Small Business Coaching

ATLANTA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today, Intuit Mailchimp (Nasdaq: INTU), the global leader in email marketing and automation*, is launching Campaign Manager, a new way for marketers to plan, execute, and track their marketing campaigns across multiple channels—like email, text messaging, social media ads, and direct mail—and view how their campaign is performing in one calendar view. Campaign Manager will be available to Mailchimp customers with Standard and Premium plans worldwide on January 25th.

With Campaign Manager (patent pending), a Mailchimp customer can bring all of their marketing activity happening within a designated period into the same space in a way that can help marketers track what’s happening, plan ahead, and make adjustments along the way. Marketers who are building omni-channel experiences are likely to be building these experiences using, on average, 7 martech tools that manage marketing tactics like SMS, social ads, loyalty programs, customer support interactions, and more. Campaign Manager enables users to see all associated campaign activities at a glance—like special events, limited-time promotions, holiday activations, seasonal campaigns, and more—and gives recommendations on the best days to plan marketing touchpoints based on industry benchmarks. These recommendations are generated from millions of data points analyzed by Mailchimp.

“Omni-channel experiences are critical for marketing to modern consumers, and our marketer customers have shared the recurring pain of creating and managing these experiences across channels and tools,” said Jon Fasoli, Chief Product and Design Officer at Intuit Mailchimp. “We designed Campaign Manager to give them a single tool to plan, automate and analyze their campaigns across channels and marketing tools.”

SMS and more with webhooks

Marketers and small business owners can now trigger actions in their third-party apps using webhooks—a custom HTTP callback that is triggered by an event—in Campaign Manager for even more robust multichannel campaign planning. Setting up webhooks in Campaign Manager can help marketers work more efficiently by allowing them to update a spreadsheet, send a status update to customers, or add customers to paid social media ads. Marketers can connect their third-party SMS provider and then use webhooks to send campaigns, like sharing a holiday coupon code through a text message.

Key features of Campaign Manager include:

• Campaign setup: Set your objective, so you can track performance against your overarching goal
• Campaign calendar: Access a single source of truth to see all individual activities associated with your campaign, including marketing touchpoints, tasks to complete, and important milestone dates
• Multichannel marketing: Create individual marketing touchpoints associated with the campaign, starting with Mailchimp’s email tool. And expand your campaigns to multiple channels with webhooks, allowing you to schedule activities in third-party apps for text messaging/SMS, ads, social media, direct mail, and more — all set up and managed from the same campaign calendar.
• Recommendations: As you schedule new marketing touchpoints, Mailchimp will suggest the best dates during your campaign period to send your individual emails based on AI modeling of your industry and outcomes from millions of other emails sent in Mailchimp.
• Analytics: View holistic analytics for your campaign, taking into account your campaign objectives. Understand in aggregate how your campaign is performing, and view the impact that individual touchpoints are having on your goals to understand your best-performing marketing. Customize your view to prioritize the metrics that matter most to your business.

Mailchimp customer Tigrilla Gardenia is a nature-inspired mentor and leadership coach, whose career has spanned from program management in technology to circus performance, marketing, and now plant-inspired mentorship for “naturepreneurs.” She first used Campaign Manager during its private beta to plan and manage campaigns ahead of a summit and product re-launch.

“Overall, I find Campaign Manager to be super helpful to keep your campaigns focused. I liked being able to see everything together. I love that Campaign Manager gives you the best date to email within a range of time,” said Tigrilla Gardenia. “The way that I work right now is that my team comes up with our general marketing themes based on where we’re headed for the near future. So we sit down, and we’re like, ‘Okay, these are the major areas that we want to touch on for the next 2 months,’ and then they might lay out the social media direction that they want to do with that and I’ll write the email newsletters. So if I could take what the overarching messaging endpoints are, overlap that onto a schedule rather than having them separate, it would be great. Because then I could just go into Mailchimp and say, ‘Okay, I’m going to write a message about this, and these are the times that I want to connect with my audience,’ and then I can do that all in one place. I would definitely continue to use it to keep from drafting my marketing copy and emails in separate places.”

To learn more about Campaign Manager, go to mailchimp.com/help/about-campaign-manager. Mailchimp’s Onboarding Specialists and network of experts will be available to help with technical setup of webhook integrations. To learn more about webhooks, visit Webhooks Documentation | Mailchimp Developer.

For media kit and visuals, please reach out to pr@mailchimp.com. Follow us on social media: TikTok, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

*Based on competitor brands’ publicly available data on worldwide numbers of customers in 2021/2022.

This information is intended to outline our general product direction, but represents no obligation and should not be relied on in making a purchasing decision. Additional terms, conditions and fees may apply with certain features and functionality. Eligibility criteria may apply. Product offers, features, functionality are subject to change without notice.

About Mailchimp

Mailchimp is an email and marketing automations platform for growing businesses. We empower millions of customers around the world to start and grow their businesses with world-class marketing technology, award-winning customer support, and inspiring content. Mailchimp puts data-backed recommendations at the heart of your marketing, so you can find and engage customers across email, social media, landing pages, and advertising— automatically and with the power of AI. In 2021, Mailchimp was acquired by Intuit.

About Intuit

Intuit is a global technology platform that helps our customers and communities overcome their most important financial challenges. Serving approximately 100 million customers worldwide with TurboTax, QuickBooks, Mint and Credit Karma, we believe that everyone should have the opportunity to prosper. We never stop working to find new, innovative ways to make that possible. Please visit us for the latest information about Intuit, our products and services, and find us on social.

