tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28602942185008942122024-03-13T08:45:10.488-06:00Bread CrumzHollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.comBlogger89125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-24240798064020707012011-05-11T17:41:00.000-06:002011-05-13T14:21:55.577-06:00Introducing my new blog LoveandMath.com!Hey everyone! I announced this a few months ago but I figured I better come back and remind you that I am now blogging over on Wordpress at my new blog, <a href="http://loveandmath.com/">Love and Math</a>. Come check it out and say hello!<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s2qYltfAbCI/TcsexhlHw4I/AAAAAAAAAcc/6F8MxYgUUgU/s1600/Image%2Bof%2BLoveandMath.JPG"><br /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p1g_MK9PJWA/TcsfGdKoPmI/AAAAAAAAAck/PbbWRfCRPyg/s1600/Image%2Bof%2BLoveandMath.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 337px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p1g_MK9PJWA/TcsfGdKoPmI/AAAAAAAAAck/PbbWRfCRPyg/s400/Image%2Bof%2BLoveandMath.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5605608356961599074" border="0" /></a>If you're wondering what I've been writing about, here are a few of my latest posts (you know, over there on <a href="http://loveandmath.com/">Love And Math</a>, where I'm blogging now):<br /><br /><ul><li><a href="http://loveandmath.com/2011/03/digital-impact-conference-reaching-online-consumers-via-women-bloggers/">Digital Impact Conference: Reaching Online Consumers Via Women Bloggers</a></li><li><a href="http://loveandmath.com/2011/03/shesays-visionary-leadership-panel/">SheSays Visionary Leadership Panel</a></li><li><a href="http://loveandmath.com/2011/03/how-much-do-we-really-know-about-the-food-our-kids-eat/">How much do we really know about the food our kids eat?</a></li><li><a href="http://loveandmath.com/2011/03/all-work-and-no-play/">All work and no play makes people cranky</a></li><li><a href="http://loveandmath.com/2011/04/video-interview-at-groundfloor-media/">Video interview at Ground Floor Media</a></li><li><a href="http://loveandmath.com/2011/04/best-cover-letter-ever/">Best Cover Letter Ever</a></li><li><a href="http://loveandmath.com/2011/04/annoyed-with-pot-holes-theres-an-app-for-that/">Annoyed with pot holes? There's an app for that!</a></li><li><a href="http://loveandmath.com/2011/05/what-do-women-bloggers-want-from-brands-new-study-results-unveiled-at-digital-impact-conference-in-ny/">What do women bloggers want from brands?</a></li></ul>So if you're wondering where I've been, you can find me over there. At <a href="http://loveandmath.com/">Love and Math</a>. In case you're wondering :)Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com68tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-59219057135437336062011-04-27T13:37:00.000-06:002011-04-27T13:38:23.235-06:00What I really want for Mothers Day (Sponsored Conversation test)<p>
<br /> This is my test post for Ebates Sponsored Conversation. I am totally into blazers this year and love pairing them with formal and casual shirts to dress them up or down. I'd love to have this Alexander Wang Tailored Blazer I found on Ebates site! P.S. I get 3% cash back on this maaahvalous item, too :)</p>
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<br /> Happy Mother's Day to my mom and all my other favorites moms out there!</p>
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<br /> <span style="font-size:16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Whatever you’re buying this Mother’s Day, start at Ebates and get up to 20% cash back! </span>To celebrate moms everywhere, Ebates is giving away a $1,000 shopping spree from any of their 1,200 retail partners! </span></span></p>
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<br /> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">How to Enter: </strong><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Visit Ebates.com and find something you or your favorite mom would love. Reply below with a description of what you found and the percentage of cash back! A random winner will be announced Monday, May 10, 2011.</font></span></div>
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<br /> <span style="font-size:16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; "><span id="internal-source-marker_0.5960082398245907" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; ">This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of <a href="http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=9eIXso1tVUfRYRQwN4hOvg%3D%3D">Ebates</a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; ">. The opinions and text are all mine.</span></span></span></p>
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<br /><!-- End Embedded Conversation -->Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-21882223712950394722011-03-06T13:07:00.008-07:002011-03-06T13:51:41.638-07:00Making the switch to Wordpress and new blog nameI have been meaning to switch my blog over to a self-hosted Wordpress site for at least a year now. I started my blog on Blogspot back in 2007 when it was a casual pastime and I mainly wanted a place to express my thoughts about marketing, the tech space, and life in general. But I've gotten more serious about content management, SEO and design so I'm finally making the switch.<br /><br />One of the reasons the switch got stalled was because the domain name Breadcrumz.com was taken and I didn't want some extended version of the name (like BreadcrumzBlog.com). Not sure why I was particularly picky about that but that was how I felt. So I took the opportunity to step back and actually give my blog a new name, too.<br /><br />I graduated college with a degree in Mathematics but have always found the non-linear aspects of life (like love) to be just as interesting. So my new blog is meant to cover everything in between. I plan to write more about topics I have tended to keep to myself but that are very important to me. Like the books I read, travel, being an entrepreneur, flying (I've been flying single-engine prop planes for over 15 years but never written about it), and my pursuit of general self-awareness and purpose.<br /><a href="http://loveandmath.com/"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 502px; height: 128px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WyreLb34JZs/TXPtP7JsfYI/AAAAAAAAAcU/QzwPQeImeMc/s400/loveandmath2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581065221074353538" border="0" /></a>I will start officially blogging on the new site in the next few weeks. Take a sneak peek at <a href="http://loveandmath.com/">Love and Math</a>! I am still monkeying with the design so its likely to look a lot different by the time I make the final switch but you can see the first version. I have been incredibly lucky to be getting design and tech help from my long-time friend, designer, and blogger <a href="http://jeddrose.com/">Jedd Rose</a>. I've known Jedd for years and he is hands-down my favorite designer in the world. He helped me get my original blog set up and I've hired him professionally for at least three companies I've helped run.<br /><a href="http://loveandmath.com/"><br /></a>If you've been following me here at BreadCrumz or just happened to stop by today, I hope you will join me over at my new blogging home, <a href="http://loveandmath.com/">Love and Math</a>. I'll be sure to leave a post up here so you'll know where to find me!Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-57700601378148744842011-02-20T08:49:00.016-07:002011-02-20T20:07:08.605-07:00The Big Exhale<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww293/hollykayphoto/IMG_1668.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 589px; height: 442px;" src="http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww293/hollykayphoto/IMG_1668.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />This weekend, Dave and I hid out in a little cabin in Estes Park, a small mountain town about an hour away from Boulder. We didn't want a long drive but still wanted to feel like we had gone away. Too far away to worry about the laundry, chores, errands, and the dried-out Christmas tree still hidden in the back yard waiting to be taken to the wood chop place. On trips like these, I can measure my progress into emptiness with periodic and spontaneously audible sighs. Big exhales that sink me deeper into the realization that there simply isn't anything to do but breath.<br /><br /><a href="http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww293/hollykayphoto/IMG_1648.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 581px; height: 435px;" src="http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww293/hollykayphoto/IMG_1648.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />As usual, it took about half a day to really settle into the bliss of nothingness. One of the first things I do in the morning is make a list. Every imaginable task required to achieve the 237 goals I set for myself that day. Lists are my friend. It was entertaining to witness myself struggling to make a mental list of "shoulds" on a trip where having no agenda was the goal. No list necessary? Exhale.<a href="http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww293/hollykayphoto/IMG_2303.jpg"><br /></a><a href="http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww293/hollykayphoto/IMG_2303.jpg"><br /></a><a href="http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww293/hollykayphoto/IMG_1663.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 582px; height: 434px;" src="http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww293/hollykayphoto/IMG_1663.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Even though the cabin had a full kitchen, I didn't want to cook at all. So before leaving, I stopped at Whole Foods and stocked up on all kinds of yummy prepared food. Grilled salmon, green beans almondine, candied yams, lobster chowder, fancy olives, three different kinds of cheeses, mangoes, pears and an insanely decadent chocolate cream pie. No cooking required? Exhale.<br /><br /><a href="http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww293/hollykayphoto/IMG_1658.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 575px; height: 430px;" src="http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww293/hollykayphoto/IMG_1658.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>We hiked for three hours up Old Man Mountain randomly going off and on the trail as something of interest would catch our eye. It felt great to just stop and listen to the birds and the wind in the trees. No phone or Google reminders? Exhale.<br /><br /><a href="http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww293/hollykayphoto/Squirrel.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 579px; height: 396px;" src="http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww293/hollykayphoto/Squirrel.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>I knew I had achieved escape velocity when I spent an hour watching the melting snow drip slowly from the roof into tiny puddles on the deck. Exhale.<br /><br /><a href="http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww293/hollykayphoto/IMG_1660.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 583px; height: 437px;" src="http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww293/hollykayphoto/IMG_1660.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />For a weekend, no one needed me. No meetings, conference calls, or deadlines. No shuttling kids to hockey, baseball, band practice, or a friend's house. No parent-teacher conferences, permission slips, lunch money, or forgotten homework. I love the busy-ness that makes up my life. I created it and wouldn't have it any other way. But once in a while, it feels good to be still. To be quiet. To experience divine invisibility. Exhale.Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-77551237402341756652011-02-13T19:18:00.005-07:002011-02-13T20:29:17.496-07:00Why We Have Too Few Women LeadersI've watched this TEDTalk video four times now and the same thing keeps happening. I watch it, silently acknowledging how lucky I am to live in a world where more work/life options are available to moms than ever before, then move on to the next task at hand. Something nags at me but I power through my to-do list: draft that marketing plan, review another candidate's resume, put the clothes in the dryer. But something in Sheryl Sandberg's presentation keeps haunting me and making me watch it again.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><!--copy and paste--><object width="446" height="326"><param name="movie" value="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><param name="bgColor" value="#ffffff"> <param name="flashvars" value="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/SherylSandberg_2010W-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/SherylSandberg-2010W.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=1040&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=sheryl_sandberg_why_we_have_too_few_women_leaders;year=2010;theme=new_on_ted_com;theme=not_business_as_usual;theme=celebrating_tedwomen;event=TEDWomen;&preAdTag=tconf.ted/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;"><embed src="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" pluginspace="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" bgcolor="#ffffff" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/SherylSandberg_2010W-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/SherylSandberg-2010W.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=1040&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=sheryl_sandberg_why_we_have_too_few_women_leaders;year=2010;theme=new_on_ted_com;theme=not_business_as_usual;theme=celebrating_tedwomen;event=TEDWomen;" width="446" height="326"></embed></object><br /></div><br />Why is it that out of 190 Head's of State in the world, only 9 are women? That out of all the people in parliament in the world, only 13% are women? Or of C-level positions (including Board seats) in the corporate world, only 15% are women and the numbers haven't changed since 2002 and are actually declining?<br /><br />Sandberg (COO of Facebook) suggests that its because most women struggling with balancing careers and family end up giving one of them up. And what they tend to give up is their career. She presents her views with no judgment, pretense, or hint of elitism. I think her goal is simply to point out how the statistics are vastly different than for men.<br /><br />What impacted me the most is something she said that I've notice myself over and over in the tech industry and throughout my career. We women systematically underestimate our capabilities, undervalue our achievements, and under-negotiate our worth. She also points out stats that show "likability and success" are positively correlated for men and negatively correlated for women.<br /><br />To me, Sandberg's message is one of awareness, not one meant to blame or incite. We need more women sitting at the table, fighting for their worth, and teaching their employees, co-workers, and daughters to be confident in their accomplishments. If you struggle with this, find someone you look up to and ask for support. If you're already there, make yourself available to others and maybe we'll start to see some change!Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-12493882572011634562011-02-10T12:15:00.014-07:002011-02-20T20:06:21.188-07:00Trada’s Marketing Metrics BootCamp a huge hit with tech community<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s8BppvniQiA/TVQ5l76nQHI/AAAAAAAAAb8/o2Mq3XMYGUM/s1600/Conference%2BHeader.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 561px; height: 178px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s8BppvniQiA/TVQ5l76nQHI/AAAAAAAAAb8/o2Mq3XMYGUM/s400/Conference%2BHeader.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572141962865623154" border="0" /></a><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> 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unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Book Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="37" name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]-->Niel Roberston is the poster child for the phrase “go big or go home”.<span style=""> </span>He is the founder and CEO of <a href="http://www.trada.com/">Trada</a>, a company revolutionizing the advertising industry by crowd-sourcing paid search. I first met Niel over ten years ago at Service Metrics, an internet performance start-up that was acquired for $280M shortly after launching.<span style=""> </span>He was one of the founders and I was lucky enough to help drive marketing efforts.<span style=""> </span>He went on to start several other successful tech companies and is now the go-to guy for all things online advertising. <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> 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mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> </p>In the true spirit of community, Niel and his amazing team took time from their schedules to organize the <a href="http://metricsmarketingbootcamp.com/">Marketing Metrics Bootcamp</a>, a 3-day local conference that brought together thought leaders in the advertising, performance, branding and social media spaces and let a crowd of budding (and current) entrepreneurs pick their brains.<span style=""> </span>The event was sponsored by a host of local companies, <a href="http://www.silicon-flatirons.org/index.php">Silicon Flatirons</a>, and the <a href="http://www.colorado.edu/">CU Marketing Department</a>.<span style=""> </span>Over the course of three evenings, speakers and panelists covered topics such as:<ul><li>Basics of CPA, funnels and customer lifetime value</li><li>Measurement tools, ROI, and performance tracking</li><li>Video strategies, going viral, and renegade digital marketing</li><li>Email marketing, trust, and the changing role of the social media specialist</li></ul><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TVQ8xBNx-qI/AAAAAAAAAcE/6pXCNS1i5hw/s1600/Panel2.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 457px; height: 341px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TVQ8xBNx-qI/AAAAAAAAAcE/6pXCNS1i5hw/s400/Panel2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572145451801639586" border="0" /></a><p class="MsoNormal">I had the honor and pleasure of participating on the Brand vs Performance panel along with Derek Koenig (former CMO of <a href="http://www.vailresorts.com/Corp/index.aspx">Vail Resorts</a> and former VP of Advertising at <a href="http://www.aol.com/">AOL</a>), Toby Hedges (Director Digital Marketing for <a href="http://www.whitewave.com/">WhiteWave</a>), and Matt Cutler (CMO for <a href="http://www.visiblemeasures.com/">Visible Measures</a>).<span style=""> </span>That's me up front waving my arms trying to make a point. We got to discuss one of my favorite topics - how social media is radically changing how brands create, manage and leverage their online voice to serve their customers and grow their businesses.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I could talk about that topic for hours.<span style=""> </span>Which I ended up doing because the conference wrapped up with an intern job fair where CU students had the opportunity to talk with dozens of local tech start-ups and learn about intern opportunities.<span style=""> </span>I got to see lots of my fellow start-up junkies – Sonya Caprio and Grace Boyle from <a href="http://www.lijit.com/">Lijit</a>, Ted Guggenheim, CEO of <a href="http://www.ragedigital.com/">Rage Digital</a>, Mike Lewis, co-founder of <a href="http://kapost.com/">Kapost</a>, Brett Greene, founder of <a href="http://www.hipchameleon.com/">Hip Chameleon</a>, Andy O’Dower from <a href="http://new.beyondcredentials.com/">BeyondCredentials</a>, and James Moreau with <a href="http://www.blipsnips.com/">BlipSnips</a>. It was fun watching them get mobbed by talented students hungry for a chance to work with cool tech companies.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">By 9:30pm, I was exhausted and hoarse but I’m glad I stayed until the very end.<span style=""> </span>The last person I talked to was Carson, who looked a little younger than most of the crowd but I just figured he started college early.<span style=""> </span>He was the best conversation of the night.<span style=""> </span>He asked thoughtful questions about our vision, business model, revenue plans, back-end <span style=""> </span>evolution and the interest-based social graph. We talked about <a href="http://www.theblogfrog.com/">BlogFrog's</a> mobile potential, viral growth and the possibilities of opening up our API.<span style=""> </span>Something was different about this guy/kid. He might have thought he was looking for the next big thing, but I got the impression he would someday CREATE the next big thing.<span style=""> </span>Then I learned that he was a student, but not at CU.<span style=""> </span>He was a local high school student. Even more impressive.<span style=""> </span>Then as we walked out, I got to meet his dad, who was his ride.<span style=""> </span>Which means the boy genius who just blew me away probably can’t even drive yet.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>I won't mention his full name.<span style=""> </span>Not because I probably need his parent’s permission first, but because I want to hire him before you do.</p>You can catch all the presentations and panels on <a href="http://www.ustream.tv/channel/metrics-marketing-bootcamp">Trada's Ustream channel</a>, which were streamed lived during the event. Thanks Trada and sponsors for an awesome event (and cool t-shirt)!<span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:";font-size:11pt;" ><br /></span>Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-22897979157179306512011-01-01T20:50:00.020-07:002011-01-02T12:58:45.912-07:00The lost art of saying Thank YouWhen we were kids, Mom would make the five of us sit down after Christmas (and birthdays or any occasion where we received a gift) and make us write thank you notes. She had cards, paper, envelopes, stamps, and even all the addresses. All we had to do was sit still, stop for a moment to remember someone's thoughtfulness, and say thanks.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TR_8f6UzxdI/AAAAAAAAAbA/Iph1f4bHgZ8/s1600/thankyou1.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TR_8f6UzxdI/AAAAAAAAAbA/Iph1f4bHgZ8/s400/thankyou1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557438090361161170" border="0" /></a>From our perspective, you'd think we were being asked to milk the cows at dawn or scrub the toilets. We hated it then, but 20 years later, my appreciation for that tradition has grown (had the same experience with my Dad's classical music. It annoyed us as kids and now I have a wonderful affinity for Bach). I appreciate her efforts to teach us to be grateful for the kindness of others.<br /><br />I woke up on New Year's Day thinking about how often people do something nice for us in a day (whether we know about it or not) and how many opportunities we have to say "thank you". Some scientists believe that human's can't simultaneously feel anger and gratefulness at the same time. So if our hearts and minds are thinking consciously about something we are thankful for, anger cannot co-exist in that moment. I find that fascinating.