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District Lines, an AKT Enterprises company, has announced it has acquired SmartPunk, one of the world’s leading online music merchandising stores. With this acquisition, SmartPunk becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of AKT Enterprises and will join the company’s comprehensive network of design, merchandising and marketing companies.

“The SmartPunk acquisition advances our pursuit of innovation and excellence in merchandising across both online and offline communities,” said Alex Tchekmeian, president of AKT Enterprises.  “The combination of District Lines and SmartPunk will create a leading force in music merchandising. Together, we will be a stronger business partner, delivering customers the most competitive portfolio of products and services in the industry.”

In the upcoming weeks, the District Lines team will begin executing a planned integration of the two companies’ operations  to ensure a smooth transition and immediate value for vendors, clients, and customers.  The move accelerates AKT’s strategic initiative to advance SmartPunk’s website and storefront, developing a more interactive platform centered around user-generated content.

AKT’s expertise in online stores and entertainment merchandise coupled with SmartPunk’s worldwide customer reach will rapidly enhance AKT’s ability to capitalize on the ever-growing music merchandising marketplace.

ORLANDO, FL -- AKT Enterprises, the world’s premier branding and merchandising resource, has announced the opening of a second Orlando-based facility. With a rapidly expanding clientele, AKT has achieved exponential sales growth since its inception in 2003. The new facility will cater to this growing customer base by allowing the firm to significantly enhance its overall production volume.

With an ability to produce 1,500 to 5,000 units per day, the new facility will be used for rush jobs, projects with short production cycles, and orders that require special attention or expertise. This will allow the main facility, which is located just a few miles away, to continue to operate at peak production speeds.

“Our goal is twofold,” said Alex Tchekmeian, president and founder of AKT Enterprises. “First, we want to be as resourceful as possible to ensure the best experience for our clients. Second, we want to focus on quick turnaround requirements that will permit us to meet consumer demand with efficiency and quality. The new facility will allow us to better serve our existing clients while furthering our expansion as one of the world’s leaders in merchandising and design.”

About AKT Enterprises:

AKT Enterprises encompasses a finely tuned network of design and merchandising companies that pool their resources to craft custom marketing solutions for a diverse group of customers across the nation and abroad.

Specializing in new-business development, AKT has a well-earned reputation as a one-stop shop for industry professionals. The firm currently boasts a clientele of more than 250,000 vendors and consumers.

Exceeding all expectations for growth this past year, AKT Enterprises has once again continued its trend of raising the bar and expanding its horizons. It now caters to over 800 vendors, 8,000 clients and 250,000 consumers globally.

In April of this year, AKT Management was launched. With vast experience in the entertainment industry, AKT Management utilizes all of the company’s assets to foster long-lasting and meaningful careers for its clients. This new company actively represents musicians, actors and production artists in various endeavors including television appearances, music videos, photography and more.

Throughout the year, AKT was featured in many national publications such as the world-famous Chicken Soup for the Soul: Extraordinary Teens. As the world’s premier entertainment merchandising and marketing resource, it was also consulted by MSNBC for insight into the merchandising rights of late pop music icon, Michael Jackson. AKT was also asked to share its success story with the Seminole Voice, a popular local newspaper in the Orlando community. Impressions Magazine, America's top promotional products magazine, featured AKT and its ever-growing grasp on the entertainment industry. 

AKT is proud to announce the first of its retail-based initiatives. This sales outpost is dubbed Big Top Branding and will provide AKT with the opportunity to infiltrate the local market with its flagship storefront in Winter Park, Florida.

While servicing clients, big and small, Big Top will specialize in all marketing and consumer products - affording customers the opportunity to undertake projects of any size. With each Big Top storefront opened, its staff will utilize the experience and tools forged at AKT Enterprises and apply them in a retail sales environment. AKT plans to open multiple locations throughout the coming year.

AKT Enterprises has grown significantly since it first opened its doors in late 2005. The company's incredible growth and tremendous accomplishments would never have been possible without the continuous support of family, friends, vendors and team members. AKT anticipates that it will perpetuate its current growth trend throughout 2010 and enjoy continued success in the industry.

Mitchell Davis, one of YouTubes top stars, of Springboro, OH sells out the first live event of its kind over a month in advance.

AKT Management -- Nov 09, 2009 -- Mitchell Davis, or “livelavalive” as he goes by online, will be performing in a first-of-its-kind event this December, Off the Screen & In the Flesh. Davis, currently sitting at #32 on YouTube’s Most Subscribed list (all time), is known on YouTube for his quirky, fun and PG to PG-13 comedy. With over 300,000 YouTube subscribers Mitchell’s videos have been viewed a combined 63 million times.

On December 19th, Davis will be bringing his online video presence off the screen and to the stage, performing comedy, skits and more with his “partner in crime”, Kyle Sibert at the School of Rock in South Hackensack, NJ.