Originally Appeared Here

To support local business owners and their teams, Coastal offers complimentary Money Smart for Small Business courses designed to help those starting and managing a business. Money Smart was developed jointly by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

“We regularly ask our customers and local businesses how we can help them, and they told us,” said Koren Smith, SVP Regional Manager/Retail Innovation Manager. “Some businesses ask for improved financial understanding, and some want help training their team members with financial topics. We’re providing these classes to support local businesses during a challenging economic time.”

The courses are being held in person at Coastal Community Bank’s Administrative office on Evergreen Way in Everett. Katy Woods, a Licensed Coach, Branch Manager, and experienced Banker, will provide the class curriculum.

“Customers and local businesses regularly ask me about building credit, managing cash flow, business succession planning, and financial management,” Woods said. “I’m excited to offer local businesses these topics more formally and help businesses fight to win, especially during what many expect to be a challenging year for them. As bankers, we’re invested in local businesses, they are our neighbors, and our kids go to school together. Naturally, we want to do everything we can to support them. These courses are designed for just that.”

Money Smart for Small Business classes are held at the Coastal Community Bank Evergreen Way office (5415 Evergreen Way), the third Wednesday of each month from 8-9:30 a.m., February through October. They are provided at no cost to attendees. Topics cover; Taxes and Reporting, Building Credit, Financial Management, Managing Cash Flow, Record Keeping, Risk Management, Insurance, Selling Your Business and Succession Planning, and Time Management. Attendees can register for individual classes online on the Coastal Business Portal. Space is limited to 40 attendees per class.

“We’re hosting the classes in person, so business professionals can meet other business professionals learning the same thing and learn from each other,” Woods said. “When business owners and leaders get together, a lot of learning and growth happens.”

The first class, ‘Tax Planning and Reporting,’ is Wednesday, February 22, from 8-9:30 a.m. After completing the class, attendees will be able to:

• Identify the federal tax reporting requirements of a small business and its owner, and establish a plan to account for and pay for federal taxes.
• Identify the general state/local tax reporting requirements of a small business, and establish a plan to account for and pay for state/local taxes.
• Identify methods for researching the local, municipal, and county reporting/licensing requirements for a small business.

To Register for this or future classes, visit the Coastal Business Portal.

Katy Woods is a VP, Branch Manager at Coastal Community Bank. To register for a class, visit the Events section of the Local Business Portal https://www.coastalbank.com/local. For more information, contact Woods, or a banker at one of Coastal’s 14 local branches. www.coastalbank.com Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender

Originally Appeared Here

The initial phase of works to transform Lymington Road Coach Station in Torquay have been completed.

Demolition works which started in July 2022, saw the removal of the old building and ground works get underway. The site is now ready for building work to begin in the first quarter of 2023.

Funded from the council’s Growth Fund, alongside funding awarded by the Heart of the South West LEP’s Getting Building Fund, the project will provide space for small businesses, with improvements also being made to the public space.

Hoarding has been installed around the site and this will remain in place until the building works near completion.

Cllr Steve Darling, Leader of Torbay Council, said; “The successful demolition of the old buildings which were beyond their economic life, moves this project of bringing modern facilities for businesses to Torbay one step closer. The ‘natural’ pause in the order of works, will see work recommence in the early part of 2023.”

Cllr Darren Cowell, Deputy Leader of Torbay Council, said; “There are well publicised challenges within the construction sector at the moment, despite that we are managing to move forward with our regeneration plans. Small steps such as demolition and ground works are a vital part of the process as we look to create spaces and places that meet the needs of the community and businesses.”

Karl Tucker, Chair of the Heart of the South West LEP, said; “The initial steps towards the redevelopment of Lymington Road Coach station have moved the project closer to completion, and we are looking forward to the next phase of work starting in early 2023. Transforming the brownfield site into a vibrant hub for businesses will help make a major contribution to business growth, and the creation of further good quality jobs in Torbay.”

Upon completion, this project will provide five new business units, a new international coach bay, shelter providing weather protection for waiting passengers, wayfaring information, a new and improved disabled toilet, and enhanced lighting throughout the car park.

Feedback from the local community helped to shape the final design to ensure the space felt safer for all users at all times of the day.

Stay up to date with this project and other regeneration projects happening in Torquay by signing up to the Torquay Projects newsletter. 

What is the LEP?

The Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership – covering Devon, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay – is one of the 39 LEPs in England. They are a business-led partnership between the private sector, local authorities, universities, and colleges. https://heartofswlep.co.uk/

Share this page:
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter

Share on Pinterest
Share on LinkedIn
Share on Reddit
Print this pageListen to the website

Originally Appeared Here

More than 50 women sat around a circle inside the St. Petersburg City Theater’s entrance hall on a Friday morning for a meeting of the St. Pete Girl Bosses.

The networking group’s communications director, Taylor Adams, walked into the circle with a microphone in hand, wearing pink earrings that read ‘Screw it. Let’s do it.’ She kicked off the meeting.

“We are the largest, fastest-growing, sexiest female entrepreneurship group in the Tampa Bay area,” she said of the group. The women around her cheered.

The theater hall was a step up from The Crislip Cafe on Central Avenue where the St. Pete Girl Bosses began meeting nearly a year ago. The networking organization outgrew the space as word of mouth spread — female business owners were getting together to be cheerleaders for each other in their ventures.

The St. Pete Girl Bosses Facebook group has grown to more than 3,100 members since launching. About 160 people are part of a paid membership program that debuted last summer. The group also launched its own podcast called “Bosscast” at the end of the year.

As they do every week, the St. Pete Girl Bosses meet at the theater hall on Friday mornings to discuss a specific topic. In early December, they focused on the themes of social media use and other online tools. The meeting started with the leaders advertising its first wellness passport, members could buy in for access to nearly a dozen life coaches, energy readers or psychics— all who are women.

