UBR Morning Post: Chris Curtis On How to Grow Your Business On the Web

This week on The Urban Business Roundtable, UBR Executive Producer TaQuoya Kennedy brings Web Business Ownership Founder Chris Curtis to the Roundtable to share how entrepreneurs can work the world wide web and take their business to the next level. Curtis, a web business expert and business radio personality, is the author of the upcoming book Work the Web! The Webwise Guide to Business Online. She has also been a featured panelist at the Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference.

Slideshow: How Chris Curtis Uses Social Media

Well-respected as an industry expert, Curtis can often be found in magazines, business publications, and websites offering her views on topics involving web business. In addition to Black Enterprise and BlackEnterprise.com, she’s appeared on Forbes.com and Comcast Cable TV, as well as a host of radio networks and business-focused websites.

“When it comes to social media, I’ve carved out my own little corners where I can post until my heart’s content (or until my brain can’t think of anything to type), and connect with people all over the world,” Curtis explained when interviewed by Black Enterprise last year. “As a business owner, it’s proven to be a successful way to reach out to others and pitch ideas, form collaborations and even find new contacts for my seminars and workshops. You’ll be amazed by the people you meet, and you’ll most likely find opportunities in places you never thought of.”

I back Curtis up in my “Alfred’s Notepad” segment, where I make the case that entrepreneurs who refuse to engage in social media face irrelevance at best and invisibility at worst. Do you have to join all of the social media sites out there? Of course not. But it’s critical that you do not dismiss the four most important ones: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google. On the show, I address the two most common excuses used by entrepreneurs who eschew social media engagement: “I don’t have time” and “Social media is for kids.”

Also on this week’s edition of The Urban Business Roundtable, contributor Renita Young speaks with Paul Willis, one of the partners in a group of individuals who brought a natural foods to Detroit, a “food dessert” in desperate need of greater access to quality food choices. As a part-owner of Goodwell’s Natural Food Market, Willis has helped to steward the growth of a healthy and thriving business that’s been true to the name of their enterprise—doing both good and well.

In addition, every week on UBR, you’ll get motivation and inspiration from UBR contributor Gray, a weekly wrap-up of business news from USA Today Business Correspondent Charisse Jones, our Patient Investor Report from Ariel Investments and key economic intelligence for small business owners from our UBR Economists Derrick Collins and Rasheed Carter.

And finally, great news: the deadline to use the special discount code for UBR listeners to register for the Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference, scheduled for May 22-25, 2011 in Atlanta, has been extended. Just listen for when I share the code during the show, or connect with me at  BE Insider to get the discount. You don’t want to miss the nation’s largest annual gathering of Black business owners; you need to be there and encourage others in your network and business community to attend as well.

If you have a question you want answered or a topic you want addressed on The Urban Business Roundtable, connect with me at BE Insider, the social media network for people who are serious about Black Enterprise. You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook.

Alfred Edmond Jr. is the senior VP/editor-at-large of Black Enterprise and the host of the Urban Business Roundtable, a weekly radio show, sponsored by Ariel Investments, airing CST Wednesdays at 8:30 a.m., Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. on WVON-AM 1690, the Talk of Chicago. You can also listen live online at WVON.com. Check back each Wednesday for The UBR Morning Post, which features additional resources, advice and information from and about the topics, entrepreneurs and experts featured on the show.