Joe D’Ambrose

This semester has gotten off to an excellent start. One of my top priorities this semester has been developing my latest entrepreneurial endeavor and first non-profit business, Javalids, with a student team including 4 students and myself. This began as a for-profit idea that Cary Quinn and I were tossing around back in November: a small advertisement on the top of a coffee cup. We soon discovered that the model would work much more smoothly in the non-profit sector, and began to look into it. Quickly approaching Bryant’s service learning department, we realized that we can work this project into our curriculum (I’m a Sociology & Service Learning major). Three of our friends joined the team, and the 5 of us are all enrolled in two very relevant classes: Not for Profit Law and Governance, taught by Ed Pell, as well as an upper-level directed study in Sociology focusing on social entrepreneurship. With two classes relating so closely to Javalids and such frequent meetings amongst the founding members, we are moving along quickly, and learning a lot about the ins and outs of the not-for-profit world.
We’re in the process of developing a Board of Directors, and we currently have four highly accomplished professors on our advising board. We are also in the process of applying for our 501(c)(3) tax exempt status and looking to secure corporate sponsors and individual donors.

Normal Kings built a website for Javalids which can be found at Javalids.org - check it out and leave some feedback! Expedient Laundry has shared it’s on-campus office space with Javalids, so we now have some official “headquarters” as we get this company off the ground!

Happy birthday to me. I’ve just turned 20 on December 12th. Every so often I think about my plan for after graduation. I foresee paying off student loans, further developing the businesses, and attending graduate school for an MBA. I’m thinking of spending the “in-between” period in Hawaii..? If possible, I’d like to apply to graduate school during my senior year, defer my application by 1 or 2 years, and move out to Kauai with some friends and run the businesses from out there. I’m strongly considering it, anyway. Other than dreaming, I’ve also been finishing up my course work for the end of the semester. I have only one final exam left, and then I’ll be home for Christmas break for more than a month. Ahh. This Christmas break will be a great time to reunite with friends and family in Connecticut. But this is also an exciting time for the three businesses: 

It’s re-subscription time for Expedient Laundry. Any semester customers need to re-subscribe for next semester. We’re moving out of the Cornerstone Pub, our home on Bryant’s campus, and moving into the basement of Hall 4. Thanks to Residence Life for hooking us up with that new spot.  Normal Kings is actively working on several projects, many of which are in the finishing stages. Baldwin has a lot of new work for us as well. We’re going to be interviewing some potential part-time employees as our work load increases.

Javalids has come a long way since my last blog post. We’re going to be moving forward with our initial partnerships with charitable foundations and coffee shops during the holiday break. When we return to school, the student team will be engaged in a directed study in sociology in which we will develop the business, learn, and receive course credit. We’re going to be seeking funding and really launching. I understand that I’m not revealing nearly enough details, but for now there is a private Javalids blog for interested people, so you can e-mail me for a password if you’re interested. All Javalids information will become readily available to the public by February!

Life is good. Yesterday was a successful week #7 of the ROOTS radio show and week #10 of Expedient Laundry. This past weekend was enjoyable - went to the Ziggy concert on Friday with John and Jason, good times. Tuesday night, went to Boston with Hajjar for the Slightly Stoopid concert, but we arrived too late for Pepper, who opened for them. For some reason the Avalon has their concerts early; we were out of there by 11:00pm.In even more exciting news, my friend Cary and I are starting a new non-profit company called Javalids, Inc. The company will spread messages that support charitable causes in a very creative way. More details to come on Javalids over the next few weeks, but I can definately tell you that it is going to be huge! We are going to need a lot of help to make this a reality, though… so let me know if you want to be a part of it!

Normal Kings remains busy with web work, and our newest project we are working on is SeeOurPlaces.com, which, once complete, will be a new Web 2.0 website where people can share pictures of places! Be on the lookout for new updates on that.

Thanksgiving is coming up which means some much-needed time off from classes. I’m going home this coming Saturday and staying home for 8 nights! Should be very refreshing, and I look forward to spending time with the fam.