Posts Tagged ‘small business spotlight’
Monday, April 18th, 2011
I like doing anything and everything I can over the internet. Some might say this is because I am a college-aged millennial whose social skills have been stunted by technology, but I think it has more to do with the ease, convenience and immediacy the internet provides. Need pad thai at midnight? The internet will prevail. Need to order panda shaped salt and pepper shakers because you forgot to buy your room mate a birthday gift until two days beforehand? Internet’s got your back.
And now the internet can offer one more convenient service: SignNow.com. SignNow offers 100% free electronic signings with no registration required. Instead of focusing on businesses, like many e-signature sites do, the creators of SignNow wanted to make their services accessible to the individual. People who need a fast signature only need to upload the document and then sign and send it.
Andrew Ellis, one of the co-founders of SignNow.com, was so enthusiastic about his company, I’m going to let him do most the talking on this one:
How would you explain what you do to somebody’s grandmother?
Funny, I actually had brunch with my grandmother and girlfriend this morning and had fun explaining how I signed a housing lease on my iPhone! We build technologies that allow people to sign documents (SignNow.com) and notarize documents (notarynow.com) online over a computer. You can sign your documents with your mouse or your finger if you have a smartphone. If you have a webcam, you can connect to a notary over video chat without leaving your desk! We try to give people a lot for free so they will keep coming back, tell their friends, and eventually upgrade.
What are some industry specific challenges you faced?
One of the greatest industry challenges is educating the public about the security behind digital technology. There is tremendous legal support behind our products, but people need to FEEL comfortable as well. It’s a lot easier to tell customers “Try our FREE signing website, you can sign documents with a mouse or on your iphone!” than it is to explain how the 1999 UETA and 2000 ESIGN Acts and our https framework help keep us secure. I wanted to run a marketing campaign saying “Our business is so easy and secure it makes signing documents feel like a Corona commercial” but our legal team said no.
Tell us a crazy story from starting your own business.
Our first week of launching NotaryNow, we received multiple threats via message boards, forums, and I even got a call from a notary threatening to “Wring my F*ing neck” and to “Stay the F*ck out of New Jersey” if we did business in there. The notary community (yes it can be a feisty, union-like group) generally dislikes us because they believe online notarizations will put them out of business. Yet with nearly 90% of the working population trusting their money to online banking but under 5% of people signing documents online (and even less notarizing online), it’s not hard to see where business technology will move with time.
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Tags: e-signatures, small biz, small business, small business spotlight, web start-ups
Posted in business, community, crowdsourcing, design, Interviews | No Comments »
Friday, December 17th, 2010
Winter is finally here! Know what that means? Ski trips! But how does one go about choosing the perfect slope? It is as simple as SkiTown.com. SkiTown.com is your guide to skiing and snowboarding in North America. It’s equipped with a resort guide featuring over 600 resorts in the United States and Canada. All you have to do is click on the state or province you would like to find a resort in, locate a resort and SkiTown.com updates you on current weather conditions, trail maps of the resort, prices for lift tickets and season passes, lodging, directions, and even reviews from previous customers. If you decide you like that resort there’s a convenient flight search on the page to book flights right away. How simple is that!
Charles Greer recently posted a logo project on the site for SkiTown.com. He received over 150 entries but it was finally awarded to Lanex! The project was to update the logo but also make it more adaptable for a smart phone application. That app would definitely come in handy!
I had a chance to talk with Charles and get some insider information for you guys on everything from great podcasts to check out and advice on starting a company of your own so read on…
1. How did you get things designed before crowdSPRING?
We used to have designers on staff years ago, and we used some local graphic designers when we no longer needed full time designers on staff. A local design shop was charging us $500 – $1000 for three comps of a design and we had to choose from one of them. If we did not like the designs or they required significant tweaking we would be charged additional fees.
