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Extreme Entrepreneurial Tour, GSEA Global Finals, and Graduation

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:28:05 +0100

The end of May was full of adventure!

I was fortunate enough to have been asked to fly out to Toledo, Ohio to talk at an event put on by the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour. It was my first experience with the tour and I was blown away by how amazing the speakers and facilitators were! I had the privilege of being the keynote speaker and talking to the students about my entrepreneurial journey. I told the audience about how I have taken a hobby and a passion (cheerleading) and transformed it into a career that not only make me money but helps give back to the world at large. I gave them permission to dream big and go hard for their dreams. Lastly, I tried to make it clear that being young is not a barrier to owning a business.

From Ohio I flew strait to New York to attend the EO Nerve/GSEA Regional Competition. I had a chance to meet some of the most passionate a brightest college entrepreneurs there are. For those of you who don't know I am the United States Ambassador for the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA). It is a global business plan competition that can launch your business to the next level, whether you win or not. The synergy and relationships I was able to experience was GAME CHANGING. If you are a college entrepreneur or you know one be sure to nominate them for the competition.

After leaving New York, I took the bus back down to good ole' Virginia to graduate from Virginia Commonwealth University! I had a ton of friends and family come to see me graduate. Hopefully, I will have pictures for you all soon.

Be blessed :-)

Brittany Rose – College Student, Entrepreneur, and An Advocate for Girls

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:52:09 +0100

http://afropuffsandponytails.com/african-american-women-entrepreneurs/brittany-rose-college-student-entrepreneur-and-an-advocate-for-girls/comment-page-1/#comment-17624

Afro Puffs and Ponytails is very proud to present our story on an ambitious young lady who is doing a wonderful job at making her dreams come true. Her name is Brittany Rose and she is a full time college student AND the owner of More Than Cheer LLC. We had an opportunity to learn more about her and we proudly share her story!

Afro Puffs and Ponytails, Inc. -Please Tell us a little about yourself Ms. Brittany Rose

Brittany Rose - I am a 22 year old college student. I grew up in Northern Virginia and I’m currently attending school in Richmond, Virginia. I have a passion for entrepreneurship and personal development. I am in my last year of college and will be graduating with a degree in Marketing from Virginia Commonwealth University. I love meeting new people and finding out how I can help them move towards their goals. There is no better feeling than seeing someone accomplish their goals and knowing I was a part of helping them achieve it.

Afro Puffs and Ponytails, Inc. - What exactly is More Than Cheer, LLC?

Brittany Rose -More Than Cheer is a sports management company that specializes in “spirit sports” (cheerleading, dance, etc). We provide recreational classes, conduct camps, and manage recreational and semi professional teams across the state of Virginia.

Afro Puffs and Ponytails, Inc. - Share with us the inspiration behind More Than Cheer, LLC?

Brittany Rose -My first year of college I attended a small school in the midwest on a cheerleading scholarship. When I arrived (half way across the country) I met my new cheerleading coach who had replaced the coach that recruited me. I loved the friends I made at the school but the cheerleading program wasn’t what I expected. That summer I returned to Virginia and started to plan out what I would do while attending VCU. My first consideration was to take a job with a street marketing team, when a family friend told me to start a business. She said, “You have been cheerleading forever, you’ve already been a cheerleading coach, and this street marketing thing sounds dangerous. You are starting a business!” We sat down planned it out and I hit the ground running.

Afro Puffs and Ponytails, Inc. – Share with us some the challenges of having your own business?

Brittany Rose -

There is a new challenge everyday! But that’s why I love owning a business, its never boring. My most pressing challenges are learning to create systems within my company. Its really important to me that I create a business that can run whether I am in the office for 2 hours a week or 40 hours a week. Part of what is challenging about creating a business like that is to be able to find the right management team and the right instructors.