Kimberly Clark leads attendees in a group discussion during a St. Pete Girl Boss networking event on Dec. 9. [ JEFFEREE WOO | Times ]

Then they broke out into smaller groups — which paired women from a variety of industries, like real estate, coffee bean distributing, CBD retail, yoga and more — to jot down advice on a pink sticky notes. They anonymously shared their notes with a random person in the room. They went on to discuss their wins of the week, what online tools helped help run their businesses and how chasing money can distract from their missions.

While many women came for the networking, several members said they stayed because they found people who understood what they were dealing with. The group’s sense of community made it a safe space to make friends and get feedback about their work.

Founder Sandy Bean, 45, said she started the group after she went from being a teacher to the owner of an academic enrichment center for gifted students — realizing she was missing community during the process.

While psychologist Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs prioritizes safety and consistency, Bean said, new entrepreneurs typically flip the pyramid to focus on self-actualization and sacrifice security in order to reach business goals. Having a community to lean on is key to rebuilding those safety nets, she said.

Follow trends affecting the local economy

Subscribe to our free Business by the Bay newsletter

We’ll break down the latest business and consumer news and insights you need to know every Wednesday.

You’re all signed up!

Want more of our free, weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started.

Explore all your options

Bean said she tried other networking groups but struggled to forge real friendships. She noticed some women weren’t being heard.

“Going to these networking groups, the women, they’re so brilliant. But they don’t always get to talk,” Bean said. “It’s just different when you’re in a mixed crowd. I’m not trying to throw men under the bus or anything, but it’s just different.”

From left, team members Sandy Bean, Taylor Adams, Kimberly Clark and Jennifer Schultz speak to attendees during a St. Pete Girl Boss networking event. [ JEFFEREE WOO | Times ]

So Bean invited five other women she already knew to meet at the coffee shop and created a Facebook group, choosing the name St. Pete Girl Bosses “ironically.” She hoped maybe 20 people would sign up. In a few days, she said there were a couple hundred in the group, then a thousand. Now, there are women from Dunedin, Sarasota and even Lakeland who come to meetings.

“We started doing in-person workshops and volunteer events, and (St. Pete Girl Bosses) quickly turned into a business which was not at all what I expected to happen so fast,” Bean said.

For Clara Clayton, a 57-year-old wellness coach, she said many of the networking groups she was a part of shut down during COVID-19 and never restarted.

Name tags lay on a table for attendees of a St. Pete Girl Bosses event. [ JEFFEREE WOO | Times ]

At first, Clayton joined the Facebook group and began attending the Zoom co-working sessions. Then she started going to happy hour events before joining the larger weekly meetings.

The group has helped her get new clients and also advice when she needed it. She enjoyed St. Pete Girl Bosses so much she became a brand ambassador for them.

“It’s not just about exchanging business cards. It’s about forming deep relations.” Clayton said. “Passing cold leads, it’s not for me.”

Many local women entrepreneurs struggle with a lack of education in business practices outside their expertise — such as sales, marketing or pricing their products — or getting access to investors and resources in the community, said Jennifer Schultz, St. Pete Girl Bosses vice president and owner of The Crislip and the cafe’s attached gift shop, The Merchant.

“The magic of this group allows me to find others who are experts in areas that can help educate me and other women in areas that maybe aren’t our strong suit,” Schultz said. “I never want to be the smartest person in the room, I want to meet other people who can help me learn and help other women learn.”

While many women sought out the St. Pete Girl Bosses for the networking, several members said they stayed because they found people who understood what they were dealing with. [ JEFFEREE WOO | Times ]

Many women also collaborate and visit each other’s stores or book sessions with each other.

One health insurance agent shared with her small group that her week’s high was that every appointment she had in the past seven days was booked by a girl boss.

When the Central Avenue home decor and gift shop The Canary opened in November, owner Allie Padin credited the group for helping her connect to a commercial real estate agent, small business lawyer and general contractor — all which helped fast-track getting her business off the ground.

Schultz hosted a pop-up at her shop during the holiday season to support a fellow “girl boss” flower-arranging business, The Roaming Petal.

Roaming Petal’s Erica Holland, 29, said the group helped her triple her network in a short amount of time and opened up new opportunities to collaborate with other local businesses.

“I run my business all by myself, it’s just me,” said Holland, 29. “Having that support system of other people to ask questions when I need to bounce ideas off of or when you’re feeling overwhelmed with the craziness of everything in entrepreneurship has been really helpful to have that here.”

Originally Appeared Here

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — While Sean McVay remains interested in the broadcast booth, the coach says his mind is still on the sideline with his Los Angeles Rams for now.

McVay claimed Friday that his focus for 2023 is on fixing the Rams (5-11), who wrap up the worst season in NFL history by a defending Super Bowl champion when they visit Seattle on Sunday.

The youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl also didn’t definitively state his plans beyond the weekend.

“It’s flattering,” McVay said when asked about the latest in the annual end-of-season rumors of broadcasters’ interest in him as an analyst.

“These are always going to be things that you anticipate and expect that are going to come up, because I haven’t run away from the fact that down the line or whenever that is, (broadcasting) is something that I’ve been interested in,” he added. “But I want to be here right now, focus on that, and that’s where I’m at.”

McVay’s future has become an annual topic of speculation because of his acknowledgement of late-season burnout and his open interest in an easier life away from the coaching grind. McVay, who turns 37 on Jan. 24, got married last year and has said he would consider leaving coaching to raise a family.

McVay has frequently mentioned the disappointment and frustration he has felt during his first losing season as a head coach, but he said that doesn’t necessarily translate into a desire to give up.

“I’m going to be open and honest about the things, because you care so much,” McVay said. “I think that acknowledgement helps me work through it. … That doesn’t mean that I feel like a failure. It means that we haven’t lived up to the expectations. There’s a lot of reasons for that, but it doesn’t change your passion, your competitiveness. It’s about using these experiences to shape you, make you more whole.”

