by Nicole Ouellette | May 28, 2010 | Good For You
At the end of the week, I write about whatever I want. Because I can.
So my love for television shows that most people publicly shame is well documented. My latest guilty pleasure has been dating shows. I could only stomach about 15 minutes of the Bachelor but the less sincere ones like ‘Seducing Cindy’ and ‘Rock of Love’ make me laugh out loud about group dynamics and the predictability of people’s public behavior.
I’ve learned the following from watching celebrities try to fake sincerely look for love in front of a bunch of television cameras. Single people, take note. Maybe one of these realizations will help you nab the B-list celebrity of your dreams.
Celebrity Reality Dating Show Rule 1. One person has the power.
In any relationship, one person does the choosing and the other is chosen. In the really realistic scenario of living in the other person’s fourth house with the 20-something other people pursuing them, each powerless person will only get more so as the season progresses.
Celebrity Reality Dating Show Rule 2. You have fit in the other person’s life, but they aren’t worried about it working in the other direction.
While you will be asked superficial questions like what music you like or where you grew up, the celebrity will be asking themselves how the potential mate will fit into their lives. They will never ask the reverse question.
by Nicole Ouellette | May 28, 2010 | This Week In Business
It has been a crazy insane month in my life. I’ve joked that if all this movement was actually running, I could run a marathon by now!
The big theme of the month was diversification. I mean my client base is growing at a steady rate but it’s really important to have a few related streams of income. This way, I’m not counting on one check to come in or one other person to decide to buy my services.
How I’ve been doing this is creating more in-person seminars. I love public speaking and people seem to enjoy my presentations so the question was, how can I make money doing this? How can I help more businesses? Here are a few things I did this past month:
I planned a whole new program to help small businesses learn about the internet.
Hugo Diaz, who is a local web developer in my area who normally works on really high end projects, took a lot of his time to help me develop
the Downeast Internet Incubator Program (DIIP). The basic idea is to take business owners through the process of setting up social media and a basic CMS (content management system) website in small groups online which will 1) cut down on costs, 2) allow me to help more people, and 3) get more business owners in my area comfortable with using the internet and help build future capacity for my services.
The kickoff for the program is Saturday afternoon at the Maine Grind. I’m charging $10 for the program orientation because while some of it will be about the program, most of it will be about how to use Skype and DimDim to have remote meetings. I figure whether or not people like the program, they’ll definitely get their $10 worth.
I presented at the Deer Isle Stonington Chamber.
Deer Isle-Stonington is a beautiful part of the county I live in and one of my old clients got me a speaking gig with the Chamber. It went well and I even got a client out of it. She says if I do a good job, she’ll tell everyone. Great!
I negotiated regular rent at the Maine Grind.
If I was going to set up regular seminar experiences, I needed a venue.
Leslie, the owner of the Maine Grind was my first client ever so I’ve always had a soft spot for her. Even before I started working with her though, I loved her coffee shop with its free Wi-Fi, local art, and an upstairs room with good light (not to mention food and drink on site).
by Nicole Ouellette | May 26, 2010 | Too Cute Tuesday
Love Tuesdays? We do too. Every Tuesday, it’s a craft, a cocktail, and friends. To learn more see www.toocutetuesday.com for all the posts or check out the Facebook page.
Three weeks ago, I had planned to make car bomb cupcakes from a recipe on Smitten Kitchen sent in by my friend Kate. I had not planned for it to be a million degrees outside (actually 90 F). Way too hot to bake, my friends… but who knew that it would get to be this hot in May?!
by Nicole Ouellette | May 25, 2010 | Marketing Monday
Every Monday, I talk about an individual, group, or business doing something neat marketing online. Have an internet marketing idea you’d like me to write about? Let me know!
You know you haven’t been your usual blogging self when you are only posting twice a week (three times if you include a regular guest post at another blog). I have been busy business-wise (more on that this Thursday) which means that all my creative energy has gone into ideas for other people and at the end of the day, I’m reduced to a heap of Peep-eating, reality show watching woman.
My friend Sarah A., as if my blog idea angel, sent me a great email idea this morning for Marketing Monday.
Matt Holt is “Walking for Art,” through-hiking the Appalachian Trail to raise awareness and funds (through trail sponsorships) for New Sense Studios, an art program for at-risk youth in Raleigh, NC that is completely volunteer-run. The Will Walk for Art website is http://walkingforart.wordpress.com/.
by Nicole Ouellette | May 19, 2010 | Too Cute Tuesday
Every Tuesday, it’s a craft, a cocktail, and friends (eat something, drink something and be social). To read more, check out www.toocutetuesday.com (all the posts) or check out the Facebook page. (We usually put photo galleries and some extra stuff on the Facebook page.)
Inspired by this post at Readymade, we decided to carb it up this week with gnocchi. In May, we’re doing food as crafts. It’s technically making something and, quite honestly, spring is making us hungry.
