7/7/2011

Most people know how controversial the world of child beauty contests can be.  The Learning Channel‘s Toddlers and Tiaras reveals to the world what parents will do to help their child succeed in the ruthless world of beauty and competition.  Sometimes the show is extremely hard to watch, because some of the things the parents put their children through are harsh and cruel.  However, most episodes show how dedicated the children really are when it comes to competitions like this.  Some of them actually love the spot light, and the work, including a 7 year old boy who loves to compete up on stage with the girls.

Last night, on the premier of the latest episode, the show introduced self-described “diva” Brock Ritter.  According to his mother, Tori Ritter, he became interested in pageants at the age of 2, and when expressing his dream at the age of 5 was bullied by fellow students.

“We dealt with it in kindergarten,” Tori explains during an interview on E!. “A couple of boys in his class said dancing was a girls thing. It took the teacher telling them that football players take ballet for them to understand.”

During the E! interview Tori talked about her son very proudly.

“He loves school, he loves to read,” She said.  She also explained that he is currently in a “hardcore” advanced reading program that has him reading way beyond his age group.

He is also a “tap dancing machine,” she explained, “I asked him ‘What kind of dance do you want to do?’ and he said tap. He’s been dancing for six years now.”

As anyone would ask, where is the father in all of this, and how does he feel about it?  Well according to Tori, Dad is the one mixing and cutting all the music Brock dances to, and his routines are a family affair.  “We don’t work with a coach, we play around at home.”  She said.

Brock has already become a pro at dance and gymnastics, and has earned a half dozen first-place trophies.  He also dreams of performing on stage on Broadway one day.  He even makes up his own routines and songs at home according to Tori.

“He’s not your typical kid.”  She explained.

The Detroit that's not in the commercial.

While you read this, bear in mind that House Speaker John Boehner has just said that there must be “trillions of dollars” of cuts from the 2012 budget before the House Republicans will vote to raise the debt ceiling. If we do not raise the ceiling, if we default on our debts by so much as 24 hours, we will literally crash the world’s economy. The Republicans are insisting that all of the cuts come from the 12% of our budget that is “discretionary spending” – that means all our social safety net programs, and from Medicare and Social Security. None must come from defense (where we spend almost half the money spent in the world on defense) and there must be no changes to our tax code or increase in taxes. This is blackmail. In any other scenario, threatening an action that would cause devastating consequences unless a payment is received would be a criminal act.

I can’t really say that the Forbes list of the 400 wealthiest Americans ever interested me too much. That changed when I read that there are almost 500 billionaires in America. Billionaires? Whatever happened to millionaires? When did we hit the point where there were more billionaires than the 400? Just to put these 400 in perspective, they hold as much wealth as the bottom 155,000,000 Americans. Allegedly, if we stripped them of all their wealth, it still wouldn’t amount to the national debt. No one is suggesting they be stripped.

The 400 is an interesting list. Let’s get the good guys out of the way first. Forty-three of the 400 have taken the Buffett-Gates giving pledge. Four of them are in the top ten – Gates, Buffett, Larry Ellison and Michael Bloomberg.

The other six in the top ten are Kochs and Waltons. The exemplify almost all of the people who have a company or industry behind their names. These are the owners of companies that, because they are privately held are classified in the tax codes as “small businesses.” HCA Health, which owns hospitals, has 190,000 employees. Cargill has 130,500. The Kochs have 70,000. The Waltons are the largest employers in the world. These business owners qualify for every tax break that is sold to the public as helping “small businesses.” They also have the ability to keep their personal taxable incomes very low. It’s a little complicated. A company owner can draw only as much money as he or she actually needs for personal expenses. With a really, really good accountant and tax lawyers, H. Ross Perot paid less in personal income taxes in 1991 than a family of four with a median income. Twenty of these 400 made their money in the oil and gas industries, which have their own sets of tax breaks and incentives on top of those available to small businesses.

So, what would these small business owners want from our elected officials? The answer is in a simple phrase “tax expenditures.” Those are the hundreds, maybe thousands of tiny little tax breaks, incentives, deductions, exclusions, whatevers that are available to these companies and their owners. “Tax expenditures” is a true government oxymoron. There is nothing expended by the government. These are the things that prevent the government collecting taxes. Calling them “tax barriers” would be more accurate. Even publicly traded companies – companies that issue stock that can theoretically be purchased by anyone – have their own set of “tax expenditures.” Those are the breaks that not only made it possible for General Electric to pay no taxes, but got them over $3 billion from the U. S. Treasury in tax returns – on the taxes they didn’t pay.

103 of the 400 made their billions in hedge funds, money management, investments, leveraged buyouts, equity trading, and venture capitol. While my friend was watching her 401k lose over $60,000 in one day, these people were moving into the billionaire classification. They have one big tax advantage – the capital gains tax rate. Let’s just take one man – hedge fund manager John Paulson. One one deal, the one Goldman Sachs admitted was a shitty one, he turned over a $3 billion profit for his clients. He was gambling that our mortgages would be foreclosed because the people holding our adjustable rate mortgages decided it was better to foreclose than to keep the rates affordable. As the manager of the hedge fund, he only paid the 15% capital gains tax rate on his commission, instead of the 35% income tax rate. That’s a 20% savings. It isn’t just the investors who only pay a 15% tax on the profit they make when they sell stocks, it’s the people who arrange those sales who also benefit from those tax rates. One quarter of these people are on this list because of the deregulation of the financial industry. The capital gains tax was instituted to encourage people to invest in businesses, not to push their brokers into the Forbes 400.

So, what would these 103 want from our elected officials? Repeal of the financial reform law passed last year that didn’t really go far enough to protect us from another stock market dive.

In the #5 and #6 slots on the 400 are the Koch brothers. They are the most blatant and open about their contributions to political causes. They have funded some of the most “respected” conservative think tanks – The Heritage Foundation, The Cato Institute and others, most with very patriotic names. These groups direct conservative public policy. The also funded Americans for Prosperity, the big name in the Tea Party movement. Rupert Murdoch is at #38. He has a whole television and newspaper empire to help protect his $6.2 billion by twisting the news to make people vote for politicians who will then shaft them to help out the top 2%.

There are people on this list who are not doing everything possible to elect Republicans who will protect their “tax expenditures” and repeal financial services reform. George Soros is at #14. Buffett, Gates, the other 41 believe that they should give back in some way. Soros’ MoveOn.org isn’t enough. It isn’t any of these people who are funding organizations that are in the top ten groups funding elections. Only the three largest unions are funding Democrats and are in the top ten. Those unions are being attacked by the people on this list who don’t want to pay decent wages or give decent benefits.

They are also, amazingly, the people who are most resistant to the idea of nationalized health. For decades, other businessmen have said that a nationalized health system is what this country needs to compete in the global marketplace. Thirty years ago, Lee Iacocca said that health insurance added over $1,000 to the price of every American-made car. No one even talks about that anymore. We pay almost twice as much per person for health care as the next most expensive country and don’t crack the top ten for health care delivery. The difference in our costs is in the for-profit nature of our health care industry and the insurance industry, not in superior health care.

To give these people and their companies even more tax breaks, Florida Governor Rick Scott wants to cut $1.6+ billion from education and public services. Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin wants to cut $1 billion. These aren’t cuts that will balance their state budgets. They are just ways to give more money to that top 2% of Americans.

