Let it out- Food for thought

January 29th, 2007 • 3 comments Marketing/ Advertising

I love arriving early at movie-theaters. What’s a movie without previews and some good big-screen commercials? I saw this ad at the Regal Cinema’s last night and I had to share it.

Definitely one of the best commericals I’ve seen. With most ads, I know I’m just being sold to. I love Kleenex for doing this.

Being my Boss- Renee Wood

January 25th, 2007 • To be filed

This 10th installment of Being My Boss is special. Most businesses want their customers to keep coming back – but Renee Wood, founder and owner of The Comfort Company, wishes otherwise.

The comfort company, a one of its kind company that specilizes in sympathy gifts for the grieving. And within four years, it’s sales have grown to a half million dollars.

Read on to learn more her story and the her struggle to strike a balance between her right brain and left brain.

You were on the Oprah show?

Yes. I started by business after reading an article in the preimier issue of O magazine. The article was called, "Make your dreams come true." It was about being able to start a business and having it be about your dreams. That’s where I started thinking that I could do something that really fulfills me. I wrote a letter to thank them after I started my business and they had me on the show for the 5th anniversary of the magazine.

So is that where you got your idea?

No, the article really just propelled me into officializing my business. I started my business about 4 years back. Infact, we just celebrated our 4th anniversary in Nov. I could have never imagined being a business owner. My background is in social work. I worked as a medical social worker in a neo-natal unit. I worked in a patient load where there was a high mortality rate. I was through my job, always in touch with grief and loss issues. I thank God- I haven’t experienced the loss of a loved one yet….But I watched my patients go through it…When you see something like that, you wish there was something more that you could do.

I think the seed for my business was planted then. It’s really a chain of events that led me into starting my own business. During that time, my sister-in-law lost her father unexpectedly and I looked for a sympathy gift for her and didn’t find anything. So I end up designing a pendant for her. I designed it, made it in wax first and then got it made in silver. It was a long process, but she really appreciated it. After that, friends and family around me started asking for the pendant and I end up making 150 of them! They all sold and it got picked up by a catalog. Everything just fell into place.

But the real breaking point was 9/11. My husband was a pilto for United American airlines and we were not sure what was going to hapen to his career. He lost his job and at that moment, I understood that I was going to start a job. I had just had my third child and I didn’t want to go back to corporate America. I loved being a social worker, but I wanted to be able to put my kids first. So that’s when I decided that I was going to start my own business.

What did you do next?

First it was a hobby and then it became a necessity. It was very difficult in the begining. I didn’t have a business background, my husband didnt’ know anything about running a business… We didn’t have money to invest… I knew I needed a website but I didn’t have the money to pay someone to do it for me. I had to learn it myself. I didn’t even have an email address before I stared ! It was a huge learning curve for me. I would put the kids in bed and then sit on the computer. I’d log into various forums and ask around until my questions were answered. Some strangers I met on those forums were awesome -they helped me so much.

How did you market such a business? It is a unique idea but no one wants to be marketed to about sympathy gifts.

I did have my items in some local stores and I had goten some press in our local newspapers. That’s how I began getting my first orders. I didn’t spend a dime on marketing. My business spread via word of mouth. The first time I got an order from Texas, I thought– I don’t know anyone in Texas, how is this possible? Because it was only local people who knew about me! But then I started getting orders from Arizona and other pars of the country. It was great.

I didn’t know anything about Search Engine Optimization but I think there were so few people doing what I do that when I typed in sympathy gifts in Google, my site is number one. But once I learnt that, I sat down again and figured out SEO.

About 2 years into the business, I thought I played around with Pay Per Click. But I just didn’t have time to stay on top of the campaign. I was getting enough business already so I quit Pay per Click after 4 weeks.

How exactly does this business work? Does it not get emotionally demanding?

I try to go to as many trade shows and merchant marts around my area (Chicago) I try to meet artists who will do custom work for me. We did some research and when it comes to loss, people want two things from people 1) Acknowledgement of their loss 2) Not to mimimize it.

So the more specific gift I have for their loss, the better I am able to serve my customers. And yes, this busienss is very emotionally demanding. When I worked at the hospital, it was a 9 to 5 job. When I was done, I came home and I had a life separate from my job. But now, my business, my life, my job is all one thing. It can get very challenging to keep them separate.

