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Starting Up a Startup - Jared Hayes: Owner of Apparition Ink - Part 2

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

You thought Part 1 was mind boggling and breathtaking? Wait ’til you see this! Is Jared really drunk? No! (?)

Jared Hayes continues to give awesome advice for anyone interested in starting their own business. Do you wonder why people are getting tattooed even in a down economy when money is tight? Jared gives thoughts and insight into that issue. He also talks competition, avoiding mistakes, hiring the right people, whip cracking, and wet T-shirt contests.

If you haven’t watched Part 1, scroll down and watch! Part 3 will be up in a few days, so stay tuned!

Starting Up a Startup - Apparition Ink Owner: Jared Hayes - Part 2 from Royal Ants on Vimeo.

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Tags: art, blog, business, interview, jared, jesus, local, tattoo, vlog
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Starting Up a Startup: Countdown!

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

Before I delve too deep into our exciting countdown news, I wanted to make sure that first time visitors had an idea of what they are about to see. RoyalAnts is going to be a lot more than what you see now. The blog/vlog that you are currently looking at is a collaboration of business advice, profile interviews of us (the RoyalAnts team), and interviews with local/small business owners.

What RoyalAnts WILL BE is something so much more. We fully intend to keep the blog/vlog section active and informative, but the main focus of the site will be a place to connect local/small businesses with their customers. We envision a place where current and potential customers can come together and interact with businesses in a way they have never been able to before. You will be hearing and seeing more about this in the coming weeks!

Now, on to the exciting news. After an incredible burst of production spurred by newfound love and motivation, RoyalAnts is proud to announce that a countdown to our initial beta phase has begun. As of today, we sit at 33 days until you can expect to see beta invites being distributed. On that note, if you are interested in helping us make RoyalAnts the coolest place in all the land and would like to take part in our private beta, please email me - ryan@royalants.com.

So, there you have it. News that we have been waiting for a looooong time, and hopefully there are a few of you out there as excited as we are to bring this to life. Expect to see some new videos coming soon, and thank you for stopping by. We truly appreciate everyone who has/is supported(ing) us!

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Starting Up a Startup - Jon and Andrea: Owners of Bevalo

Thursday, March 19th, 2009

I show off my amazing cameraman skills (<—-painful sarcasm) in our latest video! As promised, we are documenting local business owners and their entrepreneurial adventures.

This video features Jon Stovall and Andrea Maize, the owners of Bevalo Coffee in downtown Salt Lake City. You will notice that both Jon and Andrea have an amazing power that involves disappearing and reappearing in the video that has nothing to do with poor editing on my part!

Jon and Andrea give some helpful hints for you budding entrepreneurs, and offer insight into the passion they possess for their products. I was immediately struck and impressed by the attention to detail they show in all aspects of their business. This included, but was certainly not limited to, the cleanliness of the shop, the great art on the walls, the overall ambiance, the handmade/organic treats, and the importance put on making the perfect cup of coffee (or tea!) using the best beans/leaves in town.

Bevalo is not your average coffee shop. The owners feel indebted to the hard work of everyone who makes their craft possible, especially the people who labor to grow and gather the beans and leaves. They know the background and history of the people and the product, and I was lucky enough to capture some of these stories in this video. I hope you enjoy getting to know Jon, Andrea, and Bevalo. Please let us know what you think by leaving a comment, and DEFINITELY go indulge in one of the amazing drinks/treats they offer. I recommend either a latte (Jon makes a killer latte!), or the peach Rooibos tea. Bevalo is located at 200 South 123 East in Salt Lake City. You can also find them on Twitter at BevaloCoffeeSLC !

Starting Up A Startup: Bevalo Coffee from Royal Ants on Vimeo.

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Starting Up a Startup: How do YOU support local?

Saturday, March 7th, 2009

As the launch of the RoyalAnts site grows nearer, I wanted to start creating posts that cover subject matter mirroring what you will see on the site. We have not gone into great detail as to what RoyalAnts will be, and this has been intentional. That being said, I want to give you a snippet into what we hope to accomplish.

