From the Road…Not Dazed. Dazzled!
It’s late and we’re tired. But we’re TOTALLY inspired.
That’s how we feel when we’re in the presence of superstars - the kind of people who are building extraordinary businesses from an idea to reality and LOVING it along the way!
The trip in to L.A. last night got us into our hotel at the equivelent of 2am. We were only slightly ticked about the fact that we had to wait about 20 minutes for the valet to bring our bags to our rooms. We were much MORE ticked when, the next morning, they didn’t have Jeff’s drycleaning (wardrobe) ready at 7am like they promised. It was more like 9am and that made us almost an hour late for our day of shooting a "Key Moves" TV commercial for StartupNation. We shrugged off the frustration, though, as soon as we arrived at the first filming location - the office of Lavetta Willis and Dada Footwear.
When you see Lavetta, you basically have no choice but to brighten up. She’s just amazing and radiant - the human embodiment of "there’s no stopping me." She had returned the night before from a production meeting in Taiwan. We caught her today, knowing tomorrow she would get back on a plane tomorrow and fly to NYC. All done up, but barefoot under her desk, Lavetta lit up the camera as she talked about one of her many Key Moves for success.
After getting our footage of her and reading our own lines (jeff wearing his freshly dry cleaned clothes, of course), our film crew jumped in our three cars and wagon-trained across L.A. to meet with yet another inspiring entrepreneur - Abbie Rapport. She’s sold millions upon millions of pieces of jewelry. Like Lavetta, she had also offered to share her Key Moves in our commercial. Abbie had returned from NYC the day before and was scheduled to travel to San Fran tomorrow. But she was totally on today! She showed us some of her latest designs, in between shoots. It was clear to us that she’s still totally passionate about her work.
And now we’ve made it back to our hotel, totally jazzed by having time today with some amazing entrepreneurs. What a privilege it was to be in their environments watching them work their magic. We’re more excited than ever about the potential for StartupNation to help people create their own success, hopefully following in the footsteps of people like Lavetta and Abbie.
March 16th, 2005 at 8:45 am
It’s great to read you inspiring stories of entrepreneurs making good. Keep up the great work.
Bruce Fealk
March 16th, 2005 at 8:51 am
Very impressive guys! Looks great…. I know what I’m doing during my first pot of coffee today!
Mark
September 25th, 2005 at 12:23 pm
I stumbled accross this great site yesterday and feel like a new world has opened! Reading testimonials from fellow business owners who started where I am today - With an idea - a dream to bring that idea to fruition. There are so many tools that have been employed…and several that I have taken note of and hope to incorporate to my plans. There is so much here!!! I am so very pleased to have this site bookmarked for daily use.
Terri Harbin - The Pet Nannie
http://home.bellsouth.net/p/PWP-thepetnannie
September 27th, 2005 at 10:21 am
terri,
thank you so much for the encouragement.
we’re doing our best to create something that’s transformative and empowering.
great to hear that you appreciate our important mission.
wishing you success,
sloan bros
September 27th, 2005 at 10:02 pm
I love to read some of these blogs. I was tired a while ago until I read this one, and now I have a boost. I worked a full day calling on Dr.’s and nursing homes, came home and cooked dinner for my family and took care of my baby girl, ( wife has a hurt knee )researched product labeling on the internet, and made some of my special sauce to give away to my friends. I still do not have a name for it, but I would really appreciate it if anyone out there knows how I would go about getting product labeling and information like calories, cholesterol, sodium, ect… What is required and how do you go about it? I am having a lot of trouble with this!!! Please help…
Regards,
Clint
p.s. Who is the big brother and who is the little brother?
September 28th, 2005 at 5:09 pm
clint,
i (rich) am the younger brother. ("younger" not "little").
that makes jeff the elder. feel free to use the word "geezer" when referring to him. (just joking!)
perhaps this is a good resource for you:
[link=http://www.foodlabels.com/' target='_blank']www.foodlabels.com[/link]
be sure to let us know if this is a good resource for you. i don’t have direct experience with them and would like your feedback so we know whether or not they solved your problem.
best,
rich
September 28th, 2005 at 7:59 pm
Hey Rich,
Wow, thanks for responding so quickly to my question. I’m getting ready to eat some dinner, and then I am on to that website. I am very anxious to see if it will provide me with the information I need. I have to tell you both I love your website and the things you guys are doing to help so many people achieve their dreams! I get juiced every time I come on here! You guys are great, and thanks again!!! I will follow up after I do the research on the site.
Thanks Rich,
Clint
September 29th, 2005 at 9:04 pm
Hi Rich,
http://www.foodlabels.com
This is exactly the type of information I was looking for! There is a wealth of information in four main categories including; nutritional analysis, nutrition facts labels, ingredient statements, and regulatory compliance. The company requires certain product information and measurements to to do the analysis, and the price can range from several hundred up to over a thousand dollars depending on one’s needs. They will work with newcomers trying to get their product into the market as well. I am sending them some questions tomorrow and will continue to move forward in this process. I can’t wait to get my sauce bottled and ready to go. Again, thanks for the resource; it was a tremendous help!!!!!!!!!!!
Clint