You’re invited to attend the launch party for ThoughtShot client Claire Barnett.  Seattle Mosaic Arts in Wallingford opens this weekend and I hope you will come out to support this fun new concept. At Seattle Mosaic Arts, you can create your own mosaic piece with or without a background in art or mosaics. This very simple and gratifying process is also soothing to the soul.

Many brain studies have shown that doing simple manual tasks like puzzles and crafts are extremely calming and beneficial for the brain.  Imagine an activity that allows you to stop thinking so damn much–something us entrepreneurs could use a little help with–and also yields a beautiful piece of functional art when you are done!

Claire wants to reach both the Mosaic Curious (she offers tutorials so you can learn the entire process or you can just do the “fun part” and let her do the “messy part” and pick up your piece in all it’s finished glory) and the Mosaic Seasoned (she offers studio memberships and sells glass in nearly every shade).

Claire says it’s all fun but some people don’t want to get their hands dirty so she’s come up with an easy way for even the artistically timid to get involved. “They all turn out beautifully.  You just can’t mess up this process!” Something Claire has told me many times and demonstrated too. I am a believer and I’m excited about getting some friends together to spend a day in the studio.

It’s not intended to be an exclusive experience, but one that allows everyone to participate. You can do mosaics alone, with a partner, friend, family group, etc. It can be a purely fun activity or one that takes you within to experience and express your love for someone in a memorial piece. I keep thinking of ultra cool things my clients could make for their businesses: mosaic address numerals for their storefront, tabletop, vase, tea tray, flower pot for entry…What needs spicing up inside/outside your office space?

Kudos to the lovely Kelly Jean Davis of FarmGirl Works who designed the logo for Seattle Mosaic Arts. The website is in development but the splash page looks great!  Another great example that sometimes you have to just move forward even if every little detail isn’t in place! The show must go on!

I’ll be there Saturday, June 6, but the Grand Opening is happening all weekend, so stop by and find Claire, cowork on a mosaic she’ll have out on the table and meet some cool new folks.  See you there! (Hint: It’s next to Bizarro’s Restaurant behind 45th and near Stone Way.)

photo courtesy of William Campos

Friend and colleague, Darcey Morgan Howard, and her husband, Kent, needed to sell their house quickly.  Instead of going the usual route: hosting open houses, listing in the MLS and hoping for the best in a down market; they did something smarter… Continue Reading »

Join Carrotmob in Seattle TODAY!  Details here.

This is brilliant. I am excited to see where this Carrotmob takes us. Be part of this cultural-economic tilt-a-whirl on April 22nd when Carrotmob comes to Seattle. According to Seattle Greendrink’s Gabriel Scheer,

Seattle Greendrinks has partnered with the Pike Pub & Brewery to produce Seattle’s first Carrotmob-like event! On 22 April (Earth Day), from 4pm until close, at least 20% (since posting this has increased to 25%) of all sales at the Pike Pub will go back into the store in the form of energy retrofits and other improvements to improve the pub’s efficiency, reduce its waste, and more; in short, we’ll make it a greener pub. Come out & join us - drink & eat and help this great local business reduce their environmental footprint!


Carrotmob Makes It Rain from carrotmob on Vimeo.

I’ve been rethinking some things about my business and identity is at the center of it.  I hate to say crisis, but Erik Erikson who coined the term pretty much describes this to a tee, with a few tweaks to make it all relevant to business.  Continue Reading »

A little in your face, yes, but that’s the tagline for a networking group I joined late last year. It’s called “biznik” and if you are looking for networking events where people actually want to know who you are, not just whether you are a good client for them, biznik is a great alternative to the networking groups that are speaking to fewer and fewer people these days.

Continue Reading »

Kurt Vonnegut died lastnight. He was a great example of someone Continue Reading »

Dear Cell Phone User

Many business owners are afraid of offending their cell phone-wielding customers by posting a “no cell phone policy” in their place of business. They don’t consider that these customers are actually hurting—not helping—business. Continue Reading »

Are you the reason the post office stays open until midnight on April 15th?

Is your idea of logging your miles, basically, not to log your miles?

Do you dig through piles to find everything you need at tax time?

Do the letters I R S give you the willies?

If so, you are not alone. Most business owners have anxiety about the IRS—not because Continue Reading »

We are three months into the new year. How many ideas have you come up with for projects you want to create? For articles or stories you want to write? For products you want to design? For career directions you could take? For business improvements?

You can generate ideas–great ideas–until the cows come home. But what happens once you have a million ideas? Continue Reading »

There’s a lot of bad marketing out there. You know: Marketing that irritates you or insults your intelligence or that simply doesn’t speak to you. I looked to Aretha Franklin for some inspiration in writing this one. Be grateful there is no sound with this article—I am tone deaf. Continue Reading »