If you create it, be direct or creative with the group name, avatar, and cover. Check out the Joining and Creating Groups Knowledge Base article.
Thriving together
We recently refocused the site and allowed active Yearly/Monthly members to optionally be affiliates/influencers and earn a residual income. Check out the Affiliate/Influencer Income Estimator.
Are you interested in the group because you are a writer or content creator? See Get Published on OutBüro.
Pride Month is a time to celebrate equality for all, as Ukraine is fighting to preserve its culture, democracy and equality for its citizens.
June is Pride Month when the LGBTQ+ community comes together to celebrate our progress and remember those who fought for our rights. This year, we want to highlight our work at Alternative Spaces and our Ukrainian partner, Onix Systems. We have been working together daily for 15 years, producing high-quality software, innovative applications and complex installations.
What’s more, Alternative Spaces is LGBTQ+ owned and operated, while Onix Systems fully embraces and supports our LGBTQ+ Community. Despite the horrific Russian invasion, Onix continues to work with us daily, even after spending nights sheltering in basements during multiple air raid warnings. Onix is located in a remote area of Ukraine and all 340 team members are safe.
This June, as we celebrate Pride Month, please take some time to explore our blog posts and learn more about the value we offer. You can read about how misterb&b is working to create a safe and welcoming environment for LGBTQ+ travelers worldwide. This is what Francois de Landes, VP IT and Operations, misterb&b has to say:
Andy Cramer, CEO of Alternative Spaces, and I have developed an extraordinary working relationship over the past five years.
He undoubtedly has our best interests in mind. Andy helped with our strategic scaling opportunities, sent us our CTO, with his marketplace experience suggested solutions to add inventory for available guest accommodations, and assisted us as we moved through COVID and the war with Russia.
Andy is in constant contact with me. He consistently adds his knowledge, expertise, contacts, and support to misterb&b’s benefit. I highly recommend working with him and his team. They will ensure you get the best programmers, that project milestones are completed on time without errors, and the benefit of his wisdom as a veteran CEO.
We hope that this information will help you see how your company can benefit from working with us and support our Ukrainian partners at the same time. Thank you for your time, and we look forward to working with you. Link to the misterb&b story
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ —Today, leading influencer marketing company, Captiv8, is announcing its public pledge to help Cr8 Change through programs such as a grant for minority-owned SMBs as well as mindful product updates with the goal of taking concrete, small steps to help lead greater DEI momentum and progress within the influencer marketing industry.
Influence Change Grant: applications are now open for Captiv8’s inaugural Influence Change Grant, which is designed to be a twice-yearly SaaS grant to support BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ owned small- to mid-sized businesses who are positively impacting their communities. Those selected will be provided free access to Captiv8’s SaaS influencer marketing platform, including discovery, workflow, intelligence, insights and measurement capabilities, as well as dedicated hours for strategic consulting with a team of in-house experts. In order to qualify, applicants must also meet the following criteria: be located in the United States, be non-for-profit or be a for-profit business with less than $10 million in annual revenue. The first deadline to submit is October 29, 2021, with the first recipients to be announced in December of this year. Captiv8 is currently dedicating over a half of a million dollars of value to this program to help support 10 companies in 2022.
Mindful Product Mapping: Captiv8 is also building features directly into its platform to encourage creator representation through expanded gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation identification options. This will allow creators to self-identify in the most representative manner, and allow brands to partner with creators to diversify initiatives.
“The last few years have made it apparent that there is a need now more than ever for a culturally diverse and representative landscape in the influencer marketing industry. We know this change cannot happen overnight, but we want to make sure we’re dedicating ourselves to taking the right steps to ensure we’re making a positive impact for both creators, and the brands we work with,” said Krishna Subramanian, CEO, Captiv8. “Ultimately, we know that small steps lead to significant progress over time. As a minority-owned company ourselves, we have built our own foundation upon the diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, genders and excellence of our employees, and we want to help lay a similar, inclusive, foundation in others.”
Captiv8, itself, is a minority-owned company, with nearly 70 percent of the team identifying as BIPOC. Diversity extends to the highest levels, with 1 in 2 of its leadership team also identifying as BIPOC.
Those interested in learning more or applying for the Influence Change grant can visit here.
