Business Opportunities Weblog

April 17, 2009 by Rich Whittle | 1 Comment

eTravel Blackboard:

With the recent launch of JetBlue’s Promise Program, many tourism operators have been working on similar programs to stimulate travellers from the ranks of those recently unemployed.

JetBlue’s Promise Program allowed passengers who lost their jobs after booking their flights to cancel and refund their seats, despite the carrier’s well-known ‘no-cancellation’ stance.

Since then, other tourism operators including cruises, hoteliers and touring products have also stepped forward to launch their offerings for the job insecure and jobless.

From insurance to cover job losses courtesy of Norwegian Cruise Lines, or trading ‘worthless’ Wall Street stocks for a stay at the Elite Island Resorts, and even drastically reduced ski-passes at Lake Tahoe for those who can prove they’re on the dole; the travel industry is getting creative.

And some companies are finding that the recently jobless, with more time on their hands are also travellers who book longer trips.

Photo by JetBlue.

In Economy, Employment, Travel | 1 Comment

April 17, 2009 by Rich Whittle | 3 Comments

Springwise:

Tattoos have become a mainstream way for people to create lasting marks of their personalities, style and obsessions.

Now, a new company is offering a different type of skin-based memento: one-of-a-kind jewelry that replicates scars acquired in accidents and surgeries.

Launched earlier this year, It’s My Scar makes wax renderings based on photos sent in by customers, and creates their highly personal piece of jewelry in 6–8 weeks. Prices range from USD 200–1,500, depending on the metal used and the type of piece requested—bracelet, ring, earrings or necklace.

The idea is to celebrate the meaning that a scar holds for the wearer. It’s My Scar’s founder created her first piece of scar jewelry based on her own surgery scar, to commemmorate suriving thyroid cancer.

The company’s motto is ‘Claim your past and wear your story’, and it encourages customers to share their own stories on the website.

Photo by It’s My Scar.

In Jewelry, Niche | 3 Comments

April 17, 2009 by Rich Whittle | 1 Comment

The Wall Street Journal:

An intrapreneur doesn’t quit her job to do her own thing. Instead, she develops a new process, product or service within the context of a larger organization. Using the resources and capabilities of the larger firm, an intrapreneur transforms a good idea into a profitable venture.

Experts have been advising the still-employed these days to find ways to be more valuable to their firms. And if you’re an entrepreneur at heart, creating something new for your employer is a good start — and a way to test your mettle for a future solo venture.

The good news is, intrapreneurship is catching on. Google has long been an advocate. Products like Gmail, Google News, and Adsense resulted from its Innovation Time Off program, in which employees are able to devote 20% of their work day to independent endeavors. Other organizations, including marketing and engineering firms, are eager to follow Google’s lead.

The best way to launch your career as an intrapreneur is to come up with a clever concept that will move your organization forward in some way. “Your goal is to create a product that two guys in a garage would build to kill your company,” says Guy Kawasaki, an author and co-founder of Alltop, a Web news site.

Once you’ve identified an idea, your next step is to do any necessary research and design a prototype. If your idea is a process — for example, a time-saving system for getting client contracts developed and signed — put it to paper and test it out.

Continue Reading: “‘Insider’ Entrepreneurs”

Photo by fakhar.

In Advice, Employees, Entrepreneurs | 1 Comment

April 16, 2009 by Dane Carlson | 0 Comments

The Warrior Forum is a popular forum for internet marketers. Users range from rank newbies to expert internet marketers. Most internet marketers sell informational products and in these forums, the members discuss how to create, promote and sell these types of products.

The key to making money like this online is the email list. These guys work for years to build and establish their mailing lists. They capture email addresses by cheaply selling, or even giving away, reports and ebooks, and then later attempt to sell a stream of different products and services to their lists.

The Warior Special Offer section is a place for the users of the site to sell things to each other. The most profitable users create their own information products and then post them on the site for other users to resell to their lists. Here you might be able to find a product that hasn’t yet been widely promoted.

In Ecommerce | 0 Comments

April 16, 2009 by Jaclyn Wells | 1 Comment

photo credit: House Of Sims

In today’s current economic condition, many employers are resorting to telling their employees to take time off without pay. Some are doing this by telling them to take one day a week off, or maybe a few day’s every other week off without pay. While they are attempting this in order to save the company so that all the employees may return to work full time at some point, some question whether this is a fair deal or not.

