Radio pioneer, Hal Jackson (Image: File)

According to reports, legendary radio industry entrepreneur and pioneer Hal Jackson has died. Reports indicate the cause of death as unknown, but cite “illness.” He was 96.

Jackson was a radio industry heavyweight, having began his broadcasting career as the first African American radio sports announcer. He was the voice behind early Howard University and local Negro league baseball games in Washington, D.C.

In 1939, he made another landmark move as the first African American host at WINX/Washington with his own nightly interview program, The Bronze Review. He would go on to host a talk show, jazz program and a blues program on WOOK-TV in Washington, D.C., as well.

In 1954, he became the first radio personality in New York to broadcast three daily shows on three different stations, with at least 4 million listeners tuned in nightly to hear his mix of music and interviews with top music icons of the time.

In 1971, Jackson teamed up with Percy Sutton, another radio industry pioneer, to co-found the Inner City Broadcasting Corp. (ICBC), which acquired WLIB, becoming the first African-American owned-and-operated station in New York. The next year, ICBC acquired WLIB-FM, changing its call letters to WBLS, a top radio market performer for decades.

ICBC, of which Jackson served as group chairman, would expand to markets including San Francisco, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Jackson, the first minority inducted into the National Association of Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame, was also a National Radio Hall of Famer, and he was named a “Giant in Broadcasting” by the Library of American Broadcasting.

(Image: Thinkstock)

The Monday Blues can put quite the damper on starting the week. You want to be productive and have an awesome day, but that first day can be quite a drag for some. It can be difficult to shake off those feelings of tiredness and regret that the weekend is over but it is possible.

AOL Jobs offers five sure-fire— and scientifically proven— ways you can find happiness for your day while at work.

Balance where you spend your mental time. Maintaining happiness requires that you not spend too much time walking down Memory Lane or focused on planning for the future. And while “living in the moment” is promoted by many personal-happiness gurus, workers also shouldn’t focus too much on “the now,” according to a new study from researchers at San Francisco State University (via LiveScience). “If you are too extreme or rely too much on any one of these perspectives, it becomes detrimental, and you can get into very destructive types of behaviors,” says lead researcher Ryan Howell. “It is best to be balanced in your time perspectives.”

Read more at AOL Jobs…

Mario Armstrong (Photo: Armstrong)

MARIO ARMSTRONG
Digital Lifestyle Expert, Mario Armstrong Media, L.L.C.
Black Enterprise Small Business University Instructor

The Process: As a tech expert known for his insights via Web, radio, television and speaking engagements, one of the first things Armstrong does in the morning is check his RSS feeds for news. He does his social media check-ins for everything except Facebook. (He says he finds less business value there in the morning hours.) But before he does any of that, he looks at a motivational phrase he came up with that he has on his bathroom mirror: “Each day, take one step toward the right path to your ultimate goal.” Armstrong says that centers him and prepares him for the “craziness” of his day.

The Vision: Like many of today’s entrepreneurs, Armstrong found himself being an intrapreneur while holding staff positions at other people’s companies. “You have to protect and nurture your brand as you are simultaneously maintaining the company’s brand,” Armstrong says. When he was working for a company, he got the idea to cultivate his own brand of speaking about technology, so he convinced his wife of almost 15 years to quit her job and help build the brand.  As CEO of the new company, his wife, Nicole Hunter, got everything in order on the back end, and just in time too. He was soon laid off from his job just a few months later. Since then, the two of them have grown the company into a full-time entity and are currently pitching television show ideas.

The It Factor: Armstrong says his brand is different from all those other tech sites, speakers and firms because his approach is to talk about technology to the laymen, not the early adopters and those already entrenched in the industry. “I’m going way beyond serious talking about a new phone. I dig more into how this will help you get better with your diabetes. I’m looking at real-world problems through the lens of technology.”