About Captiv8: Captiv8 is a full service influencer marketing solution that redefines end-to-end, inspiring you to think bigger, enabling you to plan smarter and empowering you to execute better. Through our intuitive workflow, brands can uncover actionable insights on trends, discover and vet influencers, seamlessly activate campaigns at scale, amplify branded content across the digital ecosystem, and prove business impact through our measurement dashboard. Our platform gives you the tools you need to build relationships and effective content, while our teams lend experiences and strategic services to steer you clear of common influencer marketing pitfalls.
National LGBT Chamber of Commerce Teams Up with Grubhub To Offer String-Free Funds for Struggling Restaurants Impacted by Covid
WASHINGTON and CHICAGO, Sept. 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — America’s vulnerable LGBTQ+-owned restaurants and bars serving food will find a vital lifeline this fall stemming from the partnership formed by the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) and Grubhub. These small business owners have been among hardest hit by Covid impact with loss of jobs and income over the past two years.
Grubhub, a leading U.S. food-ordering and delivery marketplace, and the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC), the business voice of the LGBTQ+ community and certifying body for LGBTQ+-owned businesses nationwide, have opened applications for their NGLCC/Grubhub Community Impact Grant Program. The grants are expected to range from $5,000 to $100,000.
“We often say at NGLCC that ‘If you can buy it, an LGBTQ+-owned business can supply it.’ That is especially true of the LGBTQ+-owned restaurants across America who kept our communities and first responders fed throughout the pandemic. We’re proud to partner with Grubhub in offering these grants to support these businesses throughout the nation. America’s 1.4 million LGBTQ+-owned business owners have shown incredible resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic, and now, in turn, we can help them recover stronger than ever,” said NGLCC Co-Founder and President Justin Nelson.
Throughout June, NGLCC was named the official partner of Grubhub’s Donate the Change program, which has raised tens of millions of dollars for organizations in need since launching in late 2018. The partnership welcomed Grubhub and Seamless diners to opt-in, round up their order total, and donate the difference, with the company matching eligible donations from Grubhub+ members. The proceeds raised will now be made available through NGLCC to support the LGBTQ+ community and LGBTQ+-owned restaurants.
“As the world starts to return to a new normal, we know many businesses are rebuilding and reopening, especially LGBTQ+-owned restaurants that are often the pillars of their communities,” said Kevin Kearns, senior vice president of restaurants at Grubhub. “We’re thrilled to partner with NGLCC and give back to the LGBTQ+ community – one that has shown incredible strength and support for those in need throughout the pandemic.”
Under the innovative grant program, the NGLCC has set a goal to allocate 30 percent of the funds to businesses owned by people of color and transgender/gender non-conforming individuals.
NGLCC and its partners will expertly evaluate applications after the October 12, 2021 closing date. Major grantees will be awarded onstage during the NGLCC Back To Business (B2B) Summit in Hollywood, Florida this November, as well as in local communities.
The NGLCC’s network of more than fifty Affiliate Chambers across America will help amplify this grant opportunity to support local restaurants. Those local chambers will also benefit from this initiative’s newly established “Affiliate Chamber Fund.” This fund will enable any establishment that receives a Community Impact Grant Program that is not currently a member of an NGLCC local affiliate chamber to have one year of membership paid. Additionally, many of NGLCC’s more than 300 corporate partners enhanced their Pride 2021 programming with food orders from Grubhub during their programming with Employee Resource Groups and community partners – a best practice expected to continue throughout future Pride celebrations.
For more information on the Community Impact Grant Program regarding restaurant eligibility requirements, timelines, how to apply, and more, please visit www.nglcc.org/ghgrant.
About NGLCC The National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) is the business voice of the LGBT community and is the largest global advocacy organization specifically dedicated to expanding economic opportunities and advancements for LGBT people. NGLCC is the exclusive certification body for LGBT-owned businesses, known as Certified LGBT Business Enterprise® (Certified LGBTBE®) suppliers. www.nglcc.org @nglcc
About Grubhub Grubhub is part of Just Eat Takeaway.com (LSE: JET, AMS: TKWY, NASDAQ: GRUB), a leading global online food delivery marketplace. Dedicated to connecting more than 33 million diners with the food they love from their favorite local restaurants, Grubhub elevates food ordering through innovative restaurant technology, easy-to-use platforms and an improved delivery experience. Grubhub features more than 300,000 restaurant partners in over 4,000 U.S. cities.
In this episode of OutBüro Voices featuring LGBTQ professionals, entrepreneurs, and community leaders from around the world, host Dennis Velco chats with Stephen Crawford a Business Coach who focuses on the end game.
