Tiffani Jonique Oates Business Mogul, Website Developer CEO / Publisher of the Black Pages Today Network : View more Successful Sista Profiles --------------- The Black Pages Today Network Promotes Community Development by listing and promoting small Black Owned Businesses. BPTN is a popular group of websites featuring ordinary men and women living extraordinary lives, with our goal to improve the image of black people and Black Owned Businesses all over America, while promoting community commerce. URL: http://www.blackpagestodaynetwork.com Email: tiffani@newyorkblackpages.com Tiffani's Bio: I am a 23 years African American female CEO/Publisher of The Black Pages Today Network. When my father fell ill in 1998, I was a 13 year old junior high student who loved to talk on the my cell phone, take the subway from Brooklyn into New York City to window shop at Macys and Bloomingdale's. I always looked forward to going to North Carolina during the summer to help my father with the Black Pages. His illness took the BPTN to the Internet and when I started college, I continued to work at it. It remained dominant until I took on the challenge in 2005 of retooling and bringing all the dominant components together. When college was over, I started working 15 hours a day and today I continue to make it grow. As the CEO, my job is to make sure all out clients are exposed to consumers to help their businesses succeed and grow. Successful Sista Survey Probing and nagging my father about business platforms, business marketing and asking advice from other successful female/males business owners. Did you always want to be a Business Woman? Yes, but I figured it would be after I had assisted my father for years and he would retire, but his health thrusted me out in the work place, with enormous responsibilities. How would you describe your experience as a Black Entrepreneur? My experience as a Black Entrepreneur has been a wonderful experience, with lots of encouragement from some of our clients. Thanks to my father's reputation in business, people took me serious and the websites large volume of members allowed me to communicate with our customer base. Its been a positive and wonderful experience. Looking back on your business decisions, is there anything that you would have done differently? I have increased sales each year, but I wished I had listened to my baby sister and upgraded our network of sites with more Flash and Hip Hop content. Did you have any formal business training? Do you think this is important to be successful? I took business courses in college, but most of my business knowledge came from working with my dad and his staff, making me privy to trends and expectations. What funding sources have worked for you? My father left the company with a healthy cash flow and a large list of clients helping to keep us in the black. One thing I learned is that you must have a strong, determined collection system to make sure your clients pays and pay on time. How has family/friend support financially or otherwise affected your business efforts? My family have been very supportive, with my mom and dad being the most supportive. My father business associates have also taken me under their wings with positive advice and encouragement. How do you work on making your business grow? I spend a large portion of my time marketing to new clients, making presentations and networking through Business Groups, Yahoo Groups, Meet-N-Greets, plus making sure we service our present clients, always asking them for referrals and attending community functions, posting in blogs and exchanging links with other successful businesses. What words of wisdom can you share with other business women? The best advice I can share with other Businesswomen is to seek advice from successful business people, whether they be female or males. Pay close attention to older people who have stood the test of time. Always remain positive and don't look back because someone might be gaining on you. Never lose sight of your purpose, your product stay away from negative people at all cost and remember Rome wasn't build in one day.

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