2. Why in the world did you decide to use crowdSPRING?!
We decided that we needed to redesign our logo so that it would work in an App world as well as the web. After reading about crowdSPRING in various publications, we thought we would give it a try. We were overwhelmed with the number of designs we received, over 120 of them. Some did not seem to be good fits for us at all, most were pretty good and there were eight that we thought were really outstanding! SkiTown.com is an online guide to every ski area in North America, and we expected most designs to come from the US and Canada, people closer to our industry and market. However, we received some truly excellent design ideas from all over the world, even in places that do not get any snow, like Indonesia! In fact that is where our winning design came from! We were able to communicate our thoughts on the graphics submitted with the designers who very often would come back with tweaks or a whole new design. Some of the designers submitted more than 5 separate design ideas. It was awesome!
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Tags: crowdspring, SkiTown.com, small biz, small business spotlight
Posted in Awesomeness, business, community, crowdsourcing, design, How To, inspiration, Interviews, marketing, Reviews, social media, start-up tips, Strategy, Technology | 1 Comment »
Friday, December 10th, 2010
Ever wonder how professional basketball players got so good? It’s not just skill as we’ve learned – there’s a company called Point Guard College and it has been setting athletes up for success since 1993.
Point Guard College (PGC) is an intense, no-nonsense learning experience that offers courses for middle school, high school and college-aged male and female student-athletes. Not like typical basketball camps, it is called a “college” for a reason. The course curriculum is specially designed to offer a complete basketball education. PGC teaches basketball players to play the game intelligently, to train purposefully, to be “coaches on the court,” and to be true leaders during games, in practice, during the off-season, and in everyday life.
Aside from teaching on the court, attendees have classroom lectures three times a day analyzing basketball video footage, studying the subtleties of winning basketball, learning about basketball leadership, and communication skills that will be valuable on the basketball court and in everyday life.
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Tags: crowdspring, point guard college, small biz, small business spotlight, the basketball university
Posted in Awesomeness, business, community, crowdsourcing, design, How To, inspiration, Interviews, marketing, social media, start-up tips, Strategy, Technology | No Comments »
Friday, September 24th, 2010
We’ve all seen her…the woman on the bus carrying a purse, a briefcase, a lunch bag, and a tote. Some may refer to them as ‘bag ladies’ but in a big city, it’s hard for women not to carry literal ‘excess baggage’. One of the main causes? Shoes. Believe it or not, those three inch heels are hard to walk in for long periods of time so most women bring gym shoes but how awkward does that look with dress clothes?
Which brings me to my next point, Sole Discretion! When I saw this company I had to write about them! Sole Discretion manufactures rollable/foldable flats that can fit in your purse with a chic wristlet that folds out into a tote to carry your heels in – genius.
Back in July, Sole Discretion’s co-owners, Sheree Coleman, Sherrae M. Hayes, and Alyxaundria Sanford, posted a logo project on crowdSPRING and awarded cS username: allfun with the award – congrats! The SD Team officially launched Sole Discretion on September 1, 2010, and you definitely need to check them out. The flats come in black, gold, silver, and leopard and are only $15!
So put down your bags, take off your shoes, and read what advice The SD Team has for you…
1. How did you get things designed before crowdSPRING?
Life “B.C.” (before crowdSPRING) was difficult. Our logo was our first major project. We were waiting for quotes and logo drafts from select designers for weeks, only to come up short – no follow-through from the designers, missed deadlines, and the looming feeling of only receiving 2-3 designs and disliking all of them. We felt like our only option was to depend on independent designers, but little did we know, crowdSPRING would save the day!
2. Why in the world did you decide to use crowdSPRING?!
Once we reviewed the website and how innovative the crowdSPRING process was, it was a no-brainer. crowdSPRING offered everything that we needed – a chance to work with multiple designers, countless logo options to choose form, a fixed deadline – all within our budget. As a small business with big dreams we could not ask for more.
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Tags: crowdspring, small biz, small business spotlight, sole discretion
Posted in Awesomeness, business, community, crowdsourcing, design, How To, inspiration, Interviews, marketing, Reviews, social media, start-up tips, Strategy, Technology | 5 Comments »
Sunday, September 12th, 2010
From Amelia Earhart to Wonder Woman to right here on cS, it’s no surprise to anyone that girls rule. That aside, it’s only natural that women are making a serious impact in the entrepreneurial world!