The Defining Moment: “When I was 21, I worked for a cable company,” Armstrong says. “My boss was ready to fire me because she said I was spending more time trying to sell the music video channel I had developed than the company’s product, but her boss, the general manager, liked me and kept me on. That was a light-bulb moment for me because I got to see how some people react to initiative, and I knew it could potential be a special, powerful thing.”

The Life: Unlike a lot of other techies, Armstrong does not turn off his phone or computer at a certain time.  “My creativity spikes at different moments. Setting a time to turn off everything just doesn’t work for me,” Armstrong says. But he does have some rules: There are no computers and no texting or tweeting allowed in bedrooms. (That goes for the bedroom he shares with his wife, as well as his 9-year-old’s bedroom.) He is also a stickler for his every Thursday date night with his wife and his gadget-free lunch from 12:30 to 1:30 everyday.

Register now at blackenterprise.com/sbu to see weekly video courses from Armstrong and other industry experts on how to build, grow and nurture your business. On top of that, you’ll have a chance to win more than $50,000 in prizes, including one-on-one consultations with successful entrepreneurs like Emerson, a small business makeover for your biz courtesy of Dell, and much more!

Visit blackenterprise.com/sbu for more details now!

Just use the hashtag #SmallBizUChat!

The Black Enterprise Small Business University courses continued this week with video courses from AsktheMoneyCoach.com founder Lynnette Khalfani-Cox with advice on:

• How to Raise Capital for Your Business
• Perfecting Your Elevator Pitch
• Managing Your Budget

Register now at blackenterprise.com/sbu to see weekly video courses from Khalfani-Cox and other industry experts on how to build, grow and nurture your business. On top of that, you’ll have a chance to win more than $50,000 in prizes, including one-on-one consultations with successful entrepreneurs, a small business makeover for your biz courtesy of Dell, and much more!

Ready to get tips on how to get the money you need for your business? Be sure to connect with Black Enterprise VP and Editor-at-Large Alfred Edmond, Jr. on Twitter today! #SmallBizUChat

(Image: Thinkstock)

Working for a startup can have unique perks and issues, from being able to advance quickly to not having the same resources as a larger, more established business or corporation. As an employee at a newbie company, there are several things to consider to successfully grow and advance.

AOL Jobs offers 12 things a professional should think about before accepting a position at a startup or when embarking on a new career move at one.

Can You Roll With the Punches? “Working at a startup means being comfortable with wearing many hats. Unlike bigger organizations, small companies require more flexibility and creativity. If you prefer to work in an environment where there are set positions and goals, then a larger company may be more appropriate. However, if you enjoy dynamic and constantly evolving experiences, then working at a startup could be a good fit!”

—Alexandra Mayzler | Founder and Director, Thinking Caps Tutoring

Endless Motivation “It’s hard to constantly be motivated on what you’re working on. Sometimes you just want to take a long break or work on something else temporarily, but it’s crucial to stay motivated. The more persistent you are, the greater the chance of success for your startup.”

—Ben Lang | Founder, EpicLaunch

Read more at AOL Jobs …

Earl G. Graves Jr., President & CEO of Black Enterprise

If you’ve ever wanted to ask Black Enterprise President and CEO Earl “Butch” Graves a question about how to start your own business, now is your chance!

As part of the Black Enterprise Small Business University powered by Dell, Graves is taking questions from YOU about “Getting Started,” and will be on Black Enterprise’s Twitter giving advice between 3pm – 4pm EST tomorrow, May 3, 2012. Just use the hashtag #SmallBizUChat!

The Black Enterprise Small Business University kicked off this week with video courses from author and entrepreneur Melinda Emerson including, “Your Small Business Checklist,” Establishing Your Brand,” and “Communicating Your Vision.” Register now at blackenterprise.com/sbu to see weekly video courses from Emerson and other industry experts on how to build, grow and nurture your business. On top of that, you’ll have a chance to win more than $50,000 in prizes, including one-on-one consultations with successful entrepreneurs like Armstrong, a small business makeover for your biz courtesy of Dell, and much more!

Visit blackenterprise.com/sbu for more details, and be sure to connect with Black Enterprise President and CEO Earl”Butch” Graves Jr. on Twitter!