McVay led the Rams to five winning records, four playoff berths, three NFC West titles, two Super Bowl appearances and one ring during his first half-decade in charge.

Even with this disastrous year, McVay’s career record is 67-40 including the postseason, giving him the sixth-highest winning percentage among active coaches. Only two active coaches with more experience than him have a higher winning percentage: Bill Belichick and Andy Reid.

McVay got a new contract after the Super Bowl triumph, reportedly making him one of the NFL’s highest-paid coaches through the 2026 season. He also appears to have a strong working situation in Los Angeles with general manager Les Snead, who shares McVay’s hunger for flashy moves and big-name player acquisitions.

But McVay’s current Rams have lost eight of 10 games heading to Seattle, and this “professional failure” of a season, as he put it Wednesday, has altered his perspective on coaching — and perhaps stoked his competitive fire.

“You can always try to imagine, or you can read about it,” McVay said. “But until you actually go through it, I can speak from experience now, it’s different. But when you’re around the right kinds of people, it’s absolutely something that’s going to strengthen you, and I feel like it’s made us a lot stronger in the midst of this, and so I’m looking forward to finishing this up the right way.”

SCOTT OUT

Rams safety Nick Scott will miss his first game of the season due to a shoulder injury. Scott hurt his shoulder during practice this week, McVay said. The injury is unrelated to his stinger in the Rams’ loss to the Chargers last weekend.

Scott is one of just six players who have started every game this season for the injury-plagued Rams (5-11). Last season, the Rams had eight 17-game starters and nine more players who started at least 13 games.

NOTES: NT Greg Gaines will play at Seattle despite the shoulder injury that severely limited his snaps last week. The other two presumptive starters on the Rams’ defensive line — Aaron Donald and A’Shawn Robinson — are out for the season. … McVay formally ruled out Donald, who will miss the final six games of the season with his sprained ankle. The three-time AP Defensive Player of the Year had never missed a game in his NFL career due to injury before this stretch. … C Brian Allen is also out for Sunday with his calf injury. He has missed 18 games in the last three seasons.

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Originally Appeared Here

Gov. Ned Lamont was sworn into office Wednesday shortly after 12:30 p.m., marking the beginning of his second term as the chief elected official in Connecticut.

Lamont addressed a crowd of elected officials and dignitaries at the State Armory building after being sworn in, along with the state’s other constitutional officers. He preached political parties working together, advancing the state of Connecticut and thanked both residents and supporters.

The inauguration is one part of a busy day in Hartford in which the 2023 legislative session gets underway. After calling the session to order around 10 a.m., state lawmakers  have until June 7 to conduct their annual business, doing everything from approving appointments to passing laws to crafting a state budget for the next two years.

Over that time, House Majority Leader Jason Rojas told the House of Representatives he estimated 2,000 to 3,000 bills will be proposed, hundreds of which will make it to committees and have public hearings. Some of them will eventually make it to the House and Senate floors for votes. 

Democrats hold a 96-53 lead in the House, with two members of the majority party stepping down on the first day of the session. Former state Rep. Dan Fox is believed to be a potential nomination as a judge in state Superior Court while Edwin Vargas of Hartford resigned as he seeks a job in the state university system.

The Connecticut Senate began it’s proceedings Wednesday morning with eight new faces and a slightly larger Democratic majority of 24 to 12. 

Senate President Pro-Tempore Martin Looney, D- New Haven, was elected to a fifth term as Senate leader with support from both Republicans and Democrats. Both parties also returned their own leaders, Sen. Bob Duff, D- Norwalk, for the majority and Sen. Kevin Kelly, R- Stratford, for the minority. 

Much of the morning in both chambers is filled with official oaths of office being taken, election of leaders and speeches by legislative leaders.

On opening day, starting on a bipartisan note 

With partisanship so often on display in U.S. politics, the opening day of the 2023 legislative session at the state Capitol started on a bipartisan note. 

As the state House, where Democrats hold a 96-53 majority, considered whether to nominate Matt Ritter, a Democrat from Hartford, to continue to serve as Speaker on Wednesday, the person who rose to second his nomination was not a member of his own party but House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford. 

Candelora said his support for Ritter had “nothing to do with waving a white flag.” Republicans and Democrats will certainly continue to disagree on policy in the weeks and months ahead. But he said his vote represented something unique about Connecticut politics that is often not seen at the federal level – the ability for Republicans and Democrats to debate without devolving into mayhem.  

“At a time when we’ve seen politics go in the wrong direction, this speaker met the moment at the perfect point in time to make sure that Connecticut remains an institution of deliberation, of collaboration, of debate,” Candelora said, adding that Ritter helped navigate the challenges of legislating during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

His remarks came as major divisions within the Republican Party nationally were playing out in Washington where Representative Kevin McCarthy of California was struggling to gain enough votes to become speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, which is now GOP control. 

Ritter, speaking after being nominated, recounted remarks from prior House speakers who also presided over the chamber in times of dissonance, ending with a quote from Oliver Henry Perry, a Republican from Fairfield who served as speaker from 1859-60. 

“Fortunate is the man who is able to preserve the esteem of his political friends and at the same time, command the respect of his opponents,” Ritter said, quoting from Perry’s remarks on opening day in 1860. “I will do my best.”

Early issues

In the first substantive action in the Senate chamber, Republican Minority Leader Kevin Kelly, R- Stratford, rose to object to the passage of new rules that he said failed to mark a complete return from the pandemic-era protocols that closed many areas of the Capitol closed to the public, and caused committees to meet online. 

