Club Chaos Agents - All Things Hollish, Wacked, and Jacked

The company I work for, StraighterLine, is moving its offices to the Emerging Technology Centers (ETC) at 1101 East 33rd Street, Baltimore MD.  I saw the space a few weeks ago and it is a great building.  Of course I forgot to snap some photos of the place.  The facility used to be a high school that was converted into offices. The track and field are still in place and usable.  Don't worry, all the other high school signs are basically gone.  There are no lockers in the halls, blackboards, science labs etc.  I do wonder if there is a gym and cafeteria...hmm I'll have to check that out on my next trip down.

Our team has been working remotely and this is exciting for us to have a formal office.  Even if some of us will continue to work from other locations.

What is so special about this move to the Emerging Technology Centers (ETC)?

Well, the ETC, a venture of the Baltimore Development Corporation, is a non-profit business incubator focused on growing early-stage technology and biotechnology companies. The ETC promotes economic development, providing business, technical, and networking connections to help these companies grow and prosper – adding to both the job and tax base of Baltimore City. To date, ETC client companies have received over $865 million in funding and have been issued nearly 200 patents. Since 1999 ETC has provided assistance to 201 companies of which 71 are current companies. Eighty-three percent of its graduate clients are still in business.

Moving into Emerging Technology Centers (ETC) is so noteworthy that the Baltimore Sun wrote an article about the move in yesterday's paper.

We hope that this move helps our education company grow and continue to succeed.

If you are in the area give us a call and stop by.

 

 

 

 

 

I am a big fan of word of mouth marketing. I always gather (or give when requested) referrals from friends and family when I need a service or a product. So it occurred to me why not let our customers do all the talking for us. Last week we put together this video with one of our students. She loved the StraighterLine program and wanted to tell the world about her experiences so we recorded her and put this up on YouTube / Facebook etc. We did edit the recording to add some fades between her comments along with some music but her words are all original and unedited.

You can feel her passion and excitement about the online college courses. Who would ever get so excited about college algebra…? You just can’t make this stuff up.

When was the last time you let your customers tell your story?

Social networking is great.  We all know that but every now and then you should go to a in-person networking meeting.  You never know who you are going to meet.  I have been attending the NJ Open Coffee networking meeting that takes place every Friday at 10:30am.  We meet at It’s a Grind Coffee shop located in Englewood, NJ.  I go for a few reasons.

• Did you miss my second sentence…to meet people in person and talk business
• The person who started the meeting is a friend and I enjoy the conversation on social media and technology
• Now that I have been working from home it gives me a few hours out of the office interacting with real live people in person (do you see a theme here?)
• I always find one tidbit of information to use that I didn’t know before the meeting

Anyway, a few weeks ago a woman introduces herself to the group and immediately  I know I can help her.   Then it turns out I know her husband through his work as a direct response marketing copywriter (it is a small world).   Amy Bly tells the group she is a home stagger and that she is looking to use social media and networking to grow her business.  BAM!  I said to myself she needs to be on Active Rain.  Well it turns out she already was but was not very active (she has since become more active).  We spent some time together working on how she can use Active Rain to market herself and improve her business.  I also offered to introduce her to some of the great people I have met through AR.

So please welcome Amy Bly to Active Rain and let her know why you think this is such a great place to work and play.  If you stop by her blog let her know I sent you so she sees how this “networking” thing works. 

Moral of the story – go out and network.  You don’t know who you will meet that might be able to help you grow your business or recommend your next client. 

What is your favorite networking event or group?

Fast Company is doing something interesting with social media.  They have set up a site to determine who the most influential person is by tracking sign ups and pass alongs of your link.  Everyone that participates is supposedly going to get their picture in the November issue when they reveal the Most Influential Person.  How cool is that going to be to see your picture in the magazine? 

Of course the size of your picture is going to be determined by the amount of influence you have so get cracking now.

Think about the promotional possibilities if you are the most influential person (although you probably wouldn’t need the PR if you are that influential.)

So, if you ever wondered about the value of social media why not give this a shot and see how influential you really are.  This won’t give you the true ROI of social media but will give you an indication of your reach and influence.

More importantly it could be fun to see some AR members in the November issue.

Have I influenced you?

 

I have been bike riding around a number of towns in Bergen County for the last couple of years.  Here is some advice for my fellow cyclists:

Avoid Bergenfield when Biking in Bergen County, NJ. 

I have found the roads in Bergenfield to be in the worst condition compared to other Bergen county towns.  Now I understand roads get worn out and degrade over time but Bergenfield has not taken care of any of their streets.  There are pot holes of all shapes, sizes and depths, cracks, debris on the ground and anything else you can imagine that would negatively affect a road bike or cycling enjoyment.

Like all good cyclists I take care of my bike and make sure the tires are properly inflated but the roads are so bad that my wheels are now misaligned.  So no more biking in Bergenfield even after I get the wheels realigned.

So where do I ride when biking in Bergen County?

I start out in New Milford, NJ and ride through the following towns (not necessarily in this order):

Oradell
Haworth
Hawthorne
Emerson
Westwood
River Edge

This route is about 15 miles and is a great ride when I just need to get out for a quick bike ride. 

