Tag Archives: business

Business Me Totally Recommend

My Curated Collection on Cargoh.com

May 21, 2012 –

Are you shopping on Cargoh? Oh you should dear friends, you really, really should. Cargoh is a social marketplace for independent art, design + culture. An easy to use e-commerce solution for independent creatives to buy and sell the things they create. The site is interactive, highly curated but with loads of variety and beautifully designed. For handmade goodies created by insanely talented people, I just love this site!

Lucky for me I got to curate a collection and have a little interview with co-founder Cariann Burger (who might literally be the nicest gal ever.) Have a look them go and check out the other curated collections by loads of online notables who are waaaay cooler than me like Ampersand Design Studio, Hollye Jacobs, Rue Amandine, Natalie Holbrook and Erin Loechner, just to name a few.

Happy Shopping!

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Business Me Social Media

The 10 Commandments of Pinterest [infographic]

February 14, 2012 –

As I gear more and more clients towards an active Pinterest presence, I thought it would be fun to whip up a graphic for those of you getting started with this Pin-Phenomina; and also provide something to share for those of us who are starting to see both good and bad Pinterest trends come to pass.

Do you agree with my 10 Commandments? Did I leave anything out? Let’s discuss!

{and please join the fun and follow me!}

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Business Me Social Media

Pinterest and why retailers should be Pinning

February 2, 2012 –


I’ve been away from my blog for a bit, mainly because I’ve been super busy with clients but also, I must confess, I have been Pinning.  Are you on Pinterest yet? At first glance I looked around and almost had an anxiety attack, but then like most social media integrations, once I let it wash over me and fell into the rhythm of pinning and being pinned I quickly realized how this is such a goldmine both for the user and for just about anyone with an online presence.

As an experiment, I used Pinterest to plan my daughter’s 1st Birthday Party. I created a Board where I dumped Etsy finds, recipes and inspirational ideas for my “Glittery Winter Wonderland” theme.  It was such a help to see all the imagry in one place, and I loved that others started repinning my lovely Etsy finds…giving these hard-working and super creative designers another platform to showcase their wares.  I loved the way Evie’s party turned out, and from there I officially became a Pinning Junkie.

So why should you join Pinterest and waste even MORE of your time on yet ANOTHER social media platform? I consider Pinterest, like Twitter, to actually be a daily enhancement. If used wisely (i.e. not obsessively) you will find a great way to categorize your daily web chaos into specific, totally visual Boards.  Trying to decide on what color to paint your dining room (my next project!). Make a Board with color and room inspirations! Looking for easy weeknight recipes? Pin your fave blog posts and emails to a board for quick reference in a pinch.  Want to keep gift ideas from multiple sites in one place? Create a Gifts Board and boom. You’ll have all those great finds in one spot.

And therein lies the benefit for retailers.  We are a searching generation, and if your stuff in out there in a place where people are actively seeking new gems they can buy, it stands to reason you will benefit with conversions.  In addition, Pinterest has a nifty Gifts category where anything with a price added into the description is segmented in incremental dollar amounts. That means not only do your followers see your newest wares, but with the price added, so does EVERYONE else. And by everyone, were talking about an estimated 7.5 MILLION users and counting.  In addition, Pinterest is highly searchable in Google – giving your SEO more sticking power with loads on inbound links.

There’s so much more to discuss here, nuances and etiquette being two points that warrant their own posts.  But in the meantime, I’ve officially added Pinterest management to my Consulting services, however – PLEASE NOTE: Just as I stress to all my clients with regards to EVERY social media endeavor, a “commercial” Pinterest account MUST remain authentic and transparent.  Too much “buy this buy this buy this now” will not gain you any new followers.  This is another opportunity to showcase your brands personality, and therefore must be considered an integral and highly visible part of your digital identity. I can help with this.  Either to get your mind around the concept and train you to manage it yourself, or show you how I can elegantly manage it for you to take some weight off your shoulders.

I’ll leave you with my three most urgent words of Pinterest advice, and a fab infographic from Mashable:

1) Don’t blow off Pinterest right now. With brands like West Elm, HGTV, Anthropologie and Kate Spade already pinning up a storm, you do not want to be left behind.

2) Don’t let Pinterest take over your life. Find balance and work it into your daily marketing routine.

