My Digital Coach Blog

The Big Idea Startup Community - Women Who Mean Business!

The Big Idea Startup Community is now open for online membership.  We are very excited to be expanding our membership base to include all entrepreneurial women.

What is “The Big Idea?

The Big Idea is a startup community for women entrepreneurs to inspire and support one another started in October 2007 by Robin Matuk, a solo entrepreneur struggling to launch her own company who wanted to meet and learn from other like-minded, action-driven women.  Robin runs and facilitates The Big Idea as the Group Organizer and Editor of the website. Robin is supported by her assistant organizers, Sheryl Daida and Ellie Klevins.

Robin wanted a place where women can come to learn about being an entrepreneur without having to pay a huge entrance fee. Within the first few weeks, she had 75 women join and was so impressed and inspired by all these women. It felt so good to provide an environment for budding women entrepreneurs.  As of July 2008 there are close to 200 women entrepreneurs and budding women entrepreneurs in The Big Idea Startup Community.

The Big Idea offers exciting meetings, a forum for communication and exchange of ideas, a place to ask questions and tell us about your entrepreneurial plans and ideas. We employ each other's wisdom and experience to your advantage. We give you the tools, inspiration and network of like-minded, lifestyle-oriented women to make any business dream a reality. Through our meetings, we harness this energy and drop it on your doorstep.

Who is this community for?  

The Big Idea is for any woman who wants to take an idea out of her head and turn it into a reality, any woman who already has a business but feels stuck and needs new and fresh ideas, and any woman who wants to take the first steps to becoming an entrepreneur.

Objectives of The Big Idea

1. Provide a community, both online and offline, for women entrepreneurs to network, learn, share, and mentor one another.

2. Share the tools, strategies and systems to shift from a struggling woman entrepreneur to getting on the path to becoming a successful woman business owner.

3. Organize In-person meetups are held to help members meet each other in person and continue learning together. Learn about what works and what doesn't work from fellow women entrepreneurs.

4. Offer helpful resources and materials in one central location that will aid women entrepreneurs in starting or continuing their venture.

5. Empower women to recognize that they have the power within themselves to make their dreams a reality through hard work, networking, and following inspiration.

6. Provide publicity, resources, education, and networking events for women entrepreneurs to learn and succeed in business.

7. Inspire women entrepreneurs to stay motivated, keep thinking BIG, and learn new ideas to getting more things – the right things – done quickly.

Online Membership is FREE and although we are physically located in the San Francisco Bay Area, we are open to all women everywhere. In our continuing effort to inspire women entrepreneurs to stay motivated, keep thinking BIG and learn new ideas, we am thrilled to announce the addition of online Resources for all members. With the addition of the online Resource center, we provide a community, both online and offline, for women entrepreneurs to network, learn, share, and mentor one another.

These Resources offer helpful material in one central location that will aid you in your entrepreneurial venture. Articles, e-books, podcasts, forms, checklists, templates, and videos will provide you with the tools, strategies and systems to shift from a struggling woman entrepreneur to becoming a successful woman business owner.

Visit The Big Idea to learn more about us and to join our community of inspiring women.

Why Do Some Women Have an Aversion to Technology?

As a Digital Coach, I encounter many women who are intimidated by the wired world we now live in. They want to enhance their computer skills, but they are not sure how to begin.  They spend so much time looking for things on the web, they eventually give up.

Maybe the barriers are economic. Access to information technology requires hardware and software, which requires a significant financial output. For some, the Internet is not a friendly environment for women. The amount of sexual material on the Web, and the intimidation women may suffer in online communication, make the Internet seem very unfriendly.  Older women may feel that it is just too late.  They missed out on the technology boom and for them, it’s just way too difficult to catch up.  Family members don’t have the time or patience to coach them.

There are, of course, some women who refuse to be lost in cyberspace. I found a couple of brave souls in the least expected place.  I’ve been doing one-on-one coaching sessions with two women, ages 80 and 90.  Both women live in an assisted living facility, are lively, energetic, smart, and enthusiastic about learning.  I was referred to them by their children and grandchildren who out of the goodness of their hearts, wanted to bring mom and grandma into the 21^st century.  They bought them the latest and greatest computer, gave them a quick lesson and went on their merry way.  Unfortunately it’s just not that simple.

I love training these women!   I’m so inspired by them.  Seeing their faces light up when they both realized how easy it is to buy a book on Amazon, was a true joy to witness.  Both love reading, one being a teacher and the other a librarian before retirement.  A new world opened up before their eyes.  One of them even knew her credit card by heart and she is only 90 years young!  Do you know your credit card by heart? I look forward to more coaching sessions with these women. They have a very special desire to be part of the 21^st century technology boom.  Hooray for them!

Welcome to the "My Digital Coach" Blog

Hello!  I'm Robin Matuk, Digital Coach, founder of My Digital Coach. This blog is my opportunity to reach out to you and share my knowledge and expertise. I want to enrich your understanding of my business and provide a voice that you can respond to and get to know. 

This is my second blog.  I created my first blog, Creating with Impact in October 2007 and fell in love with blogging.  I look forward to getting to know you, assisting you with your technology needs, and providing valuable information to make your life and technology "click".