It is difficult.. having 4 kids and then readin some of the stories that come in or having to help a customer what kind of engraving or letter they want for a lost child or a loved one. You can’t help but take that home with you, It’s just there all the time. I step back a little from it on weekends, but I’m always keeping my eye on the email, checking in for new orders, answering questions…

Finally last year, we had to seperate the business from the household. We found an office space and a store room. And things have been MUCH better. I also just hired a woman to work with me part-time.

What was the most difficult challenge or task you had to overcome in your business?

It took me a VERY long time to gain confidence in myself. Enough confidence to make business decisions. I remember one of the first things I did for a product that I had recently introduced — it was a tear drop bottle. In 19th century, over the loss of a loved one women collected their tears in bottles. I re-introduced them and I added a beautiful foil-stamped card with it. It cost me $800 to print those cards and I remember being extremely upset about that expense. I just wasn’t able to think of it as a business investment, instead it felt like I just wasted a ton of money.

One of the biggest mistakes I made with myself to grow when the business naturally was growing. That was not a good decision. When the business started to grow, I should have taken it outside the house, gotten a office.. I kept smothering the fire. My concerns that I wasn’t going to make good decisions ….it came down to not having built up this steady stream of successes that would make me feel comfortable. Social work and business are very different– two completely different sides of the brain.

What would you advice budding entrepreneurs?

Just one piece of advice — Fake it till you make it. I didn’t have a steady stream of successes behind me and so I didn’t feel confident about my business or myself until much later. I wished I could’ve known to fake it– but I’ve learnt now that if you act like you are successful, you will become successful. Do what you need to do for your business — invest in yourself, your business… let it grow organically. I was risk averse and may have missed out some opportunities. Do what it takes.

And what’s the best thing about being your own boss?

That I can work my day around my family’s needs. Hours can be greulling, but they are what I want them to be.

Visual DNA networking

January 24th, 2007 • 3 comments Social Media

Imagini, has to be the next coolest thing after Flickr. Based wholly on the premise of ‘ A picture paints a thousand words," Imagini uses brilliant images and photographs to decode personalities.

For example, in the screenshot above, one of the first questions you will be asked is, ART IS and instead of four to five choices that usually read like 1) monalisa 2) pantheon 3)something i don’t understand, etc Imagini gives you a selection of 15 different images. You pick an image that resonates most with you. A dozen such questions later, you are presented with a cool book called your Visual DNA. Check out this book below!

But the smart folks at Imagini are not limiting the use of this technology to decodifying personalities. They provide this tool to measure behaviors of web-users. By tracking their motivational and aspirational responses, Imagini claims to better decode the web-shopper to potential clients like Mircosoft, Vodafone and Nectar.

In the last one hour alone, I’ve forwarded this link to about six friends and family. It’s such a novel idea! I’d definitely be more likely to fill out a visually enticing survey opposed to those dodgy ‘multiple choices’ and ‘on a scale of 1 to 10, rate this..‘ Although I can’t be too sure about the quality and authenticity of the results of such a survey. I’m sure the Imagini folks are hard at work on it.

Another super cool feature Imagini offers is it’s Gift-Finder. Based on a similar pattern, you answer about a dozen questions visually (either about yourself or your friend, depending who you are buying a gift for) Once you are done answering, it decodes your personality and offers you a page full of gift choices!

It’s such a remarkable technology that I wonder how no one thought of this before.

I’m not sure what else is on their agenda, but whatever is next, I can gaurantee it won’t be disapppointing. (to say the least) Oh and btw, Imagini is not a Silicon Valley wunderkid, for a change, this groundbreaking idea comes from across the shore…London

PS- The results you see on the screen-shots are not mine.

The Pentagram Papers

January 23rd, 2007 • Culture Briefings

Designers are the smartest people, I think. Even smarter than MBA grads. Their approach to problem-solving is more intuitive and experiential. And I love that.

Which brings me to my latest discovery. (Thanks to VSL) Pentagram, the iconographic design-firm that has lended it’s genious to numerous campaigns and brand identities (some you may be familiar with, some you may not), has just released a previously in-house, treasure trove of design-papers aptly titled, "The Pentagram Papers."

Published since 1975, The Pentagram Papers are a  collection of whimiscal and inspiring images that highlight a certain point of view in design. For example, check out this collection of Tin Tabernacles and other buildings for inspiration:

Ecosphere in my hands

January 19th, 2007 • To be filed

I’m not exactly sure whether I love this piece of just find it ironic but it’s worth sharing with you.