3) Never forget to stay true to your brand.

oh – and be sure to follow me! :)

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Baby Business Food Naturally Good Social Media Tee Links

Tee Links_business_health_baby 06.01.11

June 1, 2011 –


Here are some business stories, health stories, insights and inspirations I’ve been reading the past couple weeks…

  • Ashton Kutcher launches his own Twitter client (article @ designtaxi)
  • This couple named their new baby “Like”. Yep, like, after the Facebook Like button (article @ Mashable)
  • Quick tips for improving your website, taken from 6 innovative small businesses (article @ OpenForum)
  • Make sure you’re choosing the right page for your business on Facebook; this author is friends with her movie theater! (posted @ Modland USA)
  • A little less anime and torture porn (hopefully), a little more Miramax coming soon on Netflix (article @ Mashable)
  • Create more, consume less (from The Art of Manliness)
  • Tests Reveal The Mislabeling of Fish (New York Times)
  • Is BPA-Free MORE Dangerous? (Babble.com, New York Times and NPR)
  • Flame-Retardants in polyurethane foam found in baby products are possible carcinogens (New York Times)
  • Prison Food vs. School Cafeteria Food Infographic (via GOOD)
  • What Makes A Great Infographic (via Eloqua)
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Business Tee Links

Tee Links_business: 05.13.11

May 13, 2011 –


Here’s some business stories and insights I’ve been reading this week:

  • This bookstore’s chalkboard outside reads: “We have one book, but we are not Scientologists.” It sells only one book. Genius or ridiculous? (article @ Inc.com)
  • “How To Connect Your Brand To The Right Influencers” (article @ Mashable.com)
  • Facebook hires PR firm to smear Google  (article @ The Daily Beast)
  • This is a really cool infographic charting the “ask boldness” of Twitter users vs. Facebook users (@ Mashable.com)
  • “Retailers Invest In Social Networks Despite Limited ROI” (article @ RetailTouchPoints.com)
  • “Facebook Like Aggregator Likester Tracks What’s Hot On Facebook” (article @ TechCrunch.com)
  • Business owners post their tips on achieving strong second quarter sales (via AskInc.com)
  • Still really bummed about Tiffany & Co. ripping off one of my favorite designers
  • WONDERING: How many .com businesses ending in “-ster” do you think we have left btw?? ;)
  • WONDERING: Per Facebook’s smear campaign – Does this affect at all how we feel about Facebook? Does our total dependency – especially when growing or promoting a business – negate their bad deeds?
  • WONDERING: How are you liking Firefox 4.0.1?

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Yuri_Arcurs

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Business Food

The most gorgeous commercial about yogurt you’ll ever see

May 10, 2011 –

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while now.  I devour Fage yogurt daily, and have done so for a few years. But now I devour it in a fantastical, gorgeous, dream-like state with the most amazing image of a cow floating in my mind.

This is advertising at it’s finest. (And have you noticed the uptick in greek yogurt commercials out there? After years of searching and seeking out Fage or other greek yogurts in specialty stores, the shelves of even my Safeway are filled with nearly 10 different varieties. You gotta give it to Americans – once we latch onto something, we go full throttle!) Fage Yogurt in my opinion is sort of the stalwart leader in this category, and they’ve proven it with some seriously intense & creative, design-driven advertising.

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Business Design

Tiffany & Co launches new “Twist” line concerningly similar to Kiel Mead’s “Forget Me Knot” series

May 5, 2011 –


Knot Cool: At left, designer Kiel Mead’s “Forget Me Knot” pieces and at right, those from the new “Tiffany Twist” collection from Tiffany & Co. (Photos: UnBeige and ©Tiffany & Co.)

I just read a very disheartening post on UnBeige about one of my favorite jewelry designers, Kiel Mead who’s incredibly well known “Forget Me Knot” line has pretty much been ripped off by Tiffany & Co.

For many years I sold and promoted Kiel’s work. The Forget Me Knot ring was a constant best seller on Delight.com no matter what time of year.  The sentimentality of his simple design is hard to resist even for the coldest of cynics, and we enjoyed the many stories that came with the purchase of his ring…engagements, best friends, mothers & daughters, long distance relationships.  The rest of Kiel’s work is much broader and more daring in scope.  He is a true industrial designer with true vision and originality, and I have continually applauded his growth and success in a very difficult marketplace (jewelry) during a very difficult economic time.

To see such a blatant copyright infringement from an enterprise who can surely afford to creatively devise their own ‘next best thing’ is downright disappointing.  Now I fully realize that Tiffany’s designs get ripped off left and right and that isn’t ok either.  But to see an independent designer’s mainstay just get pulled out from under him with no recognition (or compensation) whatsoever shows an undesirable code of ethics for Tiffany & Co.  (From the article: “‘A few major companies have come extremely close to an exact copy of my ring, he says. “After contacting them and informing them of my jewelry, they have all stopped.” Mead would not comment on the “Tiffany Twist” collection on the record for fear of legal reprisal.)

