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Livin The Dream
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Livin' The Dream Local Business Coaches Start Online Networking Site
By Jim Kendall You know you should network, but the idea of going to an event where you will have to say something hopefully interesting to people you don’t know so you can come home with a new business lead is enough to, well, make you stay home. You may have an option: A local online networking group called People You Should Know that is being connected by two suburban entrepreneurs, Sybil Ege and Leo Wisniewski. Before you can become part of PYSK, however, you must complete a three-page application and Wisniewski and Ege must approve your membership. “We need to feel comfortable with PYSK members,” Wisniewski explains of the application process. “People who join are a reflection on us.” PYSK is an outgrowth of a weekly small business radio talk program that Ege and Wisniewski co-host on WBIG 1280-AM, an Aurora radio station. Ege and Wisniewski pay the station $400 a week to air their hour-long program, “Livin’ the Dream,” which airs Tuesdays at noon. Here’s how Ege, Wisniewski, “Livin’ the Dream” and People You Should Know come together — and how you can benefit: - Wisniewski (Naperville) and Ege (Elburn) own separate The Entrepreneur’s Source franchises. Although the two position themselves more as business coaches than franchise matchmakers, Entrepreneur’s owners match franchise hopefuls with franchise companies. - Ege and Wisniewski created “Livin’ the Dream,” which they expect to renew next month for a second 26-week run, as a business development tool. The program is their chief marketing outreach to the entrepreneurial community. - WBIG has limited signal strength and, consequently, relatively few listeners. To overcome that drawback, Ege and Wisniewski do what any savvy entrepreneur in a similar spot should do: They send hundreds of weekly e-mails about the program to business contacts, friends and other potential listeners. - People You Should Know became a logical next step because “We’ve become a conduit,” Ege says. “We know lots of people who are involved with businesses.” “We know that our clients often need help as they work through the (business start-up) process,” Wisniewski adds. “We have resources.” The hope is that many of those resources will wind up as PYSK members-networkers. “We’ve created a place where people can come and use our resources,” Ege says. Anyone — member or not —can visit PYSK and tap into the listed resources. (People You Should Know is scheduled to be live this week. Start at www.mydreambiz.net and click on the PYSK bar.) Members will be listed by category, with a 100-word profile about each business and its services, and a link to the member’s Web site. Businesses that are accepted into PYSK are expected to support each other. “This is all about cross-promoting,” Ege says — which, after all, is what networking is about. Reprinted with permission. Copyright 2006, 121 Marketing Resources, Inc. |