Fearless Women Entrepreneur Network (or FWEN for short) posted a logo project on crowdSPRING and they need our community’s help. FWEN is a network started in San Francisco, CA to help teach, train, and coach women to become better entrepreneurs. Along with awesome classes and workshop events, FWEN even offers scholarships! So if you’re in the San Francisco area check them out! Friend them on Facebook, and while you’re at it friend us too!
I got a chance to talk with Laura Guy, the co-founder and Director of Organization and Execution at FWEN, and here’s what she has to share with all of you!
1. How did you get things designed before crowdSPRING?
Before Crowdspring, we didn’t have a reliable, robust resource for designers, which is why dragged our feet on branding. There’s nothing like being able to review designs in advance of choosing a designer to work with to ensure that we will be happy with the results.
2. Why in the world did you decide to use crowdSPRING?!
We decided to use CrowdSpring based on a friend’s recommendation. She had a great experience on the site so it was an easy decision.
3. What’s the single best small biz resource that you’ve found (magazine, website, blog, etc.)?
The single best small resource we have found is social media. The price (free!) is unbeatable and it’s a great way to stay in touch with our network regarind events and services, in addition to allowing our organization to stay up-to-date with what’s happening in their world.
4. If your best friend told you they were going to start a business, what’s the ONE piece of advice you’d give them?
The one piece of advice I’d give to a friend looking to start a business is “Go for it!” There’s nothing like entrepreneurship to create power possibilites and realities in one’s own life.
Tags: crowdspring, entrepreneur, fearless women entrpreneur network, small biz, small business, small business spotlight
Posted in Awesomeness, business, community, crowdsourcing, design, How To, inspiration, Interviews, marketing, social media, start-up tips, Strategy | No Comments »
Friday, August 6th, 2010
OK, I don’t know about you guys but parking in my neighborhood in Chicago is TERRIBLE. It takes me at least 20 minutes to find a spot and if we want to go out to eat around town… well, forget about it; you have to take a cab or public transit. For this reason I was drawn to a web design project I found on the site – SpotHero.
SpotHero is an online parking reservation system and they are crowdsourcing parking spots! Anyone with an extra parking spot in their garage, driveway, or street that show no risks of tickets or towing can register their parking spot and lease it out for a selected amount of time. Pure genius if you ask me!
Jeremy Smith is a 24 year old entrepreneur who lives in Chicago. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 2008 and after running into countless problems with parking tickets and being towed, he thought of this great service to give people and businesses a way to make a little extra money and drivers to find a sanctuary for their cars without the risks. Jeremy and his business partner, Billy Vong, are embarking on getting this idea off the ground so, to them, we say good luck!
I got a chance to talk to Jeremy, the ‘genius’ behind SpotHero, who is hosting this website design project and here is what he wants to share…
1. How did you get things designed before crowdSPRING?
This is actually my first true project. I recently tried out 99designs for a logo design, and was pleased with my final product. Having had a positive experience there, I wanted to try out crowdSPRING to get access to different talent pool. My other options consisted of finding local design companies and friends, however those prices are a little bit out of my budget range.
2. Why in the world did you decide to use crowdSPRING?!
I decided to use crowdSPRING, because I wanted to get a chance to see multiple designers concepts of the site. I knew that there was an idea of how I wanted the site to be laid out, but seeing how each designer attacks it differently has been very valuable for me. I was initially drawn to crowdSPRING from various positive reviews I had come across online. People seemed pleased with their product and the price, and I wanted to look deeper. I went to the website and was really impressed when I was able to browse submissions for open contests. The ease of use, and access to top notch designers got me excited and that’s how I ended up listing my post for a website design.
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Tags: crowdspring, crowdspring.com, jeremy smith, small biz, small business, small business spotlight, spothero
Posted in Awesomeness, business, community, crowdsourcing, design, How To, inspiration, Interviews, marketing, social media, start-up tips, Strategy, Technology | 7 Comments »
Friday, June 25th, 2010
Ever wonder where the pros get their guitars? I’ll give you a hint it’s in California and they have a project on our site…
Give up? Ok, it’s a little store called Norman’s Rare Guitars and they have been providing vintage guitars since 1975. They are looking for a new website design to accompany their ever growing inventory… I think we can help with that!
