TechLifeMashup | Entrepreneurs, Social Media, and Technology

Many of us dream of being a professional blogger (myself included), but very few actually get to live the dream. I like many share the hope of one day turning my blog into some form of a success story.  It seems anyone can create a blog and many more can get some people to visit their site, but I’ve quickly come to realize it takes certain key components to build a successful blog community and to keep people coming back for more over the long-run. That’s why I’ve decided to highlight some of those crucial components that have made other blogs a success along with some of my own personal experience. More »

In the back of our minds we all have that part of our brain that feeds our desire to make it big. Whether you have a small blog somewhere on the internet or a fast growing business, everyone at some point dreams of a life with more money. These thoughts seem to be much more frequent these days with all the buzz about booming start-ups and overnight success stories like Facebook or Digg. It still surprises me though how all these internet success stories have come about, and yet we don’t often get any interesting TV shows or specials revolving around internet life. Well, in my quest for some quality tech lifestyle entertainment I happened across a 1 season series of a show that anyone with an interest in the internet and entrepreneurship should definitely check out! More »

Do you have a great idea for a start-up company and lack only some cold hard cash to get it started? Well, you might be in luck because I found one possible solution that I thought was worth noting during my daily browsing for internet goodness. It’s a site called Y Combinator and the idea behind it is quite simple: reward the entrepreneurs with the best ideas the financial backing they need to make their dreams a reality.  Read on to see how your next idea could be the only thing stopping you from making it happen! More »

They say don’t  put all your eggs in one basket, and this way of thinking couldn’t be more true when it comes to applying for jobs online. Searching for jobs on the internet has become the standard for job search and with good reason. I don’t think any of us need a reminder of what it was like applying for a job pre-internet days; no thank you! Job searches continue to be on the rise and social media sites continue to flourish with ever growing communities. So it seems like a good time to highlight three great ways to use social media sites to search for your next job, whether it be from an employer or through freelance ventures. More »

No matter what type of blog or business you run online, trust from your readers is crucial in order to maintain growth and have long-term success.  Last week, I wrote a post (Be Your Own Boss) about the importance of having side projects in your daily life, and the huge payoff you can get back by investing a few hours a week in a side business.  This week I wanted to take it one step further and give everyone some key steps in building your side business up once you have the groundwork setup. More »

It was 9:30pm the other night and I was too tired to read like I usually do.  So I was flipping through the local TV stations for something (anything) to fall asleep to.  To my surprise, I struck gold and found an entire hour special on entrepreneurs who made it big with their ideas.  The special interviewed and documented the journey of four different upcoming entrepreneurs.  Some of you might be familiar with two of the people in the special: Tom from Tom Shoes (The guy who gives a pair of shoes away for every pair he sells) and Rick Bayless (founder of Frontera Foods).  Now what was special about this show was that it actually showed a lot of the nitty gritty behind the scenes work that goes into pursuing a business idea. Many of us (myself include) dream of starting our own business and seeing our great idea come to life.  The problem often times is how do I actually go about doing it?  Where do I find an investor?  How do I go about pitching my idea?  What are the actual first steps I need to do to make this happen?  Well, read on to find out about some helpful tools that should help answer these burning questions. More »

Yes, be your own boss or at least some of the time (to start anyways).  I came across this article over at GetRichSlowly.com the other day and really thought it made some good points about starting your own business.  What I liked about this article is that is discusses the benefit of opening a business on the side even if you don’t plan on leaving your job currently.  We often think of starting a business and as a result leaving our current job in order to do so.  This story points the important point that starting your own business can be done in addition to your current place of employment and not always as a replacement. More »