Posts Tagged ‘business ideas’

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Fear. The feeling inside you of no control, absolute terror, deep anxiety, complete and utter confusion of what you should do.

Ever want to feel fear? Like you have no idea what is going on or when things will turn around? Start a company and wait. You’ll feel it.

It’s the feeling of being a solo business owner.

Starting my business was terrifying. It wasn’t just signing papers and saying “I am a business owner”…it was knowing that every day from now until I retire, I will have to work my butt off to make business happen, and that being successful would not come easy. It would take hours, very long hours, working to figure out how to get clients, keep current clients happy and keep my life in focus. I knew this going in, but that didn’t make it easier. I have ever fiber in my body dedicated to making my business awesome, but that doesn’t make it happen.

Some days are awesome…in fact some weeks and months are awesome too. And then there are those days I am praying to anything and anyone for them to end and for the next to be better. I am at the mercy of the public – and their vacations, budgets and realities. I don’t know if the phone will ring, emails will come in, clients will hire me. I can’t force someone to have the budget to hire me, and I can’t combat all excuses. I can’t fix every problem, and there are some clients that just won’t fit with me. No matter what I do, I can’t (and won’t) be everything to everyone at every budget. Which means that I will never have every client. Sometimes the fear lasts a couple days, sometimes it’s longer.

Luckily, I know I am not alone. I have many friends and contacts who own their own companies, and have had many talks about fear. We all get it. Never in the same way, but we all get it. Some get it when they are too busy, others when they aren’t busy enough. We get it on projects that scare us,  and clients that torture us. We get it just because it is Monday and the start of a new week. Or we get it on Friday because the week didn’t end right. The fear is in every solo business owner just waiting for the moment to pop out and yell surprise…to scare you so badly that you wonder if you made the right decision. You contemplate getting a “real job” again, no matter how much you love what you do and loathed working for other people. You can’t help it – you’re terrified. You dream about the security of a steady paycheck, a 401K and the clients just waiting for you. You even think sitting in commuter traffic wouldn’t be so bad. You would get to listen to musci, right? You think that the decision you made to abandon security and go on your own was crazy, and you don’t even know what made you do it. You may even look at job postings in your industry and think…maybe? Fear makes people do, think and say crazy things.

But, instead of giving into the fear, we must tackle it. Rise above it. Show it who’s boss and kick it’s sorry little butt. To do that takes a lot of strength, a lot of courage, and a lot of knowing that you can.You have to be able to know that even if your week/month is bad, that it will get better. Or, a tough client is just pushing you to learn something (even if it is just how to swear under your breath while smiling). Side note, I feel a bit like Stuart Smalley at the moment…”I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me”… Anyway, the point is that while fear can be debilitating and downright torturous, what would be even worse would be to give into the fear and let it take us over.

So what do we do? We stand up and shout “Fear can kiss my butt”.

Then, we start working harder, and more effectively and soon, the fear has gone away and we are back in the spot where we love to be – loving our businesses. We remember why we started it, why we enjoy it and that even if the days are long and times get tough, it is still our business. We are our own boss, don’t have to sit in commuter traffic, can pick our own clients and can work in our p.j’s. Being a solo business owner is never going to be easy, and we all know that. So as long as we remember why we started it in the first place, the fear can’t stick around for long.

When is the last time you felt fear? Share your stories of how you’ve dealt with this demon…

Oh, and thanks to @antony511 for the awesome headline! BTW readers, I’ll think you’re even awesomer than you already are if you can name to what the headline is in reference.

I absolutely hate taking photos all night and then coming home, having to either put the SD card into my computer, or I have to plug it in and upload them. Yes, it’s silly, and it doesn’t take much time, but it is time that I really don’t want to spend right after an awesome event. The problem is, if I don’t do it right away, I forget and then it’s weeks before I actually do it! Or worse, I will never get them printed and they will sit on the card forever. Cameras are awesome – but their main fault is the fact that you have to do something after you take the photos – which can waste a lot of time.

