Oct. 8, 2015: Stephen Ezell Talks MyGreenFills at TC New Tech Meetup

Great presenters at this week’s TCNewTech Meetup, including Jason Myers, who chatted up his new tech idea called Kibosh, a router that keeps grownup content away from kids’ eyes on every device in your household, and Stephen Ezell, pictured above, who talked about My Green Fills, a subscription-based “green laundry chemical” refill business specializing in detergents, softeners and whiteners.

Ezell, who wins the award for getting the most information into a five-minute segment, talked about the “pivot,” which takes an existing product or idea and pivots it in a new direction. You might be familiar with Selestial Soaps, previously sold out of the Eastfield Laundry on Eighth Street in Traverse City. As I understand it, all of those sales are online now through MyGreenFills.com. Stephen, if you read this, let us know if we can still buy Selestial Soaps at Eastfield.

I’m kind of in “pivot” mode with my work, as I blend in OldMission.net with ReelLifeWithJane.com (the “money site,” where most of my income is currently generated). So I appreciated his talk in terms of my own work-life. My goal is to build up the Old Mission site so it’s generating income, as well.

Also at this week’s meetup, Joey DiFranco and Ryan Frusti of Timber Digital and Grand Traverse Business Design, discussed marketing on Facebook, which I’ve always found to be a waste of time and money, but maybe I need to investigate that further. As the guys noted, Facebook does a great job of targeting your specific audience, because, well, they know every little thing about us based on our Facebook viewing and clicking habits.

I think Facebook really depends on the type of business you’re marketing. Even though OldMission.net is only a few months old (with just 300 fans), I see a lot more engagement there than with Reel Life With Jane (which has 50,000 fans). I think it’s because there are a ton of entertainment sites, but only one Old Mission site. Thus, anyone who loves or lives on the Old Mission Peninsula wants to know what’s happening here.

These TCNewTech meetings are really fun. They happen once a month in the CenterPointe Building in Greilickville, and give people the opportunity to chat about their new tech idea or startup, put the word out that they’re looking for investors, and also network with like-minded techy people. In between presentations, audience members can make announcements for job openings, people looking for work, and other tech events.

Afterwards, some of the crowd goes for drinks, which I haven’t done yet, but probably will one of these months because I know that’s where the real networking happens.

Check out TCNewTech.org. Maybe I’ll see you at the next meeting!