Many would argue that that this concept is not only unfair but also risky, including Tom Davenport. By employers forcing all employees to take the same amount of time off without pay, it’s like they are saying that every employee is completely equal. While yes, it’s one thing to talk to your employees as though they are equal, we all know that in the real world they are not. This may cause some of your more experienced and valued employees to go somewhere else for a job, maybe even to your big competitor.

The other potential problem is that employees, given an involuntary time chop, may look elsewhere to fill the void. They’ll freelance, e-lance, or moonlight to replace the lost income. This could lead to a variety of negative scenarios for the employer/barber who originally chopped their time. The employee might find the freelance employer more desirable, and jump ship altogether for full-time employment there. Or he might end up doing a bit of his freelance work while ostensibly on the clock for the 80% or 90% employer.

What are your thoughts on forced time off for everyone?

In Recession, Time, Value, Work | 1 Comment

April 16, 2009 by Jaclyn Wells | 0 Comments

photo credit: Paulo Brandão

Some people would say that the economy conditions are already improving and the future look’s brighter everyday, however, other’s would say that their are still signs that prove the economy is still on a downturn and not getting any better. In a recent article found on Small Biz Labs there was a list of some signs still showing that we are bottoming out and starting to turn our economy around.

• While the first quarter was still a little weak, it was no where near as bad as this time in 2008. Not a huge improvement, but it’s an improvement in the right direction just the same.
• Along with other sector’s of business, auto sales are starting to increase and show some signs of life again which is a big improvement from last year.

Venture capitalist’s are feeling better about the economy. Don’t get me wrong – it’s still ugly out there. Like many, we think unemployment will continue to rise and exceed 10% by the end of the year.

What do you think, is our economy growing better?

In Downturn, Economy, Recession, Sales | 0 Comments

April 16, 2009 by Jaclyn Wells | 0 Comments

photo credit: fabbio

In the recent past due to our economy, many business owners were tending to focus on their short term gain rather than their long term gain. It was more important to think about their business being open in terms of tomorrow rather then 10 year’s from now. However, there are already some signs that are pointing towards this recession coming to an end finally and there being some light at the end of the tunnel. Below are some tips on focusing on your long term gain that were recently posted on Entrepreneur Magazine.

Remember that being in business for yourself is the quickest way for YOU to get rich. Granted, working for someone else may make you rich some day, but it takes more time and more climbing up the ladder.

Always remember that a recession is a short term problem, but the recovery is always long term. Dont stop planning for your 10 year future just because tomorrow doesn’t look good. Only looking at tomorrow can prove to put you in some financial distress once the recession does lift.

Business is one of the most creative endeavors you could ever undertake — or attempt to master.
People look in awe at artists and what they are able to create. But in some ways, successful business people are far more artistic and creative than most people could ever imagine.

Did you plan for your long term gain once the recession started?

In Advice, Entrepreneurs, Future, Planning | 0 Comments

April 16, 2009 by Jaclyn Wells | 0 Comments

photo credit: quartermane

Your in business for yourself, you have a website but can’t seem to get the traffic you would like and need. Your having trouble reaching your own part of the loyal customer base for your business. What do you do to fix these problems? There are a few suggestions on how you can create more traffic, reach your own part of the customer base and have some really breakthrough content marketing recently discussed on copyblogger.

Think of it as kind of like training your new puppy. You give him a cookie when he sits, a cookie when he shakes, after a while he think’s the sitting and shaking was all his idea and continues to do it. Give your readers really high-quality material to keep them coming back for more. Give them something that is truly worth their time to read.

When you were younger, your parents told you to give as much as you receive, treat others the way you would want to be treated. Same thing in business, treat your customer how you would want a business to treat you, give them as much as you can from your business like you would expect as a customer yourself.

Sell smart. Successful salespeople will tell you that your customer needs to know, trust and like you before she’ll buy. That’s exactly why content marketing is so effective. Great content buys you the time to build that trusting relationship. So use that time wisely.

Do you have ideas for breakthrough content marketing?

