by Nicole Ouellette | Jun 8, 2010 | Too Cute Tuesday
Every Tuesday night, it’s friends, a craft, and a cocktail. Nothing like accomplishing something small while hanging out with friends. (Let’s face it—everyone is busy on the weekend but Tuesday…people could stand for a bit of weeknight fun!) Feel free to suggest crafts to us, start your own Too Cute Tuesday chapter, or otherwise participate either on this blog (all the archived entries are at www.toocutetuesday.com) or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/toocutetuesday.
Awhile back, my friend Kate/enthusiastic supporter of Too Cute Tuesday sent me the cutest little cupcake recipe involving chocolate, beer, whiskey, and Baileys. For two weeks now, we’ve been meaning to make these cupcakes.
It worked out perfectly that we decided to make them when Sarah was visiting. (You may remember Sarah, who moved to St. Louis about a year ago and started a Too Cute Tuesday chapter there.) Sarah arrived in Maine just in time to get unpacked and craft with the group.
by Nicole Ouellette | Jun 8, 2010 | Marketing Monday
Every Monday, the Breaking Even blog profiles a person, business, or organization doing cool things online. Have a nomination? Let me know about it!
My friend Paul set up a Facebook page for Finn’s Irish Pub, a restaurant in downtown Ellsworth. Since Paul owns the building (in his working life he is one of a food distributor for independent restaurants), he has a vested interest in making the restaurant work and decided to set up a Facebook page to help promote it.
With over 500 fans, Finn’s regularly updates their page, posts photos of their food, and let’s people know about local events.
What I really liked, however, was an interaction a couple weeks ago centering around the question: Should Finn’s make a separate kids’ menu?
by Nicole Ouellette | Jun 4, 2010 | This Week In Business
Do you ever ask yourself what you think is an innocent question involving a bit of internet research only to find two weeks later, you know way too much about what doesn’t work and why?
I researched different web conferencing software packages including GoTo Meeting, Teamviewer, WebEx, iLinc, DimDim, and MegaMeeting. (I am only listing them here to make myself feel like I did something during that seemingly wasted work time!)
Besides doing a lot that didn’t work, here’s what happened:
I found Skype (with the Mikogo add-on) was perfect for holding free and productive web conferences.
I was looking for a cost effective (read: free or cheap) way to hold virtual meetings. It began with Skype until I realized that I couldn’t share my screen on a group conference call. After this, I tried all kinds of different web conferencing solutions including the ones that didn’t work above. They were either cost prohibitive ($50 or more per month) or they lacked in an important way (like having a 2.5 second sound delay).
by Nicole Ouellette | Jun 2, 2010 | Too Cute Tuesday
Every Tuesday, it’s a craft, a cocktail, and friends. To get in on the fun, check us out on Facebook or read all the posts at www.toocutetuesday.com. Comment, suggest crafts, or start your own TCT chapter. It’s fun!
When my friend Sue said her wine expert friend John would be in town and asked if I’d want to hold a wine tasting/lesson instead of our usual craft format, I knew I’d be crazy to say no. I also knew I’d be doing this writeup on Wednesday.
On my way to Craft Central, my car broke down on the side of the road. I called up and John and Sue’s husband Andrew came and rescued me. They popped open my hood and started talking about belts and fluids. Andrew kept going in his car and getting liquids to pour in and John told me that before becoming a wine person, he was a mechanic. That’s versatility!
After making my car safe enough to drive to my favorite garage, we left it and off we went to Too Cute Tuesday.
After this incident, John didn’t skip a beat and we all had a great experience. Here’s how you can approximate it without your own car mechanic/wine expert on hand:
Materials
6 bottles of wine, shoot for the same kind of grape and same year but different regions. We did Cabernet Sauvignon in 2008-2009 vintages from four regions of the world.
Baguette, fancy crackers, and fancy cheeses: both palate cleansers and dinner substitutes.
Ideally one wine glass per wine type per person. Ideally, the same glass size and shape. We only had three per person so we worked with it.
Container for dumping the wine (there is probably a better technical name for this and, while it is sad to throw it out, six people drinking six whole bottles of wine would not have made for a nice Wednesday morning)
Cocktail of the Night: Um… wine!
1. Line up the bottles (don’t tell people prices or specifics).
2. Pour small glass of each wine to excited TCT participants. First smell, then swirl the glass and smell again. Discuss how the smells change.
by Nicole Ouellette | Jun 1, 2010 | Marketing Monday
I’ve had a tough sell recently and I thought I’d take it to the Breaking Even Blog readers.
A local small business counselor who sees a lot of people come through his office told me he is skeptical about social media/online marketing working for small businesses in rural Maine.
I highlight examples of businesses doing this well every week with the Marketing Monday feature on this blog. That said, I could use some small businesses, particularly in rural areas, using blogging, email newsletters, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, Youtube, and other online promotion techniques to communicate with customers and increase sales. Bonus points if the business is in Maine.
Please share your idea(s) below! Thanks for your help and ideas!
Materials