“Who do you know?” is a phrase often used by networking gurus and savvy business people in hopes of generating business from pre-existing contacts. Seeing as I am not afraid to eavesdrop in coffee shops to generate business, asking pre-existing contacts to introduce me to someone in their phone file seems almost like cheating. However, never one to give up on the opportunity to chat up a potential client, I took “Who do you know?” out for a trial run.

After chatting with a friend, who also is building a business from the ground up, we decided that we would share our “Who do you knows?” He provided me with the name of a leading businesswoman in Orlando and I gave him the name of one of my coffee shop regulars. With name in hand, I sent an email out to my “who do you know?” and within two days I had a meeting set up for the following week. The meeting was more than an hour and by the time I walked out of her office, I had my hands laden with a stack of additional contacts for both professional communities and potential business needs.

From the stack of contacts, Rhyme & Reason Design garnered the attention of University of Central Florida’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Cameron Ford, the dedicated force behind the success of UCF’s CEI, found our design work and writing talents to be exactly what the center was looking for to build excitement and awareness about entrepreneurship throughout the UCF campus and the Central Florida region. The initial meeting led to an agreement to aid in the generation of content for the Center of Entrepreneurship and Innovation website and the design of a brochure template for the multitude of opportunities available through the CEI.

Developing the content and designing the brochure for budding entrepreneurs was a perfect opportunity for the Rhyme & Reason team to help foster the entrepreneurial spirit of other students, professionals and community members.  Take a look at the brochure template and check back later for details on when the new CEI site goes live – because you never know, you could find the entrepreneur within you.