In Content, Getting Traffic, Online, Writing | 0 Comments

April 16, 2009 by Angela Shupe | 5 Comments

Traditionally, when you want a professional service you need to go to their business or office to get it taken care of. Whether you’re looking for a massage or need the services of a notary. What if they could come to you instead? Servemehere.com took that idea and turned it into a reality.

Some businesses have taken a hit in the down economy, and ServeMeHere allows them to revive in a new way. Any service that is willing to travel can pick up some new customers by listing themselves on the website. As for the consumers, they’re able to search the directory for the local services they need.

David Hini-Szlos, the founder of ServeMeHere, was kind enough to answer a few of our questions about his website and what inspired him to create it.

What was the inspiration behind ServeMeHere?

The inspiration is to improve the lifestyle of millions of Americans who are tired to drive to get professional services: Massage, lawyer, therapist, personal trainer, Spa, notary….

It can be a busy mom, an eldery person, a person with no car, etc etec

Who said only pizza can be delivered at home? Services can too.
On Servemehere clients can decide when and where they want all kind of services to take places: at home, office, hotel, coffee shop, professional’ s office.

Also we are in recesssion and thousand of small business are hurt by slowing business and expenses ( office, secretary, marketing

Third, any person who has great skills to offer can use Servemehere to start and launch his business in less than 10 minutes we give them a free URL, online appointment, and and place to advertise their mobile services.

Continue reading ServeMeHere.com Brings The Service You Want To Where You Are

In Internet, Interviews | 5 Comments

April 16, 2009 by Jaclyn Wells | 0 Comments

photo credit: justgrimes

Yelp is a site that allows customers from all over to go online and write reviews on small businesses such as stores, restaurants, and more. Reviews can be a great thing as they can provide great word of mouth advertising. However, the only problem with this is that businesses can’t go online and respond to any of their reviews. Soon however, this will be possible.

Small Business Trends recently did an article on the planned change on the yelp site allowing businesses to fight back on their negative reviews. Meaning, the customer could have had a bad day and over dramatized the situation, the customer may not have mentioned all the thing’s the business did to try and rectify the situation, etc. There are always two sides to every story, and now it loo’s as though small businesses are going to get their chance to tell their side of the story.

Online consumer reviews have been great for consumers to make informed choices. But the situation has been lopsided. A business owner could do nothing if there was an inaccurate review — say, something just plain wrong, like complaining about a poorly cooked menu item at a restaurant that doesn’t even serve that item. There also have been reports of nasty reviews written by competitors solely for the purpose of making the business look bad.

What do you think about Yelp adding this new feature to their site?

In Communication, Customers, Online, Reviews | 0 Comments

April 16, 2009 by Rich Whittle | 0 Comments

TechNewsWorld:

The death of a major daily newspaper in a city like Seattle leaves the public underserved and no small number of journalists underemployed.

Kery Murakami aims to help remedy both problems with a new online venture he started after the Post-Intelligencer folded its print edition last month. However, the transition from newsman to businessman is no easy task.

“I’m doing this mostly out of passion and belief for what we do, but also out of desperation, because you go to JournalismJobs.com and you look at the landscape, there are no jobs out there. In the old days, you’d think about selling your soul and going PR, but there are no PR jobs out there. There’s nothing out there.”

So Murakami, a 20-year-plus journalism veteran who covered city hall for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer right up until the daily newspaper folded in mid-March, is trying to create his next job out of thin air. That’s meant working with several of his fellow laid-off colleagues 10 to 12 hours a day, six to seven days a week, transforming himself into journalist-entrepreneur.

Luckily, he and his staff are working with local public broadcasting representatives KCTS-TV and KPLU-FM for what will be Seattlepostglobe.org, a news site which hopes to launch next Tuesday. KCTS is letting Murakami and company work out of their office space free for three months.

Continue Reading: “From Laid-Off Reporter To Accidental Web Entrepreneur”

Photo by SeattlePostGlobe.

In Advice, Economy, Internet | 0 Comments

April 16, 2009 by Rich Whittle | 0 Comments

News Blaze:

Luke Fishback is a young entrepreneur with a good idea about energy conservation. It’s cheap, easy to do and saves money on electricity use.

Hoping to tap into the growing environmental conservation movement, Fishback founded a company to install electric meters in kitchens and set up Web links so that residents can see, at any given time, how much power they are using.