<br /><br />So just for a day, I challenge you (and myself) to be on the lookout for all the things that friends, family and strangers do for you and make a point to express your thanks. If you sincerely thank someone and for a second they become grateful that you recognized their act of kindness, then they can't be feeling anger or offense either! That's a 100% return on your gratefulness investment :)<br /><br />To my sweet friends, who let me vent about my frustrations:<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TR_8916xuSI/AAAAAAAAAbY/p_qyjY5drLs/s1600/thankyou5.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TR_8916xuSI/AAAAAAAAAbY/p_qyjY5drLs/s400/thankyou5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557438604574308642" border="0" /></a>To my boys, for reminding me to play:<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TR_8x9xLWBI/AAAAAAAAAbI/uLQvljTHviE/s1600/thankyou3.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TR_8x9xLWBI/AAAAAAAAAbI/uLQvljTHviE/s400/thankyou3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557438400523098130" border="0" /></a>To my mentors, who keep me motivated and inspired:<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TR_84MdgqkI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/Mh6EnLx3NAk/s1600/thankyou4.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TR_84MdgqkI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/Mh6EnLx3NAk/s400/thankyou4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557438507546356290" border="0" /></a><br />To the cashier at the supermarket, who let me run back to exchange an item even though there were are people behind me:<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TR_9CQC-OjI/AAAAAAAAAbg/bvRM-zZwKvM/s1600/thankyou6.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TR_9CQC-OjI/AAAAAAAAAbg/bvRM-zZwKvM/s400/thankyou6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557438680307481138" border="0" /></a><br />To the people at Midas, who tightened my oil filter for free last week:<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TR_9NvB9ZKI/AAAAAAAAAbw/DRumetktU9o/s1600/thankyou8.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TR_9NvB9ZKI/AAAAAAAAAbw/DRumetktU9o/s400/thankyou8.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557438877603292322" border="0" /></a>To my partner (and favorite engineer), who makes me feel loved every day:<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TR_9HkzTKTI/AAAAAAAAAbo/wpHAdwBPhJE/s1600/thankyou7.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TR_9HkzTKTI/AAAAAAAAAbo/wpHAdwBPhJE/s400/thankyou7.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557438771778234674" border="0" /></a><br />Who can you thank?Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-40822370933623093122010-12-15T09:19:00.004-07:002010-12-15T09:31:35.239-07:00Twas The Night Before Funding (alternate title - If Santa Claus was a Venture Capitalist)<div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TQjtO3Q70fI/AAAAAAAAAa0/HRgTg2m6L6U/s1600/SantaVC.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 293px; height: 293px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TQjtO3Q70fI/AAAAAAAAAa0/HRgTg2m6L6U/s400/SantaVC.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550947380343067122" border="0" /></a>Twas the night before funding and all through the suite,<br /></div>The servers were humming keeping watchful their beat.<br />The business plans sat neatly stacked on the chair,<br />In the hopes that some VC with vision would care.<br /><br />Employees were nestled at home in their beds,<br />While visions of click-thru-rates danced in their heads.<br />Engineering was busy still testing the app,<br />While Biz Dev ran numbers on stealth market cap.<br /><br />When out on the roof there arose such a clatter,<br />I sprang from my desk to see what was the matter.<br />Away to the window I flew like a flash,<br />Pried with my eco-pass and up came the sash.<br /><br />The moon on the breast of my laptop’s dull glow,<br />(showed our UI’s new pages were rendering slow).<br />When what to my eyes on the roof should appear,<br />But a Mercedes sleigh pulled by gold-plated deer.<br /><br />The carriage was parked by valet in the snow,<br />And I knew in a moment, he was loaded with dough.<br />More rapid than eagles his money he waved,<br />And the iPad he’d bought with start-ups he’d saved.<br /><br />He had a broad face and a well-pampered gut,<br />And the wrappers from chocolates still stuck to his butt.<br />He was stately and stern, a nice Cuban he smoked,<br />And he winked at the team and continued to toke.<br /><br />Red carpet was laid and trumpets they sounded<br />The CEO brought out the team that he’d founded,<br />We’re happy to help you with diligence due<br />And expect you could raise us a million or two?<br /><br />He said not a word but went straight to his work,<br />He snapped for some coffee and turned with a jerk.<br />I’ll need to see spreadsheets of costs to inspect,<br />And make sure the backgrounds of VP’s are checked.<br /><br />He called up our users to ask what they thought,<br />Of the value they got from the service they bought.<br />He asked for proposals on market position,<br />And customer plans for sales acquisition.<br /><br />He spent hours inspecting each line of source code,<br />He tested each server’s security mode.<br />He bought sample product to check feature placement,<br />And searched partner contracts for legal defacement.<br /><br />His silence he broke for a moment to stop,<br />To ask if our web app might work for his shop.<br />I have thousands of products for good girls and boys,<br />And I need a good tool to help them choose from my toys.<br /><br />I can see that your product is just what I need,<br />To help them decide with precision and speed.<br />So I’ll give you your millions, with a couple to spare,<br />Since nothing like you on the markets compare.<br /><br />And laying a finger aside of his nose,<br />He nodded his head - up the heat vent he rose!<br />He sprang to his sleigh, all his investors he dialed,<br />And said nothing more, just nodded and smiled.<br /><br />As he flew, he yelled back, with a wise Ho Ho Ho<br />Why mess with the funding, just go IPO!Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-70078798695381188252010-12-07T07:51:00.008-07:002010-12-07T09:59:30.804-07:00The secret to peace is the 3rd side: communityI have been reading a lot about negotiation lately. For whatever reason, the notion and science of conflict resolution keeps landing in my path demanding to be attended to. I try to pay attention to signs like that and take them as gifts from the universe that there is something for me to learn.<br /><br />It started with <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Any-Negotiation-Without/dp/156414920X">How To Win Any Negotiation</a> by Robert Mayer. A book that caught my attention while I was waiting at Kinkos a few weeks ago. I started reading it right in the store and bought it so I didn't have to stop.<br /><br />Then, by chance this morning, I came across this TEDTALK by William Ury called <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/william_ury.html">The Walk From "No" to "Yes"</a>. Ury is the founder of Harvard's Program on Negotiation and is the author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Yes-Negotiating-Agreement-Without/dp/0140157352/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291734117&sr=1-1">Getting To Yes</a>. He has spent three decades studying the science of negotiation and has helped resolve crisis ranging from corporate mergers to ethnic wars in the Middle East, the Balkans, and the former Soviet Union.<br /><br /><!--copy and paste--><object width="446" height="326"><param name="movie" value="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><param name="bgColor" value="#ffffff"> <param name="flashvars" value="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/WilliamUry_2010X-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/WilliamUry-2010X.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=1017&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=william_ury;year=2010;theme=war_and_peace;theme=a_taste_of_tedx;event=TEDxMidwest;&preAdTag=tconf.ted/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;"><embed src="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" pluginspace="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" bgcolor="#ffffff" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/WilliamUry_2010X-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/WilliamUry-2010X.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=1017&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=william_ury;year=2010;theme=war_and_peace;theme=a_taste_of_tedx;event=TEDxMidwest;" width="446" height="326"></embed></object><br /><br />The video is 18 minutes and worth every minute but the part I found fascinating was his notion that there are actually three sides to every conflict, not two. Each opposing position represents one side of a conflict but he proposes that there is a third, very powerful side, which is community. How a community holds, supports, fuels, or ignores a conflict dramatically affects its outcome. Ury specifically talks about community and its affects on peace in the middle east but theory relates to any conflict.<br /><br />The notion that the presence of a conscious observer affects what is being observed is nothing new in the world of quantum physics and I see these two efforts as being beautifully connected. Its inspiring and empowering to know that we as a community (for our families, our businesses, our country or the planet) can play a very powerful role in the transformation of conflict.Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-15865737107529651172010-11-06T07:43:00.013-06:002010-11-06T16:06:36.802-06:00Beer and Blogging come together at the Boulder Beer Blogging ConferenceWhen you're in the business of online community, you learn quickly there is a niche community for everything. Like beer? There's a community for that. Like to blog? There are lots of communities for you. What if you blog about beer? Not only are there groups for you, there is a dedicated conference.<br /><br />Yesterday kicked off Day 1 of the <a href="http://beerbloggersconference.org/">Boulder Beer Blogging Conference</a> where beer enthusiasts gathered to celebrate their critical role in the blogging ecosystem.<br /><br />I was honored to be invited to speak as part of <a href="http://beerbloggersconference.org/agenda/">Day 2's track on technology</a> (Saturday 9:30-11:30am). Come on out to the Boulder Marriott this morning to hear more about BlogFrog's community-enabling platform and hear from my fellow presenters, who are also up to some pretty cool stuff:<br /><ol><li><strong>Perry Quinn from Lijit</strong> (<a title="Lijit" href="http://www.lijit.com/" target="_blank">www.lijit.com</a>) will talk about adding a search engine to your blog, using it to know more about your readers, and monetizing the result.<strong></strong></li><li><strong>Pete Sheinbaum from The Mandelbrot Project</strong>: Creator of Daily Candy and founder of the soon-to-be revealed The Mandelbrot Project, will speak on creating and growing your community on the web.<strong></strong></li><li><strong>Jason Cormier from Room 214</strong> (<a href="http://room214.com/">http://room214.com</a>): Room 214 is a social media agency that uses social networking, online word of mouth and integrated search marketing to help companies get noticed, retain customers and continue growing. <strong></strong></li></ol>These are some of Boulder's smartest entrepreneurs and you don't want to miss them. I haven't decided if beer bloggers are a tough audience or not so I decided to loosen them up with this video I created at xtranormal.com.