Have you Hired an INTERN for Your Business? September 28, 2010

A couple of goals for my company for 2010 were; I wanted to make a video and add plus size to my size chart. I also thought I would hire an intern for the summer when we were scheduled to work on these 2 goals. My thoughts were that a design or business major or recent college graduate might get something out of being an intern to a start up successful small business.

I spoke with other business people I knew and got a mixed bag of reactions. Some had great experiences and some did not. I heard from several sources to be sure to check the applicant’s Facebook pages, references and be very thorough in the interview process with your and the candidate’s expectations.

I called a couple of colleges and made my requests and told everyone I knew that I was looking for in an intern. I got several responses and did my homework on pre-screening and set my interview questions. I set up interview times and called and emailed the candidates that passed the pre-screening.

Two did not show. One never got back to me and the other gave an excuse. One came 20 minutes late, another chewed gum and told me she was not willing to work many hours and needed extreme flexibility. I did not hire an intern. I was discouraged and now wonder about other business owners and their experiences with an intern?

A big non-profit organization I volunteer with always has a few summer interns. I asked one of the interns about her experience and got exactly the ideal. She loved the experience, learned more than she expected and was able to clarify her career goals from her experience. With her enthusiasm in the back of my mind, I may try again next summer for a summer intern. Who has advise?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0_F-hxr5o8

I Directed My First Video September 21, 2010

A goal I set for my business for 2010 was to make a video. We did it and I was the director, and I have to say it was great fun! “Lights, Camera, Action”, what a blast!

I used a friend I used before for a photo shoot last year, because she is a doll and of course gorgeous. When I had her in an old huge night shirt, she rolled up the sleeves to try to cute it up a bit. She just couldn’t help herself. I hired a local company that was a dream to work with, and did a great job.

I have watched the director’s commentary on Movies before so I made my own director’s input. On the nightstand I have 2 books that my company is mentioned. It is a blink to see them but they are there. When our star talent is working on the computer, she is clicking the image of herself from last year’s photo shoot. The roses on the last scene are from my garden and indicate that life is coming up roses after a good night sleep. Can you say “Rosebud”?

I wanted the video to be funny, short and to the point. I think we achieved it. Give it a view and let me know.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4pJ2BQFCvI,

September 11, 2010

[IMG][IMG] Newsletter September 10, 2010
Dear TeamSeesmic Friends,

We’re very happy to share some exciting news for you!

Introducing Seesmic Desktop 2

After much hard work, Seesmic Desktop 2 (SD2) is finally ready to emerge
out of beta. The inspiration to build SD2 came from the understanding that
our users desired support of many different social services, more than
just Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. And so, SD2 was born. With the plugin
architecture in SD2, you can easily add, remove and customize the platform
to include only the services that matter to you.

Here’s a quick video explaining the awesomeness that is SD2…
Seesmic Desktop Teaser

At launch, SD2 will contain all of the core services you’ve come to love
like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Foursquare, Google Buzz, Ping.fm, Bit.ly
and TwitPic, by default.

Alongside that, is the SD2 plugin marketplace. The marketplace boasts over
40 plugins at launch, with dozens more to join in the upcoming weeks. As
you begin browsing the marketplace, you’ll notice services like Ping.fm,
Zappos, Salesforce, Topsy, Klout, Socialcast, MySpace, OneRiot, SocialWok,
YouTube, Google Reader, Techmeme, Ning and many more

Opening your Heart, your Eyes and your Ears, is Volunteering September 8, 2010

I am an ‘Ambassador’ for the Susan G Komen for the Cure organization for Oregon and SW Washington. I represent Komen and talk about breast health and the charity at women health fairs, women related charity events, corporate health fairs, etc. Often after I do one of these events, I feel I get so much more than I give. I get the volunteer rush and glow!

Corporate health fairs are rising. It makes perfect sense to have healthy employees if the company is picking up the cost of their health insurance. Charities like Komen are volunteer and have trained speakers to talk about the disease, prevention, treatment, and knowledge. I prefer to do a health fair rather than a power point presentation or a lunch and learn because it is more a one on one conversation.

Much of the conversation is the attendee sharing his or her story about how breast cancer touched their lives. Sooner or later, I am welling up with tears listening to their stories. At the most recent health fair I attended, a woman told me her story. Her family fled their homeland during the Vietnam War and went to France, Belgium and the United States. A family of four children, parents and grandparents were separated and scattered. Financially it was difficult to reconnect. Years later when this woman became a Mother and her children wanted to do a family tree she discovered breast cancer had killed her Mother and sister, and possibly her Grand Mother. She is a survivor. She is an advocate for her children. Her philosophy is death is a part of life and we must enjoy life while we are able. I was truly moved by her courage. Meeting and listening to this remarkable woman was just one of the honors I share with being a volunteer.

www.komen.org

September 2, 2010

[IMG][IMG] Newsletter September 1, 2010
Dear TeamSeesmic Friends,

We’re very excited on our latest projects that we have in store for you. Here’s some of
the recent news to share:

Building Your Brand Video Series:
One of our goals at Seesmic is to help people build their brands online. I’m very excited
to have recently released a project to help anyone that wants to successfully build their
brand online. After participating in so many conferences, keynotes & events – and talking
with many friends, brand managers & consumer brands, I wanted to offer a structured
series of high quality videos of all the notes, conversations and answers to so many
great questions that I’ve collected over the years. And I want to share with you
everything I’ve learned.

There will be 30 videos focusing on Building Your Brand, and I’m looking to publish one
video every single day. We’ve been very fortunate to have our videos featured on YouTube!

Loic Video YouTube

The first video is an introduction to building your brand:
Build Your Own Brand

The second video is about setting up your accounts, how and what accounts to use and a
review of the accounts:
Set Up Your Accounts

The third video released today is about unlearning what you’ve learned:
Unlearning what you learned

We will release one every day as of today on my YouTube channel loic.tv and on my itunes
podcast. The updates will also be available on the Seesmic Blog. We hope you enjoy the
content and please feel free to give us feedback and suggestions- if you like them, we
will continue the series.

Launch of Seesmic Desktop 2
We’re looking forward to releasing our new Seesmic Desktop out of beta next week. Seesmic
Desktop 2 marks the next generation of our popular Windows and Mac desktop applications.
Taking a step past single service integrations like Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin, the
release of Seesmic Desktop 2 unwraps the first ever open social platform based on
Microsoft Silverlight.

With Seesmic Desktop 2, not only can users manage their core social networks from a
standalone desktop application, but they can also browse and enable a marketplace of
service add-ons. At launch, the Seesmic Desktop 2 marketplace will boast over 40 plugins,
ranging from in stream add-ons like Bing maps to a full-service integrations like Flickr

My AHA Moment September 1, 2010

Mutual of Omaha has a series of commercials called “Aha Moments”.  You may have seen these 30-60 second spots on TV shows sponsored by the company. They are usually heartwarming and inspirational.

The campaign was so successful that they continued it with new AHA moment stories from people across the country. You can imagine my surprise and pleasure when I was asked to record my AHA story moment!

The recording was done in an Airstream hauled around the country by 4 people over 3 months. It was a very fun experience.

Please take a look and I welcome your comments. The most views get a better chance for their AHA moment to be aired on national TV. What a hoot!

http://www.ahamoment.com/pg/moments/view/17112