Whether you are a jet setter, business flier or novice traveler, smartphones might be the best thing to happen to traveling dunces since the invention of the automobile. Take a look at some of my tips for using your smartphone to make your next trip that much easier.

Take Pictures to Remember

Never forget where you left your car again. Snap a picture and keep an album handy to record the location of your car in a crowded lot, your hotel room number, street signs, landmarks, or even a snapshot of that restaurant that your concierge was raving about. My business partner could have used this tip when she forgot which garage she left her car rental in…in Italy. It only took her four hours to visit three different parking garages until they were able to locate the vehicle.

Flight Track

This is by far one of my favorite apps. I’ve certainly made the mistake of heading to the airport and going through security, only to find that my flight was significantly delayed. The beauty of this app is that is has real-time push notifications, so if there is a delay, you know about it right away. It has beautiful zoomable live maps that make it easy to see the exact location of the flight and its progress as it heads to the destination. There are plenty of flight tracking apps available, but Flight Track is the best I’ve tried. Check out Flight View if you want to compare other apps available.

“Reed” Your Favorite Articles

One of our .NET programmers introduced me to Reeder. It’s easily my favorite reading app! It’s fast, easy-to-use, and can sync with your Google Reader, social accounts and Reddit. The one thing I love about this app is the fact that I can share articles quickly. For a review and photos of Reeder for iPad use, click here.

Share Coordinates

I recently went to SXSW with a co-worker. At one point, we found each other at other ends of the event, and describing where we were (“in the tent and by a lot of people”) wasn’t working. If you are using an iPhone, the Maps app has a great feature where you can click on “Current Location” and have the ability to Share Location with others. You can also try out Find My Friends (iOS 5) or Google Latitude (Android). CNET recently did a great review of the apps and how they work, but to put it simply, it will make finding people in a crowded room that much easier, and mean no more scanning the crowd to find someone.

Get An All-In-One Travel App

The Tripit app has completely changed the way I travel. The makers describe it well: “TripIt ‘automagically’ takes all your trip details and creates one truly helpful itinerary that’s there when and where you need it—on your iPhone or iPad, sync’d with your calendar, and online at tripit.com. When you receive a confirmation email from anywhere you book, simply forward it to plans@tripit.com. TripIt instantly recognizes reservations from 3,000+ booking sites, including cruises, restaurants, concerts and more. You can easily share trip plans with family or colleagues directly, or let Facebook and LinkedIn contacts know when and where you’re headed.” (From the App Store site.)

Pass the Time

I don’t need to tell you that Angry Birds, Cut the Rope and Draw Something are highly addicting games and great time-wasters. Load a few games for playing when you’re on the plane, too tired to read, and have a neighbor who likes to over-share as much as he likes to crunch loudly on peanuts.

If you are more into playing games that stimulate the brain, try a few of my favorites: Words with Friends or Chicktionary.

Yelp It!

Yelp’s app is a godsend when you’re stuck in a city you’re unfamiliar with. Not only can you read reviews, sort by type of cuisine, and pre-screen prices, you can check hours and often menus, saving you from important dinner meetings at the Waffle Shack or the Pocket Burner forever.

Chefs Feed

While we’re talking about reviews, if you are a food snob, you need to try out Chefs Feed. Chefs Feed is a handy little app that helps you find restaurants owned and run by the best chefs within the city you are visiting. The app also has a list of favorite dishes, restaurant stats and live Twitter feed.

Star Gaze

If I’m out of the city, I relish the opportunity to look at the stars without the interference of city light glare. Pocket Universe is one augmented reality app that makes star-watching a fun and educational experience. It takes input from your camera and coordinates and tells you exactly what stars you’re looking at. It also has great push notifications to inform you of significant planet changes that can be seen without a telescope.

Skip Carrying Giftcards

Are you one of those people that have a rewards card for every store you shop at? It always seemed liked I was constantly digging through my wallet and purse to find my Marriott or AAA cards. Instead of carrying around dozens of rewards cards in my wallet, I preloaded these cards onto the CardStar app and have them ready for scanning. The great thing about this app is that you can receive notifications of store promos or discounts from the merchant. Plus, if you take the time to setup the Cloud backup feature, you never have to load up these cards again if you need to restore your phone.

Taxi Magic

This app is, in fact, magical. Taxi Magic is a free online taxi booking service that is directly integrated with taxi dispatch systems. You can book from your mobile phone or the Web with a few quick taps. It has a cool map with GPS tracking to watch the dispatched cab drive towards your location. You can even charge the ride to your credit card and expense the trip with an e-receipt right through your smartphone. I’ve used it several times and have never seen anything like it!

 
What apps and tricks do you use for traveling? I’d love to hear your tips.