Stephen Crawford throughout his career has been a teacher and/or coach in some manner. For the bulk of his career, he was a vocal coach helping his clients and students be pitch-perfect while performing and guiding their careers. He has owned two successful vocal studios and has clients who have gone on to reach prestigious positions.
10:50 Stephen provides an overview of how he works with small business owners
12:30 Stephen shares examples of what business owners have lost by not having an exit strategy when unexpected emergencies force them to close their business
17:30 Document your processes – even if you are a baker, document recipes so all things are repeatable by others
19:00 Stephen shares information about the methods and their profit accelerator business survey that covers 40 areas of a business
22:50 Stephen provides a prioritized approach so that business owners can incrementally work on what is the most important and growth-oriented
25:30 In the past you may have hired a coach and didn’t get the actionable results desired. Stephen’s tools provide actionable prioritized reports and guidance.
29:00 Stephen assists professionals with their webinars, presentation, and public speaking game. We further discuss how business owners should leverage video and audio to promote their knowledge, products, and services in an informational way.
Stephen focuses on the end game of what the client is wanting to achieve and then works systematically with them to help them shift their mindset to remove the stumbling blocks that are holding them back. Stephen has taken his past and realized his skills, knowledge, passion, and expertise can help small businesses. He launched Infinite Symmetry Business Strategies as an independent small business consulting agency under a national Business Services company that provides a researched methodology to structure his consulting practice with tools and resources.
One of those tools is a comprehensive business survey that helps Stephen and the business owner uncover underdeveloped or missing core business structures, processes, marketing channels, and key business documents. There are over 40 areas of insights in this survey and its personalized report. From completing it, along with the businesses owners’ stated goals, Stephen can then make prioritized recommendations.
In our conversation, Stephen provided an example of how a business owner due to a family unexpected health issue had to sell her business. She was not prepared and basically had to walk away from all her years of working to build and sustain it. Had she previously worked with Stephen, gotten prepared with the legal documents, documented business processes, a growth plan, a solid marketing plan, insurances, clear accounting, and an exit strategy, she would have been in a much better place financially and emotionally.
Having a business exit strategy is not just a single document. Think of it as an athlete whose goal is to compete in the Olympics. Writing on a piece of paper, “I want to compete in the Olympics” is great. But it won’t get you there. An effective business exit strategy relies on all the areas of the business to be strong, documented thoroughly, and in place right now. Waiting until you need or want to exit is likely too late.
Do you think you are leaving your business to your child/ren? Have they worked in the business long enough to know how it fully operates? A great exercise would be to have them assist in the forming of the exit strategy. As they assist in process documentation and all the other aspects they’ll gain a fuller knowledge and understanding along with being able to contribute to some of the decision makings. Having an exit strategy also prepares a business to raise capital from investors or secure a good business loan.
www.infinitesymmetrybusinessstrategies.com
www.infinitesymmetrysymmetrycoaching.com
You owe it to yourself to have your business as strong and ready as it can be. Reach out to Stephen today to set up an initial conversation.
To connect with Stephen you can find him on OutBüro here. https://outburo.com/profile/stephengetsmorecash4u/ Join us on OutBüro, the LGBTQ professional and entrepreneur online networking community for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, allies, and our employers who support LGBTQ welcoming workplace equality-focused benefits, policies, and business practices. https://www.OutBuro.com
Would you like to be featured like this? Contact the host Dennis Velco. https://outburo.com/recommend-a-guest/
In this episode of OutBüro Voices featuring LGBTQ professionals, entrepreneurs, and community leaders from around the world, host Dennis Velco chats with Chris Rollins who is a coach for HR, people, and culture professionals.
Chris Rollins is a Leadership and Executive Coach for HR, People, and Culture Leaders, especially in the LGBTQ+ community, yet not exclusively. He does this work to deepen the commitment to his purpose: to hold safe space so that people have the courage to find and live their truth. His purpose-driven approach to coaching helps his clients connect more powerfully with who they are, what they want, and the courage to bring it to life.
Prior to working as an independent coach, he spent a decade climbing up the leadership ranks in corporate America. He started in an entry-level sales role and spent almost 8 years in various individual and leadership roles driving revenue in new business and account management. During that time, he made the largest impact coaching and mentoring people around him and building strong teams. And that’s what he loved the most.
This led him to a career pivot out of sales into organizational development to scale his impact on people and culture internally. Most recently, he was the SVP of Organizational Development for a 150 person company. As part of the executive leadership team, he was a trusted thought partner to the CEO and was leading high impact company-wide initiatives.
