Indianapolis Non-Profits

Name:  Brennan Knotts
School:  Indiana University 

Brennan Knotts is currently the Director of Marketing for Xemion web design directory and MobileDeveloper.net, a directory for mobile developers. As a former Orr Fellow, he spent 2+ years working for his host company Cantaloupe.tv and co-founded Pocket Tales, a social reading game for kids whose investors include east coast-based Startl and Dreamit Ventures.

Welcome to the newest Orr Fellows and congratulations! This post is for you. It's a short collection of advice I received or wish I'd received when I entered the Orr Fellowship. Follow this plan and you will earn the full potential of your salary in the Fellowship, which if no one told you is actually a lot more than that number on your paycheck.


1. Schedule drinks/coffee/lunch whatever with alumni as soon as you can

One of the smartest things I ever did as an Orr Fellow was reach out to alumni before I even started work. I'll admit it wasn't a master plan of mine - I just happened to meet some cool Fellows and wanted to hang out with them more (okay, I was in no condition to drive so I crashed on their couch and got brunch the next morning).

Not only did I build lasting friendships during those early days, but I received advice on my career and life that is still useful 4 years later.

I can promise you no alumni will turn you down. Even if they're not local they will make themselves available for a phone call. Just ask and be respectful of their time.

2. Don't ever miss a business leader meeting

I'm proud to say I never missed a business leader meeting during my tenure. No one is handing out trophies for this accomplishment, but you owe it to yourself to take advantage, exploit even, the opportunities you get during your two years.

Sometimes you will be tempted to believe that working late the night of a business leader meeting is more important than attending the BLM, but I assure you it isn't. Unless your boss is demanding you stay (in which case, we need to have a talk about that boss...), find a way to go.

At some point you'll grow tired of hearing someone else's "how I made it" story. You'll become restless and want to stop all this meeting and talking and start doing.

THAT's when you'll know you've internalized everything you've learned from these stories, because when you boil each down to its simplest element, each is a story about someone who went out and DID something.

3. Get a side project

Your work at your first job post college will not be intellectually stimulating. You'll hear this a million times but for some reason you won't believe it until you experience it yourself. (I think the bottom line is that only 20% of the meaningful work anyone does is the hard-thinking type of work and the other 80% is the tedious execution work, but that's for another post to debate...)

This is an advantage for two reasons:  1) because it allows you to learn the blocking and tackling of being in the working world, learning to work with people, prioritize your tasks, work effectively in meetings, etc. and 2) when you get home from work you're not emotionally and intellectually drained.

Use this leftover energy to work on something meaningful to you. Learn to code, start a business, help run a non-profit, pick up the guitar, start a blog, write for someone else's blog - just do something. You will never have as much available energy as you do at your entry-level job.

This side project also has the benefit of giving you something interesting to talk about when your networking with alumni.

4. Think big

Indiana is a big greenfield. That might be true literally, but I mean it figuratively. There are so many ways for you to leave a permanent mark on this community. Get an ambition and take up a cause. No idea is too big. You decided to come to Indiana so take advantage of the fact that it's not New York or San Francisco and that you can actually get access to the movers and shakers in the community and that everything hasn't "been done before."

Co-founding Hackers and Founders, now Verge, was my contribution in this regard. And although Verge has addressed a huge gap in the Indianapolis tech community, there are so many more big opportunities - and that's just the tech community. I challenge you to find your own big idea and go after it.



Are you looking for entry-level jobs in Indiana or business jobs in Indianapolis?  Learn more about the Orr Fellowship at www.orrfellowship.org.

If you've had a chance to keep up with the news, one of the recent headlines is Pepsi's decision to strategically re-focus its advertising dollars that have typically been budgeted for the NFL Super Bowl.  Like Budweiser, Coca Cola, and GoDaddy.com, Pepsi has been known to spend millions of dollars in advertisements during this spectacle that reaches millions of viewers every single year.  So where will these dollars be spent this year?  As you might have guessed, this year Pepsi is going with Social Media!

