Epic Change helps people in need share their real-life stories in innovative, creative, and profitable ways to help them acquire the financial resources they need.   “We help grassroot leaders share their epic true stories in ways that generate the income to acquire resources that will improve their lives,” says Monk.  Epic Change has partnered with a locally-led primary school that serves more than 300 children in Tanzania. To date, Monk’s company has loaned more than $65,000 to the school, which has enabled its founder to build it a new educational facility. Its students recently ranked first out of 117 schools in the district on national exams.

Monk plans to use most of the $10,000 ideablob prize money to fund and create a technology lab at its partner school in Tanzania.  “We hope that children, teachers and parents in the community can learn new skills, access a whole new world of information and enter global conversations by using social media to share their stories online,” says Monk. 

“We think it’s extremely innovative for a company in the US to help those less fortunate abroad in this creative way,” said Ami Kassar, President of ideablob Corp. “We are fortunate to have ideablob winners like Monk because it’s this entrepreneurial spirit that makes ideablob stand out globally.”

To view Monk’s idea and other ideas submitted by past ideablob winners, please visit ideablob’s website.  Monk’s prize will be presented to her at The 140 Character Conference (#140conf) that is taking place at 340 W. 50th Street at New World Stages in New York City on June 16/17. 

There is no purchase necessary to enter the ideablob.com® Contest.  Contest began on 9/24/07 at 12:00:00 am CT and ends on 9/30/09 at 11:59:59 pm CT.  Open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. states and D.C. who are of the legal age of majority in their state of residence at the time of entry.  Void where prohibited.  Official Rules are available online at www.ideablob.com.  Sponsored by ideablob Corp., Welsh and McKean Roads, Spring House, PA 19477.

About ideablob Corp.

Ideablob Corp. owns ideablob.com which is a vital online community where tens of thousands of small business owners and entrepreneurs meet and actively share business ideas, feedback, advice and support.  In addition, experts from various industries take part in weekly ideablob discussions, offering their direct advice to site users looking to discuss or implement their business concepts.  Ideablob awards a monthly prize to the best eligible idea, as determined by the votes from the ideablob community.  Learn more about ideablob at www.ideablob.com.

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14/09

Media Contacts

jen@ideablob.com

Magill plans to use most of the $10,000 ideablob prize money to fund the album, proceeds from the sale of which, according to Magill, will be donated to AIDS social service networks in Malawi.  Some of the contest money will also be used to tape a documentary of Magill’s journey to Malawi.  Magill will be joined by a videographer who in conjunction with UK based NGO Rhythm of Life will assist him in recording the narratives and music. In addition, Magill will create a website with the prize money where he’ll host the documentary and album. 

“Malawi has one of the highest national HIV prevalence rates in the world, and I am grateful to know that one of our ideablob winners is making a huge difference in working to stop this epidemic,” said Ami Kassar, President of ideablob Corp. “I hope that Magill’s hard work fills critical gaps in HIV prevention and behavior change intervention not only in Malawi, but around the world.” 

To view Magill’s idea and other ideas submitted by past ideablob winners, please visit ideablob’s website. 

There is no purchase necessary to enter the ideablob.com® Contest.  Contest began on 9/24/07 at 12:00:01 am CT and ends on 9/30/09 at 11:59:59 pm CT.  Open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. states and D.C. who are of the legal age of majority in their state of residence at the time of entry.  Void where prohibited.  Official Rules are available online at www.ideablob.com.  Sponsored by ideablob Corp., Welsh and McKean Roads, Spring House, PA 19477.

About ideablob Corp.

Ideablob Corp. owns ideablob.com which is a vital online community where tens of thousands of small business owners and entrepreneurs meet and actively share business ideas, feedback, advice and support.  In addition, experts from various industries take part in weekly ideablob discussions, offering their direct advice to site users looking to discuss or implement their business concepts.  Ideablob awards a monthly prize to the best eligible idea, as determined by the votes from the ideablob community.  Learn more about ideablob at www.ideablob.com.

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Media Contacts

jen@ideablob.com

“Design Green Now is born out of our concern for the environment and our desire to brainstorm with creative thinkers and challenge conventional thinking,” says Personette.

“How do we design to make a positive impact, and moreover, how do we create products that are healthy for our planet?”

These questions are being addressed in the 2009 Design Green Now series, which will culminate in a “Design Jam” hosted by global design consultancy Smart Design in early May.  A design jam is a forum where participants work together to find alternative solutions to variables relating to waste, materials, energy, health and hunger.