If you love to ride and are in the area just let me know.  Always happy for the company when biking in Bergen County but remember we are not going through Bergenfield.

Related Post
Bicycling in Bergen County with the Tenafly Bicycle Workshop

 

 

 

 

Last week Fox 13 in Tampa ran a story on StraighterLine.  Today Fox 9 in Minneapolis, MN ran the segment below on our online college courses. 

This week was all about MN for us.  In addition to this news segment and great press coverage we signed on a new partner college which is headquartered in Minneapolis, MN (their programs are online).  Student’s who take their required college courses online with StraighterLine can transfer their college credits to Capella University for full college credit.  This is a great benefit and cost savings for anyone looking to get a college degree.

Which state will be next to cover our programs?

PS - If you are interested in helping spread the word and addressing the rising cost of a college education let me know.

Related Posts
Going to College in Tampa Florida
College Financial Aid Crisis Growing in Illinois

Fox 13 in Tampa, FL ran a story about the company I work for.  The College for $99 a Month segment has aired in a few markets in the past.   If you or anyone you know is planning to go to college in Tampa FL (or any city for that matter) check out our online college courses and save yourself up to 90% on your first year’s college tuition. 

Fox did a great job explaining how the StraighterLine program works and the benefits of online education.  If you have any questions, I am always available to discuss in more detail.

What do you think about online education?

Illinois MAP scholarships are in a crisis 

“Illinois turns away 27,000 for financial aid,” an article in the Chicago Tribune last week, reports some grim news for students who have been counting on scholarships from Illinois’s state-funded Monetary Award Program (MAP) program. 

Here’s the crisis in a nutshell . . . 

• This May, 27,000 eligible applicants were turned away because Illinois didn’t have enough money to cover MAP scholarships. 

• Those 27,000 students are part of an even bigger group. In the academic year that just ended, a total of 120,000 eligible MAP applicants were turned away. (Compare that to 60,000 the year before.) And the crisis is expected to grow dramatically in the year ahead. 

• The majority of students – 17,575 of the 27,000 – were seeking small loans to help pay for their tuition at public community colleges. 

This crisis in educational funding is not unique to Illinois – it’s also being played out in California, Massachusetts and other states. But maybe companies like StraighterLine (where I now work) can help. If you're a student (or know one) in Illinois or elsewhere who needs help trimming college costs, explore the advantages of taking online cost-effective college courses.  StraighterLine courses are not going to solve the crisis in IL but it can help you take your freshman year courses for less.

 

Last Tuesday night after dinner with some friends the “guys” decided to go to the local club, Mexicali Blues, for a drink.  Boy did we have a great time.  It was open jam night so admission was free and the music was great.  10 Years I have been passing the club and never went in but now we plan to go back every few weeks to hang out, hear some great music and just relax. 

Every Tuesday night is Open Jam night at Mexicali Blues in Teaneck, NJ and boy, can some of these folks play!!  A few of these musicians must have a few extra fingers the way they play the bass and guitars.

Mexicali Blues has a full bar and does offer food.  I don’t know how the Open Jam works but I think if you are a musician you can just show up and put your name on a list. It is first come first playing sort of thing.  I am sure it doesn’t hurt to be a regular and know the “gang”.

Mexicali Blues does have groups that play there on the weekends and you can check the site for a full list of the events coming to Teaneck, NJ (who would have thought Teaneck was a hot stop on the touring circuit…)

If you enjoy blues and/or live music and find yourself in the Teaneck, NJ area stop by on a Tuesday night and hang out with me and my pals.  We will be the guys in the back without any instruments just enjoying the music and good friends (and possibly an adult beverage…).  Maybe one day we will be just like the gang from the sitcom Cheers and everyone will scream JOSEF when I walk into the club.

At the end of my post on Education Marketing I invited everyone to tune in for my continuing education marketing story.  Well, now you can really "Tune-In"...

Through the power of networking I was asked to join the founder of the LinkedIN group .eduMarketer with a new radio show.  The show will cover many topics related to marketing educational products, services and programs.  While we will focus on the education industry many of the ideas and strategies apply to real estate and other industries which rely on lead generation activities.

Please join us live on Blog Talk Radio for the first episode of this new show titled:

Lead Generation in Higher Education: The Buyer’s Dilemma

The show will take place:

March 18, 2010 4:00 PM EST/ 1:00PM PST

The first show will focus on the experience of buying sales leads for higher education, specifically:

• Buyer’s Best Practices
  • What to do once you own the student lead
  • How to evaluate lead quality (we will look at the lead provider and the sales team process)

• Lead Generation Practices: Good, Bad, and Ugly
  • Organic Search Engine Optimization
  • Call Verified Operations
  • Co-Reg Offers
  • Incentivized Leads
  • Paid Search
  • Offline and other media channels

This show is live and you are encouraged to call in and join the conversation—we’d love to hear from both buyers and sellers of leads during the discussion.

Join the show and sign up for future episodes of this series.

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