Ecosphere, is a self-regulating ecosystem in a closed glass sphere. Each sphere contains red shrimp, algea and other microbes, with gorgonia sprigs and shells to simulate underwater life. The sphere needs no cleaning, no feeding – not even changing the water. A few hours in the sunlight is all this eco-system needs to thrive. Sold at Brookstone for $65 – $250, this technology was developed by NASA Scientists.

Empowering or Mortifying?

The debate for cultured diamonds

January 17th, 2007 • 7 comments Culture Briefings

Recently an article in Wall Street journal caught my eye. Titled Gem Warfare (subscription only), the article discusses lab-produced diamonds and the De Beer’s struggle to exert control over the growing industry.

My community (Gujarati) is reknowned in India for belonging to the diamond trade. Several extended family members have been in this trade for decades, losing their eyesight over years to understand the intricacies of the stone.

I first heard about Gemesis, the first company to make real quality gems in a lab, in 2004 when I was helping a friend in the diamond industry set up his new e-commerce site. Infact, Wired magazine was quicker to pick up this story back in 2003 when companies like Gemesis were still in their nascent stages. Now, I do not claim to be an expert on the industry but I suppose being a woman, I have a perspective on diamonds. (Blame De Beers for making me an unofficial expert on diamonds)

The more recent WSJ article picks up on several other companies that have since mastered the art and technique of producing real quality diamonds in a lab. Apollo Diamonds uses thin diamond wafers or a diamond ’seed’ to grow real-quality diamonds using a process called Chemical Vapor Deposition. Gemesis on the other hand, created diamonds by simulating the high pressure+ high temperature environment needed for natural diamonds- in a lab.

The crux of the article and the newly shaping industry revolves around it’s battle with De Beers to rid the consumers of the notion that these lab-produced diamonds are not real.  De Beers has polarized it’s efforts and is lobbying the lawmakers to avoid these companies from using the word, ‘cultured.’ It is De Beers’ opinion that lab-produced diamonds are synthetic and not real.  (I’m not sure, so are test-tube babies not real babies? Cultured pearls not real pearls?)

De Beers has also ramped up it’s famous Diamond is Forever campaign and it now educates visitors about why a real diamond is special, citing that it takes a billion years for a real diamond to form. The company’s relectuance to accept a natural evolution of the industry is explained by the fact that De Beers controls and owns about 45% of the diamond market. Man-made diamonds, according to the WSJ article are about 15% less expensive than real diamonds but the Wired article claims that they are even less expensive. 

I am certain that the market is not ready to accept and embrace these man-made diamonds right now, but with companies that have slogans like ‘Diamonds are for everyone," the market is bound to change it’s perception about these diamonds. What makes a diamond, a diamond, really? In 2007, my answer is it’s rarity. But come 2017, my answer will be: it’s chemical composition. And I believe that will be the answer of the general populace. The price may become more affordable once the rarity of diamonds is replaced with abundance.

Think about it. Companies like De Beers and other esteemed jewelers have invested so much money over the years in giving diamond it’s august status that every woman desires it. Every man strives to save just enough so he can buy his girl a diamond. These companies have created the desire. And the demand. And lab-produced cultured diamonds will grow to meet this desire and demand. Middle-class households, college grads, and everyoen else will be able to afford diamonds. What a world will that be? We are already living in an era where elite designer ware is mass-marketed, designer clothes are mass-produced and designer-lives are lived. What’s to stop us from experiencing this luxury when it comes to jewels?

Because they are devoid of ethical and environmental concerns (as opposed to mined diamonds) and no one was harmed in the process, celebs like Terrence Howard are also promoting these diamonds and gravitating towards the ’cause’ in adopting cultured diamonds. And once the celebrity angle kicks in, the publicity kicks in and before we know it, these real man-made diamonds will be just as credible as the mined diamonds.

The WSJ article points out that the cultured pearl’s industry killed the natural pearl industry. Sure, but that is evolution. Of an industry, of a mindset, of a culture. And my guess is, we are on the threshold of the evolution of the diamond industry.

I’m sure we will hear more about this debate in the coming years. And what an interesting debate it will be!

