The Acceleration of a Startup

There is nothing quite as exciting as seeing a startup company hitting that key acceleration point. That is when all those hopes and dreams and long hours start to look like they will eventually pay off.

I love it when my friends’ companies hit this point. So I was especially delighted to see all the great press on Picateers. What a fabulous concept! Take the old model of school pictures and turn it on its head and turn it into a fundraiser. At a time when schools are scrambling for funds, who wouldn’t love this idea?

But there are lots of great ideas out there. It takes more than a great idea, it takes excellent execution to build loyal customer base and that is just what Picateers is doing.

Click on the binder below to see all the latest press on Picateers, including a great interview with CBS:

Picateers in the News

Get motivated

It seems like more and more people are either feeling like the world is going to end, or they are reaching for their dreams and taking chances on their life goals.  In any case, the demand for motivational coaches and mentors seems to be on the rise.  The following binder has a couple of articles written on what they are calling ‘Motivational Culture.’

To open the binder click on the link below and browse through the tabs to read the articles.

Motivational culture

 

Great Gardening Websites

The City of Belmont had their Spring Garden Faire today. It was a nice event, and I especially enjoyed the tour of the award-winning Belmont gardens. The weather was warm and it was a picture perfect day.

Handed out at the event was a list of gardening and going green websites. Too bad they didn’t know about LiveBinders. It would have been a lot easier (and saved paper) to just handout two urls, instead of two pages of urls.

I have put these lists of sites into binders so that they can be more easily shared (and shared in a more environmentally friendly way) via email. Click on the binders below to see these great gardening and going green websites:

Great Gardening Websites

Go Green

Decorating with House Plants

When I moved into my first apartment, I didn’t have any furniture – and no budget for furniture. So I went down to the local drug store and found some downtrodden plants on sale. They helped fill the empty spaces of the vacant rooms and, with a little care, soon grew faster than my budget for furniture.  The one mistake that I made way back then was just enjoying the way the greenery covered that dated paneling on the wall.  Much to my surprise when it came time to move, I found that some of the plants had actually rooted into that lovely mock walnut paneling!

Ever since then, house plants have been my “indoor garden”.  When it is too hot or too cold to garden outside I plant and replant my indoor garden. I have about 40 house plants and that number is always growing! The fun thing about house plants is that you can just stick cuttings in water and grow more. My kids have filled our house with ficus plants this way.

But the one thing that I never wanted was that hodge-podge look of plants all over the place.  I wanted the plants to be a part of my decor, not detract from it.  Here are some of my “decorating with plants” tips:

1. I picked pots that match each room decor, but leave the plants in their own pots so that I can rotate them based on their size, lighting needs, and my desire for change.
   

   Plants grouped

2. The plants are grouped together to provide a variety of textures and to add to that “jungle look”.
3. I also like to use Pothos plants as “live garland” across my fireplace mantel.
4. Use plants to camouflage electronics.
5. Add small shelves with plants to a wall.

I’ve gathered some great sites on selecting, caring for, and decorating with house plants. Click on the binder below to see these sites:

House Plants

Plants on shelves

Living garland

Propogating house plants from cuttings

Better Website Design

Designing an attractive, easy to navigate website seems like it would be pretty straight-forward – but it is extremely difficult. Even if when I think I’ve done everything right, I am often shocked at how people actually navigate my sites.

I’ve read some great website design books, but I’ve also found that there are a vast number of resources on the web to help you create a site that really reaches out to your customers. Click on the binder below to see my collection of website design resources:

Website Design

Summer Soccer camps

It’s that time of year when you are realizing that school is about to end and you haven’t planned out the summer yet.  If any of you have kids interested in soccer, this binder has a list of soccer camps put together by a bunch of moms.  They’re in the San Francisco bay area and one of them even has a drop-in clinic.

Open the binder by clicking on the link or icon below and click through the tabs to see the different web pages.

Happy summer!

Summer soccer camps 2008

 

Real Talent

Don’t you secretly think that you have this deep, hidden-away talent and that (if given just the right circumstances) you would shine like the brightest star in the universe? Ok, I admit it, I do! I imagine that I start singing and it brings tears to people’s eyes.

Well actually, my singing does bring tears to people’s eyes, because that is what normally happens to people when they are screaming with shear terror. But here are a few people who are the real thing. Click on the binder below, sit back, and enjoy!

Fun Talent Videos

Fun Talent Videos

I love this stuff, so if you have others that I can add to my binder, please let me know!