City for more than 25 years, City Harvest is the world’s first food rescue organization, dedicated to feeding the city’s hungry men, women, and children.This year, City Harvest will collect 28 million pounds of excess food from all segments of the food industry, including restaurants, grocers, corporate cafeterias, manufacturers, and farms. This food is then delivered free of charge to nearly 600 community food programs throughout New York City using a fleet of trucks and bikes as well as volunteers on foot. Each week, City READ MORE » 
The other week I stopped by my favorite coffee shop in Philly, Bodhi. They are known for not only serving Stumptown coffee but for their“pour over” or “hand-brewed” preparation method. In full disclosure I’m not a coffee or caffeine drinker but still I love this place. The decor is great, the vibe is warm, the staff is beyond friendly, and the sandwiches and treats are delicious. They obviously care a lot about their craft and their customers.
On this particular day I was browsing the cards and postcards on the counter while I waited for my eggel to toast. One card caught my eye…it was READ MORE »
I give the same answer to at least half of the business advice questions that I am asked. “How should I get the word out about my new service?” “What’s the best way to reach my target market?” “What conferences are worth attending?” “How much should I pay my staff?” “How do I find a good manufacturer … sales rep … or cost-effective printer?” “Ask your network,” I reply again and again and again. In my opinion it’s the easiest and fastest way to get the best answers to almost any question. Veteran entrepreneurs usually nod in agreement, mentally scan their network, ask READ MORE »
Last week I had the pleasure of sitting on a panel called “How to Start Your Dream Business” at the 92|Tribeca with Bryan Janeczko, founder of Wicked Start. What a cool guy and what a cool company! Wicked Start is designed to help small business owners and early-stage entrepreneurs realize their dreams of starting a business through the creation of a FREE online suite of tools, resources, and community. Bryan’s previous entrepreneurial experience was creating a company called Nu-Kitchen, an online food retailer serving healthy and delicious meals which he sold to Nutrisystem. On the panel, Bryan and I were like two peas in a READ MORE »
We’re big on peer relationships. We run a community that is built around in-person interaction and believe that a strong network of peers is every entrepreneur’s best tool. A robust network can give you all the answers, support, inspiration and troubleshooting you need to be successful. And luckily, entrepreneurs are notorious for being generous with their time, experience, and advice. Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, has been all over the pages of business publications this month as he promotes his new book Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul. I’ve read a lot of the pieces with great interest because the Starbucks story READ MORE »
Last night, we attended a panel discussion held as part of a lead-up to the forthcoming book by A&F co-founder, Amy Abrams, and her business partner Adelaide Lancaster at In Good Company, the Flatiron workspace they run for women business entrepreneurs. The panelists included business founders Lotta Anderson of design studio Lotta Jansdotter, The Hired Guns’ Allison Hemming, and Claudia Hanlin of The Wedding Library. There was a lot of great advice, reflection, sharing and nuggets of inspiration put forth by these 3 successful entrepreneurs whose businesses were born pre-Internet and have come of age in Web 2.0. One of READ MORE »
Before Adelaide and I started In Good Company, we spent 8 months fleshing out the concept and researching other business models that were similar. We reached out to a few companies who had similar business models to see if we could “pick their brains”. One of the most helpful business relationships we established at the time was with the founders of Paragraph NY, Joy Parisi and Lila Cecil. Paragraph is a wonderful writer’s space in NYC. While they did not know us, they graciously READ MORE »
Originally I was going to write about deadlines today. The source of inspiration? The draft of our book is due this coming Monday! Coincidentally, something happened in the past 24 hours that illustrates a topic we discuss in our book (hey, consider this a sneak peak!) so I thought I would share this story instead. But briefly, on the subject of deadlines – we finished writing so they work! One of the topics we talk about at IGC and in the book is the importance, as a business owner, to be connected to other business owners. That includes, believe it or not, your competition. READ MORE »
Recently, I have been giving a lot of thought about how and why people give advice. I am pretty sure this is in part due to certain shifts in my life, ones that were of the unexpected personal challenges variety. As a result, some of the people in my life, may have (mis)interpreted these as openings to give advice on how to best deal with the situation at hand. Advice is a funny thing. When I was younger, I LOVED giving advice. I felt if I had an opinion on a situation, then I should share it. And often it took the form of “it is so obvious that you READ MORE »
One of the most exciting aspects of facilitating GrowIT is that it functions as a petri dish of ideas. Each group is teeming with challenges and solutions that entrepreneurs experience when running their own business. Here’s a sampling of the current group’s challenges: what to prioritize when you have competing priorities, how to communicate the founder’s unique value, how to communicate your offering in a compelling and concise manner, how to find more of the right kind of customer, how to create alternative revenue channels, how to become recognized as an expert in your field and then get paid appropriately for that expertise. Sound familiar? While READ MORE »