Personette plans to use the $20,000 ideablob prize money to create day-long conferences, with intensive group design jams to spark innovative solutions on these same topics. 

“Winning will allow Design Green Now to feed the community with an expansive online video catalog of green design, big visions, more speakers, and frequent hands on design jams,” says Personette. 

“Creativity and innovation are keys for entrepreneurs to be successful,” said Ami Kassar, President of ideablob Corp. “Personette is inspiring change within individuals and businesses and making them more environmentally responsible.” 

Because Personette was an Advanta Business Cards customer, he was eligible to receive 1,000,000 rewards points on his Advanta BusinessCard (or the $10,000 cash alternative) in addition to the $10,000 monthly contest prize.

To view Personette’s idea and other ideas submitted by past ideablob winners, please visit ideablob’s website. 

There is no purchase necessary to enter the ideablob.com® Contest.  Contest began on 9/24/07 at 12:00:01 am CT and ends on 9/30/09 at 11:59:59 pm CT.  Open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. states and D.C. who are of the legal age of majority in their state of residence at the time of entry.  Void where prohibited.  To be eligible for the rewards points portion of the prize, you must have an Advanta Business Card Account in good standing and it must be gross active for at least 90 days.  All awarded points are subject to the Advanta Business Rewards Program Rules.  Residents of AZ, MD, NJ, ND, TN and VT are not eligible for rewards points portion of the prize.  Official Rules are available online at www.ideablob.com.  Sponsored by ideablob Corp., Welsh and McKean Roads, Spring House, PA 19477.

About ideablob Corp.

Ideablob Corp. owns ideablob.com which is a vital online community where tens of thousands of small business owners and entrepreneurs meet and actively share business ideas, feedback, advice and support.  In addition, experts from various industries take part in weekly ideablob discussions, offering their direct advice to site users looking to discuss or implement their business concepts.  Ideablob awards a monthly prize to the best eligible idea, as determined by the votes from the ideablob community.  Learn more about ideablob at www.ideablob.com.

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09/09

Media Contacts

jen@ideablob.com

Let's look at two examples of how entrepreneurs put this into practice.

Mark Zuckerberg: Many think that Facebook started out as a social networking platform for colleges. In fact, it started as a network for Harvard. Initially, you had to have a Harvard email address to sign up. Then it went to all colleges, right? Nope. Then it went to the fellow Ivy League schools. As soon as Facebook captured that market, founder Mark Zuckerberg rolled it out to all colleges, where you simply had to have a .edu email address to sign up. Finally, it was made available to...everyone. Because everyone has friends they need to keep in touch with. That's the general idea that Zuckerberg started with, but his strategy for world domination began with the students of Harvard, the early adopters that he knew so well. And by limiting his product to that first niche market, in no way did Zuckerberg limit the future success or viability of Facebook.

Barack Obama: The President-elect set the stage for how political campaigns will be run in the 21st century, and it has much to do with his entrepreneurial approach. The Democrats started with an ambitious and unrealistic 50-state strategy. If it were a business plan, most investors would have passed. But it worked for Obama because he was selling the universal products of hope and change. Everyone wants to have hope, and by the end of the election everyone was looking for change. But Obama didn't start by selling it to everyone; he started with a target market of brand evangelists. These were Obama's early adopters, and they spread his messages of hope and change (sold his products) for him. By the end, he'd convinced many Republicans (Obamacans) to endorse and vote for him, including conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan, National Review columnist Christopher Buckley (son of ultra-conservative National Review founder, William F. Buckley), and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. It's worth noting that it happened in this order and that each is progressively more Republican than the last. In other words, moving from the center of Obama's target market to the outer edges. Had Obama started by targeting hardcore Republicans, the strategy most certainly would not have worked.

In general, our advice is to focus your marketing efforts in two ways. First, target those who will be most passionate about your product. Word of mouth is the most efficient form of marketing. If you can reach people who want to spread your message for you, your marketing efforts will be magnified. The second principle, however, is to target those with the wherewithal to spread your message. Just because someone is motivated to tell other people doesn't mean they have an ability to do it. This is where social media becomes a powerful tool. If you can reach someone who (a) is highly motivated to spread your message and (b) has hundreds or thousands of "friends" across the social networks, that's your ideal customer. This is the absolute center of your target market. Start here and work your way out.

Learn more about Max Gladwell at www.maxgladwell.com.

Robin Grantham is a blogger and describes her blog as caffeinated writings often riddled with dry wit. Grantham says she is most interested in entertaining people and trying to make the world a better place. Grantham believes helping people grow ideas on ideablob is a wonderful way to accomplish both.