 
Helen Levinson
Co-founder of Desert Rose Design | Chief Technical Officer
With over 17 years of experience in digital marketing, web application and information architecture, Helen is gifted with a mind that is equal parts business woman and technical director. She precisely forecasts her clients’ web-based needs bringing the principles of design and architecture to the digital landscape.

Helen is often invited to various speaking engagements, panel discussions and participates on many school advisory boards regarding digital curriculums. She is nationally recognized in the retail and education industry as a technology expert, specializing in social media strategies and web based applications.

To contact Helen Levinson:
Twitter: @helenlevinson
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/helenlevinson

From creating people plans to the necessary emphasis we need to place on mobile, each presenter gave us great new insights into our own industry, and we wanted to share these little ditties with you.

Over very own Julie Poulos shares her takeaways from the event. Take a look—you may just learn something new!

Did you attend The Art of Marketing conference? What did you learn? Feel free to share your thoughts below.

Top 5 Takeaways from Randi Zuckerberg,
“The Zuckerberg sibling who DID graduate from Harvard”

Randi Zuckerberg ran marketing at Facebook for six years, where her team led the company’s U.S. election and international politics strategy, launched the live streaming industry with her media partnerships around the U.S. Presidential Inauguration, and was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2011 for her innovative TV/online coverage of the 2010 midterm elections. Randi has appeared on CNN, Good Morning America, The Today Show, Bloomberg, NDTV & World News, and was a correspondent for the 2011 Golden Globe Awards and the World Economic Forum in Davos.

In August 2011, Randi left Facebook to start R to Z Media, a new type of media platform that will be launching later this year.

1. The Sharing Economy

People still want to live an amazing life of luxury like a millionaire. Randi shared stories about how you can rent rooms in someone’s mansion while traveling. You can rent a seat on a private jet. You can rent a personal assistant for an hour. This sounds reminiscent of how you can hire the paparazzi to treat you like a celebrity for a day.

2. The Loyalty Program of the Future

It’s not always about giving away money or products or points. Sometimes it’s the experience itself. GILT hosts “online flash sales”, which gives an hour preview of sales specials of its luxury home products. It goes live at noon and by 12:04p.m., it’s sold out. Randi shared how she and her mom stake out different products in advance so they both benefit.

3. People as Platforms and Media Brands

In layman’s terms, walk like a Kardashian.
· Good: Each of us is a media company. News travels fast.
· Bad: You thought caller I.D. ruined your anonymity when you prank called? That was the Minor Leagues. We’ve all seen personal and corporate gaffes.

4. Mobile First. Web a Very Distant Second.

Randi shared some examples of the on-the-go experience.
· Starbucks: Pay with your phone, upload rewards cards onto your phone
· Chase: You can take a photo of your check and deposit right into your account
· Path: Social app that limits to 150 friends only

5. People as Curators

Randi gave a shoutout to her sister Donna Zuckerberg, who’s promoting her baking biz through Pinterest. It used to be that you had to create/write/produce. Now there’s SO much noise in the digital space, people need curators to become the experts who filter through the noise and deliver just the essential, relevant content.

 
The Art of Productions is Canada’s leading owner and producer of business conferences for professionals, presenting the most engaging live events you’ll ever experience. They share the most prominent business leaders, internationally renowned speakers and bestselling authors – to learn from and be inspired by.

This week, we’re featuring a post per day with our Top 5 Takeaways from one of the headline speakers. We graciously welcome your comments and input–please join us in the conversation below!

Top 5 Takeaways from Mitch Joel,
Rock Star of Digital Marketing

When Google wanted to explain online marketing to the top brands in the world, they brought Mitch Joel to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California. Marketing Magazine dubbed him the “Rock Star of Digital Marketing” and called him “one of North America’s leading digital visionaries.” In 2006, he was named one of the most influential authorities on blog marketing in the world. Mitch Joel is President of Twist Image, an award-winning Digital Marketing and Communications agency. He has been called a marketing and communications visionary, interactive expert and community leader. He is also a blogger, podcaster, passionate entrepreneur and speaker who connects with people worldwide by sharing his marketing insights on digital marketing and personal branding. In 2008, Mitch was named Canada’s Most Influential Male in Social Media, one of the top 100 online marketers in the world, and was awarded the highly prestigious Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 (recognizing individuals who have achieved a significant amount of success but have not yet reached the age of 40).

1. Direct Relationships

Who should have the conversation with your customer? You. Consumers are way ahead of marketers these days. Take for example Kickstarter.com, which funds projects for big ideas. Basically, you make a video, tell your product story and state how much money you need. Within four hours, Pen Type A, a cool interactive watch similar to a Kindle, receives nearly $290K. That may sound like an anomaly, but get this: in 2011, 75% of the Kickstarter.com projects were funded. And Kickstarter.com is on target to provide more funding than the National Endowment of the Arts.