So, last week I got the new Sanyo Dual Camera* and an 8GB Eye-Fi SD card*. The camera is awesome, takes both photos and videos and sits in the palm of my hand. It is actually smaller than my DroidX, and only a little thicker. But what was even more awesome than the camera was the Eye-Fi card. When I got it, I didn’t really understand it – it says it has a wireless photo and video uploader built in. Not being hugely tech savvy about cameras, I had no idea what that meant. So, of course, I read the back. and basically it means that once you’ve set ut up to a computer, facebook, flickr, whatever, you can take pictures, come home, and it will automatically send the pictures to the chosen destination. It also said you could set up 32 wifi locations – so  you could use your camera in those places and it would send from there directly to your home computer or your online sharing? Yeah right. I was seriously doubtful – not because I didn’t think the technology was there but because it would make life way to easy. And companies rarely ever do that. So I decided to test it out and was shocked at (again) the simplicity. It was plug-install-and go. And so was taking the pictures. Snapped a couple of the dog outside, and came home…opened the camera, and it did the work. All uploaded into my folder, no buttons, nothing.

It just worked. And was simple. And removed all the headache.

There are tons of other products that have problems like this – they may be great to use, but there is some area where they fall apart. With DVD’s, it’s the packaging. Really, that huge packaging for such a small disk? Why not use CD packaging – it holds the same size disk, yet takes up so much less space. People could buy more of them and not need as much room. With computers, it is the set up time. Yes, you can hire someone to set everything up for you, but that has a high price tag and time away from the computer. It would be great if there was a way to order your computer with just the programs that you want, pre-installed. Like the app market on a phone, you would select the programs you want prior to the purchase. It would take away a ton of set up time and headaches. Or what about laundry? There are so few companies that have started making washer/dryers in one it is shocking – it just makes sense to me. Less space taken up, less issues with machines. Why do in two what you can in one? Email is also difficult – you go through them in the order received, and have to judge importance quickly or you will waste time. But if you mis-judge, you could miss an important email. What if there were a program that searched all incoming email for specific phrases and keywords and then organized based on your settings? This would allow you to know what was the most important before you started reading them!

The list could go one and on of products that waste time, energy or space and could be seriously streamlined. Which was why this product impressed me so much – and why I wrote a promotion-esque post.

What tools do you see that could be streamlined to be more effective? What about your daily activities?

*Full Disclosure* I was given the Sanyo camera and an Eye-Fi card for tweeting/managing Sanyo’s Twitter and Facebook page. For those who missed my tweets on Thursday and Friday, I am working with Social Rewards and Sanyo Dual Camera on Sanyo’s release of a new dual camera line – and a rewards program that is giving away cameras, a trip to the Palazzo Las Vegas and Eye-Fi video cards.

BUT!! (and this is a big one) They are not compensating me for this post – in fact, I wasn’t even asked to write it. I wrote this on my own accord, because I was so impressed with the Eye-Fi card and the built-in wireless uploading capabilities and how businesses could learn from this. As you have read in the past, I am not a huge fan of promotional posts – in fact, I often despise them. So, if you buy the eye-fi, awesome. If not, no big deal. I am not an affiliate and make no money should you choose to buy it (or the camera). But I was honestly so blown away by the coolness of the abilities of this eye-fi card – and how what they are doing can relate to other industries – that I felt it really necessary to talk about it.

Seriously, stop whatever you are doing this instant, and read these 5 blog posts. They will change you. They certainly had an impact on me.

This Ain’t That – Steve Woodruff

The Field Guide to Social Media Weasels – Ike Pigott

Dog – Allie Brosh

Two Wolves – Kneale Mann

201 Ways to Arouse Your Creativity – Katie Tallo

Last night, I was craving CPK…but had zero desire to go out to dinner. So I jumped online and ordered food for my husband to pick up at their (awesome) curbside delivery. But then I remembered…if I don’t go in for dinner, I can’t get the foursquare benefits, and CPK does a good job with theirs. For example, if you check in anywhere near a CPK, you get a “special nearby” for a free appetizer when you spend $20. And I would have loved a free appetizer! But, if you are picking up food to-go, you don’t want to wait for the appetizer. And there is no way to “check-in” through the web so that you can order it… Which I think is unbelievably silly because there are a huge number of people who shop online – and not just for food. So I did what any normal person would do and tweeted about it – and @Admore responded with an idea I liked, and wanted to expand upon.

(read from the bottom up)

So here’s how I think it should work…

Step 1. You login to foursquare from your computer, type in the retailers name that you want to shop online with, or you can search by categories.

Step 2. Follow them on Foursquare, then click on their web link within their profile – this will have a tracking code that determines what you are doing.

Step 3. Each retailer can determine the level of participation required on the site for the checkin points, however I suggest that the visitor should have to buy something if you are checking in online. This would stop the issues of tons of people checking in online, because they have to buy something to make it count.

