Wishing You a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In honor of St. Patty's Day, I wanted to share a great Irish blessing that's perfect for entrepreneurs...

May you have the hindsight to know where you've been,
the foresight to know where you're going,
and the insight to know when you're going too far.

Spend Lunch Chatting with SBA this Thursday

As a proponent of free markets and someone who doesn't expect the government to use taxpayer money to bail out folks that have made poor financial or business decisions, I still am someone who wants to be able to make educated decisions regarding all possible resources that will be available to me. So, if you are like me, you are curious as to how the new federal "economic stimulus" is intended to assist small businesses.

What SBA loan programs will be affected? Will there be tax-relief for small businesses? What is the long-term tax burden that small businesses may eventually have to take on to pay back this borrowed relief? In attempt to answer these questions and more, the SBA (Small Business Administration) will be hosting an online chat this Thursday, March 19, at noon CST.

To participate, simply click on the Online Business Chat icon on the SBA website, http://www.blogger.com/www.sba.gov. Participants can then type questions into a queue to be hopefully answered during the online chat.

Team Hernandez Goes Full-Time

When my husband Joel and I met while working at Berman and Company five years ago, we discussed our dream to one-day run our own creative shop. Both wanting the freedom and flexibilty that self-employment provides, we waited for the day when we could start pursuing that dream.

Last summer I took a big leap, resigned from my marketing position with Dell University and accepted the invitation to serve as vice president of an interactive agency in southern California. Accepting this job meant that I'd be separated from my husband (and my friends) for weeks at a time, but anxious to see if this was the ideal job for me, I took the plunge.

Four months later, I tendered my resignation and told my husband that I was ready to "come home" to Texas. With no job to come home to and as someone who never looks backwards, I was eager to look forward and see what my next adventure would be. Having devoted much time early last year to concept and planning for my "someday" business, I realized that the "someday" had arrived. I founded Scribal Warriors in November of '08 and a couple months later, JOBSLAY.com. 

With Joel still working long hours in business sales at Dell he was a great moral supporter of my entrepreneurial efforts, but was unable to spend much time working on the business with me. Again, we awaited "someday" when we could both be self-employed.

Last week, Joel's "someday" arrived earlier than anticipated. Armed with optimism, aspirations, and great faith, Team Hernandez is now working full-time for Scribal Warriors.

Friend Represents Entrepreneurs at White House

A couple of years ago, Doug Imbruce (CEO of theU.net) and I collaborated on a fun marketing project to create an online video ad supporting Dell University's Slow Ass Computer Syndrome (aka SACS) campaign and a related contest. Filmed as a "caught on tape" student experience, our SACS video has had nearly 50,000 YouTube views with a 4.5 star rating.

While the project was short in duration, I really enjoyed my time working with Doug. He's a creative and motivated young entrepreneur who continues to solidify his position as a leader in marketing strategy for college-bound and college-age consumers. I've kept in touch with Doug and was excited to receive news of his inclusion in The Summit Series, "a community of the world’s most influential young entrepreneurs and innovators." Recently gathering at the White House, Doug and 34 other outstanding young entrepreneurs had the opportunity to represent the perspective and ideas of all young business owners. Below is an article with further details.

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WASHINGTON D.C, March 8, 2009 – Thirty five of America’s top entrepreneurs and innovators under the age of 40 gathered Friday at the White House to discuss the economy with Obama administration officials.

“Our goal is to help in any way we can to pull our country out of this recession.  Uniting many young entrepreneurs in one place, with one vision was a great first step” said Doug Imbruce, founder and CEO of TheU.net, an online advertising network that reaches 8.7 million college-bound students and parents monthly.

“We are impressed that the White House is creating an ‘open source’ culture within the walls of government that invite ideas from outside. We hope this heralds a new era of collaboration between the private and public sectors.’

Young entrepreneurs at the White House included Twitter co-founder and CEO Evan Williams, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, Blackboard founder and CEO Michael Chasen, Kiva co-founder Jessica Jackley, DailyCandy COO Catherine Levene, Ecko Enterprises founder Marc Ecko, Tishman Speyer co-CEO Rob Speyer, Trump SVP Ivanka Trump, Mint.com founder and CEO Aaron Patzer, College Humor co-founder Josh Abramson, and others. The entrepreneurs met with officials of the National Economic Council and Offices of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs as well as the White House Director of New Media. They discussed their own experiences, insights, and suggestions on job creation, energy independence, and health care reform.

These White House visitors are part of The Summit Series, a community of the world’s most influential young entrepreneurs and innovators. The Summit Series strives to provide opportunities for its members to develop business, personal, and philanthropic growth through shared experience and dialogue.

Gathering throughout the year at different venues in North America, The Summit Series provides an opportunity for top young business talent to work together solving community problems. The next Summit Series summit, sponsored by GQ magazine and the United Nations Foundation, will be held April 2 though 5 in Aspen, Colorado. The 125 attendees will focus on philanthropy. Presenters for charities will include Elizabeth Gore from Nothing But Nets; Lauren Bush from Feed Projects, a company that sells bags to help feed children; Invisible Children, an organization that works to address the challenge of child soldiers in Uganda; and Ethan Zohn from Grassroots Soccer, who took his $1 million from winning Survivor:Africa to set up soccer leagues in Africa enabling children there to get tested for HIV/AIDS.