a small business support community. We specialize in helping people market themselves in effective ways using social media and Organic Marketing (TM) strategies. We are housed in an amazing business hub and coworking facility, located in Brighton, MI. We are able to bring programs and new approaches to business through a community of positive and amazing individuals. Our members are working together to create new ideas, encourage, uplift, and inspire one another. Together we are creating business growth and prosperity opportunities.
Monthly Archives: June 2009
Press Release…Entrepreneur Support Community Happenings!
Contact: Sandra Maki
Telephone: 810-623-5839
Cell Phone: 248-798-0239
E-mail: smaki@insights-group.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ENTREPRENEUR SUPPORT COMMUNITY
CREATING OPPORTUNITY FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS
InSights Group Community celebrates the Fourth of July
Insights Group is spreading the spirit of community through their float during the 4th Of July Parade in Brighton. The entrepreneurial spirit is thriving at the InSights Group. The community is putting together a Free Hugs Float, a Luau themed entry complete with travelling Tiki Hut, and will be passing out 500 T-Shirts along the parade route. InSights Enthusiasts will also be passing out bottled water, 2000 bottles to be exact, complete with a recycling offer to bring the bottles to the July 10th Community Luau Celebration for free admission to the event, and an opportunity to Tie Dye the free Shirt at the event. The Luau is a family friendly celebration, Free Admission, featuring local businesses showcasing products and services. The Brighton Fire Department will be on site with a truck, there will be bouncy Twister and other fun activities, as well as a place to meet, connect and network. The Luau will take place Friday, July 10th, 2009 from 6pm-10pm. InSights is located at 7187 Grand River in Brighton, (2.0 Miles N/W of the I-96/Grand River Exit #145).
“The positive, supportive energy that is generated among the people who gather at Insights is incredible. While I first had interest as a low cost place to have meetings and do training programs I have found that the real value is the people who you find in the building at any given time. The members are interested in helping. That statement is complete. No matter what the topic or issue, everyone I have interacted with brings a positive energy and true desire to help in any way they can. Sometimes it is just a sympathetic ear, often it is an “Insightful” outlook that unlocks a barrier to moving forward. I am a Professional Engineer who has gone to the ‘Dark Side’ and work with people to become happier and more successful in life and I have found a community that has a wonderful, eclectic participation and energy that moves all of us forward. The potential that is being realized is so far beyond the potential of the physical structure at Insights. As an example we had a combination workshop, networking, business connection and book launch (new book on Twitter by David R. Haslam) Tuesday evening. The diversity of the group present was incredible. And to top it off there were a group of business people sitting on the floor in a circle at the end of the night playing Duck, Duck, Goose. When any organization has an event that ends in such a fashion I will agree they have succeeded in reaching their potential for breaking traditional business models.” Gary Butler, Butler Fitzgerald Associates
Born out of a networking group with a business focus, to incorporate organic growth and a holistic approach to business, the community has filled a need in for local business owners. Entrepreneurs need not feel as if they are an island, struggling with their business trying to make it on their own. Business support groups, philosophy meetings, troubleshooting sessions, fondly referred to as the “skunk” meetings, have all found their place at the InSights Group . Founders Allan Curtis and Sandra Maki created within this former industrial warehouse on Grand River a community that started as a space hosting a unique collection of meetings rooms and offices. The space was transformed using recycled doors, windows, and $5 cans of paint, as the community grows, so do the amenities. Recent additions are the espresso lounge, healing arts meditation room, and member library.
Community members will find many advantages to becoming a part of the InSights Group, beginning with the free online community to profile their business needs and connect with other community members. A plethora of events fill the schedule, and every day of the week there are opportunities to network, learn about online social networking, how to market on a budget, creating advertising opportunities and navigating business plans and philosophy. Insights Group is the antithesis of “online” social networking (there are classes covering how to use social networking for business growth) and much more. InSights bridges the gap between meeting new people in person, and creating relationships that allow members to reach a broad audience while participating in engaged discussion and learning new things.
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For more information, please stop by or call Sandi Maki @ 248-798-0239 or e-mail at smaki@insights-group.com
What's Your Passion?