<br /><br /><object width="480" height="390"><param name="movie" value="http://www.xtranormal.com/site_media/players/jwplayer.swf"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="flashvars" value="height=390&width=480&file=http://newvideos.xtranormal.com/web_final_lo/6dbca726-e87f-11df-b0e1-003048d6740d_11.mp4&image=http://newvideos.xtranormal.com/web_final_lo/6dbca726-e87f-11df-b0e1-003048d6740d_11.jpg&link=http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7567147&searchbar=false&autostart=false"><embed src="http://www.xtranormal.com/site_media/players/jwplayer.swf" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="height=390&width=480&file=http://newvideos.xtranormal.com/web_final_lo/6dbca726-e87f-11df-b0e1-003048d6740d_11.mp4&image=http://newvideos.xtranormal.com/web_final_lo/6dbca726-e87f-11df-b0e1-003048d6740d_11.jpg&link=http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7567147&searchbar=false&autostart=false" width="480" height="390"></embed></object><object width="480" height="390"><param name="movie" value="http://www.xtranormal.com/site_media/players/embedded-xnl-stats.swf"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.xtranormal.com/site_media/players/embedded-xnl-stats.swf" allowscriptaccess="always" width="1" height="1"></embed></object>Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-51254705378401799142010-10-24T19:50:00.005-06:002010-10-24T20:31:59.884-06:00A small tallish one<div style="text-align: left;">Every year, about a week before Halloween, we get together with friends and take our kids pumpkin hunting. We spend the morning at a near-by farm with literally 100 acres of pumpkins. I started this tradition eight years ago when my son was 7 and I was a single mom. I was committed to creating some fun seasonal traditions for him so I enrolled my friends and the Annual Pumpkin Hunting Day was created. Lots of things have changed since then.<br /><br />Today marks our 8th year honoring this tradition. We meet at the pumpkin patch, spend a few hours picking the most perfect (or imperfect) pumpkin and head back to my house for potluck lunch. We takes lots of pics and video - here's a video from last year's adventure:<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/14705543" width="400" frameborder="0" height="300"></iframe></div><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://vimeo.com/14705543">Pumpkin Hunting 2009</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user3783826">Holly Hamann</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-72130217108605400932010-10-04T09:02:00.011-06:002010-10-08T19:38:32.343-06:0010 Reasons I Won't Buy a Kindle<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://trafficultimatumgeorgebrown.com/trafficultimatumgeorgebrownphotos/georgebrown-trafficultimatum-amazon-kindle-reader-books.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 270px;" src="http://trafficultimatumgeorgebrown.com/trafficultimatumgeorgebrownphotos/georgebrown-trafficultimatum-amazon-kindle-reader-books.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I've had several conversations with friends lately about how much they love their Kindles. They download their books instantly, can carry many books around at a time, and have all kinds of convenient options (like increasing the font size for easy reading). These friends are early-adopters, leaders in their industries, and I have huge respect for the innovations they deem worthy of their time and money. There might be a hundred reasons to get a Kindle. But I have ten reasons why I like my paper books better (in no particular order):<br /><ol><li>A good bit of my reading (especially in the winter) is done in the bathtub. No further explanation needed.<br /></li><li>My reading ritual includes leaving the bookmark in the spot it was when I picked up the book and then moving it when I'm done. That small chunk of pages in-between marks my progress. Sounds silly, but I love that feedback.<br /></li><li>I like bookshelves. I have bookshelves in my home office, the living room, and my bedroom. I refer to books I've read all the time to pull quotes, refer to reference materials, and find authors. I also like that my kids are surrounded by books and just might see one that looks intriguing and pick it up.<br /></li><li>I leave my book on the seat of the bike/elliptical/treadmill at the gym to save my spot when I go to the bathroom. I would never leave a Kindle.</li><li>I have enough devices that require electricity.<br /></li><li>I loan a lot of books to friends. What if they don't have a Kindle?</li><li>I lose stuff. I don't mind if I lose a $10.00 book but I'd be super mad at myself for accidentally misplacing a $150 Kindle.<br /></li><li>I like color.<br /></li><li>I can kill a spider crawling up the wall with a paperback and never leave a mark.</li><li>There is a visceral feel about books that no electronic device can match. </li></ol>I like books. I like the earthy way they feel in my hands. In real life, no two books look the same and piles of them together remind me of candy. That being said, I am often wrong and sometimes easily persuaded so stay tuned for a future post called "10 Reasons I Bought A Kindle".Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-24924619292392854332010-09-19T15:50:00.007-06:002010-09-19T20:52:08.290-06:00Work, Relationships or Health: Choose Two.Many companies develop their software based on what is called “agile development”. One agile process called “Scrum” involves advancing your product in small increments rather than making progress in larger chunks over a longer period of time. The idea is that by releasing smaller iterations more frequently, you keep a tighter rein on rapidly-changing requirements and you can make corrections quicker with less impact.<br /><br />In his book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Succeeding-Agile-Software-Development-Using/dp/0321579364/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284948954&sr=1-1">Succeeding with Agile</a>, Mike Cohn refers to The Iron Triangle, a diagram that illustrates the relationship between three key elements of software development - Scope, Schedule and Resources. It looks like this:<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TJaHaBbSfNI/AAAAAAAAAak/qvmY6DfeD_w/s1600/The+Iron+Triangle.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 194px; height: 198px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TJaHaBbSfNI/AAAAAAAAAak/qvmY6DfeD_w/s400/The+Iron+Triangle.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518747274518363346" border="0" /></a>Each project has a scope (the number of features), a schedule (deadline) and requires a finite amount of resources (people and tools). For example, a project might include five key features, require three developers, and has a deadline of four months. Often, a project manager will make a customer choose two. “You can have all your features in four months but I need more resources”. Or “I have three developers and they can only get four features done in four months”. Whatever the solution, the one thing you can’t sacrifice is the element in the middle, Quality.<br /><br />I used to work with a VP of Engineering who was fond of saying “I can fly you to Tokyo or I can fly you around for an hour, but I can’t fly you to Tokyo in an hour – choose”.<br /><br />So what does all this have to do with work, relationships and health? This theory got me thinking about the Iron Triangle of Life. Is there a similar relationship with key elements in our lives? What if the Iron Triangle of Life looked like this:<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TJaHkPS49ZI/AAAAAAAAAas/lqd0T6dFHEE/s1600/Iron+Triangle+of+Life.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 293px; height: 271px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TJaHkPS49ZI/AAAAAAAAAas/lqd0T6dFHEE/s400/Iron+Triangle+of+Life.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518747450039924114" border="0" /></a>Most of us are in a constant struggle to balance work, relationships and health while trying not to sacrifice happiness. Can we really do all three? Jim Collins, author of the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Succeeding-Agile-Software-Development-Using/dp/0321579364/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284948954&sr=1-1">Good To Great</a>, says “If you have more than three priorities then you don’t have any.” Perhaps we are only capable of satisfying two at a time.<br /><br />I think that is probably true but I believe things like work, relationships and health do not have black & white thresholds. With a schedule, if something is due on Friday at 5pm, either you made it or you didn’t. There’s no gray area. Its achievement is absolute. Same with # of features and amount of resources, either you made it or you didn’t. But with work, relationships and health, they are not absolutes. They all exist in varying states of achievement.<br /><br />Say you're going to school at night to earn a degree while working full time and trying to take care of your family. You might be sacrificing time with your family in the short-term order to create a better future for everyone later. You've sacrificed relationships in favor of advancing work so you can have better relationships later.<br /><br />What about women/men who give up work completely to stay home with their kids? They've sacrificed work and income in favor of relationships and family. What if your work and family leave little time to care for your health and you get sick? <br /><br />In the end, I think we intuitively just handle what needs to be handled and plan the best we can. We do our best to catch the ball that's falling, throw it back up in the air, and make sure we’re there to catch the next one.<br /><br />So how do you balance work, relationships, and health? What are your priorities and how do you determine which ones outrank the others?Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-24946856612484557572010-09-16T14:00:00.001-06:002010-09-16T14:10:51.881-06:00Following and organizing blogs on your iphoneAt the office, we try to surround ourselves with technology and systems that support the ability to increase the scalability of an operation, whatever it might be. Just because a company of 10 people can support 50,000 customers doesn’t mean you should need 100 employees to serve 500,000 customers. You want to be able to serve exponentially more customers (or process more data, or handle more subscriptions, etc) without an exponential increase in resources.<br /><br />I try to do that personally as well and there is always so much to learn about how to do things more efficiently. Take blog subscriptions for instance. I follow dozens of blogs to keep up to date on what is happening with blogging, technology, entrepreneurship, health, and personal interests like cooking or American Idol. I use Google Reader to manage my subscriptions online but I am finding that even that is getting to be too much. I caught myself wanting to subscribe to a blog the other day but didn’t because I didn’t want to add one more blog to my reader. That’s when I realized I needed a new process, not less information.<br /><br />One of things I haven’t been doing until now is reading my blogs on my iPhone. Just never got around to setting up a system. Rather than miss out on keeping up with another great blog, I decided to do a bit of research and find a useful iPhone app to help me. After checking out a few options, I went with Reeder, a $2.99 app made Silvio Rizzi. There are lots of free reader apps out there that I’m sure are just fine but I actually don’t mind paying a few bucks for an app that has additional features that I really care about (like social media sharing or enabling offline reading). If it turns out to be a dud, then I’ll share my thoughts and maybe help a couple people save a few bucks. But so far, it’s been pretty cool.