Running a small business or creative venture often starts with passion. You have an idea, a skill, or a vision—and you dive in. But as you move from “I think this could work” to “I’m building something real,” there’s one question that becomes more and more important: WHAT’S THE PLAN?
At Stoke, we are all about community. From our values of inclusivity and authenticity, to the way our staff know our members personally, to the work that we do to support entrepreneurs in Denton - we put people first.
At Stoke, we are all about community. From our values of inclusivity and authenticity, to the way our staff know our members personally, to the work that we do to support entrepreneurs in Denton - we put people first.
We’re highlighting the business owners in our 2024-25 AccelerateHER Denton Cohort. Learn more about these amazing entrepreneurs and the stories behind their businesses.
We’re continuing our elaboration on 5 Tips For Starting a Business in Denton (linked) with the next blog in the series, Ask Questions & Take Notes. This step will also help you with writing your business plan, whether that’s a lean startup version or a traditional business plan.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?).
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.
