Courtesty of Black Web 2.0

Wayne Sutton, one of the founders of NewMe Accelerator, published an opinion piece on Black Web 2.0 that confronts the harsh reality and difficult challenges of starting a black tech company when funding and experience are in short supply or not optimal as it relates to minority entrepreneurs. Is it impossible to create a Black tech startup today?

Read more at: The Harsh Reality for Black Entrepreneurs in Tech

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Why Small Businesses Shouldn’t Take Social Media for Granted.

There is a way to do social media right if you’re a small business owner. Most people spend a lot of time on Twitter, Facebook, and other sites keeping up with friends and sharing links and pictures from everyday things that happen in the course of their day. Savvy small business owners can also exploit these tools to create a greater following with their customers while also appealing to new customers who are already spending time online being social. Why shouldn’t people be more social with your business and share your products and services with their friends?

TheCASHFLOW – Three Days to Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference.

Things are coming together as Atlanta prepares for the BE Entrepreneur’s Conference next week. The CASHFLOW is running a content where you can win tickets to the event by tweeting about their tix giveaway and including the best business advice you ever received.

I won’t be able to attend, but I’m sure that some of our Hustletown readers will be representing black entrepreneurship from all over the nation.

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MinuteBase helps you track attendees and what they talked about, and allows the adding of minutes to your agenda directly from your browser. The details are stored while you are typing, saving additional time.

The application has the ability to track action items between collaborators too. If you want to share files, MinuteBase allows for Office docs, PDFs, and Power Point Presentations.

While MinuteBase is in beta the premium plans are free, so you may want to take advantage. The free plan allows for one administrator, 25 MB of storage, and PDF export.

Hustletown readers, is MinuteBase a useful tool for your business? Want to see more apps like it? Please let us know in the comments section below.

Event speakers touched on several key subjects, including the need to advocate for African Americans and their businesses, stimulate economic growth, and tap into federal stimulus dollars allocated for the state.

“You have to do things for yourself,” said DeCharlene Williams of the Central Area Chamber of Commerce. “We shoot ourselves in the foot because we don’t know how to work with one another and get along.”

“African Americans get less than one-tenth of one percent of the contracting opportunities in the state,” said former State Rep. Dawn Mason. “We need to let [the politicians] know that it’s not going to be business as usual.”

The town hall concluded that politicians and laws that are not beneficial to the community must be challenged, and that it will ultimately be up to the African American community as a whole to help change the economic climate.

Hustletown readers: Are African-American owned businesses in your community finding ways to collaborate in 2010? Please share your strategies in our comments section below!

Karen Hannon, inventor and owner of Lounge N Lax functional children’s wear, was inspired to create a line of children’s clothing after becoming frustrated with keeping her son’s head dry in the winter given the perspiration he was experiencing with existing hat options. As a result, she invented a functional hat and a matching set of lounge pants. This innovating thinking then led to a unique stylish scarf wrap design that maintained her daughter’s hairstyle while she napped.

Following her success with these designs, Karen considered the the lack of practical healthcare clothing options for child cancer patients and other children in the hospital for various reasons. Her efforts to address a deficiency in this area resulted in a full product line that is eco friendly, hypoallergenic, thermal regulating, and odor free. Her products feature bamboo terry cloth that is ultra soft, cashmere-like, and naturally whisks away moisture. It is anti-bacterial and grown without pesticides and fungicides. The outer shell is made of 100% cotton. The styles vary from stripes, plaids, dots, paisleys, skulls & bones, etc. Whatever your heart or style desires, you can wear it. The sizes range from newborn, which is xx-small to size 14 (children), which is xx-large.

Karen’s greatest challenges in starting her business were getting her family to believe in her idea and to provide financial backing. She had to learn the business by performing every job to include being owner, researcher, marketer and sales professional to packing product and obtaining bar codes. Her business discipline and family balance require her to work, think and research during the wee hours of the night from 11pm until 4am every night while her kids are asleep.

She is motivated by her children and advises other entrepreneurs to follow their dreams whether others believe in them or not. She reminds all of us that it’s a lot of work, but it’s worth the blood, sweat and tears. She sees her business becoming an exclusive store that she can pass on to her kids and grandchildren. Through her agreements with hospitals and ongoing licensing arrangements with strategic partners including the American Cancer Society, she will grow her revenues and launch the opening of a bricks and mortar location to complement her strong internet presence. She is currently working on certification with the Women Business Enterprise National Council which will provide opportunities for distribution with Macy’s, Target and Walgreens.

Karen likes the creative nature of entrepreneurship and the ability to determine her own destiny. For her, it’s all about gaining knowledge and feeding her addiction for learning. Her marketing plan is focused on her website, trade shows, word of mouth, and published marketing materials. She has also used fund raising events to secure inventors to fund her patents while using some old-fashioned hustle to maintain ownership of her enterprise to manufacture, produce sales, and reinvest in the business. Her commitment to learning and professional development led her to take classes for grant-writing and consulting to better educate herself on procurement and contracting with the government  as a means of further reducing expenses and increasing her revenues.

Lounge N Lax is produced by Xaydon, LLC headquartered in Portage, Indiana. Xaydon was named after Karen’s children and  is committed to providing opportunities for others through its entrepreneurial success. This is evident in Xaydon’s work with Trade Winds, a Gary, Indiana based organization that offers employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Tradewinds partners with Xaydon to manufacture Xaydon products. For more information about Xaydon, LLC and Lounge N Lax products, visit their home page at http://www.loungenlax.com/default.html.

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