In Good Company is thrilled to participate in City Harvest’s food drive. Now serving New York City for more than 25 years, City Harvest is the world’s first food rescue organization, dedicated to feeding the city’s hungry men, women, and children.This year, City Harvest will collect 28 million pounds of excess food from all segments of the food industry, including restaurants, grocers, corporate cafeterias, manufacturers, and farms. This food is then delivered free of charge to nearly 600 community food programs throughout New York City using a fleet of trucks and bikes as well as volunteers on foot. Each week, City Harvest helps over 300,000 hungry New Yorkers READ MORE »
This past weekend, I was invited to an incredible event produced by my father in law, Yossi Glimer, an art dealer and entrepreneur. This unique event was a performance piece utilizing art, mime and a collection of readings. Simultaneously, it was the synthesis and manifestation of a complex set of thoughts, attitudes and experiences that my father in law is experiencing. Call it a reinvention. At 65, my father in law is listening to an inner muse and courageously exploring a new direction of artistic expression. Yossi is now experiencing being in the role of an artist, a role that he has spent a career cultivating for others. Over READ MORE »
We were thrilled when Eden Abrahams of Clear Path Executive Coaching approached us nearly two years ago with the hope of using In Good Company as research site for her Masters’ Thesis. She was interested in looking at the process of “becoming an entrepreneur” for women. We are so pleased that her results support the importance of peers, as this was obviously our entire premise and hope in starting In Good Company Workplaces back in 2007. Further, her study shows that safe space, collegial relationships, peer learning and truth speaking READ MORE »
We have been reading with great interest about the Inc magazine ‘going virtual’ experiment. We even solicited our members to share some advice with them about working virtually or from home. Now, of course, some things are quite different given that each of us here at In Good Company work for ourselves (Inc staffers have to worry more about virtual communication and collaboration; IGCers have to worry more about other business responsibilities like taxes, billing, marketing, sales, etc.), but there are many challenges and factors that are the same or at least similar. Primarily the similarities reside READ MORE »
(while we are on the subject of baking, we thought we would tempt you with Erin McKenna’s delectable cookbook!) Recently I read a great post by Charlie O’Donnell called Never Too Early To Talk. I was intrigued because this is a topic we talk a lot about with IGC members who are sometimes hesitant to share their idea before it is “ready” or for fear it will be stolen. I really liked what he said about the importance of feedback and the strategic role that it plays in the formation of your venture. Two points that I would add READ MORE » This week at In Good Company’s book club, participant and session facilitator, Ann Mehl, got us all talking about who would be on our imaginary personal board of directors. It led to a really interesting conversation and dialog about each of us, our companies, who we admired, and who we use as good guide posts. While Ann uses this activity with all sorts of clients, it struck me as a particularly good activity for entrepreneurs, independents, and solo workers. We make a lot (sometimes too many) decisions on our own and have to weigh a lot of data and information when doing so. Some of these particularly tough decisions READ MORE »
Another great post by Alexandra Samuel (we really liked her posts on social media), this time on being a Stranded Evangelist…pioneers of innovation and those who are committed to/charged with steering their companies into new territory. While she is primarily talking about trying to champion innovation within an organization, I think her tips are equally important for entrepreneurs working with their clients. Her advice includes “Getting Un-Stranded” by connecting with other like-minded mates in your industry and “Looking Ahead of the Curve” by following thoughts leaders and READ MORE »
In other words, there is tremendous danger to the growth of your business if you start to believe that you know it all and that you should be exclusively in a teaching position. There is great value in letting yourself be READ MORE »
It would be nice to shop your ideas for once with those who don’t have a stake in the outcome! Well, we have been really intrigued recently with several sites where people can do just that – get feedback on their business ideas, innovations, and even names from a READ MORE »
In my experience, people like to help others (ok, not everyone, but most people do). Even if they are not “connectors” by nature, when asked a lot of people will make their best effort to help. Perhaps it makes them feel good, hopefully they recognize all the help they have received along their professional journey and feel obliged to pay it forward, perhaps they believe in Karma – whatever the reason, most people really are motivated to help in most matters! But there is a catch – you need to be very clear about making it known how people can help READ MORE » |
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