Being my Boss Elsewhere

January 16th, 2007 • 3 comments To be filed

In typical Being My Boss fashion, Gautam Ghosh published a fascinating interview with Naukri.com’s  (India’s largest job portal) CEO Sanjeev Bikhchandani. After Naukri.com went public, the company has now launched similar sites for real estate 99acres.com and matrimonials (jeevensaathi.com)

Biggest learning for CEO Sanjeev Bikhchandani? "I learnt to sleep on flights"

Read the interview here.

Question of tube

January 11th, 2007 • To be filed

What do you think your response is to this?

My response?
Yes. Video is the future. Did you know, Myspace filmmakers can now submit their movies for an Emmy nomination? If that isn’t democratization of media,what is?

Search Lists.

January 9th, 2007 • 1 comment Marketing/ Advertising, Social Media

I tried a few new search engines today. I just googled, "new search engines." Ironic, no?

• Chacha, a new search engine based on a human-assisted search model. My take? Cool feature. I did manage to get an accurate result albeit it was not Google-quick. But in an age when we are expecting technology to simplify online search, will we end up relying on humans?
• MsDewey, was my amusement toy for a while. But I quickly outgrew her. Search be simple – not annoying.
• Quintura, still in beta, but I quite liked it. I’m so used to scrolling down a couple links on Google search results that I was slightly surprised when Quintura nailed down my search with it’s first response. Give it a try. The interface is simple, no gimmicks. Plain old search. How will it compare with google?
• SingingFish, an audio/video search engine. Too many of those out there now.
• Tiltomo, visual search. Again.

Yet another look at what the coming year will bring in terms of innovation in technology. Wikipedia’s next big innovation is apparently in improvising search technology. Sometimes the number of technology companies that launch everyday make my head buzz.

A hundred itsy-bitsy pieces and widgets on my desktop, a few add-ons on my browser and a couple other things on my computer– this should all make my life easier. Instead, it only gets complicated. So distracting. And half of these cool tools are plain useless. Web 2.0 – a bubble or the myth of the bubble?

The second gold rush.

January 9th, 2007 • Marketing/ Advertising

• Big 5 accounting firm Ernst & Young purchased a sponsored Facebook page to recruit potential new hires.
• P&G launched Capessa, a health-oriented social site on Yahoo!. The site, branded, ‘collective wisdom for women,’ is a story based site including videos where women are invited to share their health-related stories.
• Coutorture, a social networking site for fashion and beauty bloggers launched by two twenty somethings.
• American Cancer Society and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are experimenting with Second Life to determine the right match to foster communities in virtual worlds.
• Conde Nast’s newest kid on the block: flip.com
• Littlefishbigriver.com launched to celerbate random acts of kindness.
• IMeem, claims to be the best of social media.

This just a slice of what 2007 will offer. Whew.

Evolving Vox – Russell D’souza

January 4th, 2007 • 1 comment To be filed

College entrepreneurs fascinate me. Partly because I always wanted to start something of my own in college and partly because I was too chicken to actually start it.

I had the opportunity to speak with Russell D’souza of Evolving Vox about this company and being a young entrepreneur. He shared one deadly piece of advice -armed with that simple knowledge, any of us has the chance to become start the billion-dollar entreprise.

I spent 4 years of college waiting and searching for the right time, and the right idea. I’m afraid neither exists. All you need to know to be an entrepreneur is, a simple idea AND the simple understanding that now, is the right time.

******

Russell D’Souza and Jack Groetzinger started Evolving Vox, a a temporary furntiure ownership business, late last year. Join be in conversation with one-half of the team, Russell D’souza.

Tell me about Evolving Vox? What a strange name!

So Evolving Vox is a furtniture rental company. Right now, we serve only Darmouth College. Darmouth students can log on to our website, pick what they want to order, add it to a shopping cart and pay for it. They can choose the length of the lease on each piece of furniture. Once we recieve their order, our job is to deliver the furtniture and on an assigned date, pick it up from their apartments.

About the name, Evolving Vox is derived from our school motto… play on a Dartmouth College tradition. It holds a special meaning to Dartmouth students.. It’s not something everyone would understand but people here, know what it means.

Did you have prior experience in starting your own business?

No. We have no previous experience but my friend and business partner, Jack ,and I are very entrepreneurial. Dartmouth is a liberal arts college and doesn’t really offer business courses at the undergrad level. Skills we gained to run this business didnt’ really come from our college, Dartmouth doesn’t focus on imparting entrepreneurial skills in undergrads. We both had internships in Boston last summer with consulting firms and that’s where we picked up some skills. But I think we’ve just learnt a lot from doing it.