This is a guest post by Sarah Worsham, CEO & Web Strategist at Sazbean Consulting and blogging at Sazbean.com. Sarah is passionate about helping companies reach their business goals by using the web effectively. Sarah provides guidance through Internet Marketing, Strategy & Business consulting.
Most of us who have our own businesses got started because we had a passion for something. I think many of us get so busy with the day-to-day requirements of running a business that we forget about that passion that started it all. We get run down and we stop working on the things that really matter to us. Or we take on too much work and don’t have time for important, but unbillable tasks. Without taking some time for tasks that we’re excited about, we start avoiding work that needs to be done and our overall quality of work suffers.
Just like it’s important to have a great work-life balance by taking time for yourself, family and friends, it’s equally important to have a good balance in your work life. By setting aside time to work on side-projects and exciting tasks, you’ll feel more energetic overall – which leads to better quality of work (which leads to better referrals and repeat business). If you have a hard time setting aside time, try scheduling for it on your calendar. Remember, this is time just for you – be protective of it – turn off email, the phone, and social networks (Twitter, Facebook, IM, etc.).
Carving time for work you’re passionate about can bring that spark back to your work. I think you’ll find that it affects more than you think. And you’ll start getting some of those important side-projects done, which means feeling a sense of accomplishment and success.
So, What’s Your Passion?
What’s Your Passion?
This is a guest post by Sarah Worsham, CEO & Web Strategist at Sazbean Consulting and blogging at Sazbean.com. Sarah is passionate about helping companies reach their business goals by using the web effectively. Sarah provides guidance through Internet Marketing, Strategy & Business consulting.
Most of us who have our own businesses got started because we had a passion for something. I think many of us get so busy with the day-to-day requirements of running a business that we forget about that passion that started it all. We get run down and we stop working on the things that really matter to us. Or we take on too much work and don’t have time for important, but unbillable tasks. Without taking some time for tasks that we’re excited about, we start avoiding work that needs to be done and our overall quality of work suffers.
Just like it’s important to have a great work-life balance by taking time for yourself, family and friends, it’s equally important to have a good balance in your work life. By setting aside time to work on side-projects and exciting tasks, you’ll feel more energetic overall – which leads to better quality of work (which leads to better referrals and repeat business). If you have a hard time setting aside time, try scheduling for it on your calendar. Remember, this is time just for you – be protective of it – turn off email, the phone, and social networks (Twitter, Facebook, IM, etc.).
Carving time for work you’re passionate about can bring that spark back to your work. I think you’ll find that it affects more than you think. And you’ll start getting some of those important side-projects done, which means feeling a sense of accomplishment and success.
So, What’s Your Passion?
Only @ InSights…
Can you find yourself attending a networking event where you play Twister or Duck, Duck, Goose.
We love! to help people find their inner joy, creativity, and renewed sense of purpose.
What can we help you find?
Did you even know you were looking?
What experiences in life are you reflecting?
We create our life based on our expectations, and the events that happen are a reflection of those expectations. What are the intentions that you are setting for in your life? What is happening because of those intentions.
We attract that which we think about. Where are your thoughts leading you?
What's in a card?
This is a guest post by Tom Harris, Your Marketing Coach. Tom helps entrepreneurs and small businesses develop and execute marketing plans. He specializes in website usability and effectiveness.
What’s in a card?
Of all the myriad marketing materials that we create to promote our businesses, one that certainly deserves more of our attention and thought is our business cards.
Business cards don’t just provide contact information – they leave emotional impressions. Your card is YOU. And you will be kept or tossed in the wastebasket, depending on what your card looks like, feels like, and the impression that it makes on the person you hand it to. If you don’t want to get tossed in the wastebasket, here are a few things to do:
Photo: have a professional headshot taken and put it on your business cards. No arguments, no excuses, just do it.
Use Color: if you dumped a basketful of business cards on a table and spread them out, you’d see a lot of WHITE. With black ink. Not very interesting. Color is much more interesting. You do want to appear interesting, don’t you? Use some color.
Not a brochure: your card needs to tell in VERY simple terms what you do, but it’s not a brochure. Don’t include detailed descriptions of your services.