Step 4: Stores could offer the same types of specials through the web that they can online. Or, another way to do it would be to have “web mayors” in addition to actual “mayors”, so there is one for the brick and mortar facility, and there is one for the website.

I just know how little I like going to real stores, but how much I shop online – and I think that we are such a web driven world that it needs to be recognized. This makes foursquare more accessible too for people who live far from their favorite stores, or don’t have the ability to go out as much as they would like. This opens up foursquare to a larger demographic – and as long as the checkins online have strict rules so that you can’t abuse it, I think this could be a really successful new part!

So Foursquare…what do you think?

Readers…how can we improve on this idea?

If you’re this guy, you definitely do:

Scary thing? There are more people than I can count that are  just like this guy. They are taking the business plunge with zero idea about how to actually do what they are offering. Need an example? Just browse through twitter to see the thousands of “social media gurus”…without quality followers, no conversations, and no experience to back them up.

Starting a business is not liking buying a new shirt, you can’t just return it if you decide you don’t want it. You must take the time to determine the risks, rewards and what it will take before starting your business.

So, how do you do this?

Develop a solid business plan! Quite simply, a business plan tells you (and whomever you share it with) what your business will do, what the goals will be and what measures you will use for success. It includes everything from how you will find clients to how you will manage payroll (should you need employees). A business plan is traditionally designed to be used to help you gain investors or financing. These business plans need to be detailed, drawn out and cover all the basis. But, even if you don’t need capital to get you started, you should still put together a business plan for yourself.Having a solid business plan will also help save you from sending emails begging random people for money.

Before you write your plan, ask yourself a few questions:

1. What are your top skills that you can offer?
2. Which of these skills is actually worth turning into a business?
3. Who would use your services/buy your product?
4. How will you get in touch with these people?
5. How many services/products do you need to sell to be profitable?
6. Do you need money to get yourself started?
7. How are you going to promote yourself?
8. How can others promote/refer you?
9. Where will your business be next year/5 years/ 10 years?
10. What is your goal with this business (0ther than making money)?

Want some more help? I recommend the Business Plan archives through Entrepreneur.com. The documents were extremely helpful when I was starting this company.

Do you have a business plan or tools you can share?

Recently, I have attended a bunch of great networking events, and in the next few months, I plan on attending a lot more. I know that making a good first impression is important, so I always make sure to be on point, and act properly. Overtime, I have learned a lot, both from watching what others do and my own experience with people. With that experience, I have put together a great list of networking advice. Here are the 10 steps you should always follow to make sure everything goes just right:

1. Tell anyone and everyone who will listen your personal life details. They really want to know everything about you.
2. If you have to give a presentation, don’t practice. People expect you mess up, and forget what you were saying.
3. Leave your phone on loud, then answer it as soon as it rings, no matter who you’re talking to already. Don’t worry, they’ll wait.
4. Drink as much as you want, and eat as many appetizers as you can. It may be awhile before you get more free food and discounted drinks!
5. When other people are telling you about them is the perfect time to think about what you will say next. You’ve got to be prepared.
6. Start every conversation with how amazing your product/service is and why this person you just met needs it. Because you know best, and need to tell them.
7. Don’t email or call people when you tell them you will follow up. They should contact you if they are interested.
8. Wearing whatever you want is perfectly acceptable. There is no reason to follow common dress code courtesy. After all, sweats can be ‘business casual’, right?
9. Talk about your business at every break in the conversation, and sometimes, interrupt to remind them about it. You don’t want people to forget what you do.
10. If there is someone there who you don’t really get along with, make sure everyone in the room knows about it so that they can help you avoid them.

If you follow these steps, there is no way you can fail at your next networking event!

Of course, if you take any of them seriously, you get what you deserve

A few weeks ago, we covered strategy questions. Those questions were created to help you determine more about your business in general. But, your business is not just work, phone calls and clients. Your business is you, your good things, your bad things, your personal life and your business life. Learning more about who you are and who you are in your business will help you to figure out how to make it grow more effectively. After all, you are the most important piece of your business puzzle! IN order to get you to open up and learn more about yourself, I am giving you 20 questions to answer. The questions span from personal to business, as you need to understand both sides of you. I would love for you to share the answers you come up with, as many as you feel comfortable sharing.

