The Pinque, Inc. Diaries

Marketing Wednesday is about thinking BIG!

Hello everyone! I'm here on beautiful Cape Cod having a bit of working vacation. It's been chock full of business and relaxation, but no matter where I am.. it's Wednesday and we all know that it's time to Market! What have you been doing to get your business name out there?

As you all know, Marketing Wednesday always follows MakeMinePink.com Tuesday night marketing chat. I always have a topic in mind but don't always get to topic. Last night we talked about THINKING BIG and the opportunities awaiting us if we care to kick things up a notch.

More specifically, having our products manufactured. Naturally this isn't something that would work for everyone..but is the natural progression for many.
We are very excited about a new business relationship that is being formed with a manufacturer that can and will change the way some of us do business. Over the coming months, we'll explore manufacturing and trade shows and anticipate incorporating a wonderful new program into the membership benefits of Make Mine Pink that will help members take that GIANT STEP to manufacturing!

If there's one thing I've learned along the way.. change is necessary for growth. Won't you join us at Make Mine Pink as we are always looking for ways to grow our businesses? We'd love to have you!

For more information about membership, please visit www.makeminepink.com/join/about.

Have a great week and please remember to MIND YOUR BUSINESS!

 

Make Mine Pink.. Mother's Day Shop Hop

Won't you join us for the Make Mine Pink Mother's Day Shop Hop?

MakeMinePink.com will be offering a Mother's Day Shop Hop starting on April 21st, 2008 and ending on May 10th, 2008. The shop hop is open to anyone that would like to participate (limit one registration per physical address). You can register now but remember that the hop doesn't start until the 21st.

MakeMinePink.com your premier shopping and networking site
CottageCollections.com Unique Feminine Web Design for Small Business

The tale of Chicago continues...

Happy Saturday morning! The sun is shining here in Virginia and I finally have a minute to continue the Chicago Tales!

Saturday Morning, the day of the Women Entrepreneur event was upon me too fast! I woke up SICK (as in flu sick) and needed at least 2 hours more than I had to get ready! My hair was not cooperating and I had bags under my eyes that were pretty darn scary! Luckily the medication I was taking dulled my senses and I wasn't even the least bit nervous. I managed to get myself ready with the help of Jim. Jim did all my ironing and put up with all my whining! I rushed down to the ballroom just in time for mini videos and a group pic of all the entrepreneurs. In my fog I didn't bring my own camera so I missed out on some great opportunities to get some photo of the other women. After our photo op with Country Living I raced down to the Lobby to see if I could catch any of the MMP girls. I sure wasn't disappointed!

Left to Right..

Lori - Katie's Rose Cottage
Joyce - MMP and Cottage Collections
Roxie - Business in the Bag
Janet - Janet's Creative Pillows

Another Lobby Photo!

Left to Right.....

Michelle - Rose Petals and Blooms
Carol - Clutterbug Studio
Karen - Sweet necessi-Teas
Me - MMP and Cottage Collections
Dianne - Mamas Pocketbook

After a quick reunion in the lobby it was time to get upstairs for the start of the Country Living Women Entrepreneur event where I was so fortunate enough to be recognized as one of their women entrepreneurs for 2008! Yay! What a fun and exciting day this promised to be! I had over 20 of my MMP peeps here to help me celebrate this honor. This was a day I won't soon forget.

The Country Living Women Entrepreneurs: A Celebration of Creativity included several really amazing speakers:

Nancy Soriano, The Editor-in-Chief of Country Living was/is an inspiration to us all!

Anna Griffin, founder Anna Griffin, Inc; Well she needs no introduction. She was humble and sweet and so deserving of where she is today!

Susan Mernit, Yahoo! Product Developer; She's Nancy Soriano's sister and it was quickly clear just why she was so proud of her. She and amazing and smart woman, full of knowledge and confidence.

Heather Bailey, www.hellomynameisheather.com; Well we all know her in the blog world. She has one of the most talked about blogs EVER! It was a pleasure to meet her.