Don’t waste good real estate: there are two sides to a card; use both of them. Maybe contact info on one side, photo on the other. Lots of possibilities.
You are more important than your business: especially if you are a one-person show, make your name much more prominent than your business name. No one cares about your business name, but you do want them to care about (and remember) you.
No Title: don’t include titles like President, VP of Marketing, CEO, Owner etc. But you should include a tagline that describes what you do, such as Life Coach, Business Consultant, Interior Designer, etc.
Create an impression: your cards need to memorable, different, unique, yet simple and clean (you’ll probably have to hire a professional graphic designer to accomplish this).
Hire a professional graphic designer: Oh, yes, already mentioned that. No arguments, no excuses, just do it. Your business cards are NOT a good place for you to cheap out.
What’s in a card?
This is a guest post by Tom Harris, Your Marketing Coach. Tom helps entrepreneurs and small businesses develop and execute marketing plans. He specializes in website usability and effectiveness.
What’s in a card?
Of all the myriad marketing materials that we create to promote our businesses, one that certainly deserves more of our attention and thought is our business cards.
Business cards don’t just provide contact information – they leave emotional impressions. Your card is YOU. And you will be kept or tossed in the wastebasket, depending on what your card looks like, feels like, and the impression that it makes on the person you hand it to. If you don’t want to get tossed in the wastebasket, here are a few things to do:
Photo: have a professional headshot taken and put it on your business cards. No arguments, no excuses, just do it.
Use Color: if you dumped a basketful of business cards on a table and spread them out, you’d see a lot of WHITE. With black ink. Not very interesting. Color is much more interesting. You do want to appear interesting, don’t you? Use some color.
Not a brochure: your card needs to tell in VERY simple terms what you do, but it’s not a brochure. Don’t include detailed descriptions of your services.
Don’t waste good real estate: there are two sides to a card; use both of them. Maybe contact info on one side, photo on the other. Lots of possibilities.
You are more important than your business: especially if you are a one-person show, make your name much more prominent than your business name. No one cares about your business name, but you do want them to care about (and remember) you.
No Title: don’t include titles like President, VP of Marketing, CEO, Owner etc. But you should include a tagline that describes what you do, such as Life Coach, Business Consultant, Interior Designer, etc.
Create an impression: your cards need to memorable, different, unique, yet simple and clean (you’ll probably have to hire a professional graphic designer to accomplish this).
Hire a professional graphic designer: Oh, yes, already mentioned that. No arguments, no excuses, just do it. Your business cards are NOT a good place for you to cheap out.
Why do we miss what is often right in front of us?
Maybe the timing is not right, or we just haven’t been paying attention. Have you ever been trying to do something, diligently working on it, only to find the solution was inches from where you are, and it’s been there all along?
I had a brilliant idea today, that I could have had at any point in the past eighteen months or so. I have to believe it wasn’t time to work on this brilliant, life altering, growth spurring idea until now.
Watch out world is all I can say. It is going to be huge.
How can we remember to tap into the energy that is all around us? What can make us tune in and pay attention?
What have some of your biggest “Ah-a” moments been, and what has happened as a result?
More of this story, soon…
Reflections and Dreams…
Where were you ten years ago? Where do you see yourself in ten years? Are your goals and dreams changing with the course of your life and the new success you are having?
I was asked today where I was ten years ago, what I was doing, and if I could have imagined my life where it is now. To answer the question, I was living in Georgia, with two little kids, and a life that does not resemble the life I have now.
It was about 6 years ago that my life began to change, and my dreams began to grow. I met Al Curtis, the co-founder that I have the priviledge of running the InSights Group with, and together we were able to dream up the InSights idea. We had some hopes of what it would look like, and what we would be doing, but quite truthfully, I had a hard time visualizing exactly what this could could be. We have been inspired and awed by the experience that InSights creates for people, even more that we could have ever imagined. InSights is not a place, it’s not a class, and it’s not a workshop. It is an energy and an experience that has to be had to understand.
Today marks the two year anniversary of the birth of the InSights Group dream. Please help us celebrate by taking a moment to reflect on your dreams, and continue to chase your bliss.
Start with your dream, place your order with the universe, and experience the magic. I have.
What’s your dream?