To achieve this, they have convinced a large part of the electorate that the goal is to cut taxes for the 98% of us, to cut off welfare to illegal immigrants who can’t get welfare, to cut off unemployement benefits because those subsistence payments make people lazy. To increase the Waltons’ share of those billions, they spread the doctrine that part-time jobs with no benefits is the new definition of employment. To protect the billions made by those owning retail chains, they are pushing the idea that unions are bad, so that the nascient movement to unionize their own stores will die. It’s been remarkably successful – persuading people that we should strip union workers of their pay and benefits to bring them down to the lower level all of us are supposed to accept. To fulfill the Kochs’ John Birch Society vision, they convince people that immigration is wrong and everyone who isn’t “like us” must be driven out – Jews, Muslims, Hispanics, Asians, everyone who isn’t white and protestant. And when all else fails, they hitch themselves to religious issues like abortion and gay rights to win votes, covering up what they will really do with a smoke screen of piety. They have focused in on two small aspects of the Bible to ignore the overwhelming messages of charity and rejecting wealth. When you’ve got Murdoch’s media network to spread the narrative, and the internet to spread the outright lies and conspiracy theories, it gets really easy to control what people think.

The consequences of allowing the Republican agenda to succeed are in our past – the past we don’t teach anymore because we have allowed history to be downgraded. Before unions, we worked in sweatshops where we died from unsafe conditions – fibers in the air crippling our lungs, locked doors that trapped us during fires, mines that collapsed. Before food stamps, our seniors ate cat food and poor children suffered developmental problems because of poor nuitrition. Before Medicaid and Medicare people died because they couldn’t afford simple medical care. Before Roe v. Wade, thousands of women were permanently maimed and died of illegal abortions. Before the Civil Rights movement, not only blacks, but Hispanics, Asians, Jews, anyone considered “different” suffered killings, physical abuse and denial of basic rights. Millions died of influenza in over-crowded tenements. There are real reasons these programs came into being. There are real reasons unions were founded. There are real reasons we took the promise of equality into new laws and new protections. In the world before World War I, that Pollyanna world that is evoked when Tea Party candidates talk about taking our country back, a few people became fabulously rich, a small number became comfortably rich, and the majority lived just one step ahead of starvation, disability, disease, and early deaths. Only one heir of those fabulously rich is still on the 400.

There are 303 million of us who are getting screwed by this agenda. The challenge is to make half of us see the facts and understand just what they are getting if they take back our country – to the 19^th century.

.

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Mr. Gay World 2011 - Francois Nel, South Africa

CAPE TOWN – The South African LGBTI community is ecstatic -  Francois Nel, Mr. Gay South Africa has won Mr. Gay World today!  He also helped secure South Africa, Johannesburg as the 2012 location for Mr. Gay World. This is the second year in a row that Mr. Gay World has been a South African.

How did I know that Francois would do his Country proud ?  I met Francois, Mr. Gay South Africa, in Cape Town the week before he left for the Pageant in Manila, socialized with him,  mutual friends and activists and had the great pleasure of spending an afternoon alone, interviewing him and sharing our thoughts and ideas about the state of LGBTI in South Africa and the Continent.

We published my lengthy interview with him last week and found that his personality, commitment to social justice and compassionate activism far outweighed his physical magnificence- hard to beat!

A small excerpt from our chat:

If we look at our past it has been very eventful  - we have moved truly toward s being a rainbow nation  – a Mecca of different cultures and societies. Look at soccer world cup – what we embody as a nation is so unique to us and we have a constitution that most other competing countries do not have – that includes gender ID and Sexual orientation so I feel my ambassadorship is critical in this competition.

I am very excited to work with like minded individuals from all over the world. It is as much about our unity as it is about the competition itself.

We all want to educate about being gay, Lesbian, transgender and bisexual. We all want to show how it is to be open…

We want 2012 to be on African continent and I hope we can bring it here…..” read more  Interview with Mr. Gay South Africa on his Way to Manila for Mr. Gay World (lezgetreal.com)

And Indeed he did it!!

By Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com
Facebook Melanie
twitter @oblogdeeoblogda

Congratulation from the GALS et al, at LezGetReal

Mr. Gay World, Francois Nel & Melanie Nathan

==============================================================================================

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Posted by Melanie Nathan- Feb 10-11

The prestigious Harvard Law Review elected an openly gay student as president for the first time.

Second year Harvard Law School student Mitchell Reich told the Harvard Crimson he is happy to be the 125th president of the valued student-run publication. He also recognizes the importance of being an openly gay leader—previously, he said, he wasn’t sure if he could be successful if he were openly gay and he recognizes this milestone’s significance.

“If I had seen someone who was the president of the Harvard Law Review and [also] openly gay, that would have been helpful to me,” Reich told the Crimson.

Reich was educated at Yale College and Dalton School. As president, Reich assumes the responsibilities of the editor-in-chief, managing the staff and overseeing the publication of scholarly articles.

SOURCE

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Hey Lezzies, Welcome back to “Ask A Femme.” I’m Natasia and I will be fielding your questions on love, dating, career, family and friendship. This week, we have something new from our usual love/dating advice! I do know about more than those two topics. This week, we have a blogger who is struggling with her writing. You won’t want to miss this one!

Hi Femme,

I know you are a blogger, I am too. Do you ever have the problem where you have something you want to write about and every time you sit to write it, it comes out sounding stupid? I have 2 blogs I want to write, and I started the first one and literally gave up in the middle of a sentence halfway thru because it didn’t sound like my voice at all. It feels like I am forcing it. How can I fix this? Help!

SOS

Hi SOS,
Hell yeah I have that problem! I would love to meet someone who hasn’t. I really hear two questions here; 1) “What do I do when my writing turns out stupid?” and 2) “What do I do when something sounds forced?”
1) It’s probably not stupid. Hearing your own voice is really hard for writers and a lot of people experience self doubt. I would recommend that you show the piece to someone you really trust, like your BFF or a family member who will reassure you that it’s not stupid (any maybe let you know if it is!) In the end, if you like the piece, write it and publish it. The good part of blogs is that you really are able to develop your writing and as time goes by and you get more and more practice, you will get better and better. Chances are if you keep blogging for a year, when you go back and read your earlier posts, you won’t like them as much. That’s just the way things go.

2) If it’s forced, delete it. Completely delete it and start all over again. It’s really hard to throw out something you have worked on, but you shouldn’t scrap the core of the post. Try writing it in a different perspective, like if you were writing in first person, switch to third person and remove yourself from the equation. Second person (addressing your audience directly, as “you”) is less popular in print writing but it’s really popular for blogs. Also, if you are trying to tell a chronological story, try starting from the middle instead of the beginning or from the beginning if you started with the middle. Switch it up, try to have fun with it!
I hope that helped! Good luck, SOS.
Have a question for me? Email askafemme@yahoo.com

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LA based lesbian photographer, Aimee Boschet, is putting the beauty of tattoos on display. Her newest project is photographing tattooed individuals in ways that put their tattoos on the forefront. While the project is ongoing, I love the out-of-the-mainstream looks that Aimee is featuring, especially when it comes to young, queer women.

For the Real L Word lovers, you might want to friend Aimee on Facebook. Aimee is in talks with playgirl Whitney to feature her for the shoot, as well as with the owner of Fubar, the hangout that was frequented by the ladies on the show.  If you are in LA and would like to be considered for the photo shoot, shoot her an FB message! For more pics of hot girls (oh yeah and artistic shots) check out Aimee’s website http://www.aimeeboschetphotography.blogspot.com/ or be her fan on Facebook by clicking HERE

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San Francisco: Breaking – For the past 15 years openly gay, renowned DJ, radio host, and creator of San Francisco’s longest running global dance radio show “House Nation, who goes by the name St John, has been a feature, honing his iconic talent and superstar ACT at the annual San Francisco LGBT Pride.

But this year something smells a little off.  Sources inform us, that the event which would usually pride itself on tradition has succumbed to the demands of one of its  corporate sponsors, CLEAR CHANNEL.   Clear Chanel (yes the very clear channel, air-wave home to Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck,) and a major SF Pride 2010 sponsor has demanded the banning of ST. John and two other well known GAY Morning DJ’s; all three axed, shunned and rejected despite their years of entrenched relationship with the event.