How did you get this idea? It sounds like a no-brainer. I remember furniture was such a hassle in college. You needed it but you didn’t want it…

We got the idea early last year when we noticed the amount of furniture waste that accumulates at the end of semester. The real idea came from targetting the waste. The reason we liked this idea — it was risk free. It didn’t require that much to set up. We never had a business plan and we still don’t have one. The first step we needed was a website. The goal was that students should be able to rent furniture online in less than 5 minutes.

We actually only started the business last fall. We weren’t sure what to expect but….it was unbelievable. Within a week, we had to stop taking orders. We were anxious to see what would happen. We had about 45 orders for futons alone. We didn’t want to deal with more because we wanted to be sure we could handle it logistically first.

How does this work out? Did you buy the furniture to rent it out?

No. We didn’t buy anything at first. We didn’t place the order for the furniture until we had the orders coming in. We got the furniture from wholesalers. Dartmouth runs on a trimester system so between trimesters, we have bulk storage that we use. But most of the stuff is always rented out.

So this business didn’t really require a capital or any investment? I’m surprised no one thought of this before.

Not monetary, no. Yes, we are surprised too. We have made people’s lives convenient. I was unprepared for the response. Everyone we have talked with or served talks about this idea. Even people we don’t serve have gone out of their way to email us and tell us what a good idea it is. It is such an intutive idea that almost everyone goes, why didn’t I think of this before?

What about profits? Are you seeing any yet?

The furniture rental business is impossible to operate on a profit within the first year. There is strong potential in the furniture rental business and we have an edge over other rental companies by having actual people on the ground. We have contacts with students and that helps spreading the word. We haven’t spent a single dime on marketing. We sent out flyers, emails to listservs and passed around flyers to our friends. It was very low-budget. Also, people know you on campus and that helps. It’s easier to trust someone you know…

We are in talks with Cornell University right now. We have a ground-team set, it is imperative to have a ground team. They have access to dorms and emails that rental companies don’t.

Besides, we have a good sense of where the company is headed. We don’t really want to handle the operations and administrative tasks of the business. We would like to sell our branches at some point, just the delivery and leasing process. But we’d like to keep the ability to franchise it. Ofcourse, we would use a different name, Evolving Vox wouldn’t work universally. We are adamant, we have no desire to keep the nuts and bolts, the operation end of the business. I think we will be able to sell it this winter.

Is this decision because of competition or are you just not intersted ?

Competition – there’s really nothing that we can do about it. Press is great, it helps us build credibility but it’s a double-edged sword. The more recognition we get, it enables people to hink that anyone can put this together. But it’s not like we are the first kids to do this. At Harvard, you can rent micorwaves and refrigerators but people haven’t seen what can really be done with this rental business. It will be a matter of time before everyone catches up. But I hope by then, our business will be thinking in a newer directions. But anything can happen, there’s really nothing we can do.

Jack and I are both working in Boston now. We are both consulting. The way that we see our future with EV it’s not time intensive. The business can run by itself with little supervision.

Speaking with you, I get a sense that Evolving Vox is more of an experiment for you guys…to test out your entrepreneurial spirit. I don’t mean that in a negative way, I think it’s great but I get the feeling that you are doing this to see how far you can go and what you can learn from this experience. Am I right?

You got that right. You put it well. It is definitely an experiment. If you ask both of us what we want to do in 10 years, it is definitely something of our own. Even though we have lost money so far, there’s no doubt that we will end up making money. Most entrepreneurs fail like 5 times, I believe in starting modestly and learning from my mistakes.

Too many people focus on coming up with this really cool world-changing idea of reinventign the wheel. Yes, maybe youtube.com can be that idea but… they all started out because somebody saw something in their life that was an inconvenience and they wanted to do something about it. Youtube founders were just sitting at their dinner table and wanted to put up their home videos online. They didn’t do it expecting this huge reaction. Small inconveniences are something in your life that can be made better. I think that’s what students should look for.

What mistakes have you made to date and what have you learnt from them?

Well…we knew very little about the way futons work, in terms of mechanism. The futons we got intially weren’t really the good ones. You could feel the frame through the mattress. Our company prides on delivering good quality… so it wasn’ something we wanted to deliver. We end up having to spend $20 more each mattress and upgrading them. We could have done something else.. tested out that mattress or just stuck with it,  but it was really tough in making that last second decision. We lost a couple thousand dolars but in the end, we definitely did a better thing by not compromising on quality. The decision was a no brainer for us, but it hurt us. It was just something we had to do.