While the gallery above the Senate chamber was crowded with onlookers for the first time in nearly three years, Kelly said that the new rules still marked a “substantial” shift from how business was conducted at the Capitol prior to the pandemic, and thus the rules deserved a public hearing. 

Under the new rules, committees will again be required to meet in person, with the option for members of the public to provide testimony remotely. Despite Kelly’s objections, the Senate approved the rules by a voice vote. 

Legislative priorities

This year’s session is a full five months, meaning it is a so called long session. Those sessions are used to craft biennial budgets. It also means a significant number of bills will be proposed because, unlike a short session where bills can only originate from committees, during long sessions any lawmaker can float a bill. Whether they get taken up by a committee is another story.

The budget is the big task for the next few months. Everything from worker pay and pension funding to road work and municipal aid wind up stuffed in the budget. There are also the smaller items like funding for nonprofit organizations, projects in local towns and more.

But what else could be addressed during the session? Here’s a short but incomplete list of items legislators are likely to bring up:

• Electric rates: With increased rates taking effect Jan. 1, lawmakers are likely to take a close look at everything from assistance to families in need to possibly changing the way rates are set.
• Bear population: A bear hunt has been taken up on several occasions, but not passed. With black bear encounters spiking, however, a hunt could be the next step.
• Tax relief: Lamont has already discussed adjusting the state’s personal income tax bracket. Lawmakers could also extend and expand the child tax rebate.
• Early voting: Voters in Connecticut have already voted in favor of early voting in future elections. It’s now the task of the legislature to set the rules and guidelines.
• Housing: The affordability of housing in Connecticut has been a hot topic for a long time, but has been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lawmakers could look at everything from required fair rent commissions to increased rental assistance.
• Guns: Lamont has floated several possibilities to crack down on gun violence in the state, including permanently banning assault weapons that were previously allowed under a “grandfather” clause and expanding the state’s ban on ghost guns.
• Health care: Lawmakers could look at workforce retention in the health care field, along with the affordability of health care for small business owners.

COVID and the Capitol

With hundreds of people crossing paths at the Capitol complex Wednesday, Lamont’s office issued guidance Tuesday evening regarding COVID-19, the flu and RSV. People not feeling well and showing any symptoms of any of those illnesses are advised to stay home. It is also suggested to test for COVID-19 before going to the events.

Washing hands and avoiding sharing glasses and utensils is encouraged. While no recommendation on masks was given, they will be available at events and considered “one of the best ways to protect yourself when in a large crowd.” 

Connecticut has seen a surge in COVID cases since Thanksgiving with hospitalizations nearly doubling since then. In data published Thursday, the state recorded 3,827 cases on 24,598 COVID-19 tests over the previous seven days for a positivity rate of 15.6 percent. 

Reporters Julia Bergman and John Moritz contributed to this report.

Originally Appeared Here

Elif Ekin likes to think outside the box. Always has.

So when the COVID-19 pandemic decimated the income from her wholesale baklava business and shook the 49-year-old life coach from her comfort zone, it was only natural that her next venture would go against the grain.

Ekin opened Kahve Cafe, 57 S. 600 East, in June 2021 — and it isn’t like most coffee shops.

“This is a home,” she says between sips of tea. “This is a family.”

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Elif Ekin, owner of Kahve Cafe at 57 S. 600 East in Salt Lake City, prepares Turkish coffee with a sand machine on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2022.

On the first floor of a Victorian home, employees brew coffee in front of you, swirling small pots through scorching sand — the way Turkish coffee has been made for centuries.

Many of the products — teas, spices, towels and more — are imported from Turkey.

Family photos and art line the walls. Customers are encouraged to take a seat, either on the floor or on the vintage furniture that dots the interior, and savor their cups of coffee. Maybe, Ekin hopes, they’ll even strike up a conversation with a stranger.

“I need you to sit for a minute. You need to learn how to stop,” she says. “Please take a minute to stop. Nobody does that anymore. They’re just rushing through the drive-thru.”

And if stepping into Kahve Cafe means joining a family, sometimes family has to help out. If Ekin gets busy, there’s a good chance she’ll ask a regular to brew a fresh pot of tea.

A place for creative types to grow

While Kahve’s nooks and crannies of quirkiness may be enough to distinguish it from other shops in Utah’s capital, the cafe is only one piece of the story behind the house it occupies on 600 East.

The coffee shop and Ekin’s baklava business anchor the house that she calls The Wise Dragonfly. The home hosts a collective of creative types and healing arts specialists, making it more than a place for coffee. It’s a place to get a business off the ground.

Meander up the wooden steps to the second floor, and customers find doors that open up to artist studios, a Thai massage specialist, a crystal healer and a jewelry store. Startups looking for meeting space can rent space by the hour or through monthly memberships, giving them a low-cost place to brainstorm new endeavors.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Alex Olson, Parker Lloyd and Maddie Anderton enjoy Turkish treats at The Wise Dragonfly on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2022.

It’s a concept that Ekin says came to her in a dream.

“I remember like four or five years ago waking up and just having these words … ‘You’re going to create a community for wandering spirits looking for a place to call home.’”

Ekin considers artists and healers who rent these rooms part of the family, too. Members of the collective look out for and take care of one another, she says, and many of them work in the cafe downstairs.

“This is what is missing, is this community,” Ekin says. “We’re more than just renting rooms.”

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Bohemian Room, one of many intimate and cozy spaces within The Wise Dragonfly creative collective space at 57 S. 600 East in Salt Lake City, on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2022.

One of those tenants and coffee shop employees is Lyra Zoe Smith, an artist who began working at Kahve Cafe about nine months ago.

A fixture at summer street fairs and markets, Smith began renting space in The Wise Dragonfly over the summer to give the public a place to find her between appearances at markets.