Also, I have a unique personality that doesn’t allow me to sit still very often. I’m always doing way more than I need to be. Sometimes it creates stress and time management becomes a challenge. Overall, I conquer every challenge by taking small steps towards my goal every day and by keeping a strong support system around me. I choose friends that have similar goals, think positively, and motivate me to push past what I think is possible. I am really blessed to have a family that loves and supports me constantly.

Afro Puffs and Ponytails, Inc. - What are some of your goals for the future?

Brittany Rose - First, to make the world a better place then what it was before I was here. Secondly, to create a life of financial and time freedom by continuing to build my company, More Than Cheer.
More specifically, I would like to develop a non-profit organization that can serve underprivileged communities by creating more cheerleading and dance programs, spread my message of empowerment to young people, grow More Than Cheer to serve at least 1,000 girls across Virginia, travel around the world (Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Brazil, Jamaica, South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, etc), and create an empowerment campaign for African American youth.

Afro Puffs and Ponytails, Inc. – What advice do you have for young African American/Black Girls?

Brittany Rose-

1. Decide what you want to do with you life.
Don’t let anyone discourage you or say you can’t make a living doing what you love. I love cheerleading and I found a way to cheer for a living.

2. Structure everything you do to help you accomplish what you have decided to do with your life.
Even if you don’t know exactly what you want to do start doing more things that you like to do and try to find a common thread that runs through all of those activities, narrow things down as you go.

3. Use your resources.

Saying you don’t know something or you don’t know how to do something should never be an excuse. With Google and the internet there is NO way you can’t figure it out. If the challenge is more difficult than a simple Google search find people that you can ask for advice from. I have a mentor that lives all the way in FL, we have never met, someone told me about his company, I looked him up, called him, emailed, and facebooked him, until he had time to talk to me for 15 minutes. Now I am a part of his training group and he had helped me double my company!

4. Keep Good Friends. You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time around. Look at the people you spend the most time with, do you want your life to go in the same direction as theirs? If not, it doesn’t mean they are a bad person, it just means you want different things.

5. Be persistent
There is always a way to accomplish your goals. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER give up.

Afro Puffs and Ponytails, Inc. -Thank you so much Ms. Brittany Rose for sharing your story with us! For more information about Brittany Rose and More Than Cheer, LLC, please visit the following links.

Check out the USA Today article featuring More Than Cheer:http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/basics/2011-01-30-life-stages_N.htm
Website: www.Morethancheer.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brittany-Rose/154958964546585

March 2011- Momentum

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 15:00:20 +0100

Hi everyone!

This month I had some major momentum that is really starting to take effect! I think my success this month has been attributed to the momentum that I have been gaining through the past three months.

Momentum- Since starting the ETC program the things I have been learning and the one on one mentoring that I have been receiving has been building up in my life. It takes time to get from the point when you have an idea to the point where you have developed that idea into something real. Personally, I have had a lot of ideas and plans but most of the time they stayed scribbled down in my notebook until one day I find myself glancing through it and asking why I had never ever done anything with them. Being apart of the ETC creates focus and accountability. The ETC wont allow you to leave your dreams and passions in a notebook, tucked away and never used.

Click here to see the video

Professionalism & Web Presence

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:42:55 +0100

It doesn't feel like its been three weeks...

This weeks call was about professionalism and web presence. We talked about our websites and how to make then number one on Google. This is commonly refereed to as search optimization. Duane talked about how to use headings, subheadings, paragraph text, key words, meta tags, and other strategies to reach the top of the first page on Google.

I know I have a lot of work to do on my website. Currently, its very difficult for search engines to read my website because I am using an eCommerce site. I also need to create specific pages for each sport, after school programs, and summer camp.

We also talked about the power of YouTube. I will be creating a series of videos to help gain marketing and help potential customers find out what we do.

Lastly we talked about business cards and how to use them as a marketing tool.

Books recommended during the call: e-myth, cash flow quadrant, rich dad poor dad, (personal recommendation - 4 hour work week)

Since the beginning of the year my business has more deals, contracts, and clients than we did for 6 months of last year! I am continuing to find a ever growing list of things to improve my business.