2. Data = Numbers with Benefits

Talk about the abuse of the word “privacy.” Mitch said what we’re really talking about is personalization. Ask the customer what they want, and they’ll respond with personal, targeted offers that are highly relevant. Mitch shared by way of example that there’s an iPhone/Amazon app that lets you take a picture of the product in retail so you can compare it with how much it costs on Amazon. Amazon links to your account, your birthday, your buy/search history, etc., but consumers love it because it’s relevant and delivers real value to them.

3. Utilitarianism Marketing

Mitch didn’t exactly have me at “hello” with this topic. My first instinct was that utilitarianism sounded decidedly unglamorous, until he shared the example of Charmin’s Sit or Squat mobile app. When you’re on a road trip or even just running errands, this ingenious app shows you how close you are to a clean bathroom. Then it gives you the chance also to rate it. As a woman, and quite frankly as somebody who has a weird bathroom phobia as it is, this app is about as close to paradise as it gets.

4. Passive vs. Active

Don’t try to make TV the interactive. It’s passive. People watch TV at the end of the day, completely zoned out after work. It’s escapism. Don’t try to turn it into Facebook. Just like you wouldn’t try to make your bike more like your SUV. They’re just different.

5. One Screen World

Right now we can do email, Facebook, IM, text, listen to music and watch TV in the background, all pretty much simultaneously. Never mind that we kind of look like freaky robots with the earbuds and mouse and all the other technology practically tethered to us. Mitch also talked about the continuing evolution of mobile as the single unifying electronic source. Thus, a “one screen world.” By a show of hands, the vast audience majority agreed this will take place in under two years. Then Mitch scared the crap out of everybody by asking how many of our websites look absolutely awesome on mobile today. Yikes. He definitely has a point, what are we all waiting for?

Thankfully, Mitch kept us from hyperventilating by immediately showing us a cute, nifty little product called Square. (For us digital nerds, this was the equivalent of bringing puppies onstage.) It’s a scanner that attaches to your iPhone that ties to a merchant account and accepts credit cards so you can swipe and go. Mitch said their mission quite simply is “no more cash registers.” Do you hear the harps playing, or is that just me?

 
The Art of Productions is Canada’s leading owner and producer of business conferences for professionals, presenting the most engaging live events you’ll ever experience. They share the most prominent business leaders, internationally renowned speakers and bestselling authors – to learn from and be inspired by.

This week, we’re featuring a post per day with our Top 5 Takeaways from one of the headline speakers. We graciously welcome your comments and input–please join us in the conversation below!

Top 5 Takeaways from Gary Vaynerchuk,
Online Marketing Trailblazer

Online marketing trailblazer Gary Vaynerchuk is a 33-year-old entrepreneur whose dual identity as both business guru and wine guy has made him known as the “Social Media Sommelier.” A self-trained wine expert, he revolutionized the wine industry with his video blog, Wine Library TV (affectionately known as The Thunder Show), and grew his family wine business from $4 million to $60 million in five years. What raised Vaynerchuk’s notoriety even more than his business acumen was his foresight combined with his pioneering, multi-faceted approach to personal branding and business. While his youthful following broke down barriers in the wine industry, the business world (and Web 2.0) admired him for creating a new generation of branding, focusing on the Internet and leveraging social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter. As his viewership swelled to over 80,000 a day, and his family’s wine business grew to over $60 million a year, he made television appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Ellen DeGeneres, NBC’s Today Show, CNBC’s Mad Money with Jim Cramer, and The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch; was featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today; and has become a consultant for Fortune 100 companies and a keynote speaker around the world.

1. We’re marketing like it’s 2002.

The Internet is the biggest culture shift we’ve ever lived through. It is facilitating overthrowing governments who’ve had control for 40 years. We hate change and we keep fighting it. We’re paying for TV advertising, and every one of us is DVR’ing right through the commercials (ahem… and we’re in marketing). We’re spending money on billboards and 2 out of 3 people are texting. Not only are drivers not seeing your billboards, they’re not even looking at the road anymore. So we keep pushing and pushing our messages, but all we’re doing is hurting our brands’ business. Take Gary Vaynerchuk’s company, Wine Library, for example. They communicated with some emails to its list. Then increased to five daily emails. Then seven. You know where this is going. How long was it before you started deleting all those Groupon/Living Social emails after the initial euphoria of discounts faded? All of a sudden you can’t hit the delete key fast enough.

2. We’re consuming in a “stream economy.”

On Twitter, Gary’s company noticed a post, “Drinking Pinot Grigio.” So they asked, “What kind do you drink?” They didn’t say, “Hey, try our brand.” As Gary stated so eloquently, “We’re marketers, not 19 year old dudes trying to close on the first engagement.” People aren’t going to Google and Yelp (where he says PR reps fill the feeds – ouch) as much as we’re going to our social connections and asking them for their input and advice.