St. John, described as  Superstar in the growing world of  mix was extremely popular at Clear Channel’s Wild 94.9 for 14 years, and then moved to CBS’s. Movin’ 99.7, KMVQ-FM.

St. John’s energetic style has made him a staple internationally from Brazil to Canada, and nation-wide from New York’s Limelight to San Francisco’s Ruby Skye. With multiple CD releases on major labels such as Thrive and UBL Recordings, St. John has sold over a quarter-million albums and in 2010 continues to work on exciting new projects.

The exclusion may be attributed to corporate wrangling and competitive venom between CBS and Clear Channel. Yet on wonders just how San Francisco pride fits into this mix of loyalty gone awry?

Since it was not only St John who made the move, but also other DJ’s and Michael Martin, once Program Director for Clear Channel and now Vice President of Programming for CBS RADIO San Francisco. The retribution could also be attributed to Martin who did not hide his excitement when St John left  Clear Channel to join CBS: “I am beyond excited to have him join MOViN!  His skill, passion, precision and drive to win are an inspiration to all who work with him and the detriment to those who try to compete against him,” said Martin.

Should we as a marginalized and discriminated against community stand behind our heroes? Or should we accept demanding sponsors who are giving SF Pride the profits off the  millions made and paid to the likes of homophobic and anti American  Limbaugh and Beck.

For St. John the feelings were mutual when he joined CBS; – “I’m thrilled to be reunited with programming legend Michael Martin. Together we’ve dominated ratings in both the Bay Area and Los Angeles and when St John moved asserted: “I can’t wait to work with him to do it again at my new home CBS RADIO San Francisco.”

Each year, Pride works with the event media partners, such as Clear Channel home to the likes of right wing lunatics – Limbaugh and Beck, to bring a televised and  radio broadcasts of the SF Pride Parade. SF Pride producers assert that they have been able to expand the coverage of the Parade to include a full-length, unedited online broadcast in addition to televised coverage the evening following the Parade’s conclusion.

Since St. John left clear channel, it is became apparent that punitive motives would follow the star, and that attempts would  be made to relegate his well earned reverence in the world of cool music and especially his vested platform at PRIDE.

St. John, clearly hurt by San Francisco Pride’s rejection of his talent, and his years of service was loathe to make any derogatory remarks at all either toward SF Pride or Clear Channel.

From my interview it was clear that not only is St John a good man, he is modest and is not willing to speak of  the enormous contributions he has made to fighting HIV/AIDS and helping those in need.

In furthering his career he is now being punished by his own community.  Not only is he a talent but he is an open voice to tens and thousands of a younger generation who hold him in the highest esteem, reaching across the gay- straight lines amongst the youngsters, where it really counts.

When asked for his comments  he told me: “Its been a long  journey with San Francisco Pride; I am proud  to have  been  apart of a great service to the community and hope that maybe I can find a way to continue to be so.”

I will say one thing and that is if Clear Channel tried to impose a ban on any gay performer of any kind with a history and credentials such as ST, John, I for one would rather risk their sponsorship!

The Organizers of San Francisco Pride were contacted for comment but no response was received.

Clear Channel Communications,  Inc.. (OTCBB:CCMO) is a global media and entertainment company specializing in mobile and on-demand entertainment and information services for local communities and premiere opportunities for advertisers. Based in San Antonio, Texas, the company’s businesses include radio and outdoor displays. More information is available at www.clearchannel.com.

By Melanie Nathan
Nathan@privatecourts.com
@oblogdeeoblogda
Get me on – FACE BOOK .

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4-20-10- Melanie Nathan; The Women’s Conference® community is a global network of women who gather every year at the nation’s premier forum for women, hosted by California First Lady Maria Shriver and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. For two full days, more than 100 internationally-acclaimed leaders, visionaries, authors, journalists and artists come together with more than 25,000 women from all walks of life to be educated, inspired and empowered to be Architects of Change in their own lives, within their communities and around the world.

Beyond the annual event, The Women’s Conference community gathers daily online at www.WomensConference.org and throughout the year at events that serve, support and strengthen the larger community. The mission of The Women’s Conference is to create Architects of Change – people who see a problem and seek to create the solution, be it in their homes, their communities, their states or the world.

The Women’s Conference has become a “must attend” transformational event and full day passes sell out in record-breaking time each year. In 2009, tickets sold out in less than two hours. In response to this surging popularity and demand, The Conference expanded the event to two full days with the addition of A Day of Transformation and Night at The Village.

May 14-16:      I Can Do It! San Diego Conference

The Mind, Body & Soul Retreat featuring dozens of your favorite speakers including Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, Marianne Williamson, Cheryl Richardson, Joan Z. Borysenko, Ph.D., Louise L. Hay, and many more workshops ranging from health to spirituality.

• San Diego Convention Center

For more information visit www.icandoit.net or call 800-654-5126

June 9:     The Women’s Conference Press Announcement

Two weeks prior to registration, The Women’s Conference 2010 announces conference events, speakers & ticket information. Information will be available at www.womensconference.org.

June 23:    The Women’s Conference 2010 Online Ticket Registration

(Please note: Date is subject to change.)

To learn more about The Women’s Conference 2010, click HERE.

**Check out The Great Giveaway for a chance to win 2 free Special Guest Passes to The Women’s Conference 2010.

September 10-12:    Best Buddies Challenge

JOIN TEAM MARIA on a cycling adventure along the Pacific Coast Highway from Carmel to the Hearst Castle in San Simeon, which also includes an optional 5K & 3K walk. For more information, click HERE.

October 10:     Pier del Sol

JOIN US at a family festival & fundraiser for Special Olympics, Southern California

• Santa Monica Pier & Pacific Park
• 10am – 2pm

October 25-26:     The Women’s Conference 2010

The Nation’s Premier Forum for Women

• A Day of Health, Wellness & Transformation and Night at The Village – Oct. 25
• A Day of Empowerment & The Minerva Awards – Oct. 26
• Long Beach Convention Center
• To learn more about The Women’s Conference 2010, click HERE.

**Check out The Great Giveaway for a chance to win 2 free Special Guest Passes to The Women’s Conference 2010.

December 7:    Season of Giving Event – Sacramento

The Women’s Conference supports a statewide holiday food drive and tree lighting event.

• California State Capitol, Sacramento

December 14:    California Hall of Fame Event – Sacramento

To honor legendary people who embody California’s innovative spirit.

• The California Museum, Sacramento
• Visit www.californiamuseum.org

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

The Women’s Conference 2010

October 25 & 26

Posted by Melanie Nathan

from Site of Womens Conference

  O K K I E S (ah-keez’) n.: plural of Okkie, familiar form of Oscar   – When I first arrived in New York City from South Africa, albeit an attorney , my foreign-ness made finding work near impossible.  I moved to Los Angeles and soon found myself running around the City with one of Los Angeles’ most well known celebrity stylists.  As it happens Lauren Landau Hines is my first cousin and I could not be more proud of her achievements.  She scooped me in her protective arms and I was able to help her with Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation, working specifically with the late great Cyd Charrise who had a cameo in one of the music videos as well as a few other exciting projects.  Lauren has since honed her skills to fill a gap (no pun intended) -  she found that there was no loose comfortable  stylish clothes for boys.

Although accomplished, Lauren is probably the single most modest person one could meet, never touting her  ‘own horn’ and it’s a big one that should be blasted loudly. There is barely an issue of People, US, OK and other tabloids that does not show a celebrity child wearing one of Lauren’s simple and recognizable  OKKIE designs.  Now Lauren tells her career story in her own words:-

The thread that repeatedly weaves its way through my life and career is, well, literally thread. Actually, it’s the cut, color and fabrication of clothing that are among my most important memories and, later, my influences.