Jeri Lynne Johnson, Founder, Philadelphia's Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra

Jeri Lynne Johnson, founder of the Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra in Philadelphia, decided to fill a void in the classical music industry when it came to black women. A graduate of Wellesley College, Johnson traveled the world working as a conductor, composer and pianist, only to return to the U.S. and be rejected by major orchestras.

“When I came back to America I was trying to get jobs with bigger orchestras, but they were not interested. One orchestra told me they like my conducting and the board thought I had great ideas, but they didn’t know how to market me,” Johnson told Madame Noire.

“When I asked him for clarity, the guy on the search committee basically said, ‘You just don’t look like what our audience would expect a conductor to look like.’ That’s when I founded my own orchestra.”

Writer Makula Dunbar caught up with Johnson to talk about her plight to create her own opportunities, expose other minority women to orchestras and a different genre of music and making strides in a lane some mainstream orchestras thought she didn’t fit into.

Read more at Madame Noire …

Prior to completion of the center, Washington DC had been losing hundreds of millions in convention dollars to competing cities. Events DC, an agency formed by the 2009 merger of two predecessors, was also re-defined and re-branded by O’Dell and his team. BE spoke with O’Dell to get his advice on how best to re-focus and re-define an organization or brand. Here’s the advice he offers:

Identify who you are. “We went through an extensive re-branding exercise. That I think for us, not only was it a fresh look and feel and name of our organization that matched our broadened services, but it also really challenged us to kind of identify who we are,” says O’Dell. He suggests asking, “What is our mission and what are we trying to accomplish?

Define your goals. For O’Dell and his team it was determining whether their audience came to the capital for sports, entertainment, conventions or meetings. “You need to know what that target audience is and although it sounds simple or cliché, we really did have to spend a lot of time on focusing on that so I think you know the re-branding was clearly one strategic task we took.”

Look to expand your portfolio. For Events DC, which owns and operates Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium and the surrounding Festival Grounds, and the non-military functions of the DC Armory, this was done via a strategic acquisition – Carnegie Library. “It’s a beautiful, historic library and we strategically wanted to move kind of our services beyond just our own venues,” he says. “So we really did focus on broadening our services beyond just traditional host venues.”

Forge strategic partnerships. “We know that our goal is to drive visitors to the city so that they can spend more dollars in the city and it’s not always limited to those who come rent from our facilities,” says O’Dell. “We actually have strategic partnerships with organizations that put on large events or attract events, like the National Cherry Blossom Festival. That in itself drives about $100 million dollars in economic impact for the city.”

Create demand. “I would call it the Living Social model. What’s interesting about them is they have people bidding on packages or getting discounts to go to Topeka, Kansas and stay in a hotel, but they are creating demand so people perceive a discount are going to somewhere they’d never would have gone,” says O’Dell. “So for us, we don’t want to sit back and just wait for customers to come to our venues, we actually now are trying to create an event. And the greatest example of that would be the AT&T Nation’s Football Classic, which had almost three and a half million dollars in economic impact for the city in its first year.”

Join us for the 2012 Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference + Expo hosted by Nationwide, May 23-26, at the Hilton Chicago Hotel in Chicago, IL. Follow the hashtag #BEEC2012 on Twitter for the latest updates on conference speakers and sessions. Expect innovative sessions, high-powered speakers, and an early peek at the products, trends, and services you’ll need to stay ahead of the curve. To register and find out more, visitwww.blackenterprise.com/ec/

Melinda Emerson, Black Enterprise Small Business University Instructor

MELINDA EMERSON
National Small Business Expert
Black Enterprise Small Business University Instructor

The Process: Melinda Emerson is the go-to guru for all things small business related, but before she takes on her daily role as an adviser, she has a higher authority she reports to. “I pray before my feet hit the floor,” says the mom and entrepreneur. She believes faith is essential for any successful small business owner because, she says, sometimes you will be the only one who believes in your dream.