Join me and Chris on OutBüro, the LGBTQ professional and entrepreneur online community network for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, allies and our employers who support LGBTQ welcoming workplace equality focused benefits, policies, and business practices. https://www.OutBuro.com
In this episode of OutBüro Voices featuring LGBTQ professionals, entrepreneurs, and community leaders from around the world, host Dennis Velco chats with Martin Kmiecik, an out gay entrepreneur, discusses Diversity Pride.
The startup is focused on diversity, inclusion, and belonging strategy consulting and training. Based in London, United Kingdom, Diversity Pride has a network of diversity consultants ready to work with clients around the world who are ready to embrace diversity at its core and reap all the organizational benefits of being a welcoming work culture for all. Diversity Pride not only has a keen focus on the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) employee narrative, yet encompasses the full spectrum of diversity. Employers who focus on workplace equality win in so many ways including better financial performance. As needed and desired, through their network they can offer direct trained exposure experiences with professionals who represent all diversity identities providing a personal and authentic voice.
07:00 What has been the impact and changes due to the global health crisis (COVID 2020)?
09:30 How do you leverage competitive intelligence to differentiate, adapt, improve, and deliver?
13:00 “Competitors” can be great mentors. What have you learned?
16:45 Martin provides an example of how to format hashtags to be diversity inclusive – note that many platforms limit hashtag formatting, and once a hashtag is created and followed, a marketer must still leverage it, and choose to create a new inclusive one.
22:00 More thoughts from Matin on limitations in technology regarding diversity and inclusion. He discusses recruiting and specifically the growth of artificial intelligence in reviewing resumes/CVs
Join Martin on OutBüro, the LGBTQ professional and entrepreneur online community network for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, a.lies and our employers who support LGBTQ welcoming workplace equality focused benefits, policies, and business practices. https://www.OutBuro.com
In this episode of OutBüro Voices featuring LGBTQ professionals, entrepreneurs, and community leaders from around the world, host Dennis Velco chats with Ben Finzel, founder of RENEW PR.
Ben Finzel, is not a typical business startup entrepreneur. He launched RENEW PR, a public relations firm that primarily focuses on #renewable energy, sustainability, environmental, and LGBTQ topics. He is an out gay business owner (LGBTQ entrepreneur) with over two decades of top PR agency experience in Washington, DC. With experience at prestigious firms such as Edelman, FleishmanHillard, and others.
11:00 Delving into launching ReNew PR – transitioning from being an employee to an entrepreneur
13:00 A short clear explanation of your business is key
13:50 A benefit of starting a business after a long a rich career is the professional network of past coworkers, clients, and industry contacts.
15:00 He clarifies ReNew PR’s scope is both specific and broad – energy efficiency, renewable energy, sustainability, climate change, clean transportation, natural resources, air/water/land use all broadly. A great client would be one who offers sustainable products, say that reuses, reduces, or upcycles as one example.
17:45 Honest discussion of transition into being an entrepreneur, the assumptions and adapting
19:20 As a business own leveraging technology tool to make the dreaded yet necessary tasks easier such as invoicing.
20:20 Shifting from big PR agencies to own small business, created new realizations, new opportunities, and new partnerships
21:15 It is not pie. There is enough for everyone.
25:30 Formation of the Change Agencies a network of multicultural owned agencies
27:00 Networking with other LGBTQ communications PR professionals in Washington DC
Connect with Ben Finzel on OutBüro at https://www.outburo.com/profile/benfinzel/
Join Ben on OutBüro, the LGBTQ professional and entrepreneur online community network for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, a.lies and our employers who support LGBTQ welcoming workplace equality focused benefits, policies, and business practices. https://www.OutBuro.com
Would you like to be featured like this? Contact the host Dennis Velco. https://www.outburo.com/profile/dennisvelco/
Being an entrepreneur is challenging. The LGBTQ entrepreneur can face additional challenges that our couterparts likely won’t face such as biased limitations to captial funding to launch or grow your business, access to business mentors, hurdles to reach revenue growth due to biases, lack of strong suplier diversity practices, and so much more. This can lead to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer business owner to still in today’s time hide their true self causing yet other stresses.
Happiness is important. There are some LGBTQ entrepreneurs who have sacrificed their health, sanity, happiness, life balance, and personal relationships in pursuit of success. Like all professionals, LGBTQ entrepreneurs who are authentically happy, are those who have found a way to balance all of the various facets of their life.