3. Stop pushing. Activate pull.

The single most valuable marketing space is “twitter.com/search”. We can actually go into live conversations and sell our wares! (As an aside, Gary believes Twitter should be ashamed of themselves for being a remarkable product that cannot tell a story. Case in point, a full room of people raised their hands when asked whether they thought Twitter was dumb when they first heard about it.)

Search for conversations. Have dialog in your social media posts. Care for your customers before you expect them to care about you. Amazon created the culture of free shipping with purchase. Who pays for shipping anymore? Zappos delivers happiness. Of course their shipping is free because they’re premium priced. And they know how to execute customer service—they’re paid to stay on the phone longer, not shorter. Precisely because of their awesome customer service, people will pay crazy prices for Zappos shoes. One-on-one engagement, communities and tribes are the last asset/place available that businesses can tap into. Once your tribes love you, they’ll spread the good word for you.

You say it’s hard to care about the end user at scale. Well Gary said it’s time to deal. We’re going back to small town rules. Bob the Butcher is back in vogue. Gary believes our grandparents are better positioned to be successful than we are (hmm, I’ll assume this doesn’t equate with programming the remote control). This can certainly be done via Twitter search, but there’s also a bevy of options available. Desert Rose Design is currently using Sprout Social, which pulls in relevant web alerts, social media mentions, and ranks influencers – all within a single dashboard.

4. What’s the ROI of your mother?

Perhaps the most creative–if not courageous–response we’ve ever heard in response to the question, “What’s the ROI of social media?” Apparently, Gary actually said this to some suits and lived to tell the story. His point was that we have new platforms to talk to consumers, and now they’re talking back. How many of us take the consumer for granted and think of them as simply a number? This raises the bar and we have to respect them.

5. The future is mobile.

Where is the modern day captive audience? During downtime, on the bus, waiting in line at the grocery store, in the doctor’s office. Just like iPhone’s Siri, mobile apps that double as our personal assistants will be all the rage. Mobile will be our new credit card, our new currency. Cue the Twilight Zone music.

 
The Art of Productions is Canada’s leading owner and producer of business conferences for professionals, presenting the most engaging live events you’ll ever experience. They share the most prominent business leaders, internationally renowned speakers and bestselling authors – to learn from and be inspired by.

This week, we’re featuring a post per day with our Top 5 Takeaways from one of the headline speakers. We graciously welcome your comments and input–please join us in the conversation below!

Top 5 Takeaways from Seth Godin,
Marketing Pioneer and Visionary

Named one of the top 21 speakers for the 21st century by Successful Meetings Magazine, Seth Godin draws on his bestselling books and years of being a marketing pioneer to bring audiences of all kinds to their feet.

In all, he has written thirteen books that have been translated into more than 30 languages. Every one has been a bestseller. He writes about the post-industrial revolution, the way ideas spread, marketing, quitting, leadership and most of all, changing everything. Godin’s second book, Unleashing the Ideavirus, is the most popular e-book ever published, and in 2003, his book Purple Cow was the #1 bestselling marketing book on Amazon. His other works include The Big Red Fez, Survival Is Not Enough, Free Prize Inside, All Marketers Are Liars, The Big Moo, Small is the New Big, and Meatball Sundae. Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us became an instant bestseller, and his 2010 Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? inspires audiences to overcome the resistance that holds them back from becoming an indispensable asset to any organization.

Seth was founder and CEO of Yoyodyne, the industry’s leading interactive direct marketing company, which Yahoo! acquired in late 1998. Godin worked as VP Direct Marketing at Yahoo! before leaving to become a full time speaker, writer and blogger.

He holds an MBA from Stanford, and was called “the Ultimate Entrepreneur for the Information Age” by Business Week.

1. Chicago is the birthplace of modern marketing.

The Marlboro Man, Jolly Green Giant, even Charlie the Tuna all hail from the Windy City and are revered as much as Chicago celebs like Jeremy Piven, Vince Vaughn and John Cusack. Share that little piece of trivia at your next party.

2. Attention and permission are the assets of the future.

Capitalism has driven a four-letter word…MORE! Interrupt more often with average products in clever new advertisements. TV was Facebook back in the day. Revlon bought television ads that got them drug store distribution, so they bought more ads and got more distribution and sales. More and more and around and around it goes. TV advertising was intentionally designed for the masses.

Fast forward to 2012. We will never suffer from a cereal shortage. Think about it. Would you miss a cereal brand that is no longer on the shelf? And it’s not just products. Media channels have exploded. There used to be just four TV channels. Now there’s satellite, cable, not to mention billions of web channels. And Facebook, of course.