On any given day you can walk into Norman’s and see artists from Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters to Robert Pattinson from the Twilight series; if that doesn’t make you scream I don’t know what will. Their store is jam-packed with vintage guitars from wall to wall and, aside from offering an incomparable selection, Norman’s offers trade-ins, repairs, appraisals, lessons, and even workshops from award-winning artists.
I got a chance to talk to Sarah Harris, the buyer on this amazing project, and ask her a few questions about the store and what it’s like to build an empire such as this one. Listen up!
1. How did you get things designed before crowdSPRING?
Before crowdSPRING the designer we worked with on our original site handled our graphic design work. To be honest, we were looking at crowdSPRING and a few of their competitors such as 99designs, HatchWise, and DesignContest but crowdSPRING really stuck out, and it was pretty much a no-brainer to move forward with them.
2. Why in the world did you decide to use crowdSPRING?!
We decided to use crowdSPRING for a multitude of reasons. First of all, you (the business owner) have the cream of the crop in the design world submitting to your contest. If you’re working with one designer or one design team, you’re pretty much confined to that isolated vision. With crowdSPRING, you get to see so many interpretations from talented artists across the globe. You also get the piece of mind that if you aren’t 100% satisfied with the work, you don’t have to move forward. With all of the great entries, I don’t see how that could be a possibility but it’s still nice to know that if you don’t get the results you’re looking for, you’re not stuck.
3. What’s the single best small biz resource that you’ve found (magazine, website, blog, etc.)?
The best small business resource for us has been the internet. We use sites like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter to reach a global audience. There are celebrities, high profile musicians, and bands like Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Incubus, Robert Pattinson, and Dave Grohl that walk into our store on a daily basis. We have a lot of fans on social networking sites and they get a chance to see the caliber of players that walk into our store. The great thing about this small business resource is that these sites are free! Innovative sites like crowdSPRING also make our lives easier by taking the guesswork out of everything. Rather than having to get recommendations, scour the internet, and hire someone that MIGHT do a good job, we know that we can sign up on a site like crowdSPRING and get high quality work done with minimal effort on our part.
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Tags: crowdspring, interview, normans rare guitars, small biz, small business spotlight, starting a small business
Posted in Awesomeness, business, community, crowdsourcing, design, How To, inspiration, Interviews, marketing, Reviews, social media, start-up tips, Strategy, Technology | No Comments »
Friday, June 18th, 2010
With summer finally here I have one thing and one thing only on my mind… vacation. So, naturally, when I saw a project titled “LasVegasHotels.com New Logo” I was drawn to it. I can hear the slot machines calling my name…
Okay, back to reality, sorry! I was intrigued to find a well-established website for a city like Las Vegas up for a logo re-design on crowdSPRING so I emailed Sue Heilbronner, the CMO of Swiftrank Global and President of Swiftrank North America, the buyer for the project. Swiftrank, the largest online global travel network, has recently acquired LasVegasHotels.com and is in the process of reinventing it.
Swiftrank manages more than 12,000 optimized travel websites across the globe. With Swiftrank’s headquarters in Singapore, and offices in the US and the UK, this company sure is cultured!
I was shocked to find out that Sue has actually used crowdSPRING for projects before for her sig other’s company www.ontimeairfilters.com, a website where you can set up automatic delivery for air filters straight to your home with free shipping to keep your house greener and cleaner.
For someone with so much experience in business and on cS I would be a fool not to ask Sue to give some advice to anyone looking to start a business so here you guys go!
1. How did you get things designed before crowdSPRING?
I’ve used crowdSPRING at two different companies over the last couple years, including my current project for the new, reinvigorated www.LasVegasHotels.com. My company, Swiftrank recently acquired the site, and we’re making it a centerpiece of what we think is the largest online global travel network. I have used it selectively as a strategic complement to my small “bench” of outside creative talent in cases where my go-to people just were’t quite nailing it. I continue to tap a range of resources, but crowdSPRING more often comes to mind with challenging or really wide open design challenges that benefit from completely new approaches to problems or opportunities.