Beth Ferreira, Etsy, Inc; It was nice to put a face to Etsy and hear how they are working hard to help handcrafters make a name for themselves.

Lena West, CEO of xynomedia.com; What can I say about Lena! She's warm, funny and so knowledgeable. I could have listened to her all day. She is a force of her own! I am so excited that Lena will be leading a workshop at our first MMP retreat/conference!

Ann Fox & Donna King, founders of Room Service Home; Wow.. This is one of my favorite on-line boutiques. It was a pleasure to hear how they have built their business on the web.

Tamara Monosoff founder & CEO, Mom Inventors, Inc - I'm so sorry that I just didn't have a chance to speak with her more. Every time we tried we got interrupted! I hope I'll have the opportunity again some time in the future. She's an amazing woman and is has much of the same philosophy we do here at MMP.

All in all it was an amazing day! I wasn't disappointed with one single segment of the conference. I was so proud to be a part of such an amazing group of women. Pretty much like I feel every single day on make Mine Pink!

To be continued.....

Chicago... Part II if you dare!

Friday Morning was a bustle of activity at the brownstone waiting for our guests to arrive! I wondered who would be the first.. my guess was Michelle from Rose Petals and Blooms. I was wrong! It was sweet Sita hauling her pink pillow and suitcase up the street from the parking lot! Who knew Make Mine Pink would be so much fun?!?    

What can I say about Sita? She's as pretty as she is sweet and smart! She's the real deal.. and look at that hair!! We got to spend a little time with Sita before the next group of attendees arrived!

Sita owns the on-line business Silverspoonscraps.com.

If you haven't had a chance to visit, you should do that now! She's really talented and just about ready to make her mark I think!

Did you notice the Tiara Sita is wearing? Well she didn't come into the brownstone with it on.. but she had it at hand and ready for the upcoming Outrageous Tiara Contest to be held Saturday night after the Country Living Event!Look at the silver spoons on the Tiara! Pretty amazing!

Well...after a short visit with Sita.. the next group arrived! Sharon of CestChouetteHome.com, Karen of SweetNecessi-teas.com, Lori of KatiesRoseCottage.com and Carol of Clutterbugstudio.com all came bustling in the front door yelling their greetings up the stairs! I knew right then and there that the festivities were about to begin! After quick hugs and greetings we rushed up the stairs to chat for a few minutes before I had to head off to get ready for the Country Living Dinner! I was excited about meeting all the panelists, but at the same time, sad about leaving the MMP girls!

I'm searching for a picture of the 4 new arrivals and will post as soon as I find one! Ok.. found pics but all in their outrageous tiaras!

Lori far left..Sharon top right..Carol middle right and Karen bottom right!

Shortly after the 2nd group arrived... Roxie and Dianne found their way to the brownstone! After a short visit, I had to leave the group behind to head to the hotel where I'd begin getting ready for the dinner hosted by Country Living!

Continued..............

CHICAGO... the unedited version... PART 1

I am SO late even starting to blog our trip to the the Country Living Event in Chicago! But I'll do my best to catch everyone up without writing a novel!

Just to bring you up to speed and to toot my own horn yet again.. We loaded up the truck and headed to Chicago last week where I was being honored as one of the women Entrepreneurs for 2008 by Country Living Magazine for my work at MakeMinePink.com. We decided not to fly and thankfully so because we were loaded to the max! The trip was uneventful if you would consider bad hotels uneventful. That story is for another time! We made great time and pulled up to the brownstone we were renting in the city right on time Thursday morning! It was not exactly what I expected (another story for another time) but I had high hopes for the inside!