3. Today’s challenge/question for marketers: Who is my tribe?

People are basically saying to marketers, “I don’t want to hear from you anymore.” It is cheaper to connect than ever before. But who’s willing to listen to you? You need to build tribes. There’s a tribe for everything nowadays. Spiritual tribes. Work tribes. Community tribes. We like being part of a group. We’d rather vote for the winner than for the candidate we candidly support. People want you to create a culture for them and lead the way. Case in point? Nike created the tribe of suburban athletes.

There’s a group of people waiting for you to lead them. This is the group of people where you want to be. Niche groups are better than big middle markets. The average mass market doesn’t want to hear from you. Speak to those who DO!

4. The story of the purple cow.

While in France, Seth and his family passed cow after cow on the road. He claims his kids were wildly entertained for all of four seconds (give or take). Seth thought, “what if there were a purple cow?” Now that would be remarkable. That would be something worth looking at and talking about. Moral of the story? Make products that are remarkable. The Art Of is being the last step of average products for average people and be the first step of making stuff worth talking about in the first place.

5. Be remarkable.

The idea of a job was invented only 100 years ago. Competence is no longer a scarce commodity. There will always be someone who can do a job cheaper. Do something worth talking about. There’s a zillion and one different brands of bottled water, but only one Water Salad. Solve interesting problems. Figure out new problems and new ways to engage and interact. Don’t worry about failing. “The person who invented the ship also invented the shipwreck.”

Lest you think Seth empathized at all with the current economic situation, he got a roaring laugh during Q and A when he said, “Commodity is a marketer who has given up.” Seth never gives up. And neither should we.

 
The Art of Productions is Canada’s leading owner and producer of business conferences for professionals, presenting the most engaging live events you’ll ever experience. They share the most prominent business leaders, internationally renowned speakers and bestselling authors – to learn from and be inspired by.

This week, we’re featuring a post per day with our Top 5 Takeaways from one of the headline speakers. We graciously welcome your comments and input–please join us in the conversation below!

Top 5 Takeaways from Keith Ferrazzi,
Business Relationship Development Expert

Keith Ferrazzi is the world’s foremost expert in relationships, bringing 20 years of research and experience to the art and science of business relationship development. His signature focus on success through relationships–a deeply energizing passion–has fueled his own incredible rise to prominence. Both Forbes and Inc. have called him one of the world’s most “connected” individuals.

Ferrazzi moves audiences to action and has been enthusiastically recognized as one of the world’s most dynamic, engaging speakers. He has received accolades from an impressively diverse list of listeners: Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, the United Nations, Facebook, the World Economic Forum, Kraft, GM, Century 21, AT&T and Aon, to name a few. Ferrazzi is a frequent contributor to CNN and CNBC, and has been a guest on Larry King Live and The Today Show. His writing has appeared in Forbes, Inc., Businessweek, The Wall Street Journal, and Harvard Business Review.

As founder and chairman of Ferrazzi Greenlight, a research-based consulting and training company, Ferrazzi provides corporate market leaders with strategic consulting and training to improve sales, performance and team cohesion, with an emphasis on personal transformation. Ferrazzi launched his career as the youngest Chief Marketing Officer in the Fortune 500 at Deloitte Consulting, and was later the CMO at Starwood Hotels.

Ferrazzi’s foundation, Big Task, applies his company’s Accelerated Relationship Development (ARD) curriculum to aid corporate citizenship and education reform. At the annual Big Task Weekend, companies use ARD to create partnerships that benefit national health and wellness.

1. We are who we are by the age of 3.

Keith started his presentation with an icebreaker: are you a triangle, a circle, a square or a Z? (Yes, a Z–that’s not a typo.) Close your eyes and take a quick moment to decide before reading ahead…

Here are the results:
· Triangle – ambitious drive to get to the top
· Circle – out of the box relationship people
· Square – accountants who prefer the status quo
· Z – These are the ones who enjoy booze and sex; nonconformists who do things their own way. (Ahem, Keith…this isn’t exactly the way we’ve seen this quiz explained online.)

Boy, did this conversation get the party started! Whether or not you buy into the above or Myers-Briggs or DiSC or any other personality quiz, Keith was clear that our job isn’t to try to override our personality, but rather to simply tap into who you are. This led into the rest of his presentation to help every type to build their relationship skills.

2. It’s all about relationships, silly.

Keith is a relationship guy. He tells with great passion the story of how the people in his life helped him along the way back to his childhood. Fast forward to the future, and he thinks we’ve isolated ourselves with our technology. Think about it. In the old days when you’d schedule a meeting, you’d chit chat about your life until the last person finally showed up in the conference room. Now, in our virtual workplaces and meetings, people instead check their emails and do their other tasks, so there’s no chance to bond or establish any kind of rapport. We’re all looking with our heads down at our technology, and darn it if he isn’t spot on that we need to look each other in the eye again! Keith suggests quite simply to “Take 5” in the beginning of any webinar just to check in to see how people are doing personally and professionally. It builds a level of trust and actually helps make the “work” part of the meeting more productive.

