On this episode of Style of Business, Keetria speaks with the founder of Ucrowd, a new ticketing platform for events and entertainment, Miesha Robinson. The company is based in Los Angeles. Miesha talks about her journey, her new platform and gives advice to aspiring entrepreneurs about how to be prepared for investors and ways to stay motivated.

Style of Business
-Podcast Show Notes-

Episode – 28

Summary:

Show Notes:

Miesha started working on Ucrowd in college.
She graduated in 2014 from Cal State Dominguez Hill with a Bachelor’s Degree in marketing.
She was involved in a few different companies where she helped with sales, merchandising, and management.
- Kellogg’s, Target, Hertz Rental Cars
Has an extensive background in sales and marketing and helped her launch Ucrowd, an online ticketing platform.
Took a computer information systems class in school where she had to create a blog about one of the projects they created.
- She came up with the idea of creating a blog about events that were free with in a 10-mile radius of where she lived.
- She couldn’t find a platform that combined all of the information about free and affordable events in the area.
- She created Ucrowd to fill this need.
Ucrowd is an online self-service ticketing and registration platform for events.
- Ucrowd focuses on bringing people together offline while simultaneously redefining the ticketing industry.
- Not only is it a ticketing platform, it’s also a social platform.
- Ucrowd is bridging the gap between social and ticketing industries.
- You can go on the site and filter by distance, category (such as music and theatre).
- You can create your own event or register for an existing one.
Miesha’s tech experience.
- Miesha had little tech experience but used YouTube to understand how to build her website.
- She created Ucrowd’s website from scratch choosing look, feel, and flow.
- You can find so many things online to help you do all the tech stuff for your website.
When it comes to a business plan, it’s important to link up with someone who knows more than you.
- A business plan is a blueprint for your business.
- It took about a month to lay out everything she needed for her business plan.
When she was looking for events, it was hard to find ones that weren’t really expensive.
- A. has events going on constantly, but Miesha has to find events that fit her niche market.
- She wanted to take her experience at live events and put it into one particular app or tool to find things to do during the week.
Ucrowd is different from other platforms because of pricing.
- Other ticketing platforms focus on adding fees to the event price
- Ucrowd focuses on making event booking affordable so you get your money’s-worth.
- They have straightforward pricing so you know exactly what you’re getting and there’s only one fee associated with the purchase.
- Ucrowd uses social buying – there is a direct button on social so people can buy tickets directly from social media.
- The event organizer can share pictures from the event and people can comment on them.
What was the strategy for launching Ucrowd?
- Creating a business plan.
- Creating a pre-launch and post-launch marketing plan.
- Miesha had a great professor that took time to go over her business plan with her and helped her map out:
  - Where she wanted to go
  - How she wanted to get there
  - Who she needed to connect with.
- Used the SBA (Small Business Association) who helps entrepreneurs get from point A to point B.
- She funded her own processes, such as the Trademark process.
- Miesha encourages entrepreneurs to use their day job as a stepping stone to get to their dreams.
- She put away money from each check to fund her dreams and make Ucrowd work.
People are afraid to move forward and act on their vision because they listen to outside voices other than their own
- Instead of embodying our confidence we listen to the detractors.
- You have to encourage yourself through the entire journey.
- If you listen to others opinions, it will discourage you and deter you from bringing your ideas into fruition.
- Take time, plan everything out, if you don’t know something reach out to someone who knows more than you do.
The evolution of the event industry over the next 5-10 years.
- Miesha believes there’s going to be a merge between purchases and social media more than it is now.
Miesha enjoys the independence that comes from her entrepreneur journey.
- Through entrepreneurship, unless you have a day job, you’re not sure when the next time will be that you make a big sale.
- She likes working on a project where she gets to be creative and can push herself.
- She likes to help other people create opportunities within business and encourage them.
What challenges has she faced as an entrepreneur.
- For Miesha, the main challenge has been financial resources.
- Raising funds for your business out of your own pocket can be straining.
- It’s hard to raise funds and convince the investor that it’s worth their while.
  - You have to be able to get other people to understand your vision.
- Before presenting to investors in an incubator situation, you need to make sure you have a pitch deck and business plan. You need to be ready for presenting.
  - She went to a luncheon for an incubator and was asked on the fly to pitch her idea.
    - Thankfully she was prepared and invited back to do a full presentation.
  - Did 10-15-minute presentation for investors.
  - You must know your numbers, your marketing plan and your ROI.
  - You need to know your business like the back of your hand.
- Miesha stays motivated through prayer and circumstance and expectation.
  - She did not have a wealthy upbringing and in moments where you have to stay motivated.
  - When you pray, you expect God to move and change things.
    - Personal mantra: Faith without works is dead.
  - She prays herself through any circumstance.
- The best advice someone has given her is to believe in herself and continue to move in love.
  - She focuses on what’s important to her: being creative and helping others.
- Another key piece of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs:
  - Don’t become a slave to your circumstance. There’s a lesson in failure, use it as a stepping stone.
- Working on an online talk show for entrepreneurs.

Tweetable Quotes:

“I encourage entrepreneurs to use their day job as a stepping stone to get to their dreams.”
“You have to encourage yourself through the entire journey.”
“Faith without works is dead.”