RoyalAnts.com will be a place for local businesses to stay better connected with their customer base/clientele. It will also allow you to stay more personally connected to those businesses that you love, as well as find new ones to visit/support. That is a painfully vague overview of the general concept.

In the coming weeks, I hope to explore what motivates people to shop local. Does it have to do with the overall quality of the product/service they receive? Is it an anti-corporate mentality from people not wanting to support huge faceless companies? Is there a sense of familiarity and community in a locally owned establishment? Does the ability to interact with the owner matter? My assumption is that all of these play a role, but I intend to ask patrons of these businesses to give some insight on their motivations. Along with this, I want to talk to local business owners/managers to find out what motivates them/drives them/makes them tick.

I intend to bring you this in video form shortly, so stay tuned! While you patiently, but eagerly (I’m sure!) wait, I pose those questions to you. Are you a patron of one or more local businesses? What keeps you going back? Are you a local business owner? What drives you? How do you compete, especially in such rough economic times?

I look forward to hearing your stories!

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Starting Up A Startup - Tweet Before You Think

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

How much thought do you give to your online posts? We seem so willing to put our thoughts and feeling out in a public forum, often without much thought of who might be watching. Whose reputation might be on the line? Yours? The company you work for? Your business? Those of you trying to build a brand and/or a business may want to stop and think about what emotions you allow people to tap into based on the comments you post online.

Have you ever gotten yourself in a sticky situation because of something you said online? Did you think it was just a small group of people who had access to your words, forgetting to consider the scope of whose eyeballs could be watching?

Starting Up a Startup - Tweet Before You Think? from Royal Ants on Vimeo.

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Starting Up a Startup - Profile: Josh Peters

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

Social Media Guru Josh “Shua” Peters gives you some tips and tricks on implementing Social Media/Marketing into your startup. Somewhere along the way, it also becomes a Twitter “how to.” There is some top notch name dropping, and the secret is out: I admit that I have a man crush on Gary Vaynerchuck. Oh yeah, and I get hit with a frying pan…

Starting Up a Startup - Profile: Josh Peters from Royal Ants on Vimeo.

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Tags: facebook, josh, marketing, social media, startup, twitter
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Internet Marketing Basics pt. 1

Sunday, February 15th, 2009

I’m kicking off my internet marketing series here on RoyalAnts. It makes sense, since my duties here at RoyalAnts include both marketing and business operations. Since I’ve already gone over some of the business operations, I figure it’s time we talk about marketing.

Marketing is vital to the success or even the life of any product. It’s what gets the name out, it’s how people know you’re there. If no one knows about you or your products, you will fail before you even get started.

(more…)

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Tags: internet marketing, marketing
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Starting Up a Startup - Profile: Adam Welling

Saturday, February 14th, 2009

In this titillating new episode of our vlog, you get to see deep into the dark hole that is Adam Welling. We explore the many things that make Adam tick, including his fury when you tell him that his sisters are hot. It’s not my fault his sisters are hot. Enjoy. Love. Comment.

Starting Up a Startup - Profile: Adam Welling from Royal Ants on Vimeo.

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Tags: adam, how to, sister, startup, vlog
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Starting Up a Startup - Profile: Kent Smith

Friday, January 30th, 2009

It is time we start introducing you to some of the team. In this installment, we take you into the deep, dark, and apparently violent world of Kent Smith (Coat). And, I get punched in the face…

Starting Up a Startup - Profile: Kent Smith from Royal Ants on Vimeo.

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Starting up a Startup - Running the startup

Sunday, January 18th, 2009

We receive a comment from one of our users, Ben, who asked us the following:

“hey love your startup vlog.. i cant wait for the next installment! Can you please get into the logistics of running a startup? being in the same situation as you (starting out with a group of friends) how do you tackle the legal aspects of the startup, the hours put in by each member, the duties, the funding for daily activities… I dunno can you walk us through a typical day in the life of your startup? walk us around the office or something… that would be fun :)”

Ryan is working on the video portion, which will be the walk around the office. Which are all going to be separate videos because we all work from our homes. We are attempting this with no funding at first, which means we don’t have an office as offices cost money and we don’t have any to spare. However, the rest of the questions I can address right here and once Ryan gets back from Sundance he’ll be adding his piece to it.