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/THu70Ify6GI/AAAAAAAAAYs/IYciCWwZz6M/s1600/Reeder4.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 255px; height: 212px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/THu70Ify6GI/AAAAAAAAAYs/IYciCWwZz6M/s400/Reeder4.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5511205073326368866" border="0" /></a>Reeder pulls all my subscriptions and folders from Google Reader, lets me download and cache so I can read offline, and has a ton of sharing options (you can share just a link or the whole post). This is a screen grab from my phone. Reeder pulls my folders - Blogging, Entrepreneurship, Personal and Technology (thanks to TechCrunch, I have a bazillion updates to read). Its easy to read, well-organized, pretty lightweight and does everything it claims to do. I could not find any user documentation but it was easy to figure out once I played around with it<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/THu8CoI0qqI/AAAAAAAAAY0/65-m_p8o3OI/s1600/Reeder2.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/THu8CoI0qqI/AAAAAAAAAY0/65-m_p8o3OI/s400/Reeder2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5511205322338118306" border="0" /></a>The icon options at the bottom let you mark as read, star a favorite, tab through multiple posts, and share. The image below is what a post looks like - this particular post is from Danielle LaPorte's blog, <a href="http://whitehottruth.com/">White Hot Truth</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/THu872QxKLI/AAAAAAAAAY8/mKxMi3vML68/s1600/reeder3.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/THu872QxKLI/AAAAAAAAAY8/mKxMi3vML68/s400/reeder3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5511206305382082738" border="0" /></a>As you can see below, there are a ton of sharing options including Twitter, email, Delicious, Instapaper, etc.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/THu-kWI8y7I/AAAAAAAAAZE/3PEOJlLW7xg/s1600/reeder5.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/THu-kWI8y7I/AAAAAAAAAZE/3PEOJlLW7xg/s400/reeder5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5511208100645620658" border="0" /></a>The only disappointment was its integration with Delicious. I have been using Delicious for years and would love to be able to tag and bookmark blogs from Reeder but it only integrates if your Delicious email address is NOT a Yahoo address, which mine is. So that was a bummer.<br /><br />What do you use to follow your favorite blogs on your mobile device? If you use a tool you'd recommend, tell us about it here. I'm always open to suggestions and ways to be more efficient.Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-64638560033108368832010-09-05T22:53:00.028-06:002010-09-06T20:34:55.231-06:00Turn Off The Computer And Go Outside And Play<div style="text-align: left;">How many times have we nagged our kids to get out from behind the electronics and go play outside? It was a gorgeous weekend in Colorado and I caught myself in the throes of a mile-long to-do list that would have kept me busy (and on the computer) through Thanksgiving. When it finally dawned on me what a beautiful day I was missing, I abandoned the list, called a friend, and made plans to head up to the mountains. We headed west to Rocky Mountain National Park, a quick 45 minute drive away.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Within an hour, we were hiking on trails with incredible views,<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TIR05-2TPWI/AAAAAAAAAZU/mGzeMrYpSxw/s1600/IMG_1157.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 427px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TIR05-2TPWI/AAAAAAAAAZU/mGzeMrYpSxw/s400/IMG_1157.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5513660383280446818" border="0" /></a><br />.....walking through shady pine trails,<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TIR1MqHSvVI/AAAAAAAAAZk/DvgDTH7AzmU/s1600/IMG_1164.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 420px; height: 314px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TIR1MqHSvVI/AAAAAAAAAZk/DvgDTH7AzmU/s400/IMG_1164.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5513660704132087122" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">.....listening to the therapeutic babble from streams,<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TIR1FbtsX4I/AAAAAAAAAZc/xIthJTLXjmE/s1600/IMG_1156.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 417px; height: 312px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TIR1FbtsX4I/AAAAAAAAAZc/xIthJTLXjmE/s400/IMG_1156.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5513660580007534466" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">.....and waterfalls,<br /><br /><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/14754192" width="400" frameborder="0" height="300"></iframe></div><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://vimeo.com/14754192">Estes Park Stream</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user3783826">Holly Hamann</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</p><br /><div style="text-align: center;">.....sticking our feet in icy pools,<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TIR1WsBCEMI/AAAAAAAAAZs/e4eoBVDIeHM/s1600/IMG_1158.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 417px; height: 313px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TIR1WsBCEMI/AAAAAAAAAZs/e4eoBVDIeHM/s400/IMG_1158.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5513660876441391298" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">.....appreciating (or mocking) historic relics,<br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TIR1FbtsX4I/AAAAAAAAAZc/xIthJTLXjmE/s1600/IMG_1156.JPG"><br /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TIR18SdqflI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/T0bvn7_-Zcs/s1600/coveredwagon.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 409px; height: 306px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TIR18SdqflI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/T0bvn7_-Zcs/s400/coveredwagon.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5513661522417188434" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">.....sneaking up on wildlife,<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TIR4Z08fH5I/AAAAAAAAAaM/NHyUqkG8UC4/s1600/IMG_1169.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 410px; height: 307px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TIR4Z08fH5I/AAAAAAAAAaM/NHyUqkG8UC4/s400/IMG_1169.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5513664228912734098" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">.....getting in for a closer look,<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TIR4L9A5tbI/AAAAAAAAAaE/ByB04RgEl5Y/s1600/IMG_1173.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 409px; height: 307px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TIR4L9A5tbI/AAAAAAAAAaE/ByB04RgEl5Y/s400/IMG_1173.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5513663990560568754" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">..... and eating ice cream from a malt shop with bar stools like these:<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TIV7p9q7zbI/AAAAAAAAAaU/SfYS57FgGFU/s1600/horseseats+in+ice+cream+shop.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TIV7p9q7zbI/AAAAAAAAAaU/SfYS57FgGFU/s400/horseseats+in+ice+cream+shop.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5513949279644536242" border="0" /></a>Before you get too impressed with my Grizzly Adams impression, just know I did bring my iphone and tweeted the whole time :)Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-29917147649735955922010-09-03T07:32:00.009-06:002010-09-03T08:20:58.020-06:00How the high school marching band saved meTwo of my teenagers started high school this year and one of them plays clarinet in the marching band and one plays trumpet in the jazz band. We attended the season's first football game last night and it was thrilling. Not just because we won (34-8) but because of the halftime show. I had more fun watching that 4 minute performance than I have any Broadway show or Oscar-winning movie.<br /><br />When it comes to high school, most adults I know carry very polarizing memories. Either they loved it or hated it. For me, high school felt like this huge stage on which I worked out my most intimate, awkward, and confusing issues, most of which centered around fitting in. My struggle might not have been apparent to those around me, but there was definitely an apocalypse happening on the inside.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TID71GeZzCI/AAAAAAAAAZM/E2KBfibN1bY/s1600/Band+pic.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 236px; height: 329px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TID71GeZzCI/AAAAAAAAAZM/E2KBfibN1bY/s400/Band+pic.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5512682833591258146" border="0" /></a>One of the things I am most grateful for during that time was my experience in the marching band. I started playing trumpet in the 5th grade and wanted to quit by 7th. My mom talked me out of it and I will be indebted to her forever for that pep talk because it saved me. For four years, I was an integral part of a 160-member club - the band geeks. We stood proud in our glorious nerdness because we knew we had back-up. I might spend 6 classes a day orbiting the perimeter of the cool crowd, but when I walked into that band room, I was home. I belonged. I was friends with every trombone player, drummer, and french horn player. We got each other. Other kids might have perfect skin, good grades, and had their own cars, but we knew in our hearts that we could belt out Georgia On My Mind with such precision and synchronicity, it could bring tears to your eyes. <br /><br />We marched in parades, football games, and did concert performances during the winter. We spend hours in a bus motorcade listening to The Beach Boys and Van Halen from cassette tapes played on boom boxes that sat on the back of the bus seat. We girls learned how to change into our band uniforms on a moving bus without ever exposing an inch of flesh (its all about layering). I could pick out my own two basic black shoes from 300+ other basic black shoes and somehow managed to keep a pair of white gloves white for four years. But most of all, I got to work through my misfit stage in the safe company of 160 other misfits and managed to love every minute of it. I left school with confidence, discipline, a sense of teamwork, a love for music, and a sense that being different and nerdy was one of my gifts. I hope my boys end up feeling the same when they leave.<br /><br />P.S. The trumpet in the picture of me? That's the silver Bach Stradivarius my parents got me for Christmas the year I made first chair.Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-47174539895861993382010-08-29T12:01:00.009-06:002010-08-29T18:06:20.197-06:00Kitty Kelly's biography on Oprah Winfrey: 500 pages of cleverly packaged contempt<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/THqlSpw18FI/AAAAAAAAAYk/V62cqJ3fAII/s1600/Oprah.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/THqlSpw18FI/AAAAAAAAAYk/V62cqJ3fAII/s400/Oprah.