So, you wanted an iPad, but right now everything is going back into growing your business. That’s okay, we get it—we’re doing the same thing, and we’re not in the business of selling iPads, anyway.

But what if we could help you grow your business AND you could get the newest toy to play with (which some would argue can also grow your business because you’ll be super-mobile…)

Hold your breath, it’s really happening.

From now until May 28, contract a year-long print and web ad package, and we’ll throw in an iPad.

FULL package: $7,680//SPREAD package: $12,480

The fine print:
1. Package includes four full-page print ads and 12 months of web for $7,680. Want spreads instead of full pages? No problem — it’s only $12,480, and we’ll even throw in a $100 gift card for all those cool apps and stuff.
2. Already an advertiser with Black Box? Okay…refer someone who signs one of these cool deals and we’ll get you BOTH an iPad. (Yeah. Totally serious.)
3. BONUS DEAL: Pre-paid contracts will be allowed an additional 10% discount.
4. iPad in play is the 16GB with wi-fi.
5. The iPad will be ordered for you upon receipt of the first quarterly payment.
6. Contract must be signed by May 28, 2010 to qualify. NO exceptions.
7. Offer is limited to the first 20 customers to sign promo contract.

Disclaimer: Quantities may be limited. This offer is dependent on available product from Apple Inc. Business Black Box is not liable for shortage of product. If product is not available, Business Black Box agrees to substitute a $500 gift card to fulfill terms of this agreement.

Interested? Email sales@insideblackbox.com with the subject line: iPad Promo.

(Yeah, we said GIVEAWAY!)

Business Black Box is giving away FOUR free tickets to this weekend’s Launch Greenville event, at the Carolina First Center!!!

If you don’t know about the event, visit www.launchgreenville.com.(But you’re also in trouble, because it means you haven’t been reading your emails!)

Here’s how you can win:
1. Send us an email at jordana@insideblackbox.com.

2. Put CONTEST in the subject line. (This is important! You don’t want to get overlooked!)

3.Then, give us one reason why you need to go to Launch Greenville. Is it because you need a better sales process? Need to know about marketing yourself? Or you’re just a start-up or small business and need to figure out what you’re doing in the first place?

4.Include your Name, Company, Title, Phone number and Email address. This info MUST be present to win!!

Listen, now, this is important: Deadline is 8 a.m. TOMORROW, Wednesday, April 14. No exceptions! We’ll take the best responses and pick four to attend.

Yes, it’s that simple. So send us an email NOW to get a free ticket ($149 value!)

See you there!

The NextStart community is looking for innovative entrepreneurs dedicated to creating a successful business but lack the experience, connections, and money necessary to start their venture. The NextStart program offers participants the advantage of seed money combined with intense entrepreneurially focused workshops and work space in a unique community rich with innovative spirit and experienced business leaders.

The NextStart program is designed to provide founders of new ventures the tools necessary to start and grow a successful business. Selected companies will be given up to $10,000 in seed capital and participate in our twelve-week program that encompasses mentoring in addition to various learning opportunities, resources, and assistance. The program will provide participants with housing and office space in the vibrantly entrepreneurial community of Greenville, SC. This community has a multitude of both small and international business enterprises, a technology oriented and entrepreneurial focused research university, and a pool of retired CEOs and young executives giving participants the opportunity to create a valuable network of experienced mentors from which they can draw knowledge. Upon graduating the program, participants are expected to use these lessons and their newly expanded network to advance their business plans.

NextStart will also provide participants the opportunity to pitch their company to an audience of qualified investors for additional funding at the end of the program. Applications are due April 15.

Candidates may apply online. Please click here for an application. For more information concerning the NextStart program, please visit www.nextstart.org or contact Jessica Blair.

If you’ve been following Business Black Box at all lately, you know how we feel about this event.

Maybe it’s because it will focus on three areas that are so key to businesses these days: Sales (because we don’t know anyone who isn’t looking to increase their bottom line); Marketing (because, who doesn’t need to increase awareness of their product or services?); and the Small Business/Start Up (because in this economy, they will be the bread and butter of the business world!)

But then again, maybe it’s because there are a lot of cool people involved. The keynotes are all local gurus in their own right: Dan Waldschmidt, Trey Pennington and Jake Hayes. Then, there are panels filled with local entreprenurs, self-starters or other really cool titles who can tell you all about how they made it work. Or how they blew everything up one day and started over.

Maybe it’s because we’ll be among hundreds of our best friends. (Or, at least, people who think the same way we do about the Upstate business community.) But then again, maybe it’s because we’ll get to meet hundreds more.

