Posted by Sara Lopez on July 7th, 2011 ~
0 Comments My five kids are all grown up now, doing well thanks, and as I look back on things related to parenting I think I’ve discovered something worth sharing. It’s about dad time with young kids.
Our oldest was born in 1972 and our youngest in 1987, and in our case, during those 15 years a lot of things changed.
With the younger ones I was a lot more involved in the gritty details, like giving them bottles in the middle of the night, and changing diapers.
With the older ones, in contrast, I just wasn’t there that much. We lived in Mexico City, I worked much longer hours, there were no computers for productivity, and I’d leave home at 7 a.m. and get back at 8 p.m. My wife had more help too, because her family is from Mexico City.
We moved back to the United States from Mexico in 1979. I discovered computers and modems and worked much more at home. And my wife needed a lot more help because she was alone with multiple children. So I discovered babies and toddlers and diapers and all that from a radically different point of view.
What happened was that those kid chores, diapers and bottles and all, that nobody thinks they want to do? Dads wh
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Tags: Young, Young Fathers
Posted by Sara Lopez on July 7th, 2011 ~
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She Owns It
Portraits of women entrepreneurs.
In April, I wrote about the Pipeline Fund Fellowship, which is training its inaugural group of 10 female fellows to become angel investors. Since then, the fellows have moved several steps closer to choosing the business that will receive their pooled resources of $50,000. During a daylong event held last month at Eileen Fisher headquarters in Irvington, N.Y., they heard pitches from 10 start-ups seeking financing and narrowed the field to three. Of those, one will be chosen to receive the $50,000.
A total of 52 companies applied to pitch. Pursuant to Pipeline Fund Fellowship rules, each had to be a for-profit, social venture led by a woman. “In about a third of the applications, it was clear people hadn’t listened,” said Conor Barnes, a fellow and a bookkeeper with Good Cents Bookkeeping, a provider of financial management services for small businesses.
Ms. Barnes said that in the weeks before the event the fellows quickly eliminated applicants who failed to satisfy basic requirements and invited 13 companies to pitch (three declined for various reasons). Each
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Tags: Angel Investors, Investors
Posted by Sara Lopez on July 7th, 2011 ~
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Start-Up Chronicle
Getting a restaurant off the ground.
Tokyo turnips. French radishes. The light and the land of Bridgehampton can grow anything. Lemon balm. Thai basil. When Paul Hamilton is the gardener, throw in sugar snaps and heirloom eggplants. When his makeshift staff includes four chefs with green thumbs and a closed-down kitchen, you can depend on lovely sorrel and Vietnamese coriander.
The garden blossoms. The owner wilts. Last week, I found myself singing the permit perdition blues to Paul Hamilton as he planted red chili peppers. After his ear was unduly bent, he asked one quiet question:
“Do you know Laurie Wiltshire?” “No. Should I?” “She might be able to help. She’s a good friend.” “I’ll talk to anybody any time.” “I’ll call Laurie. Fifty people are out of work because you can’t get a permit. That’s crazy.” “I have to be open by July 4th, Paul.”
Paul called Laurie. Laurie called me. Ten minutes later, I was on the phone with Mr. Big in the building department of Southampton. He cracked a few jokes I didn’t g
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Tags: Restaurant, Restaurant Open
Posted by Brian Reed on July 6th, 2011 ~
0 Comments Janet Herlihy/special to the caller-times Charlie Maroon has built Coastal Carpet and Carpet Warehouse on a foundation of honesty and delivering first rate products with great customer service.
— Coastal Carpet Services/Carpet Warehouse
Charlie Maroon, Owner
Address: 6237 Old Brownsville Road, Corpus Christi
Company description: Coastal Carpet Services sells and installs carpet, carpet padding, vinyl, ceramic tile, vinyl planks and carpet remnants at affordable prices. Carpet Warehouse stocks a large inventory of carpet that allows customers to choose carpet and take it home the same day. We also make custom area rugs.
Hometown: San Diego, Calif.
Years in business: 30 years
Tenure in position: 24 years
Your Education: My formal education ended with the ninth grade.
First job: When I was 12 years old, I was cleaning recreational vehicles at a dealership. I learned that I could get paid for putting in time and effort. When I was 15, I had taken a trip to Omaha for the holidays and didn’t have any money for presents, so I got a job at McDonalds to afford Christmas gifts. I
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Tags: Charlie Maroon, Maroon
Posted by Brian Reed on July 4th, 2011 ~
0 Comments MSHA CITATIONS
Read the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s recent violation reports for Sherwin Alumina. The company is contesting the citations.
— Sherwin Alumina Co. is contesting citations issued for 41 violations assessed during May inspections of its Gregory plant by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration, a company official said.
The list includes 35 citations and six unwarrantable failure orders, or more serious violations that can result in partial closure of a facility until matters are corrected, according to agency regulations.
No areas of the Gregory plant were closed because of the inspections, and Sherwin Alumina took corrective action for all violations, company spokeswoman Sarah Barnes said in a statement.
The violations were part of more than 400 citations and orders issued nationwide in May against 15 coal mines and four mills, according to an agency news release.
Sherwin Alumina has filed formal protests with the mine safety agency’s administrative law court, Barnes said.
Examples of citations issued at Sherwin Alumina included a 6-inch valve leaking caustic material onto the floor, which posed a slip and fall hazard and potential severe burns for employees, records show.
In another instance, a 2½-foot by 2-foot opening on a washer tank had a cover that wasn’t properly bolted, exposing employees to hot material, reports show.
Failure order examples included unguarded conveyor belts that could injure employees. An
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Tags: Health, Health Administration, Sherwin Alumina
Posted by Brian Reed on July 4th, 2011 ~
0 Comments It’s the Fourth of July here in the U.S., and small business owners around the world are celebrating their independence with increased activity in the online space. Working online allows small businesses access to new global markets, opportunities for new low cost marketing options and an incredible new array of networking and other tools. Here’s our roundup of tips for the online entrepreneur. Have something you think we’ve missed? Share it in the comment section below:
Blogging
Does your business have a blog? Lots of businesses do and are finding the benefits offered by business blogging. Giving your small business an enhanced online presence could include experimenting with the many advanced features a blog offers. A simple Website may not cut it these days. What do you want to achieve with your business communications? A blog may help.
Monetization basics. Yes, businesses can make money online and, yes, your blog could become more than simply a Website marketing another business. It could be your business. But befo
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Tags: Online, Online Entrepreneur
Posted by Sara Lopez on July 4th, 2011 ~
0 Comments Vanda Asapahu was living in Bangkok working in public health with the United Nations until two years ago. That’s when her parents back in Los Angeles told her they were planning to retire from the Thai restaurant they had been running for six years and asked her to come home to take over the business with her brother.
She obliged and soon found herself strategizing with her brother about how to build the business. Not that the restaurant wasn’t modestly successful. Though Ayara Thai Cuisine is tucked away in an unglamorous neighborhood by the airport, it had built a good word-of-mouth reputation among foodies. And now its good reviews on Yelp were increasingly bringing in an additional stream of younger, tech-savvy customers. But could the younger Asapahus do something to leverage that trend and take the business to the next level?
Ms. Asapahu had an idea: quick response codes. These postage-stamp-like printed codes — they look a bit like complex mazes — can be read by just about any camera-equipped smartphone supplemented with one of many freely available apps. When yo
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