I will be following this with a hopeful heart that Tiffany & Co will do the right thing.

(Kiel Mead Forget Me Knot Ring photo below courtesy Miller Photographics/Delight.com)

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Business Chairs Design

Wonka.2011 = The Sugar Chair

April 19, 2011 –

If Willie Wonka was born in Amsterdam, worked throughout Europe as a designer, then woke up one day and declared himself a visionary master (wait – he sort of did that last part), his new name would be Pieter Brenner, and his product: The Sugar Chair.

Brenner has already announced that this chair is an “iconic masterpiece,” so what more do I have to say?

From what I can gather by reading Wonka’s Brenner’s self-given interview, he spent most of his life clueless and hazy until one day he “woke up” after he “had myself a night before” and everything became clear – make products out of sugar.

Apparently this hungover epiphany is going to change the world as we know it, so really, I’m just here to share with you the good news.

Me, I just like the bright colors and I do appreciate using unique mediums to create mundane objects. I can’t say I’m going to run out and become a Pieter Brenner collector (I guess that makes me part of the “petit bourgeois” that he hates) but I’m pretty sure the chair – which I can only imagine costs as much as a small Dutch village – would be licked into oblivion by my two dogs and child. Something Wonka would be into (because he’s more zen about the whole thing…make candy for the sake of making candy), even if the Oompa Loompas didn’t approve.

So let’s think about this…

So from a business standpoint, is this marketing strategy something to be taken seriously, or laugh at? I’m torn. Declaring your own self-importance is something few of us do these days, but perhaps that’s because humility really is a character trait to uphold? In the art world, all bets are off, and in the era of Shephard Fairey, Bansky and the late Tobias Wong it seems like spectical is key. But something about this presentation rubs me the wrong way. I guess its the lack of subversiveness that Fairey, Bansky and Wong enjoy…the PR stunts seem to be random acts, even if they’re totally planned out. No one can deny Fairey’s ego, but didn’t that emerge after he became a cult icon of sub-culture? And then there’s just the blatant rip-off of Willie Wonka. Sorry, but the similarities are too many to ignore…a concerning detail and proof that our creativity and world vision is being evermore influenced by the wide-reaching influence of all things Hollywood. Blech.

Is there something to be learned here for new brands/my clients trying to make a name for themselves? I guess we can only wait and see if Brenner truly becomes the icon he thinks he is. I have no doubt his work will show up in the Whitney or MOCA at some point, if only to demonstrate how you can create your own digital celebrity with a basic website, Facebook page, and a knowledge of the good design blogs (I discovered The Sugar Chair over on NOTCOT.org afterall).

Is Brenner original? Hardly. His language wreaks of Warhol, and his presentation could have been created by a hipster ad agency in Brooklyn. But is he doing something – if not overtly aggressively – right, that the rest of us can learn from? I think his confidence in himself is admirable, and he seems genuinely excited to give the world his new vision. I guess I see the merit in his passion. A key factor needed in any business venture; but channeling it and executing it are where the true icons really do emerge.

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Business Design

Williams British Handmade

April 9, 2011 –


Now THIS is what I’m talking about.  Kimberly (buyer extraordinaire from our Delight.com days) just sent me a link to Williams British Handmade and my heart literally skipped a beat.

These are people who get it. THIS is what crafstmanship is all about, and what we’re missing in our mass-produced, bottom-dollar, quantity over quality society right now.

They open with this quote, and it says everything: “Historically exceptional crafstmanship was the norm, now it is the exception.”

Let’s just take a moment to appreciate their work…


I’m tagging this post in “business”, because there is a standard and an unapologetic pursuit of quality here which I think can be applied to any company. Let these guys inspire you to go beyond the norm in your own pursuits.

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Business Me

Welcome Delightfuls!!

April 6, 2011 –

Hi y’all!

I take it you received our update newsletter, and you clicked on through to check out my blog.  This is a work in progress, and there are big design changes in store very soon.  Please excuse pages with missing information and photos…all will be completed soon in colorful, bright shininess.

So glad you’re here though.  If you want to find out a bit more about why and where I’m headed, please read my New Beginnings post which sort of sums it all up.

Thanks for stopping by!
-Tracey

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