Stoke members come from many different places and fields; Noel’s background happens to be in engineering as a design engineer.
Read the full Stoke member spotlight!
Big Ideas 2020 Recap
We were so impressed by the presenters at Big Ideas this year! Thank you to everyone who participated.
Speaking to Denton’s creative culture, we heard ideas for a Peterbilt Park (reminiscent of Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo), public spaces for theatrical performers and dancers, and complete neighborhoods where you can take a ten-minute walk and in that span, pick up your groceries, grab coffee, and visit with a neighbor instead of spending 15 minutes in your car to run those errands.
Side Gigs & Seasons Of Sacrifice
Tuesday, April 7th for Coffee + Convo, we chatted with Juli James, the cofounder of two ed tech companies, Playable Media and Wildcards, and professor at UNT in the Mayborn School of Journalism teaching game design, digital media, and digital design + journalism. We talked about how she balances her side hustles, main gig, and life outside of/alongside work. She shared with us a few things to identify and implement for our wellbeing as we live the hustle.
How To Do Better: Mentorship
Need help starting to plan your business or in the middle of preparing to launch your startup? You might find that having someone to act as a sounding board or hearing from a person who’s been in your shoes before is just what you need to begin or keep going. Whoever fills roles such as these could be considered a mentor.
Denton’s Creative Mixers: The Past, Present, and Vision for the Future
Who thought of turning an old warehouse into a pop-up music venue for 35 Denton (and where did they meet?) How do initiatives like beginning a startup and tech nonprofit like TechMill happen? What *finally* brought liquor to Denton County?
Dentonites sharing ideas and making connections at past creative mixers.
Stoke Member Spotlight: Terrance Menyweather
What Can You Do To Find Balance and Avoid Burnout?
You have the Sunday blues, dreading Monday and the work week. You’re exhausted just thinking about the upcoming meetings and calls that you’ve scheduled out for yourself. You tell yourself, “this is the dream!” but you’re still yawning. The work that you once approached enthusiastically now seems to require cups of coffee just to open and respond to the emails in your inbox.
Maybe these are exaggerations, or maybe it’s your reality.
Whether you’re an employer, an employee, or self-employed, burnout can have serious consequences for your productivity and work performance, making the difference between operating a thriving business or one that will have to close its doors.
9 Coworking Space Myths
In a coworking space, you’ll find people working diligently on their individual businesses, projects, and endeavors while sharing workspace. The idea of a shared workspace is often associated with misconceptions like it’s too noisy, only entrepreneurs and startups work in coworking spaces, and membership is too expensive.
Building Company Culture While Shifting To Remote Work
We’re exploring how to develop and engage in a supportive company culture for the future of work and to strengthen teams in distributed workforces. We sat down for a talk with Ryan Plauche, Software Engineer with satellite software startup Kubos, who worked remotely from Stoke but had to transition to working from home during Texas’ stay at home order.
Stoke Mentor Spotlight: Patrick Peters
Build The New: Pivoting Your Business
We sat down in a Zoom call for a Coffee + Convo session with Emile Stewart, founder and owner of Wildflower Art Studio, where Amazon best-selling calligraphy and brush-lettering kits are packaged and shipped off to help fuel creativity in people across the world.
Recap + Recording: Financial Preparedness For Small Businesses
Working From Home: Tips For Parents Turned Remote Workers/Teachers
Working Well: Take a Break
We’re revisiting and combining a couple of previously published Stoke blogs, Workplace Wellness: Take a Break and To Sit or To Stand: How To Choose & Use A Standing Desk to deliver this blog to you that’s pertinent to the times. Whether your team has gone entirely remote, or you’re working at the office still (while practicing the appropriate amount of hand-washing and social distancing of course), take these tips for workplace wellness and and add a few into your routine.
Looking Forward To Year Two of FlintConf
We see you, working hard and hustling every day, running your business, excelling at customer service, thinking of fresh ideas and innovations to your processes, and maybe asking yourself whether you should take the leap into something new or take further steps wherever you are (we’re all in varying stages of growth, professionally and personally, right?).
Financial Preparedness: Talking Taxes, Accounting, and Planning with Wallace Accounting & Advisory
Stoke Member Spotlight: Peter Brigaitis
Workplace Wellness: Take A Break!
There’s science behind the benefits of taking short breaks throughout the day, as well as full days off, and longer vacations throughout the year. It’s common knowledge that overworking can lead to burnout and make it difficult to unwind even when we have the time, "What neuroscience is showing is that we require downtime in order for our bodies to go through the process of restoration," according to clinical psychologist, Deborah Mulhern.
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Global Entrepreneurship Week In Review
That’s a wrap for Global Entrepreneurship Week 2019!
We watched entrepreneurs and community members meet and connect and learned from those experienced in starting their own companies and working in their industries. We hope you made it out to some of the events! You can read a brief summary of each one in this blog post.