Tag Archives: Entrepreneurship

Aug 06

If you had a free hour to surf the internet, what would you explore?

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Free hour?!  There’s no such thing as a free hour.  There’s always an opportunity cost to time spent.  I think the “I don’t have time” excuse is the lamest, but I won’t rant about that here & now.  I do surf the internet much less than I used to because I found myself sinking too much time to feel uber productive & satisfied with my day (this was part of my early life experiments/ventures, “No News November”).  When I do decide to surf the internet & want some time to explore the web there are a couple things I really enjoy exploring:

Life.

I also really enjoy reading about life habits…blogs or research that relates to living the best possible life, self improvement, fulfillment, happiness, minimalist living.  Some of my go to sites for “life bites” are Zen Habits, The Happiness Project, & Itty Bitty Impact.  They are full of inspiration & practical tips to clear my mind, learn from myself, & stay on the path to fulfillment & living a meaningful life.

Innovation.

I enjoy reading about creative projects, creativity in general, new ideas, new technology, especially as it relates to innovation that is striving to improve peoples’ lives.  So much that I have been creating a list of all the companies I am discovering that are out to solve problems like obesity, poor habits, inspire positive change & health & achieving goals, & making other positive impacts on the world.  Usually I find out about this through shared articles, organic search, or seeing some sort of news alert.

Food & Fitness (Health).

I love looking at recipes.  This is where I get a lot of inspiration for my own cooking.  I visit Elana’s Pantry, PaleOMG, Fast Paleo, Stone Soup 5 Ingredient Recipes regularly & most recently I’ve been using Pinterest to discover & tag new recipes.  There’s only one kind of porn I can spend an hour looking at…food porn.

Food porn. Paleo chocolate pie made with a beet carrot crust & topped with shredded coconut.

Related to food, I could research all day about fitness & health.  Different workout routines, nutrients in different types of foods, foods that are good for skin, & the like.  I get pretty geeked up about all things food, fitness, & health.

Entrepreneurship.

By choice I read stories about entrepreneurs.  I’m more interested in stories about entrepreneurs from all walks of life (food industry, tech, health, bottom of the pyramid…) than reading TechCrunch or Mashable.  I gave up reading TechCrunch & similar sites at the beginning of the year & I must say it’s one of my favorite resolutions.  If someone shares an article with me, I’ll read it (usually), but I don’t actively seek out these sites.  I look at it this way…I will learn more by doing than by reading about it.  So whenever I was tempted to read it…I stopped & actually DID something!  Productivity boost to the extreme!

If you didn’t notice, my internet surfing interests spell LIFE.  I didn’t really plan it that way.

venture on,

mel, the venture gal

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Jul 22

Hypocritical Art Fair Haters

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Stop hating on the Ann Arbor Art Fair.  Especially if you’re supportive of entrepreneurship in Ann Arbor.

Started in 1960, the Ann Arbor Art Fair didn’t always attract over 500,000 visitors, like it does now.  The Art Fair itself is an entrepreneurial venture & it is also one of the most beautiful displays of entrepreneurship & talent I have seen in Ann Arbor.  Each booth represents an entrepreneur…someone is behind that hand done watercolor or that collapsable beach hat.  Even the food booths have some entrepreneurial story behind them.

If you don’t want to be a hypocrite, stop dissing the Art Fair, yet claiming you want to see more entrepreneurs in Michigan.  Because for a few days a year, Ann Arbor is home to one of the largest concentrations of entrepreneurs at any given time.  These entrepreneurs are from all around the world.  Their pitch isn’t verbal, not always.  It doesn’t need to be.  It’s visual.  It’s the captive image in the photograph.  It’s the feel of the smooth pottery.  The scent of the ethnic foods filling the streets.  The way the crushable hat fits your slightly sunburned head.  The sound of the musical instrument you have not ever heard before.  Take a look for yourself…

 

Since this year’s Art Fair concluded this evening you have a year to reflect on whether or not you’ll support next year’s exposition of entrepreneurs in Ann Arbor.

venture on,

mel, the venture gal

 

 

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