1. Where do I want to be in 6 months in my personal life?
2. Where do I want to be in 6 months in my business life?
3. What does my ideal day look like?
4. What is my biggest strength?
5. What is my biggest weakness?
6. What part of me do I love the most?
7. What do I dislike about myself?
8. Which tasks to I perform the best?
9. Which tasks should I be delegating?
10. How do I act at networking events?
11. What would my friends say about me?
12. What would my enemies say about me?
13. Does my business make me happy?
14. What is my favorite thing to do outside of business?
15. What is my favorite thing to do in my business?
16. Do i feel supported by my family?
17. Where do I want to be in 10 years in my personal life?
18. Where do I want to be in 10 years in my business life?
19. What do I need to learn about me?
20. What can I change today to make tomorrow better?

Now onto my answers (it’s only fair if I ask you to answer them, that I need to too!):

1. Where do I want to be in 6 months in my personal life? Still happily married, working on 4 days a week, finally getting all my school and debt paid off.
2. Where do I want to be in 6 months in my business life? Hiring an assistant and building my business to the next level.
3. What does my ideal day look like? Sleeping in, breakfast with my hubby, an hour and a half massage, a relaxing afternoon and then dinner at Mastro’s with my hubby.
4. What is my biggest strength? My desire to succeed in my business.
5. What is my biggest weakness? Being afraid to fail so I don’t take a lot of risks.
6. What part of me do I love the most? My personality – I’m strong, and stubborn but also very loving and caring.
7. What do I dislike about myself? My need to please people.
8. Which tasks to I perform the best? Writing, when I have the freedom to write about what I want.
9. Which tasks should I be delegating? Coding and new client phone calls.
10. How do I act at networking events? The same way I act everywhere. What you see is what you get.
11. What would my friends say about me? That I am dedicated and caring, sarcastic, stubborn, very outgoing and a lot of fun.
12. What would my enemies say about me? That I am stubborn, pretentious and a little too sarcastic.
13. Does my business make me happy? Absolutely!! I love it!
14. What is my favorite thing to do outside of business? Spend time with my hubby, family and friends.
15. What is my favorite thing to do in my business? Talk with other business owners and write!
16. Do I feel supported by my family? Yes, they are all awesome and all very willing to help.
17. Where do I want to be in 10 years in my personal life? A mom of two, enjoying time with my hubby, helping with sports and school.
18. Where do I want to be in 10 years in my business life? Still running my business part time, but having my staff mostly manage it for me, just doing the pieces I love.
19. What do I need to learn about me? Where my limit is. I often overwork myself and regret it later.
20. What can I change today to make tomorrow better? Learning to compartmentalize a bit more so I can spend more time with my hubby without work getting in the way.

Are you ready to share?

I do not know everything. In fact, there are a lot of things I don’t know. And when I want to learn…I read other brilliant business men and women’s blogs.

So if you’re like me and you want to learn more today about  your blog, your brand, or your business, read these 5 blogs posts before you do anything else today!

• From Jon Buscall – 5 reasons your business blog is failing
• From FreshID – How people power brand identities
• From IncSlingers – When to build your business out and when to build up
• From Steve Woodruff – Getting a GRIP on ROI
• From Kneale Mann – Do you know why?

Oh, and then leave a comment on at least one of them, because they deserve it!

What do you do?

When someone asks that question to most people, the response is simple: they do what they are paid to do…their J-O-B. But, for a small group of people, what they do and what they get paid to do are two very different things. A growing trend has formed, people who have a day job that pays their bills, and a secondary job, one that they are passionate about but doesn’t make them much (or any) money.

The following 3 women all have real jobs, they all work very hard in their companies but all have a passion for something else. They want to do something bigger than just work in an office…

In order to learn more about them, and what they do vs what they are paid for, I interviewed each one. Below are their answers, straight from them, about what they do, why they do it and what they hope for in the future…