Action Steps: send Duane top 10 competitors and schedule call for website help

Homework: How can we expand what marketing we currently do. What are you doing to market your program and is it effective. Due Thursday.

Reaching for My Goal

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:42:49 +0100

Today I did the homework that was given to us on Sunday. The assignment was for us to write out a vision of what our companies would look like once they were completed. This was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I think it was difficult for me because I am not used to thinking about my company as something to be completed. For me its a journey with no final destination. There is always something to be learned and improved on. What I submitted for my assignment is at the end of the post.

Tuesday, Duane and I had our one on one to discuss my goals. We went through each goal (which you can find on my first post) and talked about what I have to do to accomplish them. One of the most important goals I have is to create more systems for my company. Duane has put over 300 hours into creating systems for his company and he has graciously volunteered to send me all of his manuals and procedures. I cant explain to you what a monumental impact this is going to have on my company. What other program do you think you could find that would be willing to be so open, giving, sharing, and gracious???

Brittany

ETC Homework Vision of my completed business:

My company is a multi-million international franchise

The franchises conduct recreational cheer and dance classes/camps

200+ national franchises

100+ international franchises

More Than Cheer still runs the retail portion of the company
The company continues to run all semi pro outsourced team

100+ teams

We will remain a privately held company
I will retain ownership but higher an executive team to run the company.
Several other companies are owned by More Than Cheer
A Non Profit geared towards teaching under served young people personal development skills and leadership skills through spirit sports
Personal development seminars company

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6OQzH07u0U

First Conference Call With ETC

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 03:48:44 +0100

This evening ETC has its first weekly conference call. The program is designed to improve businesses that focus on young people and athletics.

"2011 is getting off to a great start and I'm really excited about growing my company to serve as many people as I can reach. I feel quite fortunate to be connected to an extremely talented and successful entreprenuer, Duane Spires, who has impacted many lives with his Extreme Youth Sports fitness programs. He's now graciously helping individuals like myself who are ready to grow their business beyond what they could achieve on their own with his business coaching program, EYS Entrepreneurial Training Course. Even before the program started, Duane, gave me great ideas that I've already started to implement and he has me thinking about my business in a way I never thought of before or even thought was possible. I know 100% that I would not be able to move forward with creating a real business without having expert help, accountability, and a direct resource of years of experience and know how that Duane and his EYS ETC program provides. I'm looking forward to seeing the progress of all the ETC members and to see how many people we can help reach better health with our businesses."
-Yolanda Febles

I know that I need to be challenged personally and professionally and I think this program can help me do that. I'm excited that there is a lot of discipline and accountability in the program. There are no excuses, you either commit to being successful and create amazing results or you don't (and you get kicked out of the program). This week in preparation for our weekly conference call ETC students submitted ten goals that they wanted to achieve by working with the ETC program. I have a lot of goals so it was a fairly easy for me (my goals are at the end of this post). I can't wait to get to all of the things that I know are really going to stretch me!

I have already been asked to be a forum moderator. I look forward to gaining the leadership experience the position offers. Duane moderates our weekly calls but we also have forums that meet once a month. Forums give the participants to get to talk freely with one another and create something like a think tank for the challenges we all face.

My goals:

1. Build a positive personal net worth
2. Create and stick to a savings, investment, and spending plan
3. Develop greater self discipline
4. Gross 250k or more through my business
5. Build more systems into my business
6. Develop a better customer management system and develop better customer/company relationships
7. Develop a stronger management team
8. Create a stronger advisor team (I.e. accountants, lawyers, etc)
9. Create marketing programs that drive more students into my programs
10. Ensure my programs are not only teaching athletic skill but also leadership and personal development skills
11. Learn to hire great people and train them to be great instructors
12. Spend more face to face time with clients and partners that contribute to my company
13. Create programs that help me reach underprivileged girls

This weeks homework is to describe what our businesses look like when they are completed (I'm sure I will be posting that soon). Our action step is to schedule a 30 minute call with Duane to create a plan of action for reaching our goals.

