Win $39,000 in prizes with Blue and MyCEO

Added 8-15. Originally $19,000 in prizes.  Now up to $39,000!  Newly added – The top prize is a Private Jet Experience with America’s Business Expert and Superspeaker Bill Walsh. The package includes a complimentary ticket to the inspiration2020.com Success Conference on November 8-10, 2013 in Los Angeles plus a VIP Private Jet Experience to Las Vegas on November 10th and a room for the night in Las Vegas!

 

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DallasBlue has partnered  with the MyCEO Convention to promote entrepreneurs and business in DFW.  I’ll be speaking Saturday August 17 at 3:45pm on Engineer Your Marketing for Scalable Sales: Four Secrets to Ensuring Regular Repeatable Rising Revenues.

Convention speakers, including me, are giving away 83 prizes worth over $19,000 of workshop and event tickets, courses, coaching, consulting, DVDs, CDs, and books!  You don’t have to be an attendee to register (although you may have to pay shipping for hard products if you’re not there).  Enter the MyCEO Convention Sweepstakes. Sweepstakes closes Saturday August 17 at midnight CT.

Interested in an MBA?

Ready to start your own business, take the next step in your current role, manage large international companies, or change your career?

The MBA Tour comes to Dallas Thur Oct. 25.  Meet top local and interntional business schools, including Texas A&M, TCU, Univ. of Texas, SMU Cox, London Business School, Fordham, IE, George Washington, UC Irvine, and many more.

DallasBlue has arranged for complimentary admission to the Thursday October 25 World MBA Fair 5-9pm at the Sheraton Downtown Dallas. Visit the MBA Tour on DallasBlue to save $15!

Special offer for Small Business Saturday: Generate $50 in donations to the EFF

Donate $50 to keep the Internet free. And it doesn’t have to cost you a dime.

DallasBlue and Business Catapult celebrate Small Business Saturday by thanking the heroes who have kept the Internet open and free. Just donate $25. We can double that and make a donation to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. On top of that, you receive a $100 credit from Business Catapult. Best of all, your donation on Saturday is fully refunded when you’re an American Express member!

Join us now!

Sponsors Business Catapult. Communities for Entrepreneurs, Investors & Advisors Elite Lions. Join FREE for smart LinkedIn Open Networking American Express Small Business Saturday

Claim your free lunch, gloves, seminar, and other deals!

Here in Dallas many folks are confined to the house, frozen in by the ice and snow.  So let Blue set you free.  I’ve pulled together a bounty of special deals just for you, whether you’re in Texas or beyond!

Free networking lunch Wed. Feb 9. A few seats are still open for IT executives to network and learn what’s new in Data Management at Pappas Steak House in Dallas. Discover how deduplication and low-bandwidth replication can help improve data protection and solve back up challenges.  One lucky attendees wins an HP laptop! Register now.

Free bag gloves. Start 2011 right with Jay’s Kickboxing in Plano. Get in shape … improve your fitness … tone your muscles … supercharge your cardio … lose weight … learn self-defense … build confidence and discipline … hone your martial arts and MMA skills and techniques … all at Jay’s! I’ve been a student at Jay’s for several years.  New students get free gloves. Join me and learn more at Jay’s Kickboxing.

Free future technology seminar Fri. Feb 11. UTD presents Jeff Wacker, official HP Futurist. Discussion and Q&A will provide in-depth insight on the influence and direction of technology. Find this and similar events at the DallasBlue Entrepreneurs Community Calendar.

Free weekly entrepreneur meetings. DallasBlue Entrepreneurs Collin County meets weekly in Grapevine for startup support and presentations. Join the group!

Free deals. In this Great Recession money is tight.  Why spend it if you don’t have to? There are now hundreds of hot deal sites where you can get great products and services from 50-90% off or even free.  My favorites include NoMoreRack (I bought 3 ties for $1 each plus shipping!), Hot Deals Live (win an iPad just by registering), and Vistaprint (free business cards).  I maintain a page where you quickly view almost 100 deal sites for Dallas and beyond at MyLinkDallas.com.