Born in South Africa, I attended a conservative elementary school that required me to wear uniform dress – a blazer, button-down shirt, skirt, hat and tie. Freedom came at the end of the day and on weekends when I donned my favorite outfit: bright yellow cropped palazzo pants paired with a tank top. I can picture the pants clearly; I remember how they felt against my body.  

At 14, my family and I immigrated to Los Angeles, where in High School, freed from a dress code, clothing was a means of self-expression. I used my mom’s idle sewing machine to make my own clothes that broadcast my membership in the artsy crowd. I was really into upholstery fabric in high school, I made an upholstery fabric pajama outfit with gold buttons that I lived in.

After high school, I moved to New York City to attend design school. Soon my school internship turned into a full-time job: I worked as a freelance editorial stylist for Interview, Details and Face, the fashion-forward magazines of the day. My work was heavily influenced by the aesthetic of my favorite designers Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo, whose clothing lines continue to inspire. These Japanese designers effortlessly reduce fashion to simple sophistication; it is amazing how they delineate colors using a monochromatic color palette. And their designs artfully balance practicality with playfulness, seriousness with humor. Yet their clothes don’t overwhelm, instead they enable the wearer to express his or her own personality. 

In 1987 I returned to LA to broaden my freelance stylist and costume designer career. I created costumes for music videos, concert tours and album covers, adding Janet Jackson, the Rolling Stones and Sting, to my client list. I also collaborated with television and print-ad directors styling and designing costumes for A-List commercial accounts such as Coke, Nike and Visa/MasterCard.

In 2001 I added motherhood to my resume with the birth of Hugo and, later, Oscar – nicknamed Okkie by his big brother. Watching my two young, constantly moving boys was easier than finding boy-appropriate clothing. At that time, girls had many fashion choices, boys much fewer. I struggled to find comfortable, easy-care, hip boys’ wear. Choices seemed locked into a few silhouettes merchandised in standard denims, fleeces and twills, in boy-accepted primary colors.

It was in the limited boys’ wear market that I saw opportunity. In 2005, as a natural next-step in my 20 years experience in the fashion industry, I designed and introduced OKKIES, a line of boys’ pants. With four pant silhouettes merchandised in a variety of fashion-forward colorations and menswear patterns, OKKIES debuted in five stores its first season. By fall 2006, I was designated best new designer by the online children’s clothing expert jamesgirone.com. In October 2008, Earnshaw’s national retail survey named OKKIES one of the top three best-designed collections in the boys’ wear industry. 

I am very excited to introduce my newest lifestyle-designed collection: OKKIES ‘girl’, a full line of feminine, but not frilly, interpretations of OKKIES’ best-selling silhouettes, for fall, 2009.

OKKIES girls’ wear Fall 2009 line features 16 styles in a full line silhouettes – from pants to shirts, dresses to leggings, sweaters, jackets and beanies – for size 3 months to 12 years. OKKIES boys’ wear Fall 2009 line features 19 styles – from pants to shirts, sweaters and hoodies, to beanies also for sizes 3 months to 12 years.

I have created OKKIES as a lifestyle approach to clothing – a lifestyle of ease of wear, clothing that allows them to move, stretch, run, climb and relax without restriction. For parents, that lifestyle is about comfort and more. It’s about clothes that are high-quality; that are wash-and-wear; that are appropriate for a full day of activity, going from a play date to dinner with grandma; that reflect an awareness and appreciation of fashion trends without being fussy or over done; that don’t express ‘generic kid’ but allows an individual’s personality to shine.

Up until now OKKIES have been available in over 500 specialty stores throughout the country, but moving forward, we will be offering our lifestyle approach to clothing directly to our customers on our website.

 Enjoy! go to http://okkies.com/information.php/about-i-1     You can take advantage of the online 48 hour sale – great Holiday Gifts

Posted by Melanie Nathan

 Follow my Twittering  @oblogdeeoblogda

A local Las Vegas company announced today that they had been ripped off by two grifters from not just out of town but from out of the country.

Giuliano Celano and his partner in crime Ellen Woo (who also goes by various aliases including: Ellen Veyer, Ellen Wu, Juling Woo, Juling Veyer, Juling Wu) claimed to have a manufacturing plant in China that makes the “Shakti Mat” — as seen on Google and Ebay. Turns out the couple not only have no ethics or integrity but not a dime to their names. They travel from Las Vegas to New York City to Miami trying to find people who will “fund them” for their business. They are allegedly in China now. The Las Vegas company DID NOT front any money but spent time building a plan for the two for a business venture.

This information is sent as a warning to ANY local business here in Nevada or anywhere around the world. Giuliano Celano and Ellen Veyer or whatever name she is using cannot and should not be trusted as they welch on written contracts.

 

Organizations like the Lambda Community Center, Immigration Equality, the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the ACLU and other organizations are looking to expand their operations and hire employees to help them do it.

The Gay Girls Jobs job board filters through all jobs posted online and displays the jobs that are considered “lesbian friendly”.

You can search for jobs that are full-time, part-time, contract, seasonal, permanent, temporary, volunteer, or internships. Jobs can be found in a variety of industries with a wide array of occupations to choose from.

Lesbian friendly employers can post jobs directly to the Gay Girls Jobs job board for just $5 for a 45 day posting.

Jobs posted directly to our board are displayed above those that have been filtered from the internet, and are also syndicated via the Gay Girls Jobs RSS Feed.

If you are a gay girl looking for employment or an employer offering lesbian friendly employment, be sure to take a look at Gay Girls Jobs to see if we have what you need.

Here are the links:

Gay Girls Jobs: Job Board

Gay Girls Jobs: Post a Job

Gay Girls Jobs: RSS Feed

If you want to start your own job board you can do so by visiting www.jobamatic.com.

Julie Phineas is a work at home mom of 2 who lives in Southern California. You can find out more about her online by visiting her website at www.juliephineas.com.

Work for Grassroots Campaigns on Equality California’s campaign to restore marriage equality in California! During the past 10 years, Equality California has worked with the Legislature and the courts to ensure that all loving and committed couples have the right to marry in California. Prop 8 passed by a slim majority, eliminating the right of same-sex couples to marry.

By working with Grassroots Campaigns this summer, you will educate the public, recruit supporters and raise funds to ensure that Equality California can continue fighting to restore rights for all Californians.

Make a difference while learning great skills and earning valuable campaign experience!

Grassroots Campaigns, Inc. has worked with a wide array of organizations, including the Democratic National Committee, MoveON PAC, Amnesty International, Save the Children, the Sierra Club, and Environmental Action.

Earn $335-$535/week. Full-time and management positions are available now.

Call Chris at 310-441-1712

* Location: Westwood
* Compensation: $1300-$2100 monthly

Super-Size Training For Management Offered After Kentucky Incident

It has been a nine month process but the customers that were the target of gay slurs by employees at a Kentucky McDonald’s have won.

9 months ago Ryan Marlatt, Teddy Eggers, and three other friends had stopped for lunch at a McDonald’s restaurant on East Market Street while visiting Louisville for the weekend. While waiting for their order, an employee behind the counter referred to them as “faggots” to another employee. When Marlatt and Eggers objected to the slur and asked to speak with a manager, the employee began arguing with them. Thinkgs escalated and the employee repeatedly called them “faggots” in front of other customers and called one of them a “cocksucker” and “bitch.”

Today, McDonald’s agreed to a cash settlement of $2,000 each and diversity training for management at 30 of it’s Louisville-area locations.

The Fairness Campaign, the local grassroots organization fighting for LGBT rights, played a big part in today’s result.
Chris Hartman, Director of the Fairness Campaign had this to say,

First, let me say—this is a victory!

