I was the speaker at The Business Connection last Tuesday. This after getting back from my trip at midnight on Monday. On top of that, I had a Choose Austin First meeting at 9 and an AGLCC meeting at 6:30pm. There's no rest at all... Jimmy Beard who was on the trip with me from Dell got to take Tuesday off from work. Those of us who are self-employed do not have that luxury.
Anway, I pulled it together and gave a pretty good talk at the meeting. I decided to do a quick review of my personal background (going to UT, getting my MBA, my love of karaoke!) and then talking about my dedication to non-profit work. My very first customer was the Sisters of the Holy Family back in 1997. In fact, Site Street was originally supposed to be a web company dedicated to non-profit groups. As the company grew, I began to focus on providing services to businesses but I never forgot my non-profit roots. Today, over 15% of my customers are non-profit groups, crossing all lines in religion, education, politics and society, and business organizations. And all of them enjoy reduced rates on hosting and development, with the majorty not paying a single dime.
I really don't do any volunteer work. It's just not something I enjoy. So donating web services to non-profits is my way of giving back to the community. Besides, my time is more valuable building and maintaining sites rather than doing normal volunteer work.
And I know that my donations are helping. With the site we rebuilt for the Sisters, they are now eliminating the majority of their printing and postage costs. The sisters from across the country log in to their site to access newsletters, budget reports, and general information. Not only do they save thousands of dollars a year, but it has also made their organization more efficient... allowing them to distribute information faster than ever before.
I could go on and on... it's something I feel passionate about. Besides the non-profit work, I generally discussed the web hosting, development, design, search engine optimization, and email marketing services we provide. Overall, I think it was a very positive presentation... especially for being totally unprepared!