Whatever the reason we are going, it’s no where close to the many reasons you should go. And to that end, we’re gonna spell it out real simple for you here.

When: Saturday, April 17, 2010, from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. (Yes, we said Saturday. Yes, we know a typical work week ends on Friday. But this isn’t a typical business event and it’s no typical work week.)

Where: Carolina First Center, 1 Exposition Drive, Greenville, SC

Who: The event was organized by the same people who organized Enterprise Launch. If you don’t know them, they’re pretty cool and so is their company. But Launch Greenville is also hosted and sponsored by a bunch of neat people—WORD 106.3 FM, Hubspot, Infusion, Webfilings, Bit Tyrant, Nimlok, Edward Jones, Marks Family Services, IntroMojo, the Greenville Chamber, Immedion, Franchise Mart and Upstate Town Planner. Oh, and us. Business Black Box. We’ll be there, too.

Agenda: If you want breakfast, show up at 7 a.m. to get registered and grab a bite. From 8 until lunch, hear keynote speakers talking about all the same stuff you’re dealing with and how to handle it. During and after lunch, you’ll start meeting panels of local business men and women who are making it all happen. At 4 p.m. you’ll get a chance to meet the speakers and network with everyone else who’s hanging out.

Other news: If you’re on Twitter, follow the #launchgvl stream. If you’re on Facebook, join in the conversation by following us or Enterprise Launch.

Tickets: $149 by visiting the Launch Greenville site. (Pssst…..enter in code “BlackBox” at registration and get $50 off!)

All the info and more is on the Launch Greenville website (in case you missed all those cool hyperlinks above!) Can’t wait to see you there!

Who we are:

Business Black Box, a business platform (magazine, interactive website and events) with a mission to advise, connect, and grow business in the Upstate. Our readership includes small business owners, entrepreneurs, investors, and others in the economic development and business communities. Oh, and you should probably know that we’re a publication of ShowCase Publishing and a sister company of ShowCase Marketing.

Who we need:

We’re seeking two account representatives passionate about consultative selling, and experienced enough to recognize a match between businesses and advertising/marketing products they need. It’s not really about how many friends you have or how much your momma likes you. It’s about helping create and build a sales force that can knock it out of the park.

So, if you have established relationships with existing small-to-medium sized businesses in Upstate South Carolina, this might be a phenomenal career move for you. If you don’t, it’ll be difficult to survive.

Is it a fit for you?

If you need to be micro-managed, aren’t self-motivated, and aren’t passionate about seeing businesses grow, this is not the position for you.

If you have been in a marketing/advertising position and/or some sort of advisory position with business owners, you should seriously consider this position. Business consultants, former agency employees, media sales reps are ideal types of backgrounds.

The right person, with the right experience and the right existing relationships (and enough of them), will be able to hit the ground running and make an impact immediately.

What you’ll spend your days doing:

Building relationships, spending time with business owners one-on-one and attending networking events.

Ultimately, you’ll get paid well if your clients buy advertising in the magazine, and if they hire you/us to help them rebrand, develop new websites, video, and other marketing needs.

You think that’s good? Even better—there’s minimal paperwork and reports…we have “people” who can do that for you. Why? Because if you’re a fit, we want you to spend all your time doing what you’re gifted at: building honorable relationships and helping businesses find the right advertising and marketing fits.

Who you’ll spend your days with:

Unlike most sales environments where you are “on your own,” you have an entire creative department to spec ads, brands, and other proposal elements on short notice, as you secure opportunities to meet with businesses.

When you are not meeting with prospects, you will find yourself working in a 7,000 square foot space, collaborating with a cutting-edge staff who can often be found brainstorming ideas at our in-house coffee bar.

The moral of the story:

Sell a lot, earn a lot. And of course, there are opportunities for advancement down the line. But that would take up a lot of space here and we’re already telling you a lot.

Okay, I’m interested. What do I do now?

Send resumes to Jenny Williams.

Oh yeah…Resumes only, don’t waste your time typing the perfect cover letter, because we don’t bank much on those anyway. So save a tree or two. Your resume should demonstrate your track record of success and speak for itself. If we interview, you can share what you learned from your past failures and successes, and we can discover together what you feel you’re wired and gifted to do, what you’d like in the future, and determine if we’re a fit.

If I could pinpoint only one thing—the most important thing—that many business people ignore, it wouldn’t be the finances, or employee retention, or even marketing. In fact, the thing that businesses, in my opinion, is so off-the-radar for many that it wouldn’t even show up on a Top 10 list.

I’m talking about politics.

Yes, politics. Not the “what is red” or “who is left of center” discussions that seem to permeate every conversation. I’m talking about the legislation that, in its very essence, is designed to layout a framework for business in our state.