Happiness matters, more than you might realize. It’s important to your physical and mental health and in your resiliency in the face of challenges and crises. Additionally, your happiness is important to the happiness of those close to you, the community at large, and the success of your business.
Are You Happy?
Do you feel you are working on supporting your big “why” that sparked your passion that sparked the idea of your startup in the beginning?
Do you feel you have quality time with your life-partner, family, and friends?
Are you taking the time to focus on your physical health – taking care of yourself?
Are you “out” in your professional life?
Would You Change?
It is often said that no one on their death bed wishes they spent more time at the office, more time marketing and pursuing customers or more time perfecting the fundraising pitch deck. Most say they wish they spent more time being present physically and mentally with those they care about.
Take a moment, now or schedule it. Take a walk and really think about this. Are you happy in all facets of your full life and if not why?
What small changes can you make to work on that? We’d love for you to comment and begin a discussion of the struggles, opportunities, strategies, and success – in happiness you have encountered. Are you putting on your busy calendar time for yourself and time with others? If not, give yourself permission to just do it.
As we are going through the COVID-19 it has added a whole other level of stresses. Things to consider putting on our calender as you can while still being safe:
Once a month catch up call with a long distant relative or friend.
Weekly or bi-weekly special date night with your life-partner – doing something that makes the day or evening special quality time to stay deeply connected. Share some ideas in the comments.
Do you have kids? Consider a board game night or other unplugged activities that allow interaction, discussion, and fun. What other ideas do you have?
Consider some alone time too – maybe that is walking around your neighborhood or parks. While walking listen to the birds and crickets, relaxing music, or even podcasts on topics you enjoy. Maybe your alone time is starting or rekindling a meditation practice. What activities work for you that you could recommend to others?
Are you involved in any local charities? If not, consider volunteering a few hours a month.
Get and stay fit. Exercising releases happy mood endorphins. With COVID-19 you might be stuck in-home workouts, but luckily there are tons of free instructional videos on YouTube with both male and female instructors.
Due to COVID-19 are you in or near financial ruin? Have you considered bankruptcy? How are you dealing with that?
If not out as a business owner, would you like to talk to others and to get their stories and support?
What resources would you recommend to others? What has been working well for you? What areas would you like to find support in?
Please share those in the comments.
Consider joining the private Out:Startups group here on OutBüro to connect with other business owners, share ideas, methods, and all tactics in a safe space where you can be yourself.
The Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce, based in Boston.will be become an entrepreneur resource for all gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer business owners in the state. The goal of the new LGBT Chamber of Commerce is ‘to create an inclusive economic growth environment by promoting opportunities among LGBT-owned and allied businesses, corporations and professionals. The Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker and regional mayor Alex Morse
attended the opening along with local LGBT community leaders, community allies and of course business owners interested in learning more and looking to get involved. Officially it opened its doors on September 24th with a kick-off party hosted The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. It is located at 50 Milk Street, 15th Floor, Boston, MA 02109.
Revenue Generation is Key Focus
Grace Moreno, Executive Director of the Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce, stated,”The chamber’s mandate ‘is putting more revenue in the pockets of LGBT-owned businesses.”
As an advocate and link, the Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce seeks to promote economic growth and viability for LGBT-owned and allied businesses, corporations, and professionals throughout the Commonwealth. We do this through advocacy, educational, and collaborative efforts, such as:
Giving corporate partners and allied businesses interested in building their supplier diversity an opportunity to directly access and connect with LGBT businesses
Working with local and state agencies to promote supplier diversity, thus, enabling LGBT businesses to flourish
Jim Heppelmann, president and CEO of PTC Inc. a technology software firm based in Boston, said that ”Becoming a founding member of the Massachusetts LGBT Chamber was ‘an easy decision. Diversity and inclusion are essential to any organization’s creativity, growth, and success, and we recognize their role in helping to drive the innovative and nurturing spirit that makes us not only a great place to work but also a company people can feel proud of doing business with.”
Progressing Forward
LGBTI representation is currently a hot topic for the people of Massachusetts in the lead up the US midterm elections on November 6.
Among the questions on the ballots, voters will be asked whether they want to keep or repeal a law protecting transgender people in the state.
This is in reference to Senate Bill 2407 from 2016, which is designed to prohibit discrimination of people in public areas regardless of their gender identity. Groups advocating repealing the law have released transphobic political ads which are being broadcast in Massachusetts, which suggests that sexual predators will take advantage of laws which are designed to protect the trans community.
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