The house is sort of “a magical place,” she says, that offers room to rid yourself of stress from the outside world.

“The city has become really sterile in its building of new places and new businesses,” Smith says. “Everything’s kind of cold and hard when you go into a place to sit and enjoy, and it’s really nice to be able to come into a place that’s comfortable and cozy to sit and draw or read a book or do your homework for the day.”

A history of helping others

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Elif Ekin, owner of Kahve Cafe, is pictured in the loft of The Wise Dragonfly, 57 S. 600 East in Salt Lake City, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2022.

Smith was drawn to Ekin’s eccentric, creative and generous personality.

“She’s very giving and she has a lot of amazing, great ideas that she just wants to share with people,” Smith says, “and she wants to create a space for people and have it be really inclusive and fun.”

Ekin was born in Turkey on a U.S. Air Force base to an American mother and Turkish father. Her family later moved to Rhode Island, where she lived until she moved to Utah on Pioneer Day in 2001 with her then-husband.

After divorcing, she became a life coach and started a nonprofit called the Divorcee Cafe, a group that offered regular meetings to provide peer- and professional support to Utahns whose relationships had unraveled.

The pandemic complicated those meetings, Ekin says, forcing her to put more focus on the coffee shop.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Turkish coffee is prepared at Kahve Cafe, nestled within The Wise Dragonfly creative collective space at 57 S. 600 East in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2022.

Salt Lake City Council member Victoria Petro-Eschler says Ekin has an internal calling to nurture those around her and possesses a gift for welcoming people to her culture.

Helping others, Petro-Eschler says, is just what Ekin does.

“She’s evidence that [by] valuing other people and staying true to your calling,” Petro-Eschler says, “it is possible to build a life that way.”

Editor’s note • This story is available to Salt Lake Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.

Originally Appeared Here

NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / December 29, 2022 / GoDaddy

GoDaddy, Thursday, December 29, 2022, Press release picture

Leveraging its deep expertise as the world’s largest services platform for entrepreneurs around the globe, GoDaddy Inc.’s You Empower pilot cohort has proved the power of one-on-one personalized coaching for entrepreneurs eager to enhance their small business’ digital presence and branding.

GoDaddy You Empower is a 12-week, skills-based, full-time employee volunteer assignment where employees are paired with Empower by GoDaddy nonprofit community partners. The goal of the pilot was to provide GoDaddy employees with an enriching professional development experience while delivering much-needed additional digital support and training to microbusinesses in the Empower by GoDaddy program. Developing skills in website creation and digital presence along with other critical marketing, social media and branding tools were core priorities for most participating entrepreneurs.

Empower by GoDaddy is the company’s signature social impact program that provides entrepreneurs from underserved communities with digital tools, training, and resources to accelerate their small business journeys. Together with its nonprofit partners, Empower by GoDaddy works to understand local communities and the small business landscape to identify gaps and develop customized, neighborhood-based programs to support entrepreneurs at all phases.

Empower by GoDaddy developed You Empower to serve as a 12-week pilot in which three GoDaddy employees teamed with three Empower by GoDaddy nonprofit partners – both virtually and in-person. The initial program partners included Impact Hub Baltimore, Better Business Bureau of the Pacific Southwest and the Alabama Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Alabama State University.

At the conclusion of the pilot cohort, Empower by GoDaddy’s nonprofit partners reported that the one-on-one attention, deep expertise and highly encouraging and personable support of the GoDaddy volunteer coaches propelled participating entrepreneurs’ website content, strategy and operations forward. Feedback also indicated that the trusted, caring relationships fostered through the coaches’ individualized, constructive guidance, and accountability drove the entrepreneurs to successfully create or update their websites and build stronger marketing and digital efforts.

Story continues

“Most of the entrepreneurs were intimidated at first,” explained Mesha McMiller, a GoDaddy You Empower volunteer. “The entrepreneurs were hoping to convert more customers whether through driving product purchase, scheduling appointments, etc., so we helped them dial in on their goals and get to where they wanted to be.”

All three GoDaddy You Empower volunteers were asked to keep journals reflecting on their personal and professional experiences throughout the 12 weeks and were interviewed at the completion of the program. Their reflections included:

“Over the course of several years, I have accumulated a wealth of knowledge that has enabled me to successfully connect customers with the right product to meet their needs in the way of websites, digital media and server technology. You Empower allowed me to take those interactions further. I was able to not only connect with the entrepreneurs in a personal way but could also act as a sounding board and coach as they published and revamped their websites, began using social media pages, or set in motion plans to expand their online audience. The entrepreneurs highly valued the coaching we provided and were eager to learn and finally present their work. The experience was deeply satisfying and empowering. I cannot wait to see how the You Empower program evolves and affects not only the entrepreneurs we serve but also other employees here at GoDaddy.” – Mesha McMiller, GoDaddy Website Specialist II

“You Empower granted me the ability to work on the ground with people I’ve always had a connection with – small businesses making an impact in their community. Through getting to know them personally and seeing them with their first online win – what I had been doing with GoDaddy for years now finally clicked. This is why I love my job and the people I get to interact with every day. I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity and can’t wait to see the program grow to help others feel the same.” – Cody Mahaffey, GoDaddy Marketing Services Account Manager III

“This experience afforded me the opportunity to see things I would have never seen [being in Alabama]. The program gave me an understanding of who I am – the uniqueness of who I am. I now approach my work with even more conviction. I can help anyone lean in more and stretch.” – Desmond Sweet, GoDaddy Learning Program Manager

For other companies seeking to build full-time, skills-based employee volunteer assignments with their community partners, GoDaddy offers the following key insights from its You Empower pilot:

• Be highly intentional around the community partners you choose to work with by defining clear criteria, vetting partners and conducting site visits. It’s crucial to ensure the partner can deliver against clear expectations for both the corporate partner and their own organization.

