Hello, hello,

It’s been a long time since I wrote my last article and the whole world has already changed.

Mid December I decided I would invest in a PR to really take off the ground. I needed a real design, a real brand and to get the word out.

How would I find a PR? City is big and PR very pricy.

Luckily, one of my client Dyanna Spa, told me that his cousin has a PR agency. I contacted her and we met twice. She managed to convince me and she started to work on LocalBooking.

The first step for her was to define an identity. She introduced me to a wonderful but super duper expensive designer Paul Gerben, an amazing and talented guy. You can check his work at Studio 7. We work like a team and we succeed. The new design of LocalBooking was born. Everything happened so fast. Read the rest of this entry »

A week ago, I got crazy and decided to change the whole design of the website. It needed to be more alive, more appealing, bigger and brighter. So I came up with a very web 2.0 style orange and blue colors everything big. The result was immediate. Now everytime I show the website to anyone I manag to get their attention. It’s amazing how a design can change everything.

Last night, I had the first opportunity Read the rest of this entry »

Wow!!!

The past 4 days have been amazing in the growth and the thoughts of LocalBooking, we signed 5 new accounts. We even found very easy to get the clients of our competitors. My guess is, as there is no leader in this market people are willing to try out any solution to get business.

The choice is simple: Do you prefer to see your business empty or see customers coming by themselves thanks to us.

Some businesses still find that our fees is still too expensive while we are less expensive than the competition. They don’t understand that a new customer is very expensive. How much would them have spent in advertisement to get the same customer? I am sure a lot while here he pays a percentage when the client comes. And if they are good they can keep it forever.

We had new ideas from them.

1/ Rewards Cashpoints Program for our users. Read the rest of this entry »

Today, the objective was to get 10 nail spas/ hair salons to cooperate with me.

By 11am, I was on the street with my laptop and my smile, ready to go door to door. Area: W 72nd street to W 86th street.

I enter a first nail salon. I started asking them if they had a list of prices and told them that I have a website listing all nail spas in the area. As soon as I pronounced the word “website” they shut me down. They don’t want to do anything with the Internet and don’t even want to tell me the reason why. I tried to explain them that the goal was to bring them more business at no cost but they didn’t want to hear anything. It was the same for several nail salons.

I have no idea why they fear so much Internet. Read the rest of this entry »

July was a good month to step back : beginning of summer and preparing my upcoming wedding.

I took my briefcase and walk down my Upper West Side area to talk to all the professionals. I told them that I was doing a new website for online booking and asked them if they had any recommendations or advice.

After a week, we (myself and I) came up with LocalBooking.com.

Read the rest of this entry »

By being inexperienced and by not having any partners, it’s very difficult to find the right direction the first time.

My advice: if like me you are a newbie, find a mentor or an experienced partner to complement you.

Step 1: Creation of the Company

I figured out that the first step was to create a legal entity. I went to an accountant that a friend recommended me. It was pretty straightforward. I created a Delaware C-Corporation named EZRENDEVOO INC (easy rendez-vous). Cost: $1,200. You can find much cheaper on Internet but I prefered to deal with a physical person that I can call anytime I need to. Read the rest of this entry »

Last year on December 31st 2008, I had this unique opportunity of becoming an Entrepreneur.

I was working on Wall Street as a broker and I decided to take my chance to become an Entrepreneur. I wanted to build something that belongs to me and above all I didn’t want to have a boss anymore. Freedom and uncertainty were now my destiny. I think you need to be somehow crazy to drop a high 6 figures salary for just freedom and ambition.

Being an entrepreneur may have so many positive aspects but it is very risky as you won’t have any income for a long period of time. Young age with no responsibility is the best time to become one. Once you have a family you need either a lot of savings or a good wife that supports you. Read the rest of this entry »