My business that got me started is a community website that promotes what’s happening in the African-American community in Pittsburgh. It’s called www.thesoulpitt.com.  I often have the opportunity to be a media sponsor for events or have a booth at events in my area. I came up with something we call “Soul Bags” and they are filled with special offers, flyers, business cards, announcements, samples and more from various businesses that visit The Soul Pitt website.

We put a call out to the 7,000 people on our list that tells them we are going to be at a particular event and we will have a booth or we will be handing out our bags at the door. We tell folks that we will be handing out a certain number of bags (we usually do between 100 to 500). We tell them to get their stuff in the bag for only $20 and we will hand it out to event attendees. Read the rest of this entry »

Ok, so if you’re at work all day, how are you able to check your email if your job doesn’t allow you to use the work computer for personal internet usage?  Well, you invest in a good smartphone! 

A smartphone is a mobile phone offering advanced capabilities beyond a typical mobile phone.  You will be able to check your emails, send twitters, view webpages, update facebook (of course all done on your breaks or lunch hour) 

I am on a mission to trade in my T-Mobile Dash smartphone that I currently use for the new T-Mobile G1 phone with Google that you see pictured because of it’s nice web surfing capabilities.  If you don’t have T-Mobile, you can get this phone for under $100 at the link I have provided.  Otherwise, if you are a current customer, you’ll have to shell out over $300!  Read the rest of this entry »

So you have an online business that is doing so-so, but not good enough that you can quit your day job.  Furthermore, for some of us, quitting our job is not an option or it is not something that we want to do right now. This could be for various reasons like health insurance, money, timing, etc. So in the meantime, you have to learn what it takes to manage both - without breaking company rules. It takes a lot more than just being organized - you also need a good plan and the right tools! These are just a few things I recommend you do or invest in to successfully manage having to go to a 9 to 5 job every day and running a business online without going insane. Read the rest of this entry »

My story to how I became a Webpreneur amazes me, as I never planned to become one  (I’ll go into detail on that in a later post that tells my story).  Once I saw that I could make money online on the side, I decided to really focus on increasing that income.  

Though I needed to supplement my income to get things I wanted faster and to actually have some type of savings, and travel even, a part-time job at the mall was not an option for me.

Yes, I could work at some department store and get a discount on clothing…then that would defeat the purpose of trying to make extra money in the first place.  Also, after working a 9 to 5, who wants to go somewhere else?  I want to go home.  Even if it is to get on the computer to do some work.  It’s still a part-time job and it’s all done from the comfort of my home office.  Read the rest of this entry »