Wanna be an Entrepreneur?

“It takes team work to make a dream work.”

Last Friday both myself and Silkstream’s very own Ria attended Southend’s annual ‘Wanna be an entrepreneur?’ event. As well as brightly coloured WBAE goody bags, we were greeted with press passes for the day, which was a truly exciting concept for me as a new apprentice.
The event ran along side user-generated Twitter coverage using the hashtag #WBAE and invited several business owners and public speakers to aid, motivate and inspire young and desiring entrepreneurs in the area.

After an impressive turn out last year, 2015’s addition of WBAE had been set a high bar, which didn’t go unnoticed by event organiser and host of the day Baiju Solanki. Popular Bruno Mars song Uptown Funk welcomed a flash mob to launch the event, which lifted the spirits of everyone in the room and left minds in the audience eager to see what else could be thrown their way throughout the day.

An impressive 8 speakers took to the stage during the duration of the day, with some speakers covering topics which interested me as a social media marketer here at Silkstream. Social Media expert Giordana Toccaceli engaged the audience with an insight into popular social media tool Klout. Thomas explained how Social Media is becoming so significant in modern life that big companies in London now look for a Klout score of 70 or above in applicants before they even consider an interview. To me, that just shows how powerful social media really is, and that online presence really can make all that difference. If you can sell yourself in an interview, why wouldn’t you be able to sell yourself online?

After hearing how important a Klout score is widely considered, I had a look on Klout myself to see what the Silkstream Klout score was, and it turns out we’re currently at 46. Not bad at all right? But there’s still room for improvement, which is why I am now more determined to push out content on Silkstream social platforms and try and reach that sky-high 70 score that everybody seems to be aiming for.

Apart from Thomas Power, Sammy Blindell was the next speaker who really got me thinking. Sammy’s talk was all about increasing brand awareness, which is also what her own personal business does. One specific thing that Sammy said is still sticking in my mind as I write this today: ‘People don’t want perfect, they want you.’ I see this as a great piece of advice. I think people love to see there’s actually an everyday, real person behind a brand, which can also be beneficial for brand loyalty.

Sammy also went on to highlight the importance of scheduling content to go out across social platforms, declaring ‘If you want to get traction, you’ve got to take action!’. She stressed how important it is that you make your presence online even when you are not, and that consistency will lead to trust.

Overall, I found the day very inspiring. Being an apprentice myself, the WBAE event allowed me to dip in to the world of business and get an insight in to how to manage one, both on and offline. I would definitely recommend the ‘Wanna be an Entrepreneur?’ event to young people and inspiring entrepreneurs everywhere. Bring on 2016 Baiju!