• Create and implement an engaging and thorough upfront training program for employees, including an overview of tools available to support the volunteer coaching and deliver; background on the nonprofit partner and players; and insights about the community and participants.

• Don’t underestimate the importance of in-person face time to make the experience meaningful and impactful for the employees, program participants and nonprofit partners.

• Believe in the importance of testing and learning and embrace a mindset that “failing forward,” or learning by doing without fear only helps to achieve your social impact program’s mission and business goals.

“I’m thrilled that hundreds of Empower by GoDaddy entrepreneurs received the additional skills-building and coaching that they sought,” said April Skeete, GoDaddy employee engagement leader. “I’m very proud of how committed GoDaddy is to truly being there for entrepreneurs throughout their journey with ongoing support, no matter an entrepreneur’s circumstance or background. These efforts really signify how GoDaddy lives out its mission of making opportunity more inclusive for all.”

Empower by GoDaddy Spotlight Series: By partnering with diverse local nonprofits around the world, Empower by GoDaddy aims to reach those who haven’t otherwise had access by offering skills training, resources, and mentoring to help accelerate their business journeys. This article is part of the Empower by GoDaddy spotlight series that shines a light on the individuals who make this unique initiative possible.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from GoDaddy on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:
Spokesperson: GoDaddy
Website: https://www.godaddy.com/godaddy-for-good
Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: GoDaddy

View source version on accesswire.com:
https://www.accesswire.com/733562/GoDaddys-Pilot-You-Empower-Cohort-Proves-Power-of-One-on-One-Personalized-Coaching-for-Entrepreneurs

Originally Appeared Here

Tameika Hughes-Foote of Green Bay wants women to have the hope that she struggled to find in her own life.

“I was a teenage mom and had three children by the time I turned 19 years old. I was in toxic relationships that led to a lack of self-confidence,” Hughes-Foote said. “Having worked my way through those obstacles, there was a point when I thought I could come alongside other women and help them navigate their own challenges.”

The transformation in her life is impressive. Now a case manager at St. John’s Ministries, she works full time while building a business, Go Girl! Life Coaching. She says that having a solid support system brought her to the point where she believes she can develop a successful business that will have an impact.

An important step in that journey came years ago when she was working at Freedom House in Green Bay. Robyn Davis, who was director at the time, asked her to create a workshop.

“I had never done anything like that before, but went ahead,” Hughes-Foote said. “I created a workshop called ‘HOPE,’ one of my favorite words. It is about healing hearts and the optimism that comes from things like prayer and empowerment. So, here we are years later, and I am doing that same workshop at St. John’s.”

As she saw the impact the workshop had on participants, she began to dream of starting a business. She took entrepreneurship classes at the African Heritage Center in Appleton and connected with the We All Rise African American Resource Center in Green Bay, where she felt encouraged to take the next steps.

That led to mentorship sessions with David Stauffacher of the Small Business Development Center at UW-Green Bay and Laura Hack, a Green Bay SCORE mentor.

“They asked me questions like, ‘What is my target audience? What will the business look like? What does it mean to be a life coach? How do I explain what I am doing?’” she said. “This is a process, and I am in the awareness stage where I am networking and attending events to build relations and get a better idea of what people are looking for.”

In receiving that input and working on a business plan, Hughes-Foote said the financial aspect has been the most difficult part of the plan.

“It is a guesstimate when I try to assess what life coaching will look like in five years. It could be challenging,” she added.

But it is those obstacles that motivate her to help others. When her life was in crisis, she said she got tired of looking in the mirror and seeing a person she did not believe in.  That taught her the benefit of setting goals to improve life situations.

“The biggest part is to get to the root of why we feel the way we do, and to set achievable goals,” Hughes-Foote said. “It is OK to be confident. It is OK to be proud of yourself.”

Go Girl! is poised to help women, and, in particular African American women, gain that confidence in order to lead a successful life. On her website, www.gogirllifecoach.org, she says the values she wants to impart are respect, hope, joy and courage.

That will be accomplished through workshops, groups and one-on-one sessions. In addition to the HOPE Workshop (an acronym for ealing hearts, optimistic thinking, prayer and empowerment), she has one called “Be You,” and another called “Her Crown,” a workshop that celebrates the strength of black women and the unique challenges they face.

Group sessions focus on the “secret to happiness” for women who want to discover their full potential. One-on-one coaching helps women “transition from surviving to thriving” and offers highly personalized meetings.

Most of the coaching has been done via video, but she looks forward to having her own space in the future. The business was launched in March, and it continues to develop with the help of her coworkers at St. John’s and volunteers.

“I am blessed to have a support team,” Hughes-Foote said. “I cannot do it all and the people I work with built my website and have helped in so many ways. One volunteer just came to me one day and said, ‘I want to help.’ I told her I wanted to be able to connect with more people and she came alongside me.”

Hughes-Foote says her mindset is to go forward and not overthink every aspect of the business because that just slows you down.

“The challenge is working full time and being a mom and a wife. It is going slower than anticipated, but I am getting there,” she said. “I’ve learned that when I’m afraid, I’ll do it anyway.”

She says that her life is evidence of the power of prayer and God working in her life. Her inspiration is to provide that same hope to women and to be an example to her children of what is possible.

The bio on her website summarizes her mission, “I have overcome an abusive relationship, and gained confidence in myself. …  I moved to Green Bay in 2004 to provide a healthier lifestyle for me and my children. Since then, I have had the pleasure to pursue my passion in helping women reach their goals and renew their mindset to have fulfillment in their lives.”

Originally Appeared Here

Life coach, motivational speaker and personal trainer “Red” Ryan Ennis has years of experience in helping clients reach their goals and live healthy lives.