And second, let me remind you that if this discrimination had occurred almost anywhere else in the Commonwealth, there would be no legal recourse…because with the exception of Lexington, Covington, and Louisville, it is still perfectly legal to discriminate in Kentucky on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. And that’s not Fair.

We cannot allow basic civil rights to be denied in Kentucky any longer—we need a statewide Fairness Law so our brothers and sisters across the Commonwealth do not have to suffer the humiliation of name-calling in a public restaurant, cannot be fired from their jobs, or be denied housing based solely on their gender identity or sexual orientation.

This case is perfect proof that Kentucky’s Future must be Fair. This is one step towards equal civil rights in the Commonwealth of
Kentucky—let’s take countless more.

The American Civil Liberties Union made the following statement

“The reason we made such a big deal out of this to begin with was because we didn’t want it happening to anyone else, so I’m very glad McDonald’s management is going to be having these trainings,” said Eggers of Indianapolis, Indiana. “We were hurt and upset, but at least we’re adults and can handle being called names. We hated thinking that this kind of harassment might also happen to someone young and vulnerable who would really take it to heart.”

The supervisor on duty refused to refund the group’s purchase, so Marlatt attempted several times in the following weeks to contact both the general manager of the McDonald’s and the corporate offices, with no results. Louisville law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, so the ACLU filed a complaint in September on behalf of Marlatt and Eggers with the Louisville Human Relations Commission. In October, representatives of a variety of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender groups as well as other civil rights organizations protested at the downtown Louisville McDonald’s where the incident took place.

Although Marlatt and Eggers only asked for $28, McDonald’s offered them $2000 each on its own, which they accepted, Sun said. The Louisville Human Relations Commission has been thoroughly investigating Eggers and Marlatt’s complaint since it was filed last September and helped negotiate the settlement between the parties.

“We’re really grateful to the Louisville Metro Human Relations Commission for its investigation, as well as to our friends at the Fairness Campaign, and commonGround at the University of Louisville, for keeping the pressure on McDonald’s to do the right thing,” said Michael Aldridge, Executive Director of the ACLU of Kentucky. “While we’re fortunate to have a law banning sexual orientation discrimination in Louisville, this goes to show that it’s still important to speak out and do something about it when your rights are violated.”

“McDonald’s could have saved itself a lot of embarrassment if they’d just done the right thing from the start and done something about this, but it’s great that so many people stood up for us and came forward to say treating people the way we were treated is wrong,” said Marlatt. “We just hope the trainings keep McDonald’s from letting this happen to any of their customers from now on.”

When their Louisville Human Relations Commission complaint was filed, Marlatt and Eggers asked for a refund of the money they spent on the McDonald’s meal, and asked that one employee – the cashier who objected to the other employee’s name-calling – be commended. “She was the only employee in the whole place who tried to help us,” said Eggers. “I hope she hears about this and knows how much we appreciated her sticking up for us.”

“While we wish Ryan, Teddy, and their friends hadn’t had to go through this whole experience to begin with, we’re glad that at least McDonald’s is taking steps to prevent anything like this from happening again in the future,” said Christine Sun, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project who is representing Marlatt and Eggers. “Businesses should treat all of their customers with respect regardless of their sexual orientation.”

A video of Marlatt and Eggers telling the story of what happened to them as well as their complaint to the Human Relations Commission can be found at http://www.aclu.org/lgbt/discrim/36781res20080916.html.

Lezzymom has two kids and a wonderful partner. Her political commentary has appeared on C-Span and CSPAN.org. Visit her Lezzymom blog for more of her insights.

I have been working from home online for a few years now, and my business is to help others earn an income from home online. I help many people monetize their websites, not just lesbians, but as a lesbian myself I have found that there are only a handful of programs out there that are designed specifically for lesbians.

For the most part I showcase opportunities that are generic or mainstream, and have no problem helping my clients find sponsors and opportunities to monetize as long as they’re not gay or lesbian.

What I have found though is that once I take on a client who is a member of the LGBT community, finding sponsorships and opportunities becomes double work for me. We really have to work hard to find products and services that the LGBT community have a need for and that is not provided by a company engaged in anti-gay activity.

For example, I have over a hundred online dating sites that I have sponsorship options with, and eHarmony is one of them.

No lesbian webmasters that I know of are interested in touching that sponsorship option with a ten foot pole! Maybe now that Lindsay Lohan put a fake profile commercial together endorsing eHarmony on Funny or Die, but still I’m not putting any money on that bet.

However, there are 3 programs that I recommend to everyone, LGBT or hetero – they are Adify, Amazon, and AdSense.

These are three monetization options that I consider mandatory for all who are interested in monetizing a site online. I use AdSense and Adify on all of my websites, and use Amazon links in many of my posts.

The next best option is to sign up for what are called affiliate programs.

There are some large affiliate networks that host many affiliate programs within their site and the ones I recommend for lesbian webmasters are CJ ( they offer Love and Pride, Fabugo, Gay.com, Match.com, more); LinkShare (they offer Orbitz, Chemistry); and ShareASale (they offer MyPartner.com, OneLove Networks). With these affiliate networks you join the main site and then apply for individual programs after you’ve been approved.

Other affiliate programs I recommend are those that are offered by a particular website itself.

You will usually see a link at the bottom of their site that will say “Affiliates”, “Webmasters”, “Referrals”, “Partners”, “Make Money” or some other term identifying that there is a opportunity available to earn a commission on any sales you might send their way.

Here is a list of the independent programs I am a part of and that I recommend for other lesbian webmasters like myself:

LESBIAN DATING AFFILIATE PROGRAMS:

LDate.com

CupidMedia

Singles Cash

LGBT MEDIA AFFILIATE PROGRAMS:

Wolfe Video

TLA Video

GAY PRIDE AFFILIATE PROGRAMS:

Queer Republic Tees

Rainbow Depot

Over the Rainbow

Always Proud

ADULT PRODUCT AFFILIATE PROGRAMS:

BabeLand

Good Vibes

Sapphic Cash

Verotel (No Fauxx, Good Dyke P*rn)

CC Bill (Lez Love, Crash Pad Series)

Movie Dollars (various)

So you can see the list is not that long if you consider the thousands of programs available to mainstream markets.

It did take me some time to find these programs for lesbian webmasters so I hope this list has helped someone else out there to save some time and find some good sponsors for their websites.

If you know of a good affiliate program for lesbian webmasters, be sure to let us all know by adding the link in our comments.

Julie Phineas is a work at home mom of 2 who lives in Southern California. You can find out more about her online by visiting her website at www.juliephineas.com.
]]> http://lezgetreal.com/2009/04/affiliate-programs-for-lesbian-webmasters/feed/ 15 http://lezgetreal.com/2009/03/gay-ad-network-pulls-a-fast-one/ http://lezgetreal.com/2009/03/gay-ad-network-pulls-a-fast-one/#comments Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:00:34 +0000 ~Julie Phineas~ http://lezgetreal.com/?p=6986 If you’re a lesbian webmaster, you might be a member of The Gay Ad Network.

As a professional blogger, I have many different sponsor options through programs like LinkShare, Share a Sale, and Share Results; yet as a lesbian webmaster I have been confined to sharing ads for mainstream sponsors on the blog I have for lesbians because there is no lesbian specific ad network. For any lesbian specific advertisements I have always had to join gay ad programs and hope that they had creative with women featured instead of just men.

Over time I have found many different lesbian websites that have their own in-house ad programs, and have refined my lesbian specific sponsors down to a nice well rounded list; but it still wasn’t satisfying to me.

As a professional blogger I give advice to others through my various blogs on certain topics and on my blog about internet business I talk about how you can earn an income online. If you read that blog I will tell you, if you are a webmaster/site owner you MUST include an impression based advertisement on all of the pages of your site. I say at least one, but if you can put more than one that is even better. The reason for this is because you will earn a fraction of a cent each time your page is viewed. Nobody has to click or buy, they just have to see the ad.