His company, VisibleEnergy, is now in its infancy. His early goal was to have 100 households signed up for a pilot project, but until he completes a research and development phase, he is keeping the number to about 10. It will test out his theory that informed energy users are smarter consumers.

“When you know how much energy you are using, it prompts behavior changes. When you know just how much it costs, you are more likely to turn off a light when you leave the room,” Fishback said.

Photo by VisibleEnergy.

In Advice, Eco-friendly, Energy Costs | 0 Comments

April 16, 2009 by Angela Shupe | 0 Comments

7online.com:

If you haven’t run into Serena & Lily bedding and children’s accessories, you probably will soon. What’s so great about them? Serena (Dugan) and Lily (Kanter) help you create everything from stylish accents to complete looks for your little ones’ living (and sleeping) spaces.

Whether you’re a novice or already have a strong eye for design, their sweet, stylish, modern prints and mix-and-match palette will add a sense of fun to any peanut’s pad.

So how did this independent design force come into being? Happenstance, talent, and the fact that two women were willing to take a risk by following their instincts.

Dugan, a textile designer and artist wandered into Kanter’s Mill Valley, CA. baby boutique one day. They bonded over the idea that children’s spaces could enjoy a clean aesthetic that goes beyond the stereotypical (and sometimes stifling) pink and blue bunnies and duckies. The next day, after Dugan dropped off her portfolio, the seeds for Serena & Lily were sown. With Dugan’s drive for design and Kanter’s business savvy, they released their first collection just eight months later.

Now, between the two of them, these mom-trepreneurs are enjoying 4 children, a fantastic partnership, and a thriving catalogue, retail and online business. And it’s clear that Serena & Lily, the creation of two self-proclaimed “type A, go-getter, scatterbrains,” is anything but scattered.

Logo from Serena & Lily

In Children, Mompreneur, News | 0 Comments

April 16, 2009 by Angela Shupe | 0 Comments

The Wall Street Journal:

Can mommy bloggers become mommy tweeters?

A new microblogging site targeting moms and modeled after Twitter launched Friday. Rachael Herrscher, a 31-year-old mother of three, has added the abbreviated commenting feature to her site Today’s Mama.

Ms. Herrscher is not the first to rip off the idea of Twitter. The more popular the site becomes — it is adding millions of users by the month — the more knock-offs pop up. There are Twitter clones for different countries and a handful by subject or topic.

Dubbed “Connect” on Today’s Mama, Ms. Herrscher’s version has several Twitter traits. Posts are constrained to 140 characters or less, comments directed at someone begin with the “@” symbol and topics are marked by the “#” symbol.

Unlike Twitter, however, Today’s Mama has a group function. Ms. Herrscher has created groups by region, such as Bay Area Mamas, and topics, such as parents of teens or the book “Twilight”. After a user joins a group, she can send a message to it by adding an exclamation point and the group name.

Logo from Todays Mama

In Networking, News, Start Up, Trends | 0 Comments

April 16, 2009 by Rich Whittle | 1 Comment

TuscaloosaNews.com:

Hands-free fingernail polish, a Braille keyboard, a guitar pick for someone missing a hand, a baby carrier for a mother with cerebral palsy.

These are some of the projects created by students at Northridge High School. Science teacher Beth Allaway first had them experience what it’s like to live with a disability.

“The goal is to invent something that helps people with a disability do something easier,” Allaway said. “When we start, the kids are so anxious because they’ve never done anything like this before. They find that there’s no answer in a book or on the Internet. Once we start building, they’re on their own.”

Students are given two weeks to come up with an idea, build their invention and put together a final presentation.

Photo by Tuscaloosa News.

In Disabled, Inventors, Students | 1 Comment

April 16, 2009 by Rich Whittle | 0 Comments

BizJournals:

Steve Connelly isn’t waiting for the economy to get better. He’s doing something about it himself.

The president and executive creative director of Boston ad firm Connelly and Associates is on the hunt for acquisitions, and he’s recently hired two people. But, like 86 percent of small business decision makers polled in a City Business Journals Network March survey, he said the economy is affecting business. He’s just not letting it get him or his business down.

“Is the economy affecting me and my clients? Yes. Am I gloomy about it? I can’t afford to be gloomy,” he said.

Nearly half of small business owners are concerned about their companies’ survival, according to the survey conducted in early March and presented by City Business Journals.