Kristin Ausk, Meringue Bakeshop

1. When did you first realize that you loved to bake? I was going through some really stressful times 5 years ago. I’d just gotten married, moved to a new city away from all my friends and family, changed jobs, bought a house, became a landlord, and I was becoming overwhelmed by it all. I found that baking gave me an opportunity to forget my stresses and just be in the moment while I was mixing and testing and tasting recipes. It helped relieve some of my stress and I felt really relaxed and comfortable in the kitchen. And the best part was being able to share my creations with others. I loved the way it made me feel to make someone happy even for just a moment.
2. When did you decide to turn it into a business? I decided to turn it into a business when I started getting asked by coworkers, friends and family if I could bake them cupcakes and cakes for their personal events. I started to get more serious about my baking – recipe testing, learning more about the chemistry of the ingredients, started to look at what I was doing from a business perspective. I also really enjoyed knowing that my little creations were helping to make someones day even more special.
3. What has been the biggest frustration with your business? The biggest frustration hands down has to be finding a county approved commercial kitchen to use that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. Los Angeles has a great program called Chef’s Kitchens were small businesses can rent out kitchens based on their needs -hourly, weekly or monthly. I found that there is nothing like that in Orange County. It’s a shame too because I get so many emails from other people like me in Orange County wanting to move their home kitchen hobby into an official business. Candy, cake pops, cakes, homemade jams, salsas, snack mixes. All this opportunity for new small food businesses in Orange County (and nationally really if you consider online food sales) and we can’t find a space to make our businesses grow.
4. What is the biggest accomplishment? Hmm…. can I say it hasn’t happened yet? I recently decided to participate in the LA Cupcake Challenge, Feb 20 at the Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood. It’s a daunting task but I think it will be really fun and a great opportunity for me and my business. I will be competing against some other great cupcake bakeries and other smaller custom cupcakeries from Orange County and LA County. They are expecting to get over 550 attendees with media from OC Register, Orange Coast Magazine, OC Weekly, LA Weekly, LA Times, Metromix, LA.com, Eater LA, Foodbuzz, Flavorpill, Gayot, about two dozen food bloggers and possibly KTLA. I think it is going to be a real challenge for me to pull this off but well worth it in the end. Definitely using some of my vacation days for this one! If I can pull this off, that will definitely be my biggest accomplishment to date.
5. What do you do IRL, and when can you imagine doing this more full time? My day job consists of me sitting at a computer in an office working on SEO, SEM, our company websites (4), doing research, and email marketing for my company and our franchises. I am a Marketing Manager. In a perfect world, I’d be able to run Meringue Bake Shop full-time within the next year but in reality, that isn’t going to happen. My current job is just too lucrative for me to give up at this time, in this economy. I’d love to be able to work par- time so that I could participate in local farmers markets but again, not going to happen. Do I think I would succeed as a store front? Yes, definitely. But I don’t have the financial backing that I would need to make that dream into a reality right now.
6. What else can you tell us about Meringue Bakeshop? I know that there is a lot of buzz out there about cupcakes and how it’s just a fade. And quite a few people open up shops just because, it’s the latest trend. I am not that person. I truly love baking, whether it’s cupcakes, cookies, cakes, muffins, bars, biscotti, pies, etc. I like working with my hands, the sound of the mixer, the smell of the ingredients. I strive to make Meringue Bake Shop that place you come to for all the great moments in your life – your graduation, your wedding, get that great client in your business, birthdays, your baby shower, then baby’s first birthday. That is what I love about baking the most – sharing these moments with you. When I open a store front, I want to be that neighborhood business, a business that is involved in the community and knows their customers. I know someday it will happen. That is why I chose to name by business Bake Shop, which I know can be confusing for some people because I don’t have a store front. But I am a forward thinker see?