In my opinion, this is the easiest way to capture income online; however, there are not many ad networks that will pay you for this, aside from Google AdSense, unless you have a top notch site or blog.

One ad network that I tell every site owner about is Adify. Adify is the host to a handful of ad networks, and after you are approved by them you have access to a variety of ad networks to apply to. One such network is The Gay Ad Network which is the host to all of the impression based ads I run on all LGBT sites I manage, such as LezGetReal.

The Gay Ad Network has been one of the sites I have had to incorporate into my lesbian blogs and then pray that they have ads with creative images of women.

However, I was really falling short of what I wanted until recently, when I noticed that advertisers like Olivia.com (which is another site I blog for) and other lesbian specific advertisiers were being displayed. When I went in to check my ad buys, the Lesbian Ad Network logo caught my eye!

It seems as though the Gay Ad Network released the lesbian specific Lesbian Ad Network, and I am already a part of it!

(**If you are a member of the Gay Ad Network, be sure to check your ad buys and optimize your settings for your target market. )

Here is the press release I found on the new site for the Lesbian Ad Network from February 24th:

Lesbian Ad Network Launches with Advertiser Support

Chemistry.com and Switzerland Tourism Sign On as Launch Sponsors

NEW YORK, February 24, 2009 — Gay Ad Network, the category leading gay media network, today announced the launch of Lesbian Ad Network with Chemistry.com and Switzerland Tourism as the official network launch partners. Lesbian Ad Network is comprised of the world’s leading lesbian brands and offers a unique platform for reaching the lesbian market across branded content sites and blogs, with custom editorial sponsorships, viral widget syndication, and video advertising.

“For years, Chemistry.com has sparked serious relationships regardless of sexual orientation,” says Mandy Ginsberg, SVP and General Manager of Chemistry.com. “We’re excited to be a part of this initiative and will continue to support all singles looking for love.”

“Switzerland is a premier destination for the LGBT community, including Zurich as the proud host city of the Euro Pride 2009,” said Alex Herrmann, Director North America of Switzerland Tourism.” With our increased commitment to online marketing and new technologies, Lesbian Ad Network offers a perfect opportunity to reach our valued lesbian target group.”

Curve, the best-selling lesbian magazine, Wolfe Video, the premier company providing feature films and DVDs about and to lesbians, and Olivia, the leader in creating extraordinary experiences for lesbians, have joined TheLWordOnline, GaydarGirls, TheDinah, and more than two dozen other online publishers to create the first major advertising network targeting the lesbian market.

“Our brand is known around the world as the leader in lesbian travel and cruise vacation experiences,” said Judy Dlugacz, Founder, Olivia. “We welcome the opportunity to engage more advertisers online and on board to get immersed in the entire Olivia experience. ”

“We are replicating our successful gay online advertising model and expanding it to the lesbian market,” said Scott Mazer, VP Sales, Gay Ad Network. “We intend to leverage behavioral targeting, geo-targeting, content targeting and campaign optimization from our technology partner, Adify, to drive successful brand metrics and performance-based results within this vertical niche.”

The lesbian market is beginning to attract increased attention from advertisers as more market research and qualified media reach has become available. Consumer Marketing, Inc.’s Lesbian Consumer Index reports that lesbians have a median annual household income of $80,000, with 80% of those households being childless. Lesbians’ higher disposable income relative to the general population is especially relevant in the current economic climate.

About Gay Ad Network
Gay Ad Network and Lesbian Ad Network together form the category leading gay media network, reaching over 4 million unique users per month. Gay Ad Network and Lesbian Ad Network are divisions of Family Powered Networks LLC, a privately held company that provides advertising and marketing services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender publishers and companies targeting the LGBT market.

About Adify
Adify Corporation is the premier vertical ad network management company and an independent, wholly owned subsidiary of Cox TMI Inc., part of Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises, one of the nation’s leading media companies and providers of automotive services.

Julie Phineas is a work at home mom of 2 who lives in Southern California. You can find out more about her online by visiting her website at www.juliephineas.com.
]]> http://lezgetreal.com/2009/03/gay-ad-network-pulls-a-fast-one/feed/ 4 http://lezgetreal.com/2009/03/homosexual-no-job/ http://lezgetreal.com/2009/03/homosexual-no-job/#comments Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:00:17 +0000 kaylatate http://lezgetreal.com/?p=6189 I just noticed something while looking over my resume and hunting for a job.

A lot of companies are homophobic. So what, if I’m gay, I don’t get the job because I’m out and proud? (In some cases, it may not be the store, it may just be the manager.)

See that line right up there? I should NOT have to worry about that, especially in this day and age. I mean, come on, this is ridiculous. We’re at the point where you have to hide your sexuality and who you are just for a job. Why should I have to hide who I am just because some people think it’s a sin, or that we are like the walking plague and they might catch it, just so that they can feel comfortable?

Why should I have to stop holding hands with my girlfriend when I walk pass my place of work? Why should I have to hide? Why can a heterosexual couple that works there flaunt their relationship, when I can’t even dare to dream of flaunting mine?

Just a few moments ago, I was downstairs of my girlfriend’s house and talking to one of her relatives about resumes because I’m going job searching today. I was said something like, “Oh, I can put down that I voluntarily write for lezgetreal.com, that shows something.” She replied with, “What if they’re homophobic and they read that?”

That just hit my last nerve. I, at age 19, should not have to worry about things like this, whether people like it or not.

WE ARE HERE, WE ARE QUEER, GET USED TO IT!

It seems that not enough people are getting used to homosexuality. I mean, it’s not like we haven’t been around forever. There’s writings about Caeser being gay and other icons back then, so it’s not like we just appeared out of no where blindsiding everyone.

I’m not saying that I would be going around wearing a T-shirt that’s brightly colored saying, “I’M GAY, LOOK AT ME!” I just want to be able to go to an interview and or place of business, hand in my resume and not have to worry about whether or not I’m going to get hired because the Manager or other employee might be homophobic.

Kayla Tate is a 19 year old high school graduate looking to attend Winnipeg Technical for Carpentry. Kayla had a 19 year old mid-life crisis and decided that her voice needs to be heard, so she writes to help the LGBT community.

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, today released its annual list of “Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality.”  In 2009, 260 companies were awarded this distinction for their employment policies and practices that include LGBT workers.  A complete list of the honored businesses is available online: www.hrc.org/placestowork.

“As our nation faces unprecedented economic challenges, people are being forced to make important decisions about their career’s and livelihood.  ‘Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality’ helps job-seekers identify the most inclusive businesses for LGBT workers,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.  “Though equal opportunity and benefits are not the only factors that prospective employees should consider, they are vital to ensuring a business values and respects its LGBT workforce.”

The “Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality” distinction is awarded to businesses that scored 100% on the HRC Foundation’s 2009 Corporate Equality Index, the primary method for businesses to benchmark and evaluate their policies, practices and diversity efforts relating to LGBT workers.  The index evaluates non-discrimination policies, benefits, diversity training and other internal resources for LGBT workers, as well as external support for LGBT consumers and job seekers.  Released in early September, the 2009 Corporate Equality Index report is available online at www.hrc.org/cei.

Lezzymom has two kids and a wonderful partner. Her political commentary has appeared on C-Span and CSPAN.org. Visit her Lezzymom blog for more of her insights.

I’ve always been a fan of Pepsi… this commercial just affirms my adoration of the brand.

Cyndi Wiley lives in the cornfields of Iowa, owns a graphic design studio, and is a volunteer extraordinaire and social media junkie. You can find her main site, Studio3b on the web here.

It’s FREE to submit if you are a creative professional.

That’s right, FREE, and no limit to the number of submissions you can submit. Now that is a change from the $50 + fees of others contests.

