The E-Factor is Here!

Marion Freijsen
co-founder

Many of you know how busy I have been the past few weeks...between the breakfasts, my new clients (which you will be hearing about over the next few weeks) and one of my most exciting projects the E.Factor the one and only global community that is made for and by Entrepreneurs. The "for" relates to our mission to assist Business People anywhere with advice, assistance, experience, and funding.

For those of you who are interested, below is a bit of background written by my colleague, Marion Freijsen that should give you a bit of an idea.

Also, we have a private event planned in SoHo on Tuesday night March 18th for "Paid-Up" NY:MIEG members and special guests. So stay tuned for your invitation. In addition, Marion and and a group of women will join us at our next breakfast on Tuesday, March 25th all about Women, Media, Empowerment, Entrepreneurship & Business Networking. While our focus will be on successful women this will be an event that will be of interest to everyone...so stay tuned for details!

-Bill

So, what is so cool about the E.Factor?? Well - let me start this blog by giving you a little bit of history and a short vision.

We, that is Adrie Reinders, Roeland Reinders and I, have been working in technology all our lives one way or the other. We have founded companies (separately - I only met the two gentlemen 4 years ago...they have know each other for the past 40 or so years...Roeland is Adrie's son), we have led companies, we have set up greenfield operations in a variety of different companies and above all, we have sold technology and technology companies. All of this means that we have built quite a reasonable network around us of contacts. This eventually led to us founding our first joint company, called OHM Inc. Very simply put - we are powerbrokers that introduce technology companies to our contacts in the Fortune 1500 companies worldwide. Fun to do - very varied, and using all of our skills in business development and networking.

As the whole OHM business is founded on our network, Adrie and I wrote a book about networking - called the N.Factor (are you beginning to see where I am going?) which was published in the US and in the Netherlands in 2007. For the book - we also looked at all of the technology you can use these days for networking - LinkedIN, Plaxo, CRMs etc. All of them serve a purpose and we definitely would not be without them. Looking at it though, and analysing it more closely then we had done in the past - we basically discovered a new trend. For decades and even centuries, people have always met face-to-face in order to start a relationship. Once they had met, they would start corresponding by whatever means they might have available to them. However, these days - it is the other way round - people often do not meet at all until they have met online first, via LinkedIn, Facebook or any of the other sites or even email intros by mutual friends. It is only later on that they meet in person - once they have found they have a common interest, or a shared goal that warrants them taking time out of their busy days to set up a meeting.

This change in "flow" is what led us to develop the E.Factor. We found that as entrepreneurs, you can join Facebook, or any number of groups available via Google, Yahoo or other sites - but it isn't about just wanting to meet people. You want to meet people that have a shared goal - a shared interest and face the same challenges - you want to meet other entrepreneurs, wherever they may be in the world. So this is what E.Factor is all about - giving you the opportunity to meet likeminded, entrepreneurial people all over the world that can help you (and vice versa) grow your business.

I hope you will enjoy what you find on this site. This section, the Lounge, is your common meeting place - you can post notes, you can share a joke, find others to chat with etc. It is the centre of our E.Factor home...around it, the other areas serve a specific goal - the Finance Corner (surprise suprise) is all about money, how to get funding and can link you to investors that might be interested in your business. The Biz Exchange is the area where in a few weeks you will be able to post your own multi-media commercial, or search for anything from a Board member to a table and 6 chairs for your office...and the MarketPlace will soon (2-3 weeks) offer you all sorts of discounts, cool gadgets and travel where we will negotiate as a group to get you the best price.... All things that will help your company. Added to this, we will be hosting events globally - watch the calendars in each of the sections for dates on which one is held near you. We do hope to eventually meet as many of you in person as we can...let that be our common goal!

Marion

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO JOIN THE E.FACTOR CLICK HERE