Author: Kevin Tao

  • How to Generate a QR Code with Contact Card (for Free)

    A lot of companies are gonna hate me for sharing this with you because they’re charging an arm and a leg for this and I’m about to show you how to do it for free.

    I just got back from a conference in Washington DC called the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Summit and everyone I spoke to was super impressed when they scanned my business card.

    They were even more impressed when I showed them how I did it completely for free!

    Steps:

    1. Create vCard file with all your info in it. Use vcfgenerator.com
    2. Upload the vcard file to your website (or dropbox or icloud or google drive works too!)
    3. Create a shortlink redirect to your vcard file (beware of shortlink websites that secretly charge you money)
    4. Use Canva.com to create a free QR code to your shortlink

  • Resources

    Resources

    Here are the most important and helpful resources that will help you on your path to launching a 7 figure brand (and beyond).

    Books

    Nail It then Scale It

    • Nail It then Scale It is an AMAZING book for product development and product market fit. It is a MUST read if you are at the starting stage

    Ready, Fire, Aim

    • Ready Fire Aim is really helpful for all stages of your brand. Overall this is an amazing book.

    Influence by Robert Cialdini

    • This is an amazing book to teach you how to sell and persuade. Selling is extremely important in the first part of your business.

    Traction

    • Traction is extremely helpful beyond six figures, when you need a system and process. If you need something that’s more detailed than Traction, I recommend Scaling Up.

    Making Money is Killing Your Business

    • Making Money is Killing Your Business is also very helpful after 6 figures, when you need a system and process to go beyond.

    Warfighting

    • When you move beyond 7 figures and you need a culture to transmit to your team, Warfighting is amazing.

    10x is Easier than 2x

    • This is a book that will help you a LOT if you are stuck in your identity. This book teaches you to shed your identity in order to transform. My friend who recommended this book to me told me that his favorite “move” is to first read an amazing book, then directly DM the author and ask him to become his mentor. I need to try this!

    Global Business Communities

    Let me explain why these communities are very important. There are many MANY secrets that are never published anywhere that will become your crucial advantage in business. The ONLY way to learn these secrets is to be part of a community and to speak in person.

    Ecommerce Fuel

    • I recommend Ecommerce Fuel with ALL of my heart. I owe almost all of my business knowledge to ECF. I cannot recommend this group highly enough. You can apply once you are making 7 figures per year. My goal with Chicago Brandstarters is to get as many people as possible to “graduate” to ECF. Among every group I mention below, I would say I have learned the most by far from ECF people.

    Goldman Sachs 10ksb

    • This is an amazing and free program for small business owners to learn all the basics of business. I can’t believe it’s free. You can apply once you are making $75k per year and have at least 1 employee. In the past, Goldman Sachs focused very heavily on helping women and people of color. Goldman Sachs is now focusing very heavily on helping rural entrepreneurs. What is very valuable is they teach you lots of standard business skills. However, not that many “secrets” are revealed in this program.

    Million Dollar Sellers

    • I highly recommend MDS to any business owners building on Amazon. They have amazing events and tons of super practical advice for Amazon. You can apply once you are making 7 figures on Amazon per year. If you are above 6 figures you can attend their events. MDS people are very highly technical and smart.

    Entrepreneur Organization

    • I have not attended any EO events, but I heard they are really amazing. I will probably be applying very soon

    Vistage

    • I have not attended any Vistage events, but I heard they are great!

    Chicago Business Communities

    I have noticed that each entrepreneur / business community has a very different vibe. I’ll try my best to be fully honest with the vibes I picked up from each group.

    Midcoast

    • Jess Cervellon and Dillon Duchesne curate some really fun, open, inviting, free events that are extremely fancy with top sponsors in Chicago.

    Founder House

    • Founder House has a great and active WhatsApp group chat for founders and well-run events in Chicago. The attendees tend to be on the aggressive / ambitious / young side of entrepreneurship. Lots of motivation and inspiration!

    Entrepreneur and Family Business Council

    • If you are in a generational family business (or are building for legacy) I HIGHLY recommend EFBC. All the members are VERY solid people who are very helpful, and kind. From a scale of 1-10 where 10 is super aggressive and ambitious, and 1 is very stable and solid and conservative, I’d say EFBC is around 2.5/10.

    The Garage at Northwestern

    • I got to speak here! They are really lovely and friendly. I am not exactly sure how helpful they are since I didn’t learn from them but I imagine they’re pretty badass! I think they try very hard and are very smart. I’d say they are probably a combination very academic and very aggressive/ambitious.

    Maxwell Club

    • A brand new community for longevity and health startups. I attended one event so far, they are really kind and thoughtful.

    Chicago Brandstarters

    • Out of all the Chicago-based communities, the Chicago Brandstarters is the only one with biweekly private dinners and a confidential groupchat where resources are shared. Plus it’s completely free! Disclosure, we are slightly biased because this is us!

    Coworking Spaces / Incubators in Chicago

    mHub Chicago

    • I 100% wholeheartedly recommend mHub to everyone doing manufacturing in Chicago. They have a woodshop, metalworking shop, laser cutters and much much more. Amazing classes and events all the time. I miss coworking at mHub. It was soooo inspirational.

    Hatchery

    • The Hatchery is THE place to be in Chicago if you have a food brand starting. Chicago is a food city, and the Hatchery is the epicenter of food in Chicago

    Good Food Accelerator

    • I heard this is amazing. If I was a small food brand I would check them out.

    Matter

    • Matter is the absolute epicenter of health entrepreneurship in Chicago. I worked here for about 3 years as part of a different health startup. I will say that in my experience the members at Matter tend to be less practical and scrappy, and more academic to the point of paralysis from overthinking. Their live events are extremely valuable

    The Plant

    • The Plant is aesthetically my favorite place in Chicago. If you have an environmentalism related business, I highly recommend you seek office space in The Plant

    Plant Chicago

    • Also a very important community to be dialed into if your business is related to environmentalism in any way! They are more on the activism side of environmentalism FYI

    Please let me know if there’s any other helpful resources that people need to know about!