Helping Build Your Business … and save you money!

Marc Freedman

Ultimate Networking FREE tomorrow!

I invite you to come to Ultimate Networking Wed. Nov 10 at 5:30 and personally experience the difference that intelligent computerized matching makes in generating quality meetings and leads.

I finally convinced the supplier to let us give it away just this one time to celebrate its launch in Dallas and let you test-drive the service. Plus I’m waiving our own DallasBlue fees (yeah, it’s crazy Marc time).  So Ultimate Networking is zip, nada, zilch.  We do ask for a $5 donation for The Hoffen Foundation. If you’re unemployed and can’t afford that, send me an email and I’ll even drop that.

Hoffen benefits children in need.  They’re the beneficiary for DallasJingle, our Charity Holiday party on December 2.  It will be a big event, composed of several groups.  So do put that date on your calendar or sign up now.

Ultimate Networking is typically $40-$60 in other cities.  So free is a rather amazing deal.  Now you have absolutely no excuse not to check it out.  You do want to find new business partners, prospects, services, investors, staff, or a job, don’t you? We’ll even have free chair massages!

So register now and pay your $5 donation. Feel free to invite your colleagues and friends. You MUST register by Tue. 5pm. You’ll be sent the web site url to enter your meeting preferences, which must be completed by Wed. noon.

If you can’t register by the deadline, you’re welcome to do so at the door.  You’ll miss the computer matching and personal schedule.  But we’ll fit you in, similar to speed networking.

More Info: DallasBlue Ultimate Networking is a structured event where our computer matches you based on your preferences and creates a personal meeting schedule.  Your schedule contains full contact information  and the time and location for each meeting.  Every 10 minutes you’ll meet another business executive or professional.   You’ll gain up to 12 high-quality contacts during the evening, all selected based on mutual interest.  It’s science … not luck like other networking events.

“I have attended numerous receptions and networking events over the years and (this) was a pleasant shock to the system. I met more people at the event who were truly relevant to my business than all other events combined this year.” ~ Peter Cunningham, EO Network

Ultimate Networking

Wednesday November 10 5:30-8pm

Bravo Technical Resources, Dallas

Heritage Square I, 4835 LBJ Freeway, Suite 1000

SPONSORS & PARTNERS. Ultimate Networking is brought to you by Bravo Technical Resources, Park Central Chiropractic, Blue Entrepreneurs, MIT Enterprise Forum, and DFW EStartup. Contact us to add your own group!

Helping Build Your Business,

Marc Freedman

Daily Deals & Dallas

I’ve had a number of people ask about daily deals for Dallas.  I created a page where you can quickly review over 20 sites for Daily Deals in Dallas and other top bargain shopping sites.  Get 50% off or more at  MyLinkDallas.com.

Free US long distance for more people

I was one of the beta users of Grand Central (now Google Voice) 5 years ago.  I extolled the service’s innovations in Unified Communications.

What makes it a breakthrough is the innovative integration of telephony, Internet, and usability (similar to what Apple did with digital music). I use Grand Central for long distance calling to any phone from my office that is faster, cheaper (currently free for long distance), more convenient (I’m already at my computer), and more powerful (integrated with online address book, automatically adds phone numbers from previous calls) than picking up the phone to dial. Plus I can put their widget on my web site for free so that visitors can call me for free (they just enter their number and it dials us both, calling all my phones).

Google Voice has spread its tentacles to mobile and now email spheres. Any Gmail account can now initiate free US long distance phone calls.

You no longer need a Google Voice account.  But you might as well get one.   Google finally opened the free service to all visitors after its eternal “beta”.

The only surprise  is that this expansion has taken so long. Innovation has virtually been at a standstill as Google has slowly assimilated Grand Central over the past three years.