Through his businesses, Beyond the Bar United and Life Beyond the Bar, Red helps restaurant industry employees manage stress and encourages clients to adopt healthy mental and physical lifestyles so they can experience life beyond the bar they set for themselves.

Ennis has a large following on his Facebook page, where he delivers inspirational messages to help others in their time of need.

“No matter what you’re going through, never give up,” he said.

Red’s own resilience was tested when his son Cole was born April 14, 2021. Wife Brittany Ennis enjoyed a healthy, full-term pregnancy, and the couple expected a joyful birth experience.

However, complications arose during delivery, which resulted in Cole suffering a brain injury. He experienced shoulder dystocia, which occurs when one or both of a baby’s shoulders gets stuck inside the mother’s pelvis during labor and birth.

“He was trapped against her pelvic bone,” Red said. “It went from the happiest day of our lives to the scariest, most surreal experience we’ve ever had.”

A team of clinicians flocked to the delivery room as Cole’s heart rate became virtually nonexistent, Red said. The physician used a vacuum extractor several times, Red said, resulting in severe brain trauma. 

Once he was delivered, Cole was placed on a cooling table, which put him in a hypothermic state to help him heal for three days, Red said. His organs were failing, Red said, and he was having seizures “left and right.” 

By Cole’s third day in the hospital, clinicians told the Ennises their son would likely be severely disabled with no quality of life, or have no life at all. 

Life changed that day, Red said. “I never knew I could love someone so much,” he said. “I would have given my life for him.”

Red said he put his faith in God. “We were praying for a miracle of all sorts.”

On April 16, he shared news of his son’s condition on his Facebook page. 

“Right now he is essentially on life support and due to his outlook we may be forced to make the worst choice a parent will ever have to make pending any improvement,” Red wrote. 

Red asked his followers for any prayers of healing and strength. “From the moment I put this on Facebook, things started to change,” he said. “The kindness of people was overarching.”

Friends launched food drives and strangers sent money. A GoFundMe raised $60,000 in days to help with medical expenses. “A church in Africa was even praying for us,” Red said.

From that point, Red said, Cole’s blood work results improved and he began to produce wet diapers. Organs that were failing started to recover, and the swelling in his brain lessened. The seizures stopped. He was taken off oxygen. His right arm, which was deemed to be paralyzed because of the trauma at birth, regained strength; he could squeeze his fist. 

“It was a miracle,” Red said. 

After 12 days in the hospital, Cole was released to go home, but his level of recovery was still unknown, Red said. For the first six months, Cole saw doctors and physical therapists three days a week. 

“Cole is now thriving,” Red said Aug. 18. “He’s right on target with everything. It was God’s way of saying, ‘I showed you I can do this – you’re just going to have to trust me, because the next part is going to be tougher.’”

In fact, the months leading up to Cole’s birth were challenging because Red was in so much pain and didn’t know why. Four months before Cole was born, Red’s hip began to hurt. Before long, Red said, it got to the point where he couldn’t see a future without pain.

At the same time, he was trying to renovate his home in preparation for Cole’s arrival.

“One day I couldn’t lift a hammer,” he said. Family and friends helped finish the work before Cole’s birth.

While he was in the hospital with Cole, the pain went dormant, Red said. Then, it intensified. Painkillers couldn’t touch it. He couldn’t walk or hold his newborn son.

Finally, a scan showed an inflamed calcification. A CT showed a possible osteoblastoma, which is a benign bone tumor. A small chance of cancer was present, Red said.

He was sent to MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper in New Jersey for further testing. A spot in his lung was dismissed as possible pneumonia; Red felt ill and had a rattling cough that day. Clinicians found no sign of cancer, Red said. 

However, he said, two weeks later they called with horrible news. The cells that were biopsied came back positive for lung cells present in the bone mass. Red was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic lung cancer.

“Which is the leading cause of death among all cancers,” he said.

Everyone was in disbelief, Red said. He was 31 years old, an extremely healthy athlete, and had never smoked. Genetic testing revealed he had an EGFR mutation lung cancer.

Red now receives care, including chemo, radiation and other therapies, at Johns Hopkins, where his clinicians told him they see miracles happen every day. He’s suffered from blood clots in his leg and lung, COVID-19 and a micro-hemorrhage in his brain.

“I still feel lucky and blessed,” he said. “Cole is the greatest thing that ever happened to me. He’s my best friend, and I never knew I needed him. If it’s not in the cards for me to be cured, I have this amazing son. Watching him overcome everything this life has thrown at him is a joy I never thought was possible.”

Red’s thoughts turned to how he could leave the world a better place than he found it. He decided he wanted his birthday, Aug. 23, to be Random Acts of Kindness Day.

“How cool would that be? It starts with one person, one interaction,” he said. “You never know what someone is going through.”

He launched the idea on social media, where his friend Mike Soyka, legislative assistant to Sen. Trey Paradee, D-Dover, got the message. 

On March 24, Paradee sponsored a resolution recognizing Aug. 23 as Random Acts of Kindness Day, encouraging the public to participate in random acts of kindness to increase happiness, unite the community and increase the well-being of Delaware residents.

The Ennis family was present for the resolution proclamation. Red said he hopes people will observe the day by performing simple gestures, such as giving an unexpected compliment, smiling at someone who looks sad, or taking the time to write a great online review for a restaurant they love.

Red said he hopes people will share their acts of kindness on his Facebook page, not to receive thanks or recognition, but to share the experience of how it feels to do something truly kind for completely unselfish reasons. 

“People want to help,” he said. “I see so much kindness and goodness in people. This can create momentum. Let’s see what people are truly capable of.”

Originally Appeared Here