Key findings of the poll:

• Eighty-six percent of small business decision makers say the economic crisis has affected their business.

• Forty-six percent are concerned about the long-term survival of their business, down slightly from 47 percent in January.

• Only 35 percent of small business owners were optimistic about their business prospects, down from 63 percent in January. Phillips pointed out in his presentation that the optimism numbers often reflect the movement of the stock market, which was on a losing streak from January through early March.

• Seventy-seven percent rate the state of the economy as their top concern, ahead of such issues as the cost of health care and the rising cost of doing business.

• Business owners expect the current downturn to be a long slog. On average, they expect the downturn to last 2.4 years.

• When the economy does recover, business owners don’t expect to be doing a lot of hiring. Hiring new employees is behind such issues as paying down debt and increasing capital reserves on small business owners’ list of things to do.

• Business owners are skeptical about their own future financial security. Sixty-five percent think they may have to work longer before retiring than they had planned.

Photo by rcastello.

In Small Biz, Strategy | 0 Comments

April 16, 2009 by Rich Whittle | 1 Comment

WiseBread:

The best places for me to find cheap books were the public libraries around the Bay Area. Some of these libraries hold big annual sales where books are sold off in brown paperbags for $3 to $5 per bag. In one particular sale I got six bags of books for under $20 and sold a good amount of them for over $500. In particular, one rare out of print book sold for $75 almost instantly.

My other sources for merchandise included library bookstores and a local recycling center that gave out books for free before they decided to shred the unwanted ones. Some large church sales were also quite fruitful.

Non-fiction books keep their values a lot better because they are usually released in smaller printings than popular fiction, and people tend to search for specific used nonfiction books to buy. Topics like mysticism , aliens, and self help generally sold pretty well.

After a year of selling used books, I sold nearly 1000 books to people in 16 countries and made a profit of $5000 to $6000. For the time I put into selling books I made somewhere around $12 to $14 an hour.

Continue Reading: “Easy Weekend Biz: Sell Used Books”

Photo by Renaudeh.

In Books, One-Person, Sales | 1 Comment

April 15, 2009 by Dane Carlson | 23 Comments

Unhappy with your 2008 taxes and got the tax day blues? Who doesn’t? Well, according to a new poll from Gallup, 61% of Americans think that their taxes are just right or even a little low. But, guess what:

Consider this: about 40-50% of Americans pay no federal income tax at all. That’s zero dollars. I think we can safely assume that these are the people who think their taxes are about right. What this means, then, is that virtually every American who pays any income tax at all thinks they’re paying too much.

So what are we going to do about next year? I know what I’m going to do, because I read The Tax Lady’s Guide to Beating the IRS and Saving Big Bucks on Your Taxes by Roni Lynn Deutch. It is the best tax advice book I’ve ever read, because of two simple paragraphs that have changed my perspective on business record keeping entirely:

Still, to be a successful, innovative business owner, [record keeping] is a responsibility that must be met. Good record keeping could be the difference between recording your annual balance sheets in red ink or black. In fact, the University of Maine Cooperative Extension claims you can save $100 per hour solely by keeping good records. How, you ask? Well, imagine you have a $20 business expense that you failed to record or maintain a receipt. This failure raises your business’s net income by $20. Overstating your net income by $20 causes your Social Security tax to go up $3.06 (i.e., $20 times 15.3 percent for a self-employed person), your federal income tax to go up $4 (i.e., $20 times 20 percent — assuming you are in the 20 percent tax bracket), and your State Income tax to go up $1 (i.e., $20 times 5 percent — assuming you are in the 5 percent tax bracket for your state).

As you can see, this $20 oversight has now cost you $8.06 more in taxes (i.e., Social Security, federal, and state). No, how much time do you think it would have taken you to record this expense or maintain this receipt? Five minutes, tops, right? So, had you spent this five minutes recording this expense or saving the receipt, you would have saved $8.06 in taxes in 1/12 of an hour of work. Or, put another way, a savings of $96.72 per hour. And that kind of savings can mean a lot to any struggling company.

Giveaway: I have five copies of The Tax Lady’s Guide to Beating the IRS to giveaway. To enter, leave a comment on this post with your best tax tip, describing why you really need some tax help, or just say hello!