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5510898833908166738" border="0" /></a>I just finished Kitty Kelly’s biography on Oprah Winfrey and was greatly disappointed. What I hoped would be a thoughtful, objective assessment of one of history’s iconic female figures turned out to be a 500 page subliminal rant. Kelly clearly has credentials and awards for her writing and has spent years doing meticulous research on historical figures like Frank Sinatra, the Kennedys, Nancy Reagan, Elizabeth Taylor and the British royals. Her list of referenced articles in Oprah’s biography is impressive. Thirty pages of annotated footnotes listing facts, published articles and every word uttered by Oprah, recorded or gossip. But here’s the rub. The entire biography is steeped in an undertone of contempt by the author. So much so that it discredits her claim that the examination is "unvarnished".<br /><br />Kelly gives sterile coverage to Oprah’s charitable work and good intentions and has a knack for dismissing it all at the end with a sentence or two that implies she was capable of doing more. Yet stories that hinted at any bad judgment or scandal were covered with such relentless persecution and exhaustive detail on every nuance of the crime, I thought I was reading about a wanted terrorist, not a daytime talk show host. Kelly tries to come across as objective, but her book reeks of disdain and it gets old. It’s as though she doesn’t trust that an intelligent reader can digest facts and come to their own conclusion. Instead, she spends so much energy trying to persuade me to hate Oprah that she creates the opposite effect. I started to like the diva more just to root for the underdog.<br /><br />Another odd side note about the book is that Kelly repeats entire passages word-for-word and the writing style is so different in some chapters, I started to wonder if she even wrote the whole book herself.<br /><br />Kelly is certainly entitled to her opinions about Oprah or any of her subjects, but she shouldn’t pretend this is an objective biography written without bias. Kelly claims her mission is to separate fact from fiction, myth from truth, but all she ended up doing was making me wonder what personal beef she has with Oprah. When your persecution of someone becomes more charged than the crimes you accuse them of, your motive becomes suspicious. As Shakespeare said “The lady dost protest too much, methinks”.Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-78509429232406371722010-08-10T08:13:00.004-06:002010-08-10T08:29:07.294-06:00Blogher10: Since when did swag become so offensive?I never quite understood why some take such offense to the idea that a conference sponsor would like to leave you a little thank-you gift for being willing to let them share their message with you. If you don’t want swag, don’t take any. Period. How the whole concept of swag at BlogHer (or any conference for that matter) got so complicated and controversial, I’ll never know. Maybe I missed something. Without sponsors, BlogHer would be twice as expensive to attend and would be so cost-prohibitive, most of us would not be able to go. I am grateful to the brands that recognize women bloggers as a powerful target audience and are willing to invest marketing dollars to spend time with us and learn what makes us tick so they can serve us better. And I’m grateful to BlogHer for seeking out those partners so we can enjoy a discounted room rate, wonderful food, and a venue that sits a few blocks away from Central Park in downtown New York City. I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed but I’m still missing the offensive part.<br /><br /><img src="file:///C:/Users/Holly/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot.png" alt="" /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TGFhETWCJfI/AAAAAAAAAYc/EnCdmYGvG3Q/s1600/PUR+water+bottles.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TGFhETWCJfI/AAAAAAAAAYc/EnCdmYGvG3Q/s400/PUR+water+bottles.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503786946163516914" border="0" /></a>Some folks left with scores of cool gifts and useful samples of products from generous sponsors. Good for them! I left with very little but only because I didn’t make it to some parties and had already over-packed so I opted out. I love the sandwich holder from Hillshire Farms and the tiny portable speakers from AOL and I toted my PUR water bottle around the entire time I was there (I bet I’m not the only one who grabbed an extra one). The BlogHer conference guide lists 100 sponsors including the likes of Pillsbury, Hallmark, P&G, Pepsico, Healthy Choice, Yahoo!, PayPal, Nikon, Sears, Comcast, Johnson & Johnson and many more. These are serious brands that spend millions researching their target demographic and spending millions more trying to reach them. Aren’t you glad those brands invested their money in BlogHer instead of a SuperBowl commercial? Help me out here because I still don’t get the offensive part.<br /><br />Just so I don’t occur as one-sided, I’ll try to look at it from another perspective. Some say all the swag is wasteful and feeds the “free” frenzy. I’ve spent my career doing marketing for both large and small companies and have worked my share of trade shows. Product samples and promotional items are inventoried and arrive with their sponsors neatly packed and accounted for. Swag is only wasted when it is accepted and then gets left in the hotel room or thrown away when we get home. If that is the case, aren’t WE the ones actually responsible for the waste? As for the free part, I feel silly even addressing that one. Would you rather they charge for the swag?<br /><br />Maybe it’s intrusive. Like when you get strip club flyers shoved in your hand outside the bar or get doused with some edgy scent called Mood or Jezebel by a leggy sales rep in the cosmetic isle. Seriously. Have you ever been treated with anything less than respect and genuine enthusiasm from a brand at BlogHer? These brands don’t ask for anything from us other than to be in our presence and if you stop and talk to them, you’ll learn they are doing some incredibly innovative things. They even have an entire expo hall reserved for sponsors that you have to intentionally walk into in order to interact with them. Still not finding the offensive part.<br /><br />Maybe it’s political. Maybe it’s because the swag is plastic and not made of recycled paper, or the brand doesn’t give enough funding to early education programs in Uganda or they use red dye #2 on their label. Maybe they don’t employ enough senior citizens, or the logo looks too ethnic or the CEO made a bazillion dollars last year and has a yacht floating off the coast of some country with a US trade embargo. I am not making light of the political impact brands have on global affairs. I am making light of our offense to their free toothbrush.<br /><br />Just because you don’t want to accept swag doesn’t mean the act of offering it should be criticized. Swag is a gift, not a patronizing assault on your intelligence as a target demographic. If you take it as such, I invite you to consider that you are over-thinking the whole concept. At the end of the day, swag is fun. They are presents and toys from people we don’t know and some of it just shows up in our rooms when we’re not there. Isn’t that what Santa Claus has been doing for centuries?Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-7499943366427509132010-07-30T13:11:00.007-06:002010-07-30T13:25:47.948-06:00And the word of the day is BLOGGERMy 6 year old niece lives outside San Francisco with her dad (my brother) and mom. I don't get to see them very often because they live so far away but I love getting updates over the phone and video chats. Charlotte is outgoing, stubborn, a thinker, loves being creative, and has a rich social life filled with the animated characters that live in her room. Stuffed mice, plastic dogs (one of them is called Mr. President), pigs that oink, and of course, a frog. Each day, Charlotte picks a word-of-the-day and writes it on her chalkboard easel. My brother texted me this photo of the word she chose today. I am so proud!!!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TFMlgK1-0YI/AAAAAAAAAYM/t32aICP4kSY/s1600/Charlotte2.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 511px; height: 383px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TFMlgK1-0YI/AAAAAAAAAYM/t32aICP4kSY/s400/Charlotte2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499780804546318722" border="0" /></a>This was actually her second try. Below was the first text pic I received. I had asked my brother if I could put the picture on my blog and I guess Charlotte decided to fix the spelling mistake and get out of her jammies :)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TFMmCiGCV6I/AAAAAAAAAYU/3F_h6jeSc70/s1600/Charlotte1.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 516px; height: 384px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TFMmCiGCV6I/AAAAAAAAAYU/3F_h6jeSc70/s400/Charlotte1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499781394903226274" border="0" /></a>How sweet is that? I think I like the second picture better :) Thanks for making my day, Charlotte!Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-21538157204427611392010-07-19T06:00:00.002-06:002010-07-19T06:00:10.230-06:00Why work on your blog alone when you can do it with 300 other women?Starting today, and for the next 31 days, I will be joining over 300 other fantastic blogging women as we take on ProBlogger's 31 Days To Build A Better Blog challenge, sponsored by the fabulous SITS Girls and powered by <a href="http://www.theblogfrog.com/Welcome.aspx">BlogFrog</a>. If you are just hearing about this challenge and want to know more, visit the <a href="http://bit.ly/9QQCBj">SITS Girls community discussion</a> here.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TEM1THWFCUI/AAAAAAAAAYE/Hdd3KHGqe2g/s1600/sits_problogger_banners_square.png"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 345px; height: 287px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TEM1THWFCUI/AAAAAAAAAYE/Hdd3KHGqe2g/s400/sits_problogger_banners_square.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495294572827576642" border="0" /></a><br />Darren Rowse, aka <a href="http://www.problogger.net/">ProBlogger</a>, was blogging (and making lots of money doing it) long before most of us even knew what blogging was. Not only did he turn his blog and its valuable content into a successful income empire, he has been teaching others how to do the same thing for years. I've been a fan of Darren's for a long time and am thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with him and the SITS Girls to sponsor this campaign.<br /><br />Today marks Day 1 of the challenge and the exercise is to write an <span style="font-weight: bold;">elevator pitch</span> for your blog. I have been blogging since 2007 and like many of you, my topics run the gamut. I blog about business, being in tech start-ups, being a woman in tech start-ups, funny/interesting/stupid things that happen in the social media space, and my teenage kids. Now that my kids have an opinion about being the topic of blog posts, I seem to write about them less and less. Which is ironic because observing teenagers in their natural habitat and watching them evolve could keep me fed with topics for years.<br /><br />This blog is my outlet, my personally-branded channel to inspire, educate, vent, ponder, provoke thought, and maybe make a few other women out there feel slightly less crazy and a bit more empowered. I do that by sharing what I have learned from 1) being in the tech space for 20 years 2) successes and failures along the way, 3) being a single parent for many of those years, and lastly, realizing just how powerful a force we are in the evolution of our own (and others) success. Success/health/peace/insert-desired-life-goal-here is there for the taking. Seriously. My desire is to help others realize this by sharing my own experiences and connecting those who are on the same journey who would love a little company along the way.