3. Does the prom queen get the promotion?

Have you ever thought that somebody was hired/promoted just because your boss liked them better? Well, of course! But “liking” actually is composed of several various criteria that goes deeper than what you might deem a prom queen personality. It can mean “we just jive” or “we’re productive/efficient”, meaning you/your boss/your client can read each other’s minds quickly without the whole rigmarole of long drawn out conversations. It’s a level of relationship when you can say, “just trust me on this one” and they say, “go for it.” Point being there’s way fewer dramatic conversations and it’s a whole lot easier to move forward when you’ve established trust and a rhythm.

4. Who’s in your people plan?

Keith said, “Raise your hand if you have a people plan.” Yikes, no hands went up. (Well I’m only 5’4”, so it’s possible some hands went up and I just couldn’t see them. But it certainly wasn’t a sea of hands.) Keith said your success this year is based on the 25 most important people who are supporting your life dreams, hopes and aspirations. What are you doing to enhance your people goals? Keith recommended that you think about your relationships strategically.

Have you ever said, “Ugh, I don’t have time to enter data into my CRM?” (Salesforce, Nimble, Microsoft Dynamics – however you’re tracking your peeps). Keith has heard it. His reply naturally is, “how can you afford NOT to?” Tracking relational quality is so important. CRM management is mostly opportunity management. Who are the five individuals managing the 25 individuals that can best support me? Figure out their careers and how you can help them. Serve their hopes and dreams. Ask, “How can I serve you?”

5. Serve your peeps. Serve them well.

With your top peeps, send them an email asking “How can I make you more successful?” Ask yourself how you are serving them. Generosity rules the day. Be purposeful, not fake. Put a people plan around everything. Take care of your tribe’s success. Where does your boss’ boss want to go? Create a circle of intimacy and generosity. And you can serve them authentically. Establish mutual accountability within your circle. Even the greatest leaders have someone telling them the truth. Don’t sequester your voice. Earn permission to tell your boss or client what they need to hear. Organize and prioritize your CRM and SERVE them. Create deep relationships.

You know what? Keith believes these principles are simply a great way to live and lead your life.

 
The Art of Productions is Canada’s leading owner and producer of business conferences for professionals, presenting the most engaging live events you’ll ever experience. They share the most prominent business leaders, internationally renowned speakers and bestselling authors – to learn from and be inspired by.

Fast forward one month later, and we couldn’t agree more. tix4cause takes unused tickets from season holders or venues and sells them quickly, with all the profit going to charity. Absolutely brilliant!

We are always fascinated by the back story behind great companies, and so without further ado, we are honored to feature our interview with tix4cause.com.

 
1. Like so many great ideas, was the idea behind tix4cause born on a cocktail napkin?
Almost! This idea had been brewing inside my head for well over eight years. I have been involved in charity fundraising for my son’s school for years and was always in awe of the work, effort and expense that goes into a charity fundraising event, whether it be an auction, golf outing, fashion show, etc., and the number of staff and volunteers that are required to be dedicated raising money for one night. I always felt that there had to be an easier way that delivered more to the charity because often times after all that work and expenses, there really wasn’t all that much left for the charity.

One day, while sitting in $250 scouts seats at US Cellular Field, I looked around and saw at least 50 empty seats, and right then at that moment it hit me–if a season ticket holder would donate to an auction, what could happen if those ticket holders had a website to use to donate the game tickets they could not attend? Every time I saw an empty seat, I wondered why they couldn’t be filled for charity. How many people have had to waste tickets or practically beg people to take tickets to an event they couldn’t attend? What if you could donate and purchase 24/7/365? And then tix4cause was born.

 
2. You like to say that everyone wins—the venue/donor, the charity, the person getting tickets and contributing to a great cause at the same time! Can you share a bit more about the benefits for each group?
Sure. tix4cause is lower case because we simply act as the vehicle to make the donation, purchase and ultimate giving to a charity. We are passionate about everyone winning on our site so they come back often and share the experience. The donor wins (receives value) by receiving an auto-generated tax receipt from the charity for their donation in kind and are empowered to select the charity of their choice. The purchaser wins by being able to buy tickets at a fair price, being assessed only a small merchant fee (8%) and, the best part, know that their purchase made a difference to a needy charity. The charity receives 100% of the proceeds for the particular transaction. Depending on the type of transaction, this can result in a participating charity receiving anywhere from 40% to 100% of the ticket price with little to no effort or action required.