In Books, Giveaway, Reviews, Taxes | 23 Comments

April 15, 2009 by Dane Carlson | 1 Comment

Mid-Market Innovators is a new site brought to you by Sun Microsystems and Intel that I’m participating in. It is a site for mid-market IT pros that offers advice from leading authors in business and technology on how to align your business and IT strategies to save money, plan for growth and foster innovation.

In addition to great articles from leading authors like Anita Campbell, John Jantsch and me, the site also offers popular webinars for IT pros. The first is entitled “Cloud Computing and Virtualization: Doing More with Less” with Jon Stokes on May 7, 2009 at 9:00 am PDT. Register for the Webcast here.

In Administrivia, Events, Operations, Technology | 1 Comment

April 15, 2009 by Dane Carlson | 0 Comments

BizBen is putting on another free online seminar about selling a business on April 22, 2009.

70% of all small and mid-sized businesses never sell when they are put on the market. Selling a business is not like selling a piece of real estate or any other type of asset. This webinar is designed for small and mid-sized owners who are thinking of selling their business and need to know how to prepare and follow-through the right way to successfully value and sell their business.

Presenter: Peter Siegel, MBA

Date: April 22nd – Wednesday Evening

Time: 6PM – 7PM Pacific Time

Information & Skills Attendees Will Learn:

• What Paperwork & Information To Get Ready Before Going To Market
• Why Understanding Your Tax Returns & Financials Is So Important
• How To Value Your Business To Sell Using Various Techniques & Common Sense
• Why Financing Could Be Important To Your Deal Structure & What To Do About It
• 10 Questions To Ask & What Answers You Should Look From A Broker Or Agent
• Understanding Business Buyers & What Is Important To Them To Buy A Business
• Why Non-Disclosure Agreements Are Important & What They Should Say
• How Deals Are Usually Structured & Why
• What Are The Best Times Of Year To Sell A Business
• How To Advertise & Market A Business For Sale To Get The Price/Terms You Want
• What You Should Expect From Buyers & Why Backup Offers Are Critical
• The Closing Process: Escrow, Transition Issues, & Closing The Deal

To register in advance, go to: gotomeeting.com/register/239431831.

In Events, Selling a Business | 0 Comments

April 15, 2009 by Jaclyn Wells | 1 Comment

photo credit: ExperienceLA

Bartering is no stranger to start-up businesses especially in the past, but today bartering is growing more and more with the recent recession. Businesses trade services and products with another business to help both of them maintain their cash flow.

Businesses of all sizes are begining to use the barter system and some businesses take advantage of this system through a company that is set up specially for this transaction.

Typically, a small business sets up an account at a barter company, similar to a checking account at a bank, for a one-time fee. “Trade dollars” earned for services rendered are deposited into the account and can be spent on any product or service in the network. Companies regularly find others willing to barter via the barter site’s online directory of services, email newsletters, referrals or by contacting a firm’s account manager.

In Barter | 1 Comment

April 15, 2009 by Jaclyn Wells | 1 Comment

photo credit: Dawn Ashley

In a study done in 2007 called the “Stress in America” report, three-fourths of Americans stated that work was their number one stressor. This was an amazing 59% increase from the year before. The numbers have no doubtedly increase even more in 2008.

There are a number of way’s and programs to help your employees and yourself reduce your stress and increase your productivity at work such as yoga. Yoga has been a long time practice and quite effective way of reducing one’s stress.

You can also offer weekly telecommunicating by providing a space where they can unwind in the work place. You may also want to consider filling this space with tapes, cd’s and relaxation videos.

How do you help yourself and your employees reduce their stress?

In Employees, Health, Stress, Work | 1 Comment

April 15, 2009 by Angela Shupe | 0 Comments

keloland.com:

Every parent knows the frustration of buying new clothes for a child only to see rips and holes in the outfit just days later.

One Sioux Falls parent decided to take things into her own hands, and with some help, a new clothing company was born.

In a Sioux Falls home office, you’ll often find Megan Pederson at her sewing machine. Pederson hasn’t always been a fan of stitching, but took it up three years ago with the encouragement of her mom, Kim Hayes.

“I begged them when they were in high school to learn how to sew. They were like ‘why should we learn how to sew, you do it beautifully. You can sew everything we need,’” Hayes said.

A year ago, the mother-daughter duo started thinking the timing might be right to begin a crafty endeavor.

