Connections #040 – Ecademy: The Original Business Network
Thomas Power, located in London, is the founder & CEO of Ecademy – the original Business Network.
Founded in February 1998, at the suggestion of Thomas’ wife, Penny Power, Ecademy now has over 300,000 members and operations in over 200 countries worldwide.
Although smaller and a lot more exclusive than many other networks in existence today, In the last 10 years, Thomas and Penny have met over 10,000 people in 50 countries and run 3000 events and 2000 training courses – so they certainly are very active!
Connections #040 - Ecademy: The Original Business Network [16:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadAs a recruiter, I’d always dismissed Ecademy as being too small to be useful to me – but that’s because I’d not fully understood its mission.
Rather than just being a collection of people looking for jobs or social interaction, Ecademy’s focus is to be a Marketplace – where like-minded entrepreneurs & business professionals can meet each other (either online or at face-to-face gatherings) to conduct business and do deals with each other.
So while Ecademy may not be a place where I’d go looking for Candidates, it might just be the place to go trawling for Clients – and I think anyone who is more interested in looking for ‘Buyers’ rather than ‘Sellers’ just might agree.
WEB LINKS:
Ecademy – join up today!
Thomas Power’s LinkedIn profile
Follow Thomas on Twitter
Penny Power – the brains behind the business!
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Thank you
Stan Relihan
Expert Executive Search: www.expertsearch.com.au
September 19th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Stan,
I must apologize that I’ve been a bit delinquent in listening to your great podcasts as of late.I’m forcing myself to take the time to get caught up and appreciate you sending me a reminder.
This was an excellent discussion and provided me a lot more perspective on Ecademy. I’ve been a non-paying member for a while and this podcast was very beneficial.
Again, nicely done !
Cheers ,
Dave
September 19th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Thomas Power mentioned that Ecademy is a subscription based service and didn’t want to use advertising as a revenue stream but the reality is that he is double dipping. Not only he charges his customers a fee to use the service there are plenty of Google ads on the site as well.
Don’t like people who are loose with the truth. And because of this, I will not be joining Ecademy.
September 19th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
Ahhhh … there’s the rub.
Sadly, it seems there’s no escaping Google Ads anywhere these days – unless you block them in your Hosts file (as I do!)
Stan Relihan
September 20th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Hi Stan,
Thank you for a great interview with Thomas Power. Thomas and Penny Power are a delightful couple.
There are not too many businesses like this where you can meet and communicate with the owners because they are passionate about their business.
I look forward to your next interview – I have signed up with i-Tunes to receive it.
Regards
Tony Benner, BNI, Sydney
September 20th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Another GREAT interview from Stan Relihan. Although Thomas Power was fascinating, and learning about Ecademy and it’s “smaller” but stronger success story was really terrific, I have come to the conclusion that you could interview my dog and make it compelling! (All about your interview skills, I’m in no way calling Thomas Power a canine.)
I’m posting a link to your page in my next ezine — everyone who has anything to do with networking should be listining to you.
Warmly, Mary Agnes Antonopoulos
http://www.RockawayWriter.com
September 20th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Hi Stan,
Thank you for sharing this info. I am currently developing my network with Ecademy. I’ve found that it’s a really warm and friendly Business Network.
Congratulations Thomas!
Regards,
Yoshua
http://www.yoshuadaely.net
September 23rd, 2008 at 1:51 am
Hi Stan and Thomas,
Wow, the value-add that Ecademy provides is quite unique. Interesting to know that his global radar is so sharp and that his connection to his clients is close indeed.
Thanks for your honest candour, Thomas — it was refreshing.
Best Regards, Louise M. Kidney – Canada
September 28th, 2008 at 8:29 am
Hi Thomas and Stan:
I can attest to the richness and warmth of community on Ecademy. Although, I have been a member for a while, at the time, as a non-business owner I did not understand the power of this social networking site. There are many leaders and facilitators for community discussions that also will keep you involved.
Thomas, you clarified the purpose of eAcademy. Ecademy from my perception as an American seemed much more international than some of the other social networks. There is great support and friendliness in the Ecademy community. Even though I have been a passive member, people were constantly reaching out offering suggestions or questions to get me more involved. Now that I am a business owner, I look forward to actively participating.
It was interesting the communication mediums used during this interview. It goes to show how far we have come with our communications technologies.
Thanks for another interesting show Stan!
Regards,
Caryl
April 24th, 2009 at 9:32 am
What an excellent blog, I’ve added your feed to my RSS reader. :-)