With the help of Jim and Katie we unloaded the car and explored the first floor apartment which was all we had access to the first day. I Hi-Hosey'd my bedroom and Katie and I started working on a room assignment for all the girls that would be arriving on Friday! How exciting! It was almost here! I was so looking forward to meeting everyone, but wait... is that a cough I have? A sore throat? Naahhh it can't be! I would NEVER.. ever get sick on such an important (cough) weekend!
There was much to plan and arrange before everyone started to arrive the next day, so we headed out to explore the city and find a target or walmart where we could grocery shop and pick up an air bed or two in case we needed an extra. Our exploration took us hours and we didn't actually make it back to the brownstone until about 9pm! After some serious hauling and unpacking we settled in for what would be the little rest we got the whole trip! from Friday morning on.. it was a whirlwind of activity everywhere!

TO BE CONTINUED.............

Queen for a day at Make Mine Pink!

   As you may be aware, the members of Make Mine Pink who are attending the Country Living's WE afternoon are having a contest also ~ "The Most Outrageous Tiara Contest"~ where we will see each others tiaras up close and personal. So as not to leave anyone out of the 'fun'  Make Mine Pink will be hosting "Queen for a Day" on the Make Mine Pink.com public forum.

Here are the rules of participate:

Design and create your outrageous PINK Tiara yourself.
Submit 1-2 pictures of you wearing your Tiara by Tuesday March 18th! (it must be YOU in the picture wearing the tiara)

All pics will be posted and a vote will take place! Only current and participating forum members will be allowed to vote!

The winner will receive the beautiful tiara ring and the gorgeous book-Crowns & Tiaras.

All forum members NOT attending the Chicago event are eligible to win this fabulous prize!

Make Mine Pink and Cottage Collections are a Division of Pinque, Inc.

Meet the inspiring Susan Branch

"I think one of the most important things you can do is be yourself," says Susan Branch in her recent interview with Cathy Scalise of Treasured Heirlooms. "Love and cultivate friends along the way; we're all here together sharing the planet at this time", she continues. "You can offer help to others, and they can offer it to you. I've been lifted by the kindness of others, and I try to pay it back by doing some lifting myself. And, overnight success is probably nice, but you become more as you age, so, let yourself gather information, knowledge, credibility, and show yourself through your work. Don't be in a hurry. Read and learn. One of my favorite quotes is actually a proverb: “Pray to God, but continue to row toward shore.”
To read more of Cathy's interview with Susan Branch, visit MMP's Women Who Inspire.

What an exciting week we're having at MakeMinePink.com!

As we've been promising over the past few weeks, the Make Mine Pink CHRISTMAS EXTRAVAGANZA has begun!

Good Morning! It's Monday December 3rd and even here in warm and sunny Virginia there's a chill in the air and it's starting to feel like Christmas! We don't have snow and ice but we have the Christmas trees plugged in and I'm having my coffee while going through my recipe book to share one of my favorite recipes!

On every occasion in our family, I get called on to bring the Italian cookies. Everyone always says,"but no-one makes them like you do!" They know all the right things to say to get me to double the batch and be sure that there are plenty for everyone to take some home with them!

Frosted Italian Cookies

3/4 Cup Butter
1 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup of milk
3 eggs
1 tablespoon anise extract

1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder (mix with flour so it gets evenly disbursed)
3 1/2 cups of flour

Preheat oven to 350

Beat Butter and sugar
add eggs one at a time and beat well
stir in milk and extract.

Add all dry ingredients and mix well.
Cover and refrigerate for about an hour

Roll into balls and bake for 10 minutes or until just lightly browned on the bottom.

Cool on wire rack until ready to frost.

Frosting: Use
2 Cups Powdered Sugar
1/2 tsp Anise Extract
3 Tablespoons butter
milk as needed to soft spreadable consistency.
(My Mother used a simple glaze of powdered sugar, anise extract and hot water, making it thin enough to dip the tops into glaze. My family likes more frosting so I revised the frosting recipe as noted above.

I hope you enjoy these as much as my family does.

Frost and enjoy! 

You wouldn't believe what we have going on at Make Mine Pink Now!