“We knew that when we found what it is that we would do together, it would just make sense. Things would kind of fall into place and that’s really what started happening,” Pederson said.

The next thing they knew, the two were sewing ruffled skirts for Megan’s two daughters, three-year-old Bridget and one-year-old Lucy.

“It kind of started with me thinking I could do some things with garment construction and quilting and Megan’s ready to dig in, so we just really kind of jumped in and did it for our own girls. And people started asking questions and ‘oohing and aahing’ and we thought, ‘well, maybe be can do this,’” Hayes said.

“People asked us to do them for them, so we kind of thought, ‘well, this could be it. This could be what our deal is,’” Pederson said.

So the decision was made to start a clothing line for young girls. But what would the brand be called? Then it struck them. The designs would be named after the young girls; the Bridget and Lucy line was born.

Photo from Bridget & Lucy

In Children, Clothes, Family, Mompreneur, News, Success | 0 Comments

April 15, 2009 by Rich Whittle | 2 Comments

Wired:

Times are tough, so stop looking for a boring nine-to-five.

Use the stalling job market as an excuse to get the hell out of dodge—and into an Airstream, Winnebago, or Fleetwood.

With an RV and a few tech hacks, you can create a flexible, self-employed lifestyle on the road.

Yesterday’s freeloading hippie is today’s wireless world traveler.

We talked to some nomadic geeks to find out how to trade in your mortgage for flexible hours and an ever-changing, million-dollar view.

Your clients probably won’t care whether you’re in Albany or Argentina.

Josh Strike, a web developer who worked his way across Australia, says you may have to lower your rate in exchange for not always being available.

But without house payments, you can afford the wage decrease.

You don’t need the fanciest wheels to get your show on the road.

Web designers Nathan Swartz and Olivia Meiring packed their work and 7-year-old son into a 115-square-foot 1996 Dutchmen they bought for $12,500. “The RV is less of a house and more of a room,” Swartz says. “We have all of the outdoors as our workspace.”

With gas prices changing daily, a trip down the interstate on the wrong day may lead to bankruptcy.

Consider converting your ride to burn vegetable oil. Sara Janssen, a freelance photographer who spent 18 months on the road in her 36-foot mobile home, did just that—then picked up free oil from restaurants and biofuel co-ops.

Photo by Serolynne.

In Office, Travel, Work at Home | 2 Comments

April 15, 2009 by Angela Shupe | 0 Comments

MACLEANS.ca:

Seventeen years ago, the American novelist Anne LeClaire gave up talking to people for two days each month. LeClaire is married to a fisherman and they have a son and a daughter. At home, she ignores phone calls and won’t talk to her husband. When she’s out, she shows people a card that says “I Am Having a Day of Silence.” Now, in a new book, Listening Below the Noise, A Meditation on the Practice of Silence, LeClaire reveals the hurdles and rewards of her “silent meditation.”

She was an unlikely candidate for an oath of silence. “The concept was alien to my personality. In high school, I was once given three detentions in a single study hall because I found it impossible to sit through 40 minutes without talking to the girl next to me.” The idea to stop talking struck her while she was walking on a beach. A disembodied voice told her, “sit in silence,” and, oddly, the voice didn’t frighten her, she says. “For some reason, it did not cause me to panic or question my stability.” And “No, I didn’t think I was being sent messages from heaven.”

The next day, she stopped talking for the first time in her life. She was a work-at-home mom, writing novels and running a small business on the side with her normally supportive husband, Hillary, who resisted her plan at first, calling it “inconvenient” and “frustrating when I need to ask you something and you can’t answer.”

In her office the first day, she noticed, “My writing flowed effortlessly. As I thought about this, I wondered if the energy that was normally dissipated in speech was going instead into the work.” She remembered Picasso’s observation: “Without great solitude no serious work is possible.” The same day, she overheard her husband answer the phone and tell her friend Betsy, “No, she’s not here right now. I’m not sure when she’ll be back.” She thought: “What a commentary on our civilization, when being alone is considered suspect, when one has to apologize for it, make excuses, hide the fact that one practises it—like a secret vice.”

A friend once asked her, “What do you gain by observing silence?”

“It makes me smarter,” LeClaire said.

Screenshot From Anne LeClaire

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