Is advertising on Groupon, LivingSocial or another group buying site “Fee Splitting?”

I last wrote about Daily Deals or Group Buying in I Can Get It For You Wholesale.

WikiPedia defines fee splitting as either a kickback or a non-licensed professional getting paid for a referral.

Groupon and LivingSocial sell licensed professional services. They take the customer’s money, keep part of it, and give the remainder to the professional.  Therefore the platforms encourage and facilitate “Fee Splitting.”  They should not be used by any licensed professional to offer his services as it’s prohibited by the licensing body as a fee splitting activity.  Right?  Am I missing something?

I’ve seen dentists and chiropractors in Groupon, as well as cosmetic surgeons and MDs (but no lawyers or psychologists yet).  So how can they advertise on these sites if they’re prevented by fee splitting?

Join the discussion on LinkedIn.

I can get it for you wholesale

The Daily Deal bubble continues to explode.  VCs pour in ever more money.  Aggregators and white labellers build out the market.  Major estores and sites like have even joined the fun.  Amazon bought Woot. Twitter has @earlybird.  Marketers contrive 90% off packages that include “free” services, fake retail prices, and future discounts.

It’s no coincidence this product segment took off during a global depression.  It’s 2010-style coupon clipping.  This isn’t just a discount.  With today’s deals, you don’t just avoid paying retail.  You can buy at wholesale prices.

The deals started to move discontinued merchandise.  It was only a short hop to extend them to service businesses that have a high margin.  Now there are so many deals that you can get much of what you need –  such as PC … headphones … restaurant … massage … golf … trip – all at 50% off.  Or more.

This isn’t just promotional marketing. It’s deflation in action.  People have less money and are spending less.  Businesses have to cut prices.

When was the last time you paid regular prices for dinner when you could have used a 50% off deal?

Free offers for Executives, Entrepreneurs, Tech Pros, & Students

Blue has some amazing deals this week.  Enjoy! Special offers for Executives, Entrepreneurs, Tech Pros, Students, and anyone involved with SaaS (Software as a Service) or on-demand or Cloud services. We’ve expanded our partnership with Softletter to create SaaSy Dallas, a comprehensive program with lots of goodies. Sweepstakes, which gives away a $500 SaaS industry marketing report. Ends this Friday! Seminar – “Profit from SaaS and the Cloud: Software Industry Insights” presented by Softletter Publisher Rich Chapman at our Monday Jan 25 networking party. Learn about the lastest key trends, metrics, business models, and emerging technologies in the exploding SaaS and cloud industries. Scholarships for local students to the Jan 26-28 SaaS conference in Dallas. Limited Startup Seats for local Entrepreneurs to the SaaS conference. The price of $350 is 65% off the regular conference price. SaaS Conference Discount of $100 on the two day conference or combined 3 day conference & workshops. Get the details at SaaSy Dallas. Free Bulletproof Managment Class for Executives, Entrepreneurs, Managers, and Professionals. I am so convinced that you will be impressed by our new Management Seminar Series training with Leadership Design that I’m giving away the first class – How to Exceed Customer Expectations on Tuesday January 19 – free.  Well, I do ask that you pay for lunch.  For only $25 you get world-class training, lunch, and an immediate and personal action plan.  When you take the class you will experience the power of this world-class training and sign up for more. Register for this introductory deal by Friday at DallasBlueSuccess.com. Want lunch free too? It’s yours with a new DallasBlue Gold Membership. Save up to $25 on each DallasBlue event for you and an associate.  Get exclusive invitations to free DallasBlue events, as well as movies, golf, and more. Sign up by January 25 at DallasBlueGold.com and tell us whether you’d like the January Management class with lunch or Networking party free. Want ALL six months of Management Classes & lunches free??? You drive a hard bargain, my friend. But we’ll make it happen.  Become a new Tribe Blue member by January 19 and we’ll include all the classes! Apply at Tribe Blue.com.