Check out my video about ETC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7t_XxKBnTY

Dream Stealers

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 03:42:40 +0100

I had a friend text me last night saying: “If you have anything encouraging to say, now would be a good time.” I told him something to the effect of, when the going gets rough your keep pushing ‘cause your blessing is on the other side.

This is extremely uncommon behavior for Jones*. I rarely have to encourage him because he is a self motivated type of person. He is extremely bright, talented, and hard working. He is one of my only friends from high school that has chosen a similar path to mine; the path of “risk,” the path of entrepreneurship. I have no doubt he will be successful. But I knew what he was going through, we all have been to that point. They point where we don’t see the finish line, or the finish line is too far away with too many obstacles in the way.

When I asked him what had brought this flash of doubt into his mind he told me: He had been talking to a good friend, telling his friend of dreams, plans, goals, and ambitions to which his friend replied “are you serious? I think you should go get a well paying job and then go do that.” OUCH!!! But rest ashore we have all been there. I’m sure this person wasn’t trying to be mean or trying to be a dream stealer, I’m sure they love Jones* and want him to have a “safe, secure” life. Problem is they are ignorant to the definition of safe and secure.

In my opinion getting a job, having someone else control your 40 hours of your life a week, having someone else choose how much your paid and when, and then having someone else decide if you will have a job next week, next month, or next year, is not safe or secure. Personally, I rather my livelihood depend on me.

So what should you do when you encounter a dream stealer? Arm yourself with knowledge, and gently enlighten them to why getting a “good paying job” is just not for you. They may agree, they may not. It is not your job to persuade them, but it is your job to let them know if they cannot support what you are doing, you would rather not speak to them about it. Secondly, build a strong support system around you to counter your dream stealers. This isn’t always easy but believe that there are people in your life or being brought into your life that are there to support you and build you up to the level of success that you deserve. Find networking groups for entrepreneurs, speak confidently to friends and family about your dreams, and always have examples of people who have done much more at much younger ages. Perfect example: I saw a movie the other day called “Young Entrepreneur Society” which profiles several young people who have made millions under the age of 18. One sold his grandmothers pancake syrup at the age of 13 for a million dollars. Another built a beanbag chair company that makes him $60 million a year! My point being, if there are people in the world capable of this, why can’t you be capable of accomplishing what it is that you have set your sights on?

If you need some encouragement, I will be happy to help you out too, email me at Brittanyrose_146@msn.com

Make it a great day!!!

Feeling good about bills?

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:42:32 +0100

We all have bills! I have more bills then most people at my age but instead of feeling depressed about having to pay them, I have decided to feel thankful.

Across the board, most people grew up listening to their parents complain or worry about how they were going to pay the bills. So as we grow up we do the same. But I want to offer a new way of thinking about this seemingly unpleasant situation. Here are so key things to consider when paying your bills:

1. Your money is helping to pay someone else’s salary, so they are able to provide for their family AND give back to their community.
a. Many major corporations have programs where they help people in need. And many employees pay tithes and donate money to help people who are less fortunate

2. Be thankful that you have the money to pay the bill in the first place!
a. This has been a great one for me. I have a ton of bills but every month God blesses me with a way to pay them all. Even if you are behind in bills or backed up in debt, be grateful. If you are able to read this blog, you’re not that bad off.

3. When you give, you must receive.
a. I believe this applies to bills and to charitable giving. Money is like a river, it needs to be constantly flowing. I am not saying don’t save some money just in case, but don’t be stingy. Many of the richest people in the world are also the biggest philanthropists.

Welcome!

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:21:05 +0100

I'm so happy your visiting my blog! This blog will serve several purposes:

Allow you to learn more about me and my life (BORING!)
To encourage, inspire, and educate you on student entrepreneurship
To give you a resources to grow as a person - Empower Me