B the Gossip Girl

1. Why did you decide to start the site? I hadn’t been able to find a site that supported community amongst women, while still embracing the feminine. I wanted a site where women could go to detox and let their hair down a little bit. That’s what Gossip Girl B offers, a place where no topic is off limits. Gossip Girl B provide an environment where women can have fun, laugh, while supporting each other. So often I think women forget we are on the same team, we are always competing with one another. Gossip Girl B provides the best girl talk you will find online, you can compare it to having drinks or coffee with your best gal pals.
2. What has been the most powerful article you have written? I have a section called on my mind and it’s my own personal soap box. I try not to stand on it too often, but it does happen from time to time. Hula Dancer Pilgrim Girl was an article that really got me to thinking. The woman I wrote the article about inspired me in a way that no one had in a long time. She made me stop an evaluate how serious we take our lives and how much fun we are really missing out on.
3. What about email you have received? E-mails can get pretty interesting. My favorites are the ones where I get asked out on dates. I get about 20 of those a week from people across the country. It’s sweet and I always reply with a very gracious, thanks but no thanks. I would say the “love letter” type e-mails have picked up since I started writing The Dating Diaries and everyone knows I’m back in the land of the singles. I do love to travel so who knows, maybe if I happen to be in the area of one of my “love letter” e-mails I will taken them up on their offer for dinner. Love in the blogosphere, now wouldn’t that make for a good article.
4. What do you do IRL, and when can you imagine doing this more full time? In real life, I’m a writer. It’s a little more cut and dry, press release and web content, stuff like that. It pays for my shoe fetish, but doesn’t really light that fire in my belly. I also just finished a novel that I’m wrapping up with edits. Fingers crossed I will be able to find and agent who believes in it as much as I do. Gossip Girl B however is where my heart is. It started out as a hobby and has grown into a passion. If my projections work out within the next year and a half the blog will be a more full time gig.
5. What else can you tell us about B the Gossip Girl? I’m simply a 25 year old woman with a dream and I want to get there in fabulous shoes. I drag my laptop and camera with me everywhere I go, but most of my writing is done from the comfort of my sofa with my long haired Chihuahua, Edward, on my lap. Everything to me is a potential blog or storyline, so it makes life even more interesting. Everyone in my life knows the disclaimer, if you are around me there is a very real chance you are going to get blogged about. I am who I am and I never make apologies for that, and that’s the exact philosophy I want my readers to have. I live my life, I make mistakes, and I keep learning every single day. If at the end of the day while I’m lying in bed I can say I learned something or I’m a better person, then the days events no matter how hard were worth it.

Trish Forant, eMailourMiliatary

1. Why did you decide to start eMailOurMilitary? I was working a mundane job in IT and 9/11 made me take a hard look at myself and ask “what difference am I making in the world?” “What legacy would I leave behind if I died today?” “Who have I REALLY helped?” I wanted to do something to help after 9/11 but like many people I had to work full-time so flying to NY and volunteering wasn’t an option. When I heard the DoD canceled the “Any Service Member” mail program due to force protection concerns, I knew I could step in and fill the void. It was perfect for anyone who wanted to more but couldn’t spend hours volunteering.
2. What has been the most powerful thing you have seen happen because of the site? The building of a community that doesn’t take party affiliation, race, religion, nationality or logistics into account. I’ve seen our community band together to help wounded warriors, veterans in need, and active duty military far from home.
3. What has been the toughest thing about this site/passion? Disconnecting can be really tough. My heart breaks each time I see the statistics on how many of our service members aren’t making it home or are coming home physically and mentally wounded for life.
4. What do you do IRL, and can you imagine making a profit from eMailOurMilitary? I don’t know what the future holds financially for eMail Our Military but I haven’t taken a paycheck in 9 years so I’m sure I would start now. When I’m not in the eMOM office I’m working my social media mojo as a social media consultant and of course, I’m a full-time mom to a 4 and 5 year old. (I also have one totally cool 20 year old too!)
5. What else can you tell us about eMailOurMilitary? eMail Our Military makes it easy for anyone who wants to support the troops to do so from the comfort of their computer chair. We’re always looking for service members who are in need of support and civilians to support them.

I want to say a big thank you to these women for their time and answers! After talking with each of them and learning more about what they do, I learned something very important – if you love something enough, a paycheck doesn’t matter as much…

Do you do something for the pure passion? Share your story in the comments as well!

Over the next 25 posts, ending on my birthday, I will be covering an incredibly creative moment or idea from a year of my life AND one creative moment in either the marketing, advertising, technology or media world.

1994…The year that I found my new genre of books to love and “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle” was created.

As I’m sure you saw from my post about creating books in 1990, I fell in love with reading and writing at a very young age. In 1994, I found mystery novels. I started with Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, and as the years progressed worked my way up through Diane Mott Davidson’s collections (Chef who solves crimes, how cool!), and Mary Higgins Clark The problem? My overactive imagination often meant that I didn’t sleep very well after…Luckily, that never deterred my love for reading and I still enjoy mystery (with a splash of romance).

Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle…better known as Yahoo! was started by David Filo and Jerry Yang, Ph.D. candidates in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. It was originally meant to keep track of their like interests on the Internet. But, they decided to make it available for friends and family. As word began to spread, the users stemmed outside of their contacts and grew rapidly. They experienced their first million-hit day in the fall of 1994, and knew they were on to something. 2 years, 8 investors, 49 employees and a $2 million dollar investment later, Yahoo! officially took the Internet world by storm. This just goes to show you, brilliant ideas do not always start as something phenomenal. All it takes is one idea and the drive to make it happen…