According to the Wall Street Journal, Pepsi plans to focus its advertising strategy on a "marketing platform" rather than blitzing viewers with commercials during this single event.  So, by using social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to reach consumers, Pepsi will be tapping into a virtual world of endless advertising possibilities.  On Facebook, for example, Pepsi can issue invitations to its followers to participate in a poll.  When someone votes, a message will get posted on their personal Facebook page that says they participated in the poll.  This my friends, is what we are referring to when we talk about viral advertising.
According to one report, Facebook is a virtual treasure trove for advertisers wishing to target 18 to 49-year olds.  Twitter's numbers are a little lower, but impressive, nonetheless.  Social Media Today, however, noted that 19 percent of adults between the ages of 18 and 24 have used Twitter or something like it, 20 percent between ages 25 and 34, and 10 percent between ages 35 and 44.  These numbers are the reason that Pepsi has reconsidered their advertising strategy. 

So how does this relate to the Bob Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship?  Well, it just so happens that the majority of our host companies in this entrepreneurial fellowship are start-up technology companies.  Thus, Orr Fellows are taking entry level technology jobs in some of the fastest growing Indianapolis companies.  So what types of things are some of these host companies doing in the social media world?  Well, a 2010 host company, Formspring, has recently reached new heights with their social media application called Formspring.me.  This application is a free, simple service that allows you to create anonymous question boxes for all of your social networks.

Pepsi's migration away from televised Super Bowl ads is a trend we can expect other big companies to follow.  There is far more bang for the buck in advertising online rather than producing and paying for 30 seconds of airtime during one of the most expensive televised events of the year.

For those that don't know much about the Governor Bob Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship, it is an Indiana-based non-profit organization that provides jobs for recent graduates in fast growing Indianapolis companies.  Whether you're looking to start a marketing career, an entrepreneurship career, or maybe just a career in business, this is one unique fellowship program like no other.

It's that time of year again; the Holiday Season has passed and in a short amount of time you'll find yourself taking down those holiday decorations that probably cover your entire house.  After you've mustered up enough motivation to finally begin this lengthy process, the last struggle is always the disposal of the family Christmas tree.  However, that's not going to be the case for you this year - the Orr Fellows are here to help!

As a non-profit organization, the Governor Bob Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship places a strong emphasis on community outreach, civic responsibility, and self-sustainability.  As such, one of our annual fundraisers is called "Tree Luggers" in which we travel around the Indianapolis community collecting and disposing of Christmas trees while collecting donations.  But how does this fundraiser actually benefit the community?  Well, first, we are providing a service that for many people is extremely helpful.  More importantly, though, we offer an incentive to local churches and other non-profit entities that promote our fundraiser to their members.  For all money that is donated to the Governor Bob Orr Fellowship during Tree Luggers, half of the proceeds are given to the specific non-profit that created the referral.  In this way, we are able to assist Indianapolis-based non-profits in funding their efforts.

One of the most important values that the Indiana-based Orr Fellowship promotes is entrepreneurship.  Tree Luggers is a great example of entrepreneurship in action as the Orr Fellows carefully organize, plan, and execute the fundraiser from start to finish.  So what goes into Tree Luggers to ensure its success year in and year out?  Many of the Orr Fellows are "luggers," or those that travel to homes, collect the trees, and then later dispose of the holiday conifers.  Several others use their marketing expertise to help spread the word through social media like Twitter and Facebook, strategically placed fliers in the Indianapolis community, and specified email lists owned by several Orr Fellowship host companies.  We also have fellows that help create partnerships with churches and other non-profit organizations.  Lastly, a couple of fellows take on a financial role so that all donations and referrals are carefully recorded.  To participate in this fundraiser, and save yourself a great deal of time and effort, please sign-up here.  Remaining pick-up dates are:
 

For those that don't know much about the Governor Bob Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship, it is an Indiana-based non-profit organization that provides jobs for recent graduates in fast growing Indianapolis companies.  Whether you're looking to start a marketing career, an entrepreneurship career, or maybe just a career in business, this is one unique fellowship program like no other.