2. Why in the world did you decide to use crowdSPRING?!
I first used crowdSPRING to drive the creative direction for the side business my sig other and I started, On Time Air Filters. We were bootstrapping this home delivery air filter business, and we felt crowdSPRING would provide a cost-effective, peak creative approach to logo design, and then our website design. We were thrilled with the results, all of which still live on the site today. I have sinced used it in my full-time roles at larger companies, and my colleagues have seen the value quickly. I think crowdSPRING provides the most value on projects where the creative brief is scant because you are looking to the creative community to help you provide solutions to your business opportunity, but you lack a preconceived notion of what that actually “looks” like. crowdSPRING is crowdsourced brainstorming, and by actively participating in the linear thinking (as shown in submissions to my projects), the results and submissions have improved every day and helped me frame the direction through the process. How cool is that?
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Tags: crowdspring, lasvegashotels.com, ontimeairfilters.com, small biz, small business spotlight, startup, swiftrank
Posted in Awesomeness, business, community, crowdsourcing, design, How To, inspiration, Interviews, marketing, Reviews, social media, start-up tips, Strategy, Technology | 2 Comments »
Monday, April 19th, 2010
The Nevica P
roject was launched in 2008 by Jayson Lawfer originally as a way to work on his own time while traveling to and from Italy. Since then, it has become an extremely successful business concept for the art world in this trying economy. The Nevica Project is an online gallery and art consulting business featuring well known as well as emerging artists. The site is very easy to navigate and browse various galleries and events and also learn about their consulting services.
Jayson also follows large art events and rents out a gallery space close to the event for the days he needs the space. During the events he allows prospective buyers already in the area for the conference to take a close look at the artwork they are interested in. This saves him money from having to rent out a space year round and it also allows him to be at the most convenient places all the time. The website has become an effortless medium for buyers to browse, not only paintings, but sculptures, drawings, prints, ceramics, etc.
Building a service such as this is not easy so I got a chance to talk to Jayson and get some great advice for you guys…
1. What made you decide to start your own business?
I had always had an interest in being a sole proprietor and was interested in creating a business that I could run from my home. Since I was splitting my time between the States and Italy, it was very important to start an online business that I could run from my computer, wherever I was in the world.
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Tags: art consulting, crowdspring, small biz, small business spotlight, the nevica project
Posted in Awesomeness, business, community, inspiration, Interviews, marketing, start-up tips, Strategy, Technology | No Comments »
Saturday, April 3rd, 2010
After looking through the site I found a pretty sweet business… Lovely Soiree. Started by Deanna Jue, Lovely Soiree provides custom candy buffets in Atlanta. The website is coming soon once the project has wrapped up on the site so participate now, designers! The project ends April 8.
Custom candy buffets will be great to personalize any wedding, large party, bar/bat mitzvah, or anything of the like. All candy is chosen according to the color theme of your event and you can choose nuts, fruit, or sugar free candy if you’d like. Lovely Soiree is based out of Atlanta but available within a 120 mile radius.
With everything that goes into creating a business in the event planning industry I figured Deanna would have some sound advice for you guys out there so this is what she had to say…
1. How did you get things designed before crowdSPRING?
I’m a bootstrapper by nature, so to be honest, I just did it myself! Although I have a marketing background, let’s be real: the results weren’t pretty since I’m not a graphic designer. For a past venture, I’ve actually used a different online logo service before, but I wasn’t happy with any of the comps that I saw and ended up not using them.
2. Why in the world did you decide to use crowdSPRING?!
Kinda funny – I ran across the site about a year or so ago, dropped the website into a massive spreadsheet I have of ‘cool resources for the future.’ I couldn’t remember what the name of the ‘cool logo and design site’ that I had come across, and spent a couple hours combing through all the URLS on my list until I finally hit the jackpot. I chose to use the site because of the quality and varied concepts that I saw after browsing through many projects. I wanted a truly professional logo design for my company, and from what I’ve seen so far, crowdSPRING’s talented bank of designers delivers.
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Tags: atlanta, candy buffet, crowdspring, Lovely Soiree, small biz, small business spotlight
Posted in Awesomeness, business, crowdsourcing, design, How To, inspiration, Interviews, marketing, start-up tips, Strategy | No Comments »
