Banner
Home > BE Blog
 
BE Communications
BE Blog
About
Contact Me
FAQ
Search
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter
Yelp
Digg
Too Cute Tuesday: Pom Poms
Posted by: nouellette on Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Tagged in: Untagged 

Too Cute Tuesday involves fun friends, a cheap craft, and a cool cocktail. To get involved, check us out on Facebook or contact Nicole

So there's this fun hat party I might be going to at the end of the month and I thought that a pom-pom might be just the way to do it without having to buy a new hat. Enter Too Cute Tuesday for my excuse to make it. And since I have a feeling I'm starting a cold, a cocktail with orange juice might be a good idea for me. Let's craft! 

Materials
Cardboard
Scissors
Two round things (one large and one small) or a compass (click here if you have no idea what I'm talking about
Yarn

Cocktail of the Night
The Gilbert: 
2 shot of vodka, 1 shot of club soda, and orange juice. Add lime if desired. 

Dorrie's pom-pom came out well because 1) she used thick yarn and 2) she has much more natural crafting talent than I do. 

1. Head to Craft Central with yarn and a vision. Get directions from a kid's website to ensure they will be super easy to follow. Pour cocktail and find some cardboard, though not necessarily in that order.

Read more
Marketing Monday: Can-Am International Dog Sled Race
Posted by: nouellette on Monday, March 08, 2010
Tagged in: Untagged 
Every Monday, the Breaking Even blog looks at a individual, business, or website promoting itself in interesting ways online. Have an idea? Do tell!
 
Most years, I try to make it to my hometown of Fort Kent Maine for the annual Can-Am International Dog Sled Race. It's been happening for seventeen years and the total purse is up to $40,000.
 
Usually taking place the first weekend of March, Main Street is covered with snow and racers tackling the 30 mile, 60 mile, or 250 races all start off with cheering crowds around them. The 250 mile race qualifies races for the Iditarod, and a few say this race is even tougher than that. 

The event is well organized and well staffed with volunteers, and I think thanks at least in part to social media, this year's crowd was among the largest ever.

The YouTube video clip from a documentary film flew around YouTube.
A few filmmakers made a Can-Am film last year and put the preview clip on Youtube as pretty much the only thing on this user's Youtube channel. As the event approached, I noticed several of my Facebook friends posted it. It was so well done, I posted it. 

As one of the commenters wrote, "My third year as a Can Am vet is about to happen, and I thank you for the video reminder of why I do it!" It's no doubt that a well told story will get more people interested in a cause, and it's no doubt this film will draw new spectators for years to come. (If you want, you can buy the video off the Can-Am website... well, sort of anyway.)



The race website is very up-to-date with content.
My friend Sarah's father is one of the people who maintains the Can-Am website. While the design is very basic, throughout the weekend it was updated multiple times an hour with times, places, and other information about all three races. There is even a map where each individual musher's location was tracked through time. (To see the dots on the map, click this link and then the 'Track!' button. You can click on different dots to see a headshot of the racer and track their individual progress in relation to other mushers.)
Read more
This Week In Business: The Educational Edition
Posted by: nouellette on Thursday, March 04, 2010
Tagged in: Untagged 
This week was busy at Breaking Even Communications but since I was waiting on a few different stages of some ongoing projects, I found myself with a little time for some professional development then usual. That's right, I schooled myself!

Here's what happened:

I attended a webinar, and actually paid attention.
Most of the time, I am quite the slacker webinar attendee. I am usually filing papers or making lunch while I listen to a presentation. When I listened to a webinar sponsored by Verizon and given by John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing. I made myself get out my notebook and actively listen for the next 45 minutes.

You know, paying attention really does help you get more out of things! Being a good student paid off in some new ideas for improving my product. Partnerships with complementary organizations and video testimonials anyone?

Wish you had sat in on the fun? All of the Verizon sponsored webinars are achived here. And it looks like there are a few good ones for me to go back and listen to later. 

I got a couple iBooks from a school sale for a song.
Those of you who live outside the state of Maine may not be familiar with the fact that Maine has a laptop program, which gives students 6th grade and older access to their own laptop. Beginning in grade 7 or 8, students can take it home after signing a sort of "I will be responsible and so will my parent/guardian" agreement. Every few years, the schools replace the machines, which are all Apple iBooks. To make a bit of cash (but probably more accurately, save themselves from disposal fees), the schools sell them off on the cheap, in my local case $25 a pop. 
Read more
Too Cute Tuesday: Lava Cakes
Posted by: nouellette on Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Tagged in: Untagged 
Too Cute Tuesday involves fun friends, a cheap craft, and a cool cocktail. To get involved, check us out on Facebook or contact Nicole.

Something about this rainy gross weather in Maine has made me pretty ravenous. Good thing was this was the week for lava cakes at Too Cute Tuesday.