 
3. Are the transactions handled entirely via the website? How does it work?
Yes, all transactions are handled on the website as the business design was to drive efficiency and transparency. As tix4cause acts as the vehicle for a transaction, all communications alerting the charity to a donation, informing the donor to review their tax receipt in their personal account, providing “will call” certificates and information to a purchaser, and delivering a purchase confirmation to our restaurant and venue patrons letting them know the name of the buyer are all done electronically on the website. This obviously minimizes the resource requirements of each participant, plus also keeps records of all transactions.

 
4. Are the tickets offered at a discounted price? Are they generally for last minute events? What’s the benefit of using tix4cause instead of a site like Craigslist?
As tix4cause.com is the vehicle that drives donations and transactions, we NEVER take title of tickets so we do not set the price of any tickets. We will certainly advise charities on the price point that would both maximize the transaction while increasing the likelihood of selling the tickets. However, if a charity is interested in pulling the tickets to place in an auction, they certainly are invited to do so with the invitation to send other events at the auction to our site as we historically have been able to sell our items for more or at a minimum face value because our buyers are “cause based” and willing to pay a fair price for charity.

Some tickets are last minute and can also be processed provided they are either “will call” or e-tickets. Most of the venues are working with us as a “will call” program where the purchaser brings a letter of confirmation and the venue receives a confirmation letter of the purchase so the box office can set aside the tickets.

Actually, given our early startup and still growing awareness, we utilize Craigslist to post and sell our tickets. We are very open to communicate that our ticket proceeds go to charity, and given that we receive tickets across the US, Craigslist is a natural vehicle to direct interested purchasers to our ticket inventory.

 
5. You posted on Facebook, “Help me win a $25,000 hiring grant by writing a few words to Intuit telling them why you love my business.” Are you still in the running?
I don’t believe so. We have won an award, Small Business of Year for Daily Herald, and were a nominee of Small Business of the Year in Naperville Chamber of Commerce. We just have not had the time to compete for others.

 
6. Do you screen the charities themselves? Do they have to align with your values?
We do screen each charity on our site for validity of their status, as they all must provide an EIN Tax Number. Also, tix4cause does exercise the right to not post a charity on our site for questions of their values or morals that may not be aligned with our current members or tix4cause virtues. We invite all denominations of religion and simply state we are all about LIFE!

 
7. It almost sounds too good to be true. You say that tix4cause is a for-profit social e-marketplace. How does tix4cause make a profit in all this?
tix4cause is challenging the business models today by suggesting that a profit company can be very successful while existing in a non-profit environment. We will generate our revenues in numerous ways on our site and as we are all about attracting cause-based buyers, our focus is on growing scale of non profits, business, venues and consumers to seek significant transactions in various methods to significantly grow the business into a very successful venture.

 
8. If a movie was made about your life, who would you like to play the lead?
Make it a documentary or a reality show that has a heart and showcase the team, its passion, its struggles and celebrations when we fill empty seats for charity! We have messages of perseverance, friendship, patience, leadership and learning for all to see!

 
As the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of tix4cause, Kevin Nemetz leads the tix4cause team in creating a donor based event marketplace for not-for-profit organizations to raise funds. Kevin has volunteered and/or led several fundraising activities for charities and organizations in areas of Catholic education, hunger and cancer foundations. His involvement with the community, combined with his fundraising activities, inspired him to launch tix4cause to provide an opportunity for nonprofit organizations to raise funds.

Connect with Kevin on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Sadly, that’s not the way it works, as I’ve learned from being a business owner and full-time mom. But I’ve learned that as with anything else, having a community to lean on and connect with is critical for gleaning advice and keeping sane. Thankfully, there are many talented, hard working entrepreneurs and all-around superwomen who do it all and are more than willing to give other moms tips. I’ve already filled you in on the secret sauce of CEO moms—read on for more tips from stellar entrepreneurs who are doing it all.

Stop Trying to Balance Everything!

“I threw that word ‘balance’ out of my vocabulary a long time ago and embraced that there were going to be days that would be chaos and days that resembled a Norman Rockwell painting. As soon as I did that, I was able to take one day at a time for what it was. Then when I did have a crazy day, I could look back at a quiet day and be even more grateful for it knowing that it was possible. I think the act of trying to find balance is more stressful than simply taking one day at a time, accepting it for what it is, learning from it, and getting up the next day and doing it all over again.”

Jennifer Covello, “The Purposeful Parent”
Author, Speaker, Mompreneur www.parentingforpurpose.com and www.frittabello.com

Be An Early Bird

“One tip that has helped me keep my sanity is to wake up at 5 am before everyone else and get a head-start on the day; I get lunches made, get meat out to defrost for dinner, put a load of laundry in the washer/dryer, get showered and am ready for the day!”

