Teaching children to be entrepreneurial is a task that should be taken more seriously. I have 3 children and I’ve always pushed them to try and educate themselves on other things that they may be interested in. I try to make them believers of saving money and being economical. It wasn’t until I met one of the producers from the Biz Kid$ show that I realized I should also be encouraging them to think of new ways or improve older ways of making money.

Biz Kid$ is a show dedicated to the entrepreneurial kid. They feature successful kids and teenagers who are business owners or done something worthwhile that was lucrative. They also teach proper methods of starting and running a business. Some of things they have done are remarkable. This is more than your front yard lemonade stand. Working on their next season of episodes, they decided to include the internet as a medium of making money and starting a business. How can you present proper website building, search engine marketing and social media consulting in an entertaining way? Duh…you find the SEO Rapper!

The producer contacted me and shared her vision about what they wanted to accomplish. How could I resist? I love kids, rapping and the internet. They are based in Seattle Washington and she offered to fly me there for a few days if I was willing to compose a Biz Kid$ focused instructional rap about using the internet to start a business. Interesting task. I was glad to do it. I contacted Dre Dubb Entertainment, one of my favorite music production teams (also produced Design Coding) for a track to the rap I was writing. I received the track, completed the rap and went to the studio to record it. A few weeks later I was on a flight to Seattle. I finally met some others from Biz Kid$ who showed me a great time. The video shoot was awesome. It went a little longer than expected but I had a blast doing it. Touring Seattle was great. I had a chance to walk around and take lots of pictures and next time I’ll remember that if you walk down a hill and you parked at the top of the hill, you have to walk back up the hill. The Biz Kid$ episode is supposed to air on PBS sometime in January. Stay tuned…

We recently launched a website for our good friends at the Houston Interactive Marketing Association (HiMA), promoting the Second Annual Interactive Strategies Conference.

IS ‘08: Secrets Exposed will be held on Thursday, September 18, 2008 at the Angelika Film Center of Houston, TX. Attendees of this conference can expect to be enlightened as key players in this industry unveil the secrets to success in digital media.

Big ups to Melissa Garcia on the web design and Sal Baldovinos on the production!

On April 22nd and 23rd Search Engine Guide will be hosting the first Small Business Unleashed Conference here in Houston at the Northwest Forest Conference Center. Pop Labs will be sponsoring Charity Speed Networking Unleashed! which will be held on Sunday, April 20th - 6pm to 9pm the night before the conference starts. The event is open to the public with proceeds going to the Youth Development Center. There will also be a silent auction with some awesome items to bid on. If you would like an opportunity to meet the speakers before the conference starts come out and join us.

I am really looking forward to this event because it’s one of the few times a conference that wasn’t planned by someone in Houston, was held in Houston. I first met Jennifer, the Editor-in-chief for Search Engine guide at Got Social Media in January and I know first hand that she has been working really hard at making this an event that you will want to attend. The sessions all look really interesting.

If you would like to attend the conference there is still seating available so register today. Friends of Pop Labs can get a discount by using the code POPLABS.

Check out the Youtube video for more information on the conference.

This week is the first week we have had to run a booth at two conferences simultaneously, so it has definitely been a whirlwind around here. Guliz Sicotte and Melissa Howse will be doing some live blogging and twittering when they aren’t manning (womening) the booth for Pop Labs. You can follow the Pop Labs Twitter stream or just check back here for live updates from the conference. Not expecting any “earth shattering” news from the Las Vegas International Restaurant Show where Gene, Audra and Silver are, but the stories should much more interesting.

Working in the world of the 11th continent is absolutely enthralling! There are always new things to learn and old news to catch up on. For me, educating other people who aren’t “in the know” about search marketing and sharing what I learn really gets me going. So, you can only imagine how ecstatic I was when I found out that my company was going to sponsor a trip for me to attend Pubcon 2007, especially because I knew it was in Las Vegas: the worst place for all of us industry folk with self-diagnosed ADD to gather and be distracted by the bright flashing lights, never ending sounds of people losing money on the slots and the extreme desire to blow last month’s paycheck at the blackjack table; but, really, the best place for all of us creative types to network, learn and enjoy the conversations with which we all so love to bore those who don’t really care.

Pubcon started back in the late 80’s as a group where industry-minded people would meet and discuss related news, discoveries and techniques at the local pub - hence the name Pubcon. Over the years, Pubcon has expanded. This year’s conference was a success with thousands in attendance. All of the biggest names in the industry shared their knowledge, experiences and personal stories of success. Pubcon is not just for those who are experienced, though. Whether you are new to the industry like me or a seasoned veteran, there is a place for you there. There are webmasters, search marketers, program managers, affiliates and even client side attendees there to gain knowledge of how to better run their online store, increase their brand recognition online or just learn about search marketing and social media in general.

At Pubcon, the inspiration was limitless. I highly recommend to all of you in the industry that you attend Pubcon next year. If not Pubcon, there is also SES, OMS, SXSW, and SMX.

And for those folks who want to keep it kinda local to Houston, here’s a list of other communities to check out/join:

• BarCamp Texas -January 26th, 27th
• BarCamp New Orleans - February 16th, 17th - This one is really special because it is the first time the tech community in New Orleans has really gotten together to help re-establish/re-build the technology sector in the city since Hurricane Katrina.
• BarCamp Austin/SXSW III - Not officially announced yet…
• Refresh Houston
• NetSquared
• Air Houston

Why Should I Get Involved?

• To be known, and to get known - make great contacts
• To learn - now there’s a novel idea
• To share your ideas