My friend Kate had sent me a link to what I thought were lava cakes until yesterday when I realized they were whiskey cupcakes. This is what happens when I don't read carefully. Sorry Kate, we'll definitely make them another time but I had been advertising lava cakes on the Too Cute Tuesday Facebook page for two weeks, so I sort of had to do them! Good news is I was able to cover my gaff by finding a recipe for lava cakes on Foodista. 

Dorrie took our little fun cakes out of the oven... and we were surprised that it actually worked! 

The effort was coordinated over email today. Everyone was so contributory. "I have a port that was made for chocolate!" Jen said. "How about Frangelico for the cocktail?" Sue added. How about those being great fillings for our lava cakes in addition to being good things to drink?! 

Materials
3-4 oz chocolate chips
3/4 of a stick of butter (for chocolate), rest of butter for ramekin greasing
4 eggs, 2 whole eggs and 2 yolks
2/3 c. flour
1.5 c. confectioners sugar
pinch of salt
ramekins
various liquors (for filling)
bowl and whisk (or mixer if lazy) 
bain-marie to melt chocolate and butter (or microwave if lazy)

Are these for our craft-related cocktail or for the fillings of our cakes? How about both!

Cocktail of the Night: Frangelico and milk, served on ice.

1. Gather in kitchen. Preheat oven to 450 and chat about the day for a few minutes. Let's bake!

Read more
Marketing Monday: Foodista
Posted by: nouellette on Monday, March 01, 2010
Tagged in: Untagged 

Every Monday, the Breaking Even blog looks at a individual, business, or website promoting itself in interesting ways online. Have an idea? Do tell!

When I first began my blog in 2007, it was a hard choice between whether I would be talking about money or food. I decided that talking about money would force me to learn more about it but I still love food, follow several food blogs, and overall am interested in food-related issues.

My friend Sarah tipped my off to Foodista, a website startup from a few former Amazon.com employees. It was seeking to be an open source food encyclopedia, not just of ingredients but of recipes. Being the good friend that I am, I followed Foodista's progress throughout Sarah's internship there but continue to keep in touch now. (Sarah had to return eastward to finish her MBA.) 

Foodista has done a few things well that I've noticed: 

Foodista has a specific enough focus that it isn't doing too much but a broad enough concept for it to grow.
As a website, you don't want to pigeonhole yourself but you do want to give potential visitors an idea what they'll find in relation to content on your site. Foodista tackles the expected ingredients and recipes but also discusses techniques of food preparation and cooking tools, which is less commonly found information. Having the focus of food (and food in the title of their domain name), however, gives potential web visitors an idea of what this site will be about. (If you aren't sure what I'm talking about, click here for an example of a much less clear website.)  

Foodista allows users to submit content... without logging in.
As a web person constantly exploring new things, having to register for every website is a pain. Sure, it gives the website publisher/owner my contact information but for many people, having to register to do something simple like look around or even comment can be a deterent.

 That's my fiddlehead picture. Foodista makes me famous, even though I chose to remain anonymous in this case.


Foodista allowed me to upload my two fiddlehead pictures last spring with absolutely no issue. It also effortlessly connects to accounts you may have on other sites, like Flickr or Facebook. If I use the site a lot, I will no doubt create an account but for now, I feel the pride of being slightly famous in my own head, in relation to cookable ferns anyway.
Read more
I Am Addicted To Wasting My Own Time
Posted by: nouellette on Friday, February 26, 2010
Tagged in: Untagged 

Every Friday, I write about whatever the heck I want... because it's fun.

I pretend to hate video games... but I really don't. I just stay away because I have no self control. Anyone who doubts this should watch me in the same room as a bag of Cap Cod kettle cooked salt and vinegar chips...

Yum.

Oh right, yes, computer games. I may have never got past level three in Super Mario Brothers when I was a kid (or even now) but I did have some games that I was good enough at to actually enjoy. 

I started off with Tetris on the Gameboy. That thing got passed around in our family so much, I am surprised it didn't melt the year we got it. 

Briefly in college, there was Snood. I had to uninstall it off my computer, the only time I've even had to uninstall anything.

I even went through a Spider Solitaire phase that was so intense, I would dream I was playing it all night. I had reached a point in my life where I had enough self control to just not let myself even open the program for a year. And I've gone the last few years being a pretty productive internet user...

You think I'm self disciplined, huh? You haven't seen me and Bejeweled together yet!

Read more
This Week In Business: One Person Edition
Posted by: nouellette on Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Tagged in: Untagged 

Sometimes, all it takes is one person to make a difference. This week, I salute that one person, and the many forms they came in:

My friend Matt and I had one person sign up for our workshop...and hopefully more to come.
We took the plunge and Matt and I went forward with our presentation idea. We reserved the room. We advertised the presentation to our networks. We bought the projector and screen (nothing like the thrill and terror of spending $850 in 5 minutes). I began to panic this week when no one was signing up. Did we charge too much? Was it too early to hope for more enthusiasm? Did we schedule this workshop the wrong time of year?