Gail Correa, launched online dermatology franchise

Set Boundaries on Work…and Family

“The best help I have given myself over the years with running a number of businesses from home and raising children is to be sure I keep open lines of communication with my clients, children and husband. Set limitations and boundaries and know when to take a break. I also stick to a schedule as much as possible and build structure for my family and business. I am very firm with clients if they call me past dinner time or with my kids when they try to run up to ask to play outside while I am talking with a client. Overall, it’s the best choice I have made to stay home and build a business. I also attend a few networking events a month to get some work and social time all in one.”

Clarissa Almaraz, Project-Tea

Moms Are Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

“Something that has worked for me is the belief that being a mom makes me a better business owner and vice versa. I used to think that once I became a mom, I would become ‘less’ of everything else, simply because I’d have less time for everything else. I’ve discovered—and continue to intentionally gather evidence in life—that the opposite is true. Quite frankly, when you have less time, you’ve got to be more strategic and more creative, and you’ve got to let go of the less-profitable work. You have to identify a focus and that has you doing better work and work that you love.”

Amy L. Riley, author of the forthcoming book Loving the Pregnant You, owner of Shoop Consulting Group, Inc. and Loving the Pregnant You

Set Time for Face Time

Finally, a tip from me. As our client base grows, I find myself traveling for business quite frequently these days, which can be difficult on my daughter, especially due to the fact that my husband travels as well. Before an upcoming business trip, I spend some one-on-one time prepping her ahead of my departure. Talking to her about where I’m going, what I’m going to do and give her a countdown of days when “mommy will be back”. Staying connected with our family is important. We are women and we juggle many things at once. It’s important that we have “face time” with our loved ones.

My tip is to keep that “face time” going with your family, even when you are hundreds or even thousands of miles away from each other. Whether you prefer the Skype or FaceTime app on your smartphone or iPad, these technologies bring life to our communications. It makes virtual become real. When I travel, I always use FaceTime to speak with my daughter. I want her to see me and have the comfort of knowing that mommy is still here, she is just in another place working right now.  And don’t forget about your significant other. These apps can even help keep your love life going when you can’t be together. So use it when you can.

We’d love to hear from other supermoms and supermoms-in-training. Feel free to share your tips in the comments!

 
Helen Levinson
Co-founder of Desert Rose Design | Chief Technical Officer
With over 17 years of experience in digital marketing, web application and information architecture, Helen is gifted with a mind that is equal parts business woman and technical director. She precisely forecasts her clients’ web-based needs bringing the principles of design and architecture to the digital landscape.

Helen is often invited to various speaking engagements, panel discussions and participates on many school advisory boards regarding digital curriculums. She is nationally recognized in the retail and education industry as a technology expert, specializing in social media strategies and web based applications.

To contact Helen Levinson:
Twitter: @helenlevinson
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/helenlevinson

DO:

1. Engage and create positive content. However, keep in mind the impressions you are making of yourself and your employer with anything you post. Make sure you add value to any conversation you participate in.
2. Make your profile private. Become familiarized with all of the privacy settings and learn what you have control over. There’s nothing worse than when someone you didn’t intend to see your posts has access to view your profile.
3. Share what you know. If you see or read something interesting that you feel others could benefit from, you should definitely share it with them. They might return the favor! After all, knowledge is power.
4. Think before posting. Just because social media gives you the ability to share your thoughts instantly doesn’t mean you should share with the world every time a random thought or frustration pops into your head.
5. Leave real comments. When reciprocating, don’t just leave one-word comments. Leave a quality comment related to the post.

DON’T:

1. Break confidentiality. Don’t write about confidential information, whether it’s related to clients or not. You must remember that nothing you post on social media is ever really private.
2. Be disrespectful. Just because you may have a different viewpoint doesn’t give you the right to insult the thoughts and opinions of others.
3. SPAM. If you wouldn’t self-promote to your friends in a face-to-face situation, then it’s a good measure to not do the same in an online platform.
4. Turn into a SM stalker. Unless we’re talking about your lifelong BFF, it’s creepy to be commenting on every single thing someone posts within 10 seconds of them posting it. Don’t be that person.
5. Speak on behalf of your company. Employees should speak for themselves and not as though their opinions are the opinions of the brand as a whole. This can lead to confusion and a skewed image of your employer. Not to mention it could cost you your job.

I hope you find these DOs and DON’Ts helpful. If you have any additions to my list or experiences you’d like to share, feel free to do so in the comments section below. I’d love to hear from you!

Christina Reed
Sales & Marketing Coordinator
Christina’s vital roles have branded her as both a business development specialist and marketing connoisseur, allowing her to expertly discuss a broad range of topics in each respective category.

Connect with Christina on LinkedIn.