The BusinessMakers Overtime - Week of April 14, 2010: Support Your Local Entrepreneurs!

Episode 038 originally broadcast on April 14, 2010

Katie Laird and Esther Steinfeld are reporting in from the Primer Grey + Colab Block Party, an open house gathering held April 8 for small business and entrepreneurial types. We’re rubbing elbows with and interviewing all the hot Business celebs.

It’s a Block Party!

Katie Laird and Esther Steinfeld are reporting in from the Primer Grey + Colab Block Party, an open house gathering held April 8 for small business and entrepreneurial types. In the news this week: are unpaid internships unconstitutional? Some companies are not so above board about their student help. Competition between AT&T and Verizon has gotten nasty; now AT&T wants to take the high road. And in CEOs Say the Darndest Things: Ursula Burns wants Xerox Corp. to be a better place. (“She’s badass; I’m sorry.”)

Start with Nothing and Turn it into Something Amazing

Chris Valdez, Chris Everson and Cliff Raymond, Primer Grey Katie visits with three partners of marketing design firm Primer Grey. Marketing should start from scratch and every client approached like a blank canvas. Question and rethink everything, because today’s market is new and different. Primer Grey approaches clients as a small company, taking a step back and a higher view to determine the best way to achieve a client’s goals. Starting a business is all about devotion and caring, they say. (“It’s more than just about us.”)

Support Local & Grow Together

It’s the latest thing and we’re on it! Katie visits with Houston business celebs who believe in SLGT, a pay-it-forward concept that encourages citizens to patronize local business. They explain it as insourcing rather than outsourcing, and define it as a form of coopetition, working together in order to create more jobs locally and a more resilient local economy. Do it for the community. (“It’s kind of like one big hug that makes us all better.”)