And just when I was second guessing the whole thing, someone signed up. And paid. Insert sigh of relief here.

Here's hoping for a few more participants. For more information or to sign up yourself, click here.

I'll be presenting to the Deer Isle-Stonington Chamber of Commerce, and as part of the Schoodic Arts Festival this summer.
Based on my Ellsworth Chamber presentation, I booked two more speaking gigs for the coming months. 

Read more
Too Cute Tuesday: Morsbags
Posted by: nouellette on Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Tagged in: Untagged 

Too Cute Tuesday involves fun friends, a cheap craft, and a cool cocktail. To get involved, check us out on Facebook or contact Nicole.

Who doesn't love it when crafting is part of a larger movement? When Meg (friend and craft enthusiast on Vinalhaven) alerted Too Cute Tuesday of the Morsbag movement ('socialable guerilla bagging'), we wanted to join in. 

Morsbag seeks to empower people to create their own bags in an effort to cut down on use of plastic shopping bags. You make them and give them to people (and yourself if you want).

Materials:
Fabric (18" by 4" sections, 18" by 20" sections- 2 of each)
Sewing machine
Iron and ironing board
Thread
Pencil
Tape measure
Straight edge

Click here for the pattern! (a one page, relatively easy to follow .pdf you can print off or pass on) 

Cocktail of the Night: Seadog Wild Blueberry Wheat Ale (Sorry folks, getting my sewing machine down from the top of my closet was challenge enough for the evening)

1. Gather supplies. Observe that this may take the longest time of anything you are going to do this evening. Print off pdf of instructions. (Sorry environmental folks, easier to pass around the table that way! I'll write on the back of the paper though, promise.)

Read more
Marketing Monday: Hulu
Posted by: nouellette on Monday, February 22, 2010
Tagged in: Untagged 

Marketing Monday profiles a cool person, website, or business doing more online. Got an idea? Contact me so I can write about it. 

People always ask me: How do you get by without cable? I say that my Google Reader keeps me in touch with what's going on in the blogosphere/pop culture and I listen to NPR for my news. Both of these are true, that's part of the reason I can go without a cable bill. I do, however, get my television zoning out pleasure courtesy of Hulu.

There is two main ways for media companies to make money online: 1) charge users a fee to access the site or 2) get advertisers to foot the bill and offer the users free access. Hulu has opted for the latter, and may or may not be making enough money to support themselves. Regardless of whether Hulu is turning a profit at the moment though, they are doing interesting things online. 

Hulu is having customers chose their viewing experience... and getting customer data in the process.
Several times recently, I was given options for commercials. Did I want to watch a 1 minute 30 second long commercial about Nuvaring before the show began or did I want several shorter commercial breaks? Did I want to watch the stylish, tech, or speed-oriented commercial for Google Chrome? (Part of me also wonders also if there is some ad targeting going on based on my age, sex, and other demographics.)

Read more
Fun Friday: Chef Dan
Posted by: nouellette on Friday, February 19, 2010
Tagged in: Untagged 

Let me just say right off that I am far from being some kind of smooth lady on the relationship front. But I've recently did something where I accidentally encouraged my new boyfriend to do something nice for me, and then it kept happening.

Dan likes to cook. The second meal he made me, I decided to take out my digital camera and record him on video.

The next day, I watched it. What surprised me was that the video was actually good. I asked if I could post it on Facebook, thinking his friends would get a kick out of it. Almost immediately, he got phone calls, emails, and comments, mostly asking when the next video was coming out.

Next video?

Read more
«StartPrev12345678910NextEnd»

Categories
Latest Comments
Kate:  Floof is a pretty awesome word. Plus you've used i...

Kate:  It's probably a good thing you couldn't use that r...

Nicole:  Thanks for the idea, Meg. We need new ones all the...

Meg:  hooray! the bags are lovely! I actually need to si...

Kim:  Westward, I build western civilizations, blow stuf...

Personal Finance Blogroll
Being Frugal
Brown Eyed Girl And Money
Cheap Healthy Good
Debt Free Revolution
Free From Broke
Get Rich Slowly
Girls Just Wanna Have Funds
Give Me Back My Five Bucks
Master Your Card
Mrs. Micah
My Small Cents
Northern Cheapskate
Sense To Save
Spending Less 101
Almost Frugal
The Baglady
Marketplace
The Simple Dollar
My Dollar Plan
Money Under 30
Money Crush
Maine Blogroll
Learning In Maine
Monster Rebellion
The Fiver
The Laundry Is Never Finished
What Mimi Read