by Nicole Ouellette | Feb 18, 2010 | This Week In Business
Remember last week when I had the brilliant idea of offering a workshop with my friend Matt? Well turns out planning events takes, um, planning.
This week, I learned there’s always a little more to something than we expect there to be. Here’s what happened so far this week:
The workshop had multiple details to iron out.
First of all, Matt and I realized that neither of us have a projector. With this realization came more questions: Which projector do we buy? Are there any on CraigsList? What about people we know who might have one? Which one of us should buy it? You can see what I mean.
Then there was the whole “How are we going to accept payments?” issue. Which one of us is talking about what? What if people don’t have laptops? What’s the internet connection like at our venue? Oh, and what are we going to call this workshop anyway?
by Nicole Ouellette | Feb 16, 2010 | Too Cute Tuesday
Too Cute Tuesday is a weekly event that involves a craft, a cocktail, and a friendly get together. Join us each week for a different inexpensive craft. Currently there are TCT chapters in Bar Harbor, Maine and Saint Louis, Missouri. If you want to join in on the fun, check out Facebook or contact Nicole.
Mardi Gras always makes me proud to be a French gal. The whole joie de vivre culture, not to mention music, food, and drink, well, it’s a fun time no matter what culture you’re from.
Laissez les bonnes temps rouler!
Materials:
Exacto knife
Takeout chopsticks (for mask handles)
Scissors
Fabric, old costume jewelry, construction paper, ribbon (for decoration)
Glue gun (for hardcore gluing)
1.5 oz. light rum
1.5 oz. dark rum
1 oz. orange juice
1 oz. fresh lime juice (NOT Rose’s or RealLime)
1/4 cup passion fruit juice, or 1 tablespoon passion fruit syrup
1 tsp. superfine sugar
1 tsp. grenadine
Shake ingredients, serve on ice.
1. Serve happy participants food. I guess I can make good soup after all! Pour hurricanes to go with. Ahhh…
by Nicole Ouellette | Feb 16, 2010 | Marketing Monday
Every Monday, I feature some cool marketing, be it something that a person, business, or organization is doing. Please tip me off if you have an idea of what the BE Blog could feature!
Except for listening to the rap/hip hop on occasion (usually while driving or on a treadmill), I hadn’t thought much about Lil Wayne until last week. The rapper was busted for having a concealed weapon, and while they had initially talked about him possibly going to jail for multiple years, it looks like he’s going there for a least one.
But this guy is no slacker. Here’s what Lil Wayne is doing right, post having done something wrong:
He recorded nine music videos in two days. According to a commenter on the NPR story, Elvis did the same thing before going into the Army.
He has twenty songs pre-recorded and ready to go. Yup, that’s an album’s worth. Sure, if some get leaked, he might have to think of more (the hype alone might be worth leaking a few on purpose) but all this groundwork is part of the plan. According to NPR:
“He has a label, Young Money Entertainment, that’s going to keep him front and center while he’s in jail. They are moving from their headquarters in New Orleans to New York, to be close to him while he’s at Rikers Island…His label has made every effort to make it seem like he isn’t gone while he’s actually gone. When he gets out, he may be bigger than he was when he left.”
by Nicole Ouellette | Feb 12, 2010 | Blogging
Breaking Even blog is mostly business and money related but Fridays, I’m going to write about whatever I darn well feel like. Because aren’t Fridays supposed to be fun?
And when I think of fun lately, I keep thinking about the part of last weekend where I parked my butt on a couch. Instead of watching the Superbowl last Sunday, ie the most watched television program in recorded history, I watched ‘Jule and Julia’. It was a movie about cooking and blogging, two of my favorite things.
I actually enjoyed myself. Meryl Streep’s performance makes me wish I would have met the real Julia Child and Amy Adams makes an adorable blogger.
My first, eye-rollingly geeky first impression is that this movie makes blogging look easy. Within a few months, Julie’s blog gets over 50 comments in one day and by the end, the New York Times has featured her. I’ve been blogging going on three years. Honestly, I’m ecstatic when more than two of you reading this decide to comment.
by Nicole Ouellette | Feb 11, 2010 | This Week In Business
Do you even have an idea, and wonder “Why haven’t I thought of this before?”
Sometimes inspiration strikes when you least expect it, and then actually works out. Here’s what happened the last two weeks at BEC:
I had an idea for a workshop.
One of the littler known things about me is that I have a teaching certification, and I really do miss helping people learn things.
It was while I was sitting in a talk about websites that I had an idea about how I could combine teaching with what I’m doing now. What if I gave a class to help people set up a blog?
Partnering with my much more tech-oriented friend Matt, he could give the technology portion of the talk (how to install Wordpress on your domain name, basic setup, etc.) and I could do the content part (what to put on the blog/website, how to promote it once it’s set up). We would help registrants of the class buy their domain names and hosting the week before so that the day the class met, we could actually set up the website/blog. Charging $50/person would allow us to pay for our time and the room and give those just starting out a chance to have a website on their own domain in just a few short hours of work.
Matt is down for it and we have a venue…More on the progress of all this next week. In the meantime, let me know if you have any interest in attending.
I gave a presentation to the Ellsworth Chamber of Commerce.
It turns out that double the amount of people registered for my talk about social media. I was a bit worried about getting through my material and also being able to answer questions so I tightened up my presentation. The other good thing was some of the people who attended gave me an idea of what they’d like to ask me, and the Chamber director was kind enough to send me a list of those who registered.