Check it out here:
http://www.designingforthegreatergood.com/submissions.html

Cyndi Wiley lives in the cornfields of Iowa, owns a graphic design studio, and is a volunteer extraordinaire and social media junkie. You can find her main site, Studio3b on the web here.

Let’s look at this from a branding perspective.

The pastor does not wear a suit and tie. He is dressed in fashionable jeans that say he’s casual, approachable and modern. Yet his message disregards any modern interpretation of the Bible. Never mind feminism, you won’t find him discussing Mary’s strength and persistence or even the inclination that she was one of Jesus’ disciples. He uses street lingo to speak directly to his audience, making a common connection. So he’s making connections that speak directly to his target YouTube audience and local Seattle neighborhood. It’s branding at its best.

He has the appearance of embracing popular youth culture, but he’s more of a poser than anything else. True youth culture is often rebellious and more open minded about such topics that he preaches against.

I prefer to believe in God sharing dominion with humankind, where I have free will to make choices that are not predetermined. Reminds me of those choose your own ending books that I read as a kid in the ’80s.

So his “brand” does not appeal to me, but does to 7,600 visitors to his church.

Cyndi Wiley lives in the cornfields of Iowa, owns a graphic design studio, and is a volunteer extraordinaire and social media junkie. You can find her main site, Studio3b on the web here.

You need at least 13 impressions to start to be effective with direct mail. Same goes for bulk email, advertising, etc. Kiss your money goodbye if you don’t follow through with a consistent marketing plan over at least a 6-month time frame. 12 months is better.

2. Figure ROI based on one marketing effort

ROI means Return on Investment. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch, you will need to calculate ROI over a period of time. At least 6 months, but again 12 is better.

3. Not planning ahead

Plan ahead to develop a marketing strategy that is clear, consistent and takes advantage of seasonal peaks and valleys for your business. Also, make sure you give your designer plenty of time for the creative process to create an effective marketing piece. And let them be creative! Don’t stifle that. Once your designer is finished, then leave enough time (5-10 business days) for printing if it’s a print piece, or the same amount of time if you need web programming. Not all projects are the same and should be treated individually with turn around time taken into consideration.

4. Constantly in a rush

If you are constantly in a rush, you are not planning ahead appropriately. Don’t be surprised if your costs are double or triple what they could be if not a rush job. Plan ahead and save major bucks.

5. “I don’t know,” is your default answer

Your marketing professional is only as good as the information you provide. If you don’t have a good idea of who is buying your product or service, spend some extra time with your marketing person to figure this out. You can’t do anything until you find out what audience you appeal to.

6. Thinking that EVERYONE is your customer or should be

This lands a lot of small business owners in a pit. Contrary to popular belief, not every person is or should be your customer. The most successful small businesses are those that figure out this crucial piece of info fast. Find a niche and fit into it. Work with a marketing professional to help you refine your message.

7. Starting a business to make money

If your main motivation in starting a business is making money, then you will never be successful. You must love what you do and understand all the ups and downs of being a business owner. Talk to a business coach or other small business owners to create a pros and cons list. If you are doing the right thing, profits will follow.

8. You aren’t hiring people smarter than you are

If you don’t hire people that are experts in their field you will not grow your business. I’m a designer, so I hire a CPA to help me with the finances. Flip this around, if you are a CPA then hire a designer to design your logo.

9. Design your marketing materials using Word

Hire a professional designer to apply their expertise and skill when you need any marketing piece. A bonus is to find a designer that understands marketing and branding too. Ask for references and do your homework. Find the right designer and develop a long term relationship.

10. Have a shitty business card

I think this is the number one mistake that most people make. I can’t even count how many business cards I have that were printed on those Office Depot business card tearoffs. These look like crap, stop using them! You want to make a good and memorable impression. Again, hire a professional designer and get them printed professionally. You can get 500 full color on both sides, printed on nice, thick cardstock for less than $50. You can also hire a professional designer for less than you might think. Email me!

Cyndi Wiley lives in the cornfields of Iowa, owns a graphic design studio, and is a volunteer extraordinaire and social media junkie. You can find her main site, Studio3b on the web here.

Cyndi Wiley lives in the cornfields of Iowa, owns a graphic design studio, and is a volunteer extraordinaire and social media junkie. You can find her main site, Studio3b on the web here.

“Australia’s only lesbian community grants program, Lesbians Incorporated (LInc) has announced the availability of a $10,000 grant.

LInc has provided lesbians and lesbian-friendly organisations with financial assistance through its community grants scheme since 2000, distributing over $75,000 for a range of activities.

Lesbians and lesbian-friendly organisations may apply for grants up to $500 at any time and around every 18 months, LInc funds one large grant of up to $10,000.

“In an effort to inspire creativity, imagination, ambition and community, Lesbians Incorporated has created a $10,000 grant category,” said LInc co-convenor Megan Slinning. “It’s the largest single amount we have made available since the start of the community grants scheme in 2000. The successful applicant or applicants will be announced on International Women’s Day next year.”

The article goes on to say:

“The large grant scheme is aimed at supporting innovative broad-based community projects. Applications for projects solely of benefit to individuals will not be accepted. Essential criteria include relevant experience and a detailed budget proposal.

LInc is made up of funds initially donated by lesbians across Australia in the late ’80s and early ’90s through the Lesbian Space Project and other community fundraising projects. Income is derived from invested funds and distributed annually in the form of grants.

Previous recipients include Sheila Autonomista Festival, Slit magazine, Scooter Collective, Giggling Gertie comedy workshop and the Women’s Library.

The closing date for applications is January 31, 2009. For more information and to download an application package, visit www.lincgrants.org.au.”

SX News is the leading gay and lesbian newspaper in Australia.

Julie Phineas is a work at home mom of 2 who lives in Southern California. You can find out more about her online by visiting her website at www.juliephineas.com.

Printed pieces need 300dpi to print crisply without bitmapping or blurring. A 72dpi image may look fine on your computer screen, but will print blurry.

When I need to purchase photos, I have a slew of trusted online resources that I search for photography that provide a license for use and a high resolution version or I use an actual photographer for suitable images. When you hire a professional designer, that person should adhere to ethical standards within our industry when it comes to photos.

Cyndi Wiley lives in the cornfields of Iowa, owns a graphic design studio, and is a volunteer extraordinaire and social media junkie. You can find her main site, Studio3b on the web here.

How important is the small business vote? Extremely important to this election. So important that a plumber who no one knew about just a few weeks ago has been catapulted to stardom overnight. The McCain campaign claims that Obama’s policies will raise taxes and stifle business growth. Obama says that 90% of small businesses will get a tax cut under his plan and incentive to pay for employee health care. So who is right and who is wrong? Lespreneur did the research and this is what we found. If you want to know who stands in your corner as a small business owner, it’s Barack Obama.

Here are 5 reasons why:

1. Health Care

Obama clearly understands the burden of rising health care costs on the small business owner. Obama’s Small Business Health Tax Credit will work alongside other aspects of his health care plan to lower costs and improve competitiveness for America’s small businesses, including:

Access to a Low-cost National Health Exchange:

The Obama health care plan will provide small businesses with new opportunities to buy low-cost, high quality health plans for their employees through a national exchange similar that will allow small businesses to get the same benefits of spreading risk and administrative costs over a large pool that larger businesses currently enjoy.

Reduced Volatility and Lower Costs by Reimbursing Catastrophic Costs:

The Obama plan will reimburse employer health plans for a portion of the catastrophic costs they incur above a threshold if they guarantee such savings are used to reduce the cost of workers’ premiums. This reimbursement (often called reinsurance) is particularly important for small business plans, which can be overwhelmed by the costs of catastrophic expenditures for even a single employee.

