With a Little Help From My Friends

Today I want to acknowledge these people that helped me put Free Lunch Friday OC together. We often times feel like our business and ideas are unique and we must do them on our own or else they will be stolen, copied or to put it simply ripped off. This last week showed me (again) that business and life behaves in the complete opposite.

Through cooperation all things are possible. It is my job to lead people in a way that they will cooperate with me and in a way that they want to be a part of the greater goal, in this case, the goal is to build a community of start ups and entrepreneurs. To share knowledge, and to be helpful to one another. That's the goal with FLF.

So I want to bring special mention to everyone that made it possible.

First and foremost, I want to thank Siteground Hosting for supporting this effort. If I didn't have your support, maybe FLFOC would have never reignited. Now, we're on fire.

You guys are awesome! Not only do you help thousands of entrepreneurs launch their businesses, but I love that you are involved in the community in such meaningful ways. We are the little guys, and your sponsorship means a lot to me, and to our organization.

I'm sure it means a lot to all the different WordCamps you help organize and fund as well as all your other initiatives in the startup and entrepreneur community. Keep on Rocking!

Then we have our venue. Clearly we need a place to meet and this is where my friend and co-organizer Elle Congelliere from ROC Education (ROCED) comes in. Elle provided us with the space to host.

Real Office Centers has a new division called ROCEd which is committed to bringing skills and opportunities for development to the startup community in the form of classes and workshops. You will find them at the innovative Vine location. When I say brand new, I mean, brand new.

We rebooted Free Lunch Friday in this space brand new space in the University Research Center (URP) at UCI. It is so new, in the pictures and videos you may see some construction going on.

I'm looking forward to our next event there when the space will be finished and it will be one of the coolest event spaces in Orange County. I have looked at the plans and I know it's going to be amazing. Other co-working spaces and event locations better take notice, ROC is setting the bar for this.

I want to thank Brian Swichkow for putting together an electrifying talk that kept everybody engaged. At the end of the event, Brian was swarmed by attendees with questions and praises.

I didn't even get a chance to catch up with him, I wanted everyone to get a chance to meet him personally. Clearly his presentation about being real, being human and how he hacked Facebook advertising for a fun prank was innovative, thought provoking and ultimately it provided us with some very practical steps on how to use social media to grow our business to levels never imagined.

Last but not least, I want to thank Emily Crume for backing me up when I need it as the executive leader for the whole Free Lunch Friday organization, Huy Nguyen for joining me in leading the Orange County chapter, the world famous blogger John Chow for helping me get butts in seats and  to Liz Cruz and Angelica Garcia for helping me with the hands on logistics of bringing you one of the best events in Orange County.

As soon as the video is ready I will share it with you as well as the details for the Free Lunch Friday.