Lesson well-learnt. That decision of yours must have won you some very loyal customers. What are future plans with EV?

There’s a realization now that you can take crazy college kids and learn from then. It’s really the internet, it’s a whole new ball game. Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth offers a student consulting service that help out new businesses. Such a service will help us tremendously in figuring out next steps and what we can do with our business. We haven’t been accepted yet, they have an application procedure – but we hope we will be expected!

What’s so fantastic about being a student or a college entrepreneur?

I think what is really fascinating about being a college entrepreneur in this day and age is.. there are so few barriers to entry in starting a new company. Not just young people or college entrepreneurs, anyone can start a new company on a little or no budget. There are a number of riskless opportunities. We talk about new ideas all the time. You no longer need a storefront: credit cards, secure payments, Business2.0 is fascinating. But I find that most new businesses are looking to make immediate profits. I think if you have a good service, you will find a way to make money.

The best thing about being a college entrepreneur is that everyone wants you to win. You have the network of your college: friends, alumni, professors. The CEO of the largest furniture company in New England is a Dartmouth alumni. He took time out to speak with us. He didn’t give us anything concreate but point us- people are willing to talk to you. They’ll say, “I can’t help you but I’ll give you more contacts.”

Your advice to aspiring entrepreneurs?

One of our professors said that Everyday people see million dollar ideas and just don’t recognize them. That sums it up. My only advice is to Start. Don’t wait for inspiration or that big idea to strike! Just do something.

Philadelphia – a rising creative class?

January 2nd, 2007 • 2 comments Culture Briefings

When I was an undergraduate student in Philadelphia, I didn’t pay much attention to the political and economic aspects of the city because at the back of my mind, I always knew I was moving to New York. International students like me relate most to cosmopolitan cities like New York, London etc.  These cities speak to our displaced mentalities on a more visceral level. And they attract other people, like us. I remember when I started job-hunting, it didn’t even occur to me that Philadelphia might have interesting opportunities for me. New York was the be all and end all.

And like I always knew, I did move to New York after graduation. Only to make a move back to Philadelphia within a year for my career.

But this time, it’s different. This time, I’m genuinely interested in Philadelphia. If cities belonged to a high-school, Philadelphia would be New York’s strongest competitor: atleast geographically! It’s almost like we live in NY’s shadow. I love NY, don’t get me wrong. But I’m not jaded anymore. New York is not the be all and end all, like I believed once. Yes, so Sex and the City and Independence Day happens in New York and terrorists attack NY to cripple the nation and all cool people live in NY and stories float around about making-it-in-new york. But that’s it’s essence. And fortunately for New York, it’s not concealed or left for people to discover. With other cities, like Philadelphia, it may take time and maybe effort to really discover it’s essence.

It’s a conundrum that faces not just Philadelphia. We are home to some of the best colleges in the country and obviously attracts smart students. But why then do they move after graduating? Is it the jobs, the action, the nightlife, the money? What is it that does not help the city retain it’s talent?

While it’s not NY, I think we have a fairly impressive list of companies HQed around here. I am puzzled. Is it the people? Will more companies come to Philly if we attracted NY-like people? Or will NY-like people come to Philly if we attract more companies (more jobs) ?

I started reading Richard Florida’s book, The Rise of the Creative Class," yesterday to help me understand this situation better. The basis of his work is how creative people are leading the current cultural and economic shift. He also makes an interesting argument: for cities to prosper, they should attract (and retain) the creatives.

I’m curious. What role can I play in assiting Philly to become the one more cultural and economic hub like other American and international cities?

PS- In case you didn’t know, Philadelphia will soon become the nation’s first completely wireless major city.

Happy 2007!

January 1st, 2007 • 2 comments On my mind...

Wish you a very happy new year! Hope the rains didn’t drench your new year plans last night. A few of my friends were moving apartments (yes, talk about timing!) so we stayed in and chose to bring in the new year with wine and cheesecake. It was perfect.

 So, in addition to learning Italian, traveling outside USA and visiting home (Bombay), I’ve also resolved to post here every single day. And a bunch of exciting interviews in the Being My Boss series will continue. Perhaps, even video interviews later this year.

Yay for 2007!