<br /><br />What's YOUR elevator pitch? If you are part of the 31DBBB Challenge, or even if you aren't, come share your thoughts and read how the challenge is going for hundreds of other women in the <a href="http://www.thesitsgirls.com/community/">SITS Girls Community</a>!Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-47610056685281727282010-06-17T11:05:00.000-06:002010-06-17T11:18:07.501-06:00Where are the parents?!As I get to know more parents and watch my sons' friends grow into teens, I find myself gravitating towards some parents as friends and pulling away from others I have been close with for years. I must admit it is mainly over parenting styles. At first I was saddened by it, even confused, but the more situations I find myself in, the more clearly my own values are defined. While I try not to judge, its hard not to find it easier and more authentic to align with adults who have similar parenting styles. One example has been the topic of lots of recent conversations with my friends - the issue with parents not being present.<br /><br />Last summer, my son was invited to a birthday party for one of his new friends about two blocks away. Since I had not yet met the parents, I offered to walk him there so I could meet Mom or Dad and then I'd walk back home. When we got there, there were at least a dozen teenagers running around. They weren't tearing the house apart, but it was chaotic. I asked for a parent and the birthday boy said his parents were not home but would be back in about 45 minutes. We have a rule with our kids that they are not allowed to be at a friend's house unless there is a parent home. And they are not allowed to have friends over here when we are not home.<br /><br />I didn't want to embarrass my son by making him leave so I decided to go home and come back in about an hour. I walk back in an hour - still no parent in sight. So I asked for the mom's cell phone and called her. I was as sincere and polite as I could be. I let her know about our rule and asked when she'd be home. In about about 45 minutes. I already didn't like what was going on but I'd already waited an hour so I figured what was 45 minutes more. And I still didn't want to be the only parent to make their kid leave.<br /><br />An hour later and one airsoft gun wound later (my son was shot right above his eye at close range and still has a scar), I'd had enough and made my son come home. Where were the parents?! Who leaves a houseful of teenagers all alone for hours with no supervision? I am not a prude by any means but I was mad and puzzled. The biggest issue with teens (even in our neighborhood) at this age is their experimentation with alcohol, drugs, and the law. Kids are stealing alcohol from their parents, sneaking out at night and hanging out at a local park in the middle of the night, experimenting with pot, and seeing what they can get away with. Pushing boundaries is what they do at this age and we all did it, too. But I am stunned at the stories I hear from both kids and parents where crowds of kids are hanging out at someone's house with no parent around.<br /><br />I feel strongly this is the time to keep a close eye on my kids. Not for the purpose of hovering over them like police and censoring their every move, but to stay aware so I can guide them. Adolescence is a challenging time where kids are figuring how who they are and at a crossroads with just about every aspect of their lives. They are figuring out what their values are and how they feel about their bodies, their minds, and sorting out their feelings. While I want to give my kids opportunities to become more independent, now is not the time to let their friends and other parents be the biggest influence. I want to know who their friends are, what music they have on their iPods, who their friend's parents are, what movies they are watching, and what games they are playing on the computer.<br /><br />I used to struggle with thinking I was being controlling by wanting so much insight into their lives. But after watching kids I know choose challenging paths (all have a common thread of little parent control), I am even more convinced that staying involved and present is critical. My kids are not out of the woods yet (we have high school to tackle next) and I have no intention of backing down now.<br /><br />What are your thoughts? How do you give your kids opportunities to grow their independence and learn responsibility while staying involved? <a href="http://theblogfrog.com/651876/forum/34770/how-do-you-let-your-kids-learn-independence-while-staying-involved.html">Join the discussion in my community here</a>.Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-36434964605635317412010-06-15T09:00:00.008-06:002010-06-15T13:27:19.965-06:00Five Ways to Become HappierWhenever I am looking for inspiration, motivation, or want to expand my perspective to think bigger about a certain situation, there are a few sites I can count on to deliver. Whether I have only have five minutes or twenty, I can always find something enlightening at either <a href="http://bigthink.com/">BigThink</a> or <a href="http://www.ted.com/">TED</a>. These two sites share video presentations and talks (for free) by some of the world's most educated, accomplished and inspiring personalities. Scientists, authors, politicians, and researchers. Doctors, teachers, explorers and philanthropists. If you want a mental shift from your every-day thought routine, just poke around and see what catches your eye.<br /><br />I had just gotten home after watching one of my son's baseball games and was thinking how enjoyable it was to just sit and watch. What a change of pace for me to just sit and observe, relax, be a proud mama, and just soak it all in during a cool June evening. It made me happy. So I got to thinking about happiness and wondered if BigThink had anything on happiness. Of course they did.<br /><br />I found a presentation from Tal Ben-ShaHar (Psychology Lecturer at Harvard University) on <a href="http://bigthink.com/ideas/16660">Five Ways to Become Happier</a>. I've written about <a href="http://breadcrumz.blogspot.com/2010/02/my-own-happiness-project.html">My Own Happiness Project</a> before and the five simple (proven) suggestions Tal Ben Shahar offers were profound and yet so simple.<br /><script src="http://video.bigthink.com/player.js?embedCode=cyeDR3OpVdAQq066NCzLwiKA0A6d-Zfs&height=344&autoplay=0&width=516&deepLinkEmbedCode=cyeDR3OpVdAQq066NCzLwiKA0A6d-Zfs"></script><br /><br />Below are a few of my favorites (these are from his talk):<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">The number one predictor of well-being of happiness is time, quality time, we spend with our family, friends, people we care about and who care about us.</blockquote><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">Physical exercise contributes a great deal to happiness; in fact, there is research showing that regular exercise, three times a week of 30 to 40 minutes, is equivalent to some of our most powerful psychiatric drugs in dealing with depression or sadness or anxiety.</blockquote><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">...people who keep a gratitude journal, who each night before going to sleep write at least five things for which they are grateful, big things or little things, are happier, more optimistic, more successful, more likely to achieve their goals, physically healthier; it actually strengthens our immune system, and are more generous and benevolent toward others.</blockquote><br />In a world where we have a hundred people and things pulling on our time and attention at any given moment, it is so easy to spend our days in a constant state of personal "project management". Fretting about the past, juggling the present, and mitigating risks in the future. How ironic that one path to happiness is to simplify, get some exercise, be grateful, and spend time with those we love.<br /><br />I'm going to add my own suggestion to the list. Happiness is going to bed early :)Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-32472335070195898892010-06-14T17:25:00.000-06:002010-06-14T17:28:43.290-06:00Supersize Me: a trip to Costco<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGmEUnmZQI/AAAAAAAAAXU/Zf1EfIax6Ek/s1600/IMG_0820.JPG"></a>I must admit, I have a fascination with Costco. I grew up in a rural area in Maryland and the nearest grocery story was about 30 minutes away. We had a little general store a few miles away where you could get bread and fishing bait but we only stopped there if we really had to. It was such a small town, my mom could pick something up and pay for it another day. So to wander through a Costco and see the ginormous, economy sizes that products come in is super entertaining.<br /><br />We make a run to Costco every few months and I decided to take pics of the more amusing items on our last trip.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGjiLyAC2I/AAAAAAAAAVk/i2m6AQG8Sjg/s1600/IMG_0794.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 474px; height: 355px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGjiLyAC2I/AAAAAAAAAVk/i2m6AQG8Sjg/s400/IMG_0794.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481342029159992162" border="0" /></a>Who doesn't love an entire an isle of desserts as long as a football field?<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGjr4K2gtI/AAAAAAAAAVs/IMPkaKdcYDY/s1600/IMG_0796.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 474px; height: 354px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGjr4K2gtI/AAAAAAAAAVs/IMPkaKdcYDY/s400/IMG_0796.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481342195694207698" border="0" /></a>My favorite section - CHEESE (p.s. I follow @tillamook on Twitter)!<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGjyTd2_uI/AAAAAAAAAV0/sb3JNsv0ejg/s1600/IMG_0798.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 473px; height: 354px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGjyTd2_uI/AAAAAAAAAV0/sb3JNsv0ejg/s400/IMG_0798.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481342306100903650" border="0" /></a>That's a lot of BBQs<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGj7Qa4oAI/AAAAAAAAAV8/ry2mlmJwMLA/s1600/IMG_0801.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 471px; height: 352px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGj7Qa4oAI/AAAAAAAAAV8/ry2mlmJwMLA/s400/IMG_0801.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481342459901943810" border="0" /></a>I don't get why apples need their own individual nook. That's a bit overboard.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGkI2EOINI/AAAAAAAAAWM/Ud95jGDaDLY/s1600/IMG_0805.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 472px; height: 353px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGkI2EOINI/AAAAAAAAAWM/Ud95jGDaDLY/s400/IMG_0805.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481342693345730770" border="0" /></a>Can you see the size, 72 oz? That's 4.5 pounds of chocolate chips!<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGkSc10w2I/AAAAAAAAAWU/0JCKfFZxSHs/s1600/IMG_0806.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 473px; height: 352px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGkSc10w2I/AAAAAAAAAWU/0JCKfFZxSHs/s400/IMG_0806.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481342858373153634" border="0" /></a>You can't see the weight but this box makes 6 batches of brownies. Yes, we bought one :)<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGkYgmKJgI/AAAAAAAAAWc/M8G7eXnIhWg/s1600/IMG_0807.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 469px; height: 351px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGkYgmKJgI/AAAAAAAAAWc/M8G7eXnIhWg/s400/IMG_0807.