Following a short pre-sale tickets were publicly announced on November 3rd, on November 5th all 500 tickets had sold out. Mitchell Davis had this to say about the event, “I still find it kind of crazy that this many kids want to come out and hang out with Kyle and me. It’s mind blowing, and at the same time I’m very thankful that everyone’s embracing this thing.”

After the incredible success of this flagship event, Mitchell has started planning a nation-wide tour. Davis' Off the Screen & In the Flesh brings bridges online social networking with real social networking.

Young entrepreneur capitalized on high school business via Seminole Voice.

Things started off smoothly for Alex Tchekmeian and the business he began as a young teen, but as the man himself will say, success is about hard work, and the decision that would shape Tchekmeian’s life was waiting for him.

Tchekmeian, a new resident to Winter Park and self-made entrepreneur at 23, has some bragging rights. His company, AKT Enterprises, dealing in designs for the music industry, has more than 6,000 clients and 250,000 customers, and Tchekmeian himself was named a top 5 entrepreneur under the age of 25 by Business Week. He is also doubling his efforts as a motivational speaker and author of a selection in the new “Chicken Soup for the Teen’s Soul,” all during the Christmas rush.

“I think it’s just about going out there and working hard,” Tchekmeian said of his approach to business both then and now.

At the age of 14, Tchekmeian joined a band in his hometown of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. The band flourished, going on tour and signing a record. Yet even pulling in crowds of 500-600 people, the band’s promoter was still paying them their standard 50-cents-per-head rate.

Tchekmeian decided it would be best for the band and their promoter to part ways, then he stepped into the role himself. He began booking small venues and creating promotional materials. When he couldn’t find reliable designers who could turn around a concept quickly, Tchekmeian started his own design business.

“I really enjoyed business and music and took it from there, I started my business,” he said.

Even after the band ended, and members began going to college, the business stayed. Tchekmeian began promoting other bands with merchandise from his company.

It was a good time to be young and in business, Tchekmeian said. Even though there was risk of the company going bankrupt, he was in high school and still lived at home. Without any investors, all the risk fell on him; if the company went bust, no one else would be hurt.

That all changed in 2005, when Tchekmeian went off to the University of Central Florida to study business. Tchekmeian soon realized that his studies were taking too much time away from his business, which was just starting to move forward. He came to the conclusion that he could not do both and be successful and went to his parents.

“I told them, ‘I may never in my life have an opportunity like this. I need to 100-percent focus on this because it’s about to break big.’”

The result was not optimistic.

“They said, if I do this, they’re cutting me off,” Tchekmeian recalled. They didn’t want to see their son throw his career away for his high-school business. The decision had come, and it would be all or nothing.

“I told them, I don’t need your money. I’m doing this,” he said.

With business partner Jared Mendelewicz, Tchekmeian grew his business with just a few employees and a lot of aspirations. He has seen his business through early hurdles and the current economic recession and is limbering up for this holiday season.

“Business is just problem-solving,” he said. “It challenges you more, and challenge is healthy, competition is healthy.”

Tchekmeian now travels and shares his story with young dreamers, proving that with hard work, anything is possible. He hopes to one day return to college to finish his degree, and promotes advanced education in his talks. But more than anything, he exudes a passion for what he does every day.

“You look at it like a hobby almost more than your career or your personal life, but now it’s my life,” he said.

In bookstores August 18, 2009, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Extraordinary Teens features not only the history of AKT Enterprises, but a special message to readers everywhere. Be sure to pick up a copy when it comes out!

Click here to purchase the book →

“There are ways around it,” explained Alex Tchekmeian, president of AKT Enterprises, a network of businesses that handles entertainment-related goods and services, but is not currently in the Michael Jackson business. “You can’t use his name. You can’t use specific things that correlate to what he’s done.

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As home to Walt Disney World, central Florida is no stranger to creative ventures. Winter Park, Fla.-based AKT Enterprises, which identifies itself as a one-stop shop for entertainment professionals, fits the bill. Founded by music enthusiast Alex Tchekmeian, AKT is structured as an umbrella under which some 16 individual companies offer a variety of services, from merchandise manufacturing and distribution, to graphic design, Web development and live entertainment promotion.

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Throughout 2008, AKT Enterprises has experienced its most dramatic growth since its inception. The company has accumulated a staff of over forty who occupy a brand new, state-of-the-art 13,000 square foot facility in Winter Park, FL. AKT has become one of the fastest growing merchandising enterprises in the world; serving over 600 vendors, 6,000 clients and 175,000 consumers globally.

District Lines has secured many of Youtube's chart-topping mega stars for online merchandising. AKT has additionally begun to work with various award-winning hip hop artists. AKT Enterprises has traveled coast-to-coast to various music festivals, live events and educational programs; appearing in front of hundreds of thousands of spectators.

