On January 26, 2010 BidWilly’s CEO/Founder (Solomon Williams) and the Vice President of Marketing (Al Williams, myself) traveled to Miami Beach to attend the much anticipated 2010 Growth 2.0 Conference at the Miami Beach Convention Center just eight months after launching BidWilly’s beta site in May 2009. This was an exciting event filled with inspiration and business development strategies. By the way, the food was great and the Cleveland Cavaliers won the ball game against one of my brother’s favorite teams the night prior to the conference. For me, this trip was a win-win to South Beach MIA…

The conference was filled with everything you need to know to grow your business and I couldn’t believe that it was free, thanks to UPS and Entrepreneur Magazine. The food and happy hour cocktails (Mojitos) were awesome, thanks! lol Sorry I divert, but this event provided entrepreneurs with the opportunity to get the kind of business-building advice needed in a constant changing market. Jay Conrad Levinson (author of Guerrilla Marketing), kicked off the event as the keynote speaker providing details of low cost marketing strategies for growing your business utilizing web 2.0 tactics. This was the first time meeting Jay Levinson and it was slightly ironic because by chance this was the first book, as it relates to marketing that I purchased since being announced as the VP of Marketing for BidWilly. Many of the marketing concepts listed in his book are unconventional strategies and resourceful. If you’re interested in finding ways to market your business and building your brand…I highly recommend tapping into this resource and buy the book. Shortly after Jay Levinson’s keynote speech, we spoke with Eric Rucker (Advertising Director of Entrepreneur.com) and he was an amazing guy. Thanks for conversing and nice photo. You made our blog:)

Many entrepreneurs in attendance minds were thirsty for fresh ideas, hands on tools, powerful insights and strategies that can work in todays challenging marketplace. We found the agenda for the conference to be very valuable in gaining the support of fellow entrepreneurs. As a matter of fact, we found this event to be humbling. We never imagined that nearly hundreds in attendance would be intrigued by a new start up company that made its way to scene only 8 months ago. We felt honored and our BidWilly brand was recognized by entrepreneurs from every corner of the United States. Many of them knowing of us already prior to the conference. This alone confirmed we have the capability of reaching the world.

Solomon and I were thrilled to receive an enormous amount of adulation that made the conference very engaging and “eye opening”. We found ourselves speaking to people that were waiting for minutes to discuss BidWilly, but in return we were also interested in hearing from our fellow entrepreneurs. I was even told that we had one of the most intriguing business ventures at the conference and by far one of the most effective brands out of nearly a thousand in attendance. It seems we’re doing something right. Its always great to be well received.

This was an event filled with inspiration and networking opportunities. It was very well worth it for us to attend. I’m glad that Solomon and I was able to get a boost of excitement at the Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Miami Heat game. Better yet, I was probably more excited than Solomon because the Cavs pulled off the win…lol.  I think we’re going to have to take Eric Rucker on his offer to play golf out in Los Angeles soon;) I just think we’ll have to practice a bit first. No longer watching Tiger Woods for pointers. lol Meanwhile, we’re pursuing our commitment of creating more jobs and reducing consumer costs with our network of entrepreneurs and community leaders. More to come…Black Enterprise Conference in Atlanta is next up and scheduled for May 16-19. Hope to see you all there!

Please feel free to post any comments,

-Al Williams, BidWilly VP of Marketing