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481342962460403202" border="0" /></a>I'm holding 220 servings of oatmeal here.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGlCQTKlQI/AAAAAAAAAXE/a8wVBPpRDIo/s1600/IMG_0819.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 467px; height: 350px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGlCQTKlQI/AAAAAAAAAXE/a8wVBPpRDIo/s400/IMG_0819.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481343679640278274" border="0" /></a>70 bags of sunflowers seeds. That's a lotta ballgames.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGk69mLhJI/AAAAAAAAAW8/HBzYFMww9uQ/s1600/IMG_0810.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 462px; height: 348px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGk69mLhJI/AAAAAAAAAW8/HBzYFMww9uQ/s400/IMG_0810.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481343554360673426" border="0" /></a>25 pounds of pinto beans.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGkwY5C2YI/AAAAAAAAAW0/eD-DAEICnwU/s1600/IMG_0814.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 459px; height: 344px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGkwY5C2YI/AAAAAAAAAW0/eD-DAEICnwU/s400/IMG_0814.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481343372708993410" border="0" /></a>Even the books are large! That is not a trick shot, that book is about 2.5 feet tall.<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBJJKF32v1I/AAAAAAAAAXc/HfESAHQJFRA/s1600/IMG_0811.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 451px; height: 338px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBJJKF32v1I/AAAAAAAAAXc/HfESAHQJFRA/s400/IMG_0811.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481524134187286354" border="0" /></a>Each case has 12 bottles so that's 60 hours of energy!<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGkpJEHDzI/AAAAAAAAAWs/Rk_z2WOwQAk/s1600/IMG_0812.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 456px; height: 341px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGkpJEHDzI/AAAAAAAAAWs/Rk_z2WOwQAk/s400/IMG_0812.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481343248201355058" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Um, 190 servings of fiber? I can't even begin to figure out how many apples that is. If you ate all that, you will need a lot of this:<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGkCj5xZxI/AAAAAAAAAWE/p6sSHEKotZ8/s1600/IMG_0804.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 454px; height: 340px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGkCj5xZxI/AAAAAAAAAWE/p6sSHEKotZ8/s400/IMG_0804.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481342585390851858" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">And of course, everything about Costco is super-sized, including the total:<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGmEUnmZQI/AAAAAAAAAXU/Zf1EfIax6Ek/s1600/IMG_0820.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 458px; height: 342px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGmEUnmZQI/AAAAAAAAAXU/Zf1EfIax6Ek/s400/IMG_0820.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481344814671095042" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBGj7Qa4oAI/AAAAAAAAAV8/ry2mlmJwMLA/s1600/IMG_0801.JPG"><br /></a>p.s. we didn't buy everything shown in the pictures, I just thought they were funny. It would take me years to eat 25 lbs of pinto beans and 220 servings of oatmeal. Unless you mixed it with the 4.5 pounds of chocolate chips and made cookies. Then maybe.Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-4716864690245839902010-06-12T21:38:00.007-06:002010-06-13T08:16:35.834-06:00The Earth. Its what's for dinner.I was sorting through some old photos on my computer and came across this picture my son created several years ago when we first got a Mac. I think he was about 10 years old.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBRTPR912aI/AAAAAAAAAXk/hYb_t23uE48/s1600/Noah+eating+moon.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 497px; height: 442px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBRTPR912aI/AAAAAAAAAXk/hYb_t23uE48/s400/Noah+eating+moon.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482098168402663842" border="0" /></a>He was playing with the backgrounds in iPhoto and creating all these really cool images. It reminded me how alive our imaginations are when we are kids. Nothing is impossible and everything is an experiment waiting to happen. How long can you microwave a marshmallow Peep before it explodes? What happens if you freeze Hot Wheels cars in a block of ice? If you drive faster than the speed of light, will people be able to see you? I love the questions kids ask when their worlds are ruled more by curiosity than logic. It makes me want to drop whatever I'm doing (usually some item from a long list of chores) and play in their world.<br /><br />Its way more fun to come from a place where the answers have not all been figured out and you can make it up as you go along. Imagination is where all possibility lives. Everything you see created by people started off as a thought in somebody's head. One of my favorite quotes is from Albert Einstein, who said "Imagination is more important than knowledge". So with a little help from iPhoto, I offer a kiss of gratitude to my favorite mad scientist for reminding us to spend a little more time in our imaginations.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBRYQ9jMESI/AAAAAAAAAX0/atgrZqXJI1k/s1600/Albertkiss.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 492px; height: 394px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TBRYQ9jMESI/AAAAAAAAAX0/atgrZqXJI1k/s400/Albertkiss.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482103694840041762" border="0" /></a>Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860294218500894212.post-26434545021744301812010-06-11T09:00:00.000-06:002010-06-11T09:11:28.281-06:00In the company of addicts: Serial Start-up EntrepreneursLast week, I was honored to sit on a panel for Colorado University's Studio Series at Boulder Digital Works. BDW brings together digital professionals and tech leaders to share what they know about business and entrepreneurship. The Studio Series meets the first three Wednesdays of every month during the summer.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TAes_L9_nRI/AAAAAAAAAVM/5kBgru_JKwE/s1600/BDW3.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 365px; height: 244px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TAes_L9_nRI/AAAAAAAAAVM/5kBgru_JKwE/s400/BDW3.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478537673264045330" border="0" /></a><br />The topic last week was <span style="font-weight: bold;">Serial Startup Entrepreneurs</span> and I was in good company with fellow panelists Tara Anderson, COO <a href="http://www.quickleft.com/">Quick Left</a>, and Tim Wolters, founder and CEO of <a href="http://roundpegg.com/">RoundPegg</a>. We spent an hour talking about what attracts us to starts-ups, why we keep at it even when things look dismal, and what keeps us going back for more. We shared stories of our biggest blunders, what we learned, and what characteristics serial entrepreneurs seem to share. Here are a few of the characteristics we all agreed were important:<br /><ol><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">One thing serial start-up entrepreneurs seem to share is a passion for creating something from nothing</span>. There is simply nothing like having a good idea one day and doing something about it the next. Just you, your partners, and the few crazy people you managed to talk into taking the plunge with you. No one says "its not my job" or puts off till tomorrow what they can jump on today. Everyone is in charge and all ideas get considered. </li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">You have to be willing to be wrong</span>. You won't survive in a start-up if you have an attachment to being the smartest person in the room or are afraid to be wrong. You will be wrong more often than you will be right. Accept it, embrace it, and let it work for you.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Have a mentor (or several)</span>. No matter how much experience you have, there are people who are better at certain things than you are. Seek them out, make friends and don't be shy about asking for advice. Ask if they'll meet with you on a regular basis and learn what you can from them.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Know what feeds your passion</span>. Being passionate about an idea is a big part of what will make you better at it than someone else. When you are passionate about something, you have more curiosity, more drive, and more fun. When its stops feeding your passion, its time to move on. I've heard so many stories about entrepreneurs who felt compelled to leave full-time positions to start companies because their minds were consumed with thoughts of a new venture.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Serial start-up entrepreneurs seem to better tolerate risk</span>. Many of us have mortgages to pay and families to feed and we are not independently wealthy (yet!). We know that only a few start-ups make it, that competition is fierce and funding is scarce. But we do it anyway because the game is just too good not to play. We don't mind driving junky cars and bringing our lunch to work because we are hedging our bets on a bigger game.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Most of us get bored easily</span>. Its not ADD, its just that we have high standards for how interesting life can be. When I moved from New Jersey to DC back in the early 90s, I knew no-one. I thought about what activity I could get involved with that would have me meet interesting people. So I decided to learn to fly. I met several of my closest friends and had some of the biggest adventures of my life. It also helped keep the rest of my life interesting.<br /></li></ol>Its hard to capture everything we talked about in that hour but we covered many aspects of start-ups including funding, hiring, role models, start-up vs corporate culture, and lots of other topics. You can read more of my posts on start-ups like <a href="http://breadcrumz.blogspot.com/2009/12/13-ways-running-start-up-is-like-having.html">13 ways running a start-up is like having a baby</a>, <a href="http://breadcrumz.blogspot.com/2009/08/what-happened-to-my-career-and-other.html">what happened to my career?</a>, and <a href="http://breadcrumz.blogspot.com/2009/06/what-i-love-about-start-ups.html">what I love about start-ups</a>.<br /><br />Here's me tweeting pics during the panel:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TAetCzLQZTI/AAAAAAAAAVU/UR2gs0DVsao/s1600/BDW1.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 194px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TAetCzLQZTI/AAAAAAAAAVU/UR2gs0DVsao/s400/BDW1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478537735328261426" border="0" /></a>The audience included CU students and those from the local community. Sean Baxter did a fabulous job of moderating and huge thanks to <a href="http://www.mediamum.net/">Jo White</a> for organizing it all as BDW's 60-week Program Director.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TAes6AusutI/AAAAAAAAAVE/cSvr0EoLi4o/s1600/BDW2.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 257px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGKaKUvFxno/TAes6AusutI/AAAAAAAAAVE/cSvr0EoLi4o/s400/BDW2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478537584347757266" border="0" /></a>You can find out more about Boulder Digital Work's Studio Series on their <a href="http://roundpegg.com/">Facebook page</a>.Hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223295531189696417noreply@blogger.com2