The newly-founded AKT sales team is on track to generate over $1.5 million by the close of 2009. The sales team will play a crucial role in the expansion of AKT into the corporate marketplace. Threadspin, AKT's most recent and successful start-up, will be launching a new garment finishing department this year. This decoration service in addition to new marketing plans will more than triple Threadspin's revenue in 2009. AKT plans to continue philanthropic contributions with numerous donations sponsored by its own organization, Give Them Wings To Fly.

Far exceeding all expectations for 2008, AKT Enterprises projects revenues well over five million in 2009. AKT has proven itself to be one of the fastest growing companies of its kind and expects nothing short of exponential growth throughout the coming year.

Expansion marked 2007 for AKT Enterprises. Thanks to diligent work by executives and team members in the past year, the company evolved into one of the fastest-growing organizations in the entertainment industry.

AKT Enterprises dominated the merchandising and online media markets this year, catering to a customer base of over 20,000 clients and consumers. Working with various musical acts, record labels, managers, corporate and small businesses, as well as individual consumers, the company has experienced phenomenal growth this year. Revenues reflect the company's upward momentum, almost tripling from $1 Million in 2006 to an estimated $2.8 Million in 2007. 

AKT Enterprises' success in the past year attracted attention from a range of institutions. The University of Florida Levin College of Law invited the company to speak on the New Distribution Panel at its annual Music Law Conference. VH1's Rock Honors nominated AKT's Designspin.com for Best Rock Merchandise Web Site. At the year's close, Business Week named AKT Enterprises in its Top 5 Under 25: Best Young Entrepreneurs of 2007.

As plans develop for a new 50,000 square foot headquarters, AKT's progress shows no sign of slowing down. The company's newest endeavor, Threadspin, offers an innovative approach to embroidering, while its Greek Life social network will connect thousands across college campuses. AKTV's reality series 'The Enterprise' will document the company's day to day activities and show viewers what it's like behind the scenes at AKT.

2007 saw AKT Enterprises expand with millions in revenue and recognition in the upper echelons of business. With its most prosperous year to date, the company forecasts the future to surpass expectations once again.

Alex Tchekmeian, a finalist in our search for the most promising U.S. entrepreneurs 25 and under, built a collection of merchandising and service businesses around the music industry

AKT Enterprises president and founder, Alex Tchekmeian, was a top five finalist in Business Week's most successful up-and-coming entrepreneurs under the age of 25.

Click here to read more information and to listen to the Podcast episode →

Thank you to everyone who has made this year such a success for AKT Enterprises. Through the dedication and hard work of our employees, we were able to accomplish unthinkable goals and ambitions set forth by the company in its previous year.

In 2006, we focused mainly on building, maintaining, and growing our business. With over 2,000 clients on board AKT Enterprises is moving forward with many new companies and projects in the upcoming year.

In 2007, we plan to branch out of the entertainment industry and explore other markets and opportunities. Some of these markets range from greek life to classic urban apparel and even the real estate industry.

After closing the best year that we could ask for, pulling in over one million dollars in sales, we thank all of our clients for being so supportive year round. It has been a pleasure to work with all of our employees, investors, clients, vendors, and everyone else who has contributed to the success of our enterprise this year.

This summer, BusinessWeek set out on its third annual search to discover the most promising young entrepreneurs in the U.S. As in previous years, we asked readers to nominate candidates they admired for their business acumen and received an impressive mix. After sifting through the nominees to ensure they met two simple criteriaÑthey had to be 25 years old or under and running their own businessesÑour reporters and editors narrowed the field to the 25 most impressive.

AKT Enterprises president and founder, Alex Tchekmeian, was named one of 2007's most successful up-and-coming entrepreneurs under the age of 25.

Click here to read more information and to vote for AKT Enterprises as your favorite! →

The UF Music Law Conference is celebrating its 5th year of connecting musicians, lawyers, students, academics, policy makers, and entertainment executives. The conference allows people from different sides of the entertainment industry to learn from each other and network. The theme of this year's conference is "Beyond the CD," which will center around the music business as relates to film, television, video games, new distribution, and emerging technologies. The 2007 conference is scheduled for Feb 9 and 10, 2007. The live music showcase will be on the evening of Feb 9 (Friday) from 9pm to 1:30am at Common Grounds in downtown Gainesville. The panel discussions, which will examine the music business, will be at the UF Levin College of Law on Feb 10 (Saturday) from 9am to 6pm

AKT Enterprises vice president, Jared Mendelewicz, was invited to speak on the "New Distribution" panel as an ideal resource to talk about the construction and management of digital distribution platforms.

Click here to view the 2007 UF Music Law Conference web site →