Investment in Cost Reduction and Quality Improvement Strategies:

The Obama plan will aggressively lower health costs by facilitating broad adoption of standards-based electronic health information systems, and other value-increasing innovations improving chronic care management, and increasing insurance market competition.

What McCain says: McCain simply wants us to shop for healthcare, he wants to provide a 5,000 tax credit for care which on average costs $12,000. The math is simple on this one.

2. Women & Minority Owned Businesses

To create greater opportunities for women business owners who would like to do business with the federal government, Obama and Biden will implement the Women Owned Business contracting program that was signed into law by President Bill Clinton, but has yet to be implemented by the Bush Administration. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will strengthen Small Business Administration programs that provide capital to minority-owned businesses, support outreach programs that help minority business owners apply for loans, and work to encourage the growth and capacity of minority firms.

What McCain says: Nothing

3. Bridging the Digital Divide

Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe we can get true broadband to every community in America through a combination of reform of the Universal Service Fund, better use of the nation’s wireless spectrum, promotion of next-generation technologies, and new tax and loan incentives. As a key step to achieving full broadband access, Obama believes the Federal Communications Commission should provide an accurate map of broadband availability using a true definition of broadband instead of the current 200 kbs standard and an assessment of obstacles to fuller broadband penetration.

What McCain says: Nada

4. Business Incubators

Obama and Biden will invest $250 million per year to increase the number and size of incubators in disadvantaged communities throughout the country.

What McCain says: Zilch

5. Increased Funding and Access to Capital

Barack Obama cosponsored the bipartisan Small Business Lending Reauthorization and Improvements Act. This bill expands the Small Business Administration’s loan and micro-loan programs which provide startup and long-term financing that small firms cannot receive through normal channels. Obama and Biden will work to help more entrepreneurs get loans, expand the network of lenders, and simplify the loan approval process.

What McCain says: He wants to cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%. So who wins here? You guessed…big businesses. You know the Exxon’s, the JP Morgans, etc…

But don’t just take my word for it, do your own fact checking.

Check out Obama’s complete plan here and McCains not-so-complete plan is available here.

No matter who your candidate is (but I hope it’s Barack Obama) just be sure to cast your vote on November 4th!!

Yours,
Lespreneur

Tammy Freeman is a small business expert, she loves entrepreneurship and finding ways to save a buck or two. She resides with her partner and their children in the Washington, DC metro area. Tammy’s latest venture, “Lespreneur: A Magazine for Lesbian Entrepreneurs” is coming soon to lespreneur.wordpress.com. Her personal musings, rants, thoughts and raves can be found on her blog: Pink Chocolate Sunshine.

I was open and honest with my employer about my side business and was careful not to interfere with my responsibilities at my day job. However, after some time I was bringing in more freelance jobs and realized that I could no longer do both. In 2007, I left my full time job and have transitioned to working full time for myself. I have added embroidery and screen printing to my repertoire and do both in-house. I believe that graphic design is art and treat my designs as such, by applying color theory and design principles that I learned while studying art and art history at the University of Missouri in Columbia.

Having the courage to throw myself into the fire was my biggest obstacle.

It does take an extraordinary amount of discipline since I office at home. Scheduling meetings outside of the house is a must. There are some days where my only conversations happen over the phone or via email and those days I find that I talk to my four-legged coworkers more than usual.

What obstacles do you face?

Cyndi Wiley lives in the cornfields of Iowa, owns a graphic design studio, and is a volunteer extraordinaire and social media junkie. You can find her main site, Studio3b on the web here.

Nathan T. Wright, founder of Lava Row, turned me onto a handful of social media outlets. I need to send him a check for this advice that he so willingly shared with me over coffee. Nathan, the check is in the mail! No seriously, I really am going to mail you one.

Here is what I use:

Cyndi Wiley lives in the cornfields of Iowa, owns a graphic design studio, and is a volunteer extraordinaire and social media junkie. You can find her main site, Studio3b on the web here.

Easy… existing clients. Existing clients should be the main focus of any marketing campaign. Why? Well, for me I know these clients use professional designers. For you, it may be that you know those clients have bought your products and like your brand. That’s always a question that I ask when I’m approaching new clients and it’s one that many business persons ask themselves. So many businesses overlook their current clients in search of the ever elusive audience “X.” What is audience “X?” It is the audience that many companies laud as bringing them into making their millions. If they can just tap into the surface of this audience, they would be set! This is a HUGE misconception.

If you don’t know your target audience, then you will NEVER get to audience “X.”

Spend more time looking at your current clients and ask them why they buy your product or service. You can’t answer these questions fairly, so let your customers do it for you. Put a survey out there. Survey Monkey is one online-based company. You could also consider sending a survey in the mail. Ask appropriate questions and hire someone to put the survey together for you. This person or company should be a true third party and unbiased. The better the questions, the better the results. You might be surprised at what your customers are saying. Fix the bad and push the good.

I always focus my marketing efforts on appealing to my current clients.

Chances are if you have developed a loyal group of clients like I have, then what you do for them will also get you new business. 85% of my business is from repeat customers. This is far above the average for any designer. Why is this true for me? I take care of problems when they arise, I listen and I do a good job.

Many of my colleagues would argue that new clients are the way to go to grow your business.

You do need to find new clients, but you can’t do this at the expense of your current clients. Your current clients are the ones that have helped you grow your business thus far and they should not be ignored. Sometimes you make mistakes and clients disappear. Sometimes you do everything right and clients still disappear. Do what you can to find out why you’ve lost a client and fix it for the next client that comes your way. If you learn from past experiences, then you have not made a mistake. If you continue in the same pattern and don’t learn from past experiences, then you’ll have to call them mistakes.

Keep an open mind.

Know that you can’t please everyone all the time and say no to the projects or customers that drag you down emotionally or are too time consuming. No matter how much they pay. Do the right thing and profits will follow. Take time to get know your clients and enjoy spending time with them as people. Stop looking at them as dollar signs. Stop letting money rule your world. All that will bring you is heartache. Ask yourself, what will I have if all my money goes away? Spend time with your friends and family. Am I saying take a vow of poverty?
Absolutely not, but what I am saying is to take on projects that feed your soul and treat your clients as fellow human beings.

Remember – do the right thing and profits will follow.

Volunteer, donate some money or your time to your favorite non profit organization. Ask yourself, “When is enough, enough?” Ben Franklin asked this question and decided not to patent all of his inventions to benefit the greater good. He said one day that he had enough. Enough money, enough resources, enough. He wanted others to have enough. So get up early in the morning, go to bed early and be healthy, wealthy and wise. Don’t forget to ask yourself when enough is enough.

Cyndi Wiley lives in the cornfields of Iowa, owns a graphic design studio, and is a volunteer extraordinaire and social media junkie. You can find her main site, Studio3b on the web here.

I had feared that I would lose business and even had visions of bricks flying through my office windows. I do not say “Hi, I’m Cyndi and I’m gay”, when shaking someone’s hand, but I don’t hide who I was created to be. I don’t do the pronoun game when speaking of my partner. I refer to her as “she,” when asked about my personal life. In the past I would not assign a pronoun of he or she when speaking about our relationship. I left it extremely ambiguous and often left the other person wondering why my speech was pronoun free.

I have been able to form stronger client relationships by being nonchalant about myself.

I have found that the more comfortable I am with myself, the more comfortable my clients and contacts have been. In any aspect, not just about being gay. The more confident I am in my design ability, the better I am at presenting myself and my work. It seems so silly now to look back and see where I was and where I am today in relation to self confidence.

Have I lost business because of my choice to out myself? Probably, but I don’t like to work with the close-minded anyway.

Cyndi Wiley lives in the cornfields of Iowa, owns a graphic design studio, and is a volunteer extraordinary and social media junkie. You can find her main site, Studio3b on the web here.