The Vision: Faith and trial and error are all part of Emerson’s path to her current path. “I’m not giving anyone advice that I have not taken. I’ve learned things the hard way,” she says.  “My mission is to end small business failure. The things that I tell people not to do, I can say with confidence because I’ve done them myself.”

The ‘It’ Factor: Emerson says the thing that makes her different than other small business experts is that she’s authentic. “There’s a lot of hype out here–lots of wannabes and perpetrators. Your No. 1 job as an entrepreneur is to evolve,” says the author and frequent Tweeter (@SmallBizLady).

The Defining Moment: Before becoming a master content developer (producing blogs, books, articles, Tweets and podcasts) and a national small business expert, Emerson worked in television production. Her turning point came in the form of a dream.  “I was called to do this,” she says. “I had a dream three times that I was supposed to become American’s number one small business expert. Once I got clear about my calling, it was amazing to see how mountains moved out of my way. The first publisher I ever talked to took on my book with no agent. I didn’t make much money on it at the time, but two years later, that book, Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months: A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works ($15.95; Adams Media), is still selling like it just came out. I’m grateful.”

The Life: Emerson maintains balance by exercising with a trainer twice a week, limiting her to-do list to five things each day, and turning off all business communication promptly at 7 p.m. “Big to-do lists just end up making you feel bad about yourself when you can’t get to everything,” says Emerson. “I turn the phone off because I seek to be in the present. When I’m with my son, I’m with my son. When I’m with my friends, I’m with my friends. You need limits and balance.”

Register now at blackenterprise.com/sbu to see weekly video courses from Emerson and other industry experts on how to build, grow and nurture your business. On top of that, you’ll have a chance to win more than $50,000 in prizes, including one-on-one consultations with successful entrepreneurs like Emerson, a small business makeover for your biz courtesy of Dell, and much more!

Visit blackenterprise.com/sbu for more details now!

In His Shoozed: Serial Entrepreneur Anthony Joiner (Courtesy of subject)

Anthony Joiner’s newest business, it’s safe to say, has something of a foot fetish. The Atlanta-based serial entrepreneur is soon to launch Shoozed.com—a social-commerce company he describes as “eBay meets Pinterest” for lightly worn women’s shoes. (The company’s name is a portmanteau of shoes and used.)

The Internet has certainly made connecting buyers and sellers easier than ever, yes, but . . . used shoes? “There’s a huge market for lightly used shoes!” exults Joiner, 39. “Resale shops and other high-end or ‘middle-high-end’ thrift stores are doing really well, especially in this look-for-a-deal-first economy.”

Shoozed, set to launch later this summer, will collect a commission on each pair of kicks sold. The idea came to Joiner during the pregnancy of his wife, a shoe maven whose closet contains more than 100 pairs — and whose feet grew substantially over those nine months. “Her doctor said there was a chance her feet would remain at least a size bigger, and then she’d have a closetful of unwearable shoes,” he says. “I saw an opportunity there.”

Seeing opportunities is something of a habit for Joiner, who is also the founder of The Weekend Collection, which offers travel deals within several hours of Atlanta. His efforts have hardly gone unnoticed; he was recently brought into the funding-and-mentoring program of 100 Urban Entrepreneurs, the nonprofit foundation that provides $10,000 startup grants and eight weeks of mentoring to urban businesspeople nationwide. (In March, Joiner accompanied 100UE and Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic-development authority, to ring the opening bell at the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York.)

Nor is his visionary streak limited to newfangled e-retail sites like Shoozed. Three years back, he started a summer fish fry in his front yard; this year, it’ll be held on July 7, and he’s expecting more than 8,000 people to show up. “It’s called ‘Life’s a Fish & Then You Fry,’ ” he says. “I’m partnering with the county this year, but I’m looking for sponsors for that as well.” He laughs. “Yes, I’m always grinding like this.” Spoken like a true entrepreneur.

Read more about Anthony Joiner and Shoozed.com at 100UrbanEntrepreneurs.org