Yet most of us don’t get it. A lot of us can’t follow it. It’s nebulous, confusing and altogether frustrating.

And then there’s the time factor—”I’m trying to run a business, I don’t have time to learn what every bill holds and keep track of who is doing what!” Who has time to sit down and learn the processes and people over and over again?

Fair enough. But that doesn’t change it from being important. After all, with the Upstate serving as a major (if not THE major) business hub of the state, we can’t afford to ignore politics.

So, to help, Business Black Box teamed up with WORD 106.3 FM and Sunnie HARMON and John DEWORKEN group to provide a weekly podcast that will give you the down-and-dirty details of S.C. politics and legislation—in 10 minutes or less. We’ll tell you who is bringing what to the statehouse. We’ll tell you why it’s important. And, we’ll even do a little translation on the way.

You can find it on our site, you can subscribe to the RSS feed, or, soon, be able to get it on iTunes. Then, go to the statehouse website to find your legislator and tell them what you think.

Easy, right? Ten minutes, and all the tools are in place.

Now, no excuses.

Last Sunday, we put a post out to all of our Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin followers with an offer for our Social Media friends. One year’s subscription to Business Black Box for only $15, and the offer was good for one week—through Friday, February 5.

Thing is, we don’t make our web guys work on the weekends, which means the price hasn’t changed back yet, and you still have two more days to take advantage of this offer!

On Monday, everything goes back to normal, so click here to subscribe right away!

We need you to be our eyes and ears. As we focus on the many faces of Upstate business, let us know who you think should be featured in upcoming issues of Business Black Box. We’re looking for people and businesses that fit these descriptions, and we know that you know who they are!

Trailblazers: Some blend in, some stick out, but all Trailblazers have one thing in common. It’s not that they’re all successful or have reached a certain level of fame. Trailblazers are people who are either doing something no one has ever done before (and succeeding) or they’ve taken something old and status quo and made it new by doing it in a way no one has ever tried before.

Speed Pitch: For individuals looking to start up a business or take their business to the next level, we’ve provided a venue for them to share their pitch so it can be critiqued by key players in their field as well as investors. Are people likely to invest based on your pitch? Find out here and receive critiques to make it even stronger.

Big Picture: For those people in the Upstate who sit back and think, “I wonder what all went into making this facility a reality,” we created Big Picture, and feature a different Upstate location covering a two-page spread and print a by-the-numbers breakdown of what went into creating it. It’s a great way to take a peek into how local development and expansion is impacting Upstate businesses across the board.

101 Days: Whether you look at it as 2,424 hours, 145,440 minutes, or 8,726,400 seconds, 101 Days is a detailed look at a local business for this predetermined amount of time. We usually feature emerging businesses or businesses looking to take their next big step in development. See their processes, their struggles and their successes—and learn a thing or two along the way.

What Matters: In What Matters, Business Black Box takes an alternative look at Upstate business. Here we focus on the people and the lives behind that business. Know someone from the Upstate with an incredible story? Fill us in on what happened and why it matters to you.

If you know anyone who fits any of these categories, let us know by email, and they may be featured in an issue of Business Black Box.

We look forward to your insights!

On July 22, Acres of Hope, a non-profit based in Liberia, posted a blog about Alvin, a 13 year-old overcoming spinal tuberculosis. Although he had been treated for the tuberculosis, his illness caused bedsores that began to destroy his body even further.

Water of Life, a non-profit based out of Upstate S.C. whose mission is to dig wells in Liberia, received word of Alvin from Acres of Hope and heeded their calls for help. Roland Bergeron, president of Water of Life, spread word to his constituents and left immediately to help in getting Alvin to the U.S., where an adoptive family waited for him, as did complete medical care.

What happened over the course of the next few weeks is anything but ordinary. The story of Alvin permeated the Upstate, taking a community by storm through social media, news outlets and personal involvement, causing a Ripple Effect that was felt from cities and countries far away.

You may notice that this strays from our editorial map quite a bit—it isn’t related (directly) to business, and it didn’t have a direct impact upon the Upstate business community. But as Business Black Box has chosen Water of Life as its charity of choice in 2009, and as we became involved on a very intimate level with Alvin and his story, we hope that you will see it as we intend it—a very cool look at how a community came together to help save one person, thousands of miles away.

Click here to see the timeline online »

Download a PDF »

Unemployed workers, both professional and hourly, want jobs. But even when jobs are available, many people don’t know how to find them.

See what Jenny Munro, of the Greenville News has to say about this week’s event where we try to help job seekers maximize their efforts online and off.

Read the article: Greenville News

Learn more about the event: Moving Up Event