36 result(s) found for the author: Banks
This week's issue of the Charlotte Business Journal reports that local entrepreneurs John and Victorian Kirby will be opening an Original Soupman restaurant in downtown Charlotte. The Original Soupman was created by Al Yeganeh, better know as the inspiration of the "Soup Nazi" from the TV series Seinfeld. With most Original Soupman franchises in the northeast the Kirby's restaurant will be Charlotte's first taste of the 50 soup varieties.
Just read a good article about brainstorming over at bNet. Brian Libby points out that the term itself
dates to the 1953 book Applied Imagination, in which advertising veteran Alex Osborn first articulated how a well-managed group could generate more ideas than the same number of individuals thinking on their own.
It goes on to show how the term has become a muddled catchall for anything related to creativity since the term became popular. Libby argues that over time Osborn's brainstorming's framework has disintegrated and that
many “brainstorming” sessions undermine his four key principles: focus on quantity instead of quality; allow no criticism; welcome far-fetched ideas; and encourage the group to improve ideas by combining them.
It's worth a glance and also points out how to avoid common mistakes and get the most out of brainstorming meetings.
CarolinaNightlife.com was featured in this month's issue of Charlotte Magazine. The article covered nightlife in the Queen City and how Carolina Nightlife and similar websites turn profit by promoting it. A photo shoot was held for the article at one of the newer bars in downtown Charlotte. My brother Hunter is the one on the floor and I am sitting on the table.
So our new neighbor, Meadows Office Furniture, here in the Citispace in Southend development had a grand opening party yesterday. Although there was not an official invitation given to Studiobanks, the guys and I decided to head over and introduce ourselves. Everyone we met was very nice. Clint Barlow, the General Manager of Meadows, came up to us, apologized for any inconvenience the large party tent in the parking lot might have caused us (we did have to tell some clients that were coming in for meetings to use the development’s exit since the main entrance was blocked) and told us to enjoy the party. Since we were kind of party crashing, we didn’t really know what to expect. It became clear quickly that we were quite underdressed for the event. Most attendees were in suits or business casual attire. We, of course, were adhering to the Studiobanks dress code of “whatever you feel like wearing.” It really hit home that we were standing out when the photographer, Wes Bobbitt asked if we were the band! I had planned to go see the documentary Helvetica with the guys, but was having such a good time I ended up (once again) closing down the party with Christy over quite a few cocktails.
The accolades continue to pour in for Studiobanks' client Winestore. In just a short year after opening the store, Winestore has been featured in numerous articles highlighting their unique approach to selling wine. In the latest issue of Charlotte Magazine, Winestore was named the "Best Place to Buy Wine in Charlotte," winning one of the magazine’s coveted BOB (Best of the Best) Awards.
Best Place to Buy Wine: Winestore.
This is a simple, well-organized place that doesn’t overwhelm you with thousands of bottles. Instead, winestore has a carefully selected collection of excellent wines ranging from affordable to very expensive. With an urban, chic, hip design of glass and steel, finding a good bottle is easy with categories like Dinner Party, Girls Night Out, Making Up, Loose Change, and Tax Break. It also has a fantastic method of sampling wines for sale. It’s an automated dispenser that’s activated by a wine card you purchase at the counter. Each sample is one ounce and costs $0.70, which is a great value—especially if you’re wondering if the $50 bottle you’re considering is any good.
PC Magazine’s May issue lists the top 10 most commonly used passwords online:
Most sites now require both letters and numbers when creating a password, in an attempt to force users to select a secure password. This effectively prevents users from using the list's top 3 most commonly used passwords. I guess "password1" made the list by people who are dead set on using an unsecure password.
It appears the Bobcats are not only the butt of jokes here in Charlotte but on the national scene as well. In the latest episode of HBO’s hit sitcom Entourage, Ari (a Hollywood super-agent played by Jeremy Piven) showed what the rest of the country must think of our hometown NBA franchise.
At Studiobanks, we use Basecamp extensively to manage projects. The setback to Basecamp being the application requires us to log project time manually. We previously used DesignSoft's Stopwatch and TimeSheet Manager for its timer feature, but this did not solve said issue.
Successful marketers know that you must build trust with consumers before you try to sell them anything. Often times when working with our clients we suggest placing customer testimonials on their websites to help build trust, like we did on Meineke’s Franchising website. If a customer can see that others have trusted your company and had a good experience, inherently they will be more likely to trust you as well.
Recently I had the opportunity to represent Studiobanks and speak on a discussion panel of Charlotte based studio owners held by AIGA. All of the selected studios employed between 5 and 10 people. It was an honor to be included in such an esteemed group of local firms. The discussion covered various subjects like running a design studio, working in Charlotte and hiring the right people. Here is a snippet of some of my responses on the various topics:
What do you prefer to spend more time doing, design or business?
While I do enjoy business side of things, I prefer to spend more time on design and the creative direction of our various projects. There was a time about a year ago that the studio had grown to a point where I was doing business about 90% of the time. It was quite draining, so I hired a project manager to help with client relations and the day-to-day business operations of Studiobanks.
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