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.

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...

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.