We try to mix as much fun with work as possible! We always have something exciting going on at Makeminepink.com. Last week we started our 2nd annual angel tree project! We had so many generous donations last year to a family in need that we decided to up the stakes! In addition to sponsoring a special family, we'll be drawing as many names for the angel tree as we can! What makes this years challenge so exciting is that Make Mine Pink is giving back to all of our members that pledge to our angel tree project! Initially we were going to hold a drawing for a free Little Pink Boutique Membership for 2008 BUT.. in the spirit of giving, Santa Mama Bear is filling a gift basket to overflowing with goodies! We'll have 2 drawings instead of 1! I'll add a new gift to the basket each and every day until we draw on December 2nd!

Visit the Make Mine Pink Forum for more details!

Interview with Amy Butler

I seem to spend more time blogging about Make Mine Pink than I do about Cottage Collections. But what's a girl to do? There's always so much going on at make Mine Pink. Have YOU visited MMP yet? If not you're in for a surprise. If you have, don't forget to check back monthly for our "Women that Inspire" Interview. For October, our own Dianne from Mama's Pocketbook interviewed MS Butler and this is what she had to say!

Amy Butler is a creative artist who started out very much like many of us here at MakeMinePink.com. She started out making small passport sized bags in the late 80's and sold them to small boutique shops around the country. In 1992, she says she and her husband, David, “started our little Art of the Midwest studio with two cats and about $1,200.” Amy wanted to recapture the fun and excitement she had making those little bags, so she started her sewing pattern business, and it has blossomed into a multi-line creative design business that includes designing fabrics, creating books, paper craft designs, and a new line of fabric bags. Let's meet Amy and learn all about her and her company, Amy Butler Designs! To read the entire amazing interview, please visit Women Who Inspire on Make Mine Pink!

Pink October at Make Mine Pink.

We have lots going on at Make Mine Pink during Pink October!

Pink October means different things to different people. Some of us have lost someone dear to breast cancer, some of us have dear ones that are survivors of breast cancer and some of us don't know anyone that has been directly effected, but still feel the need to contribute to a cause that touches so many lives.
Many of the MMP members participate in Pink October. Please check with their sites to see what Pink October specials they're having and what charities they're participating in.

Purchase any Make Mine Pink for a Cure product from our Cafe Press Boutique and all profits during the month of October will be donated to breast cancer research.
Don't forget.. make a donation to your favorite charity, send us a copy of your receipt and get a free entry into our PINK DIAMOND CONTEST! I think we'll have a lot of "free passes" this month!

We had a technical glitch..

Just a few weeks ago we announced our amazing news.. that Pinque, Inc..A.K.A Make Mine Pink was getting ready to design and publish our premier Make Mine Pink Marketplace Catalog. While none of that has changed, our time frame has been changed due to a technical error on the MakeMinePinkMarketplace web site. Unfortunately we didn't get all the applications for ad space that were submitted. If you applied for ad space and did not receive a response from us, please email us at info@makeminepink.com We apologize for the inconvenience and the delay in contacting you.

Bliss, have you found yours?

   Websters dictionary defines BLISS as
Pronunciation: 'blis
Function: noun
1 : complete happiness
2 : PARADISE, HEAVEN

My friends Sharon of C'est Chouette and Karen of Sweet Necessi-Teas will be finding their BLISS today at the Victoria Bliss Event in Dallas Texas! Please visit the Make Mine Pink Blog for BLISS updates! We're so excited to have such great representation for Make Mine Pink!

Have you heard the BUZZ.. about the new Make Mine Pink Marketplace Catalog?

It's True! Make Mine Pink is working on the launch of our Premier Make Mine Pink marketplace catalog! I say "our" not only because I'm a member, but because I'm the founder of MMP. And because I am really excited about our newest enhancement! I know some of you may get tired of me talking about all the wonderful features of being a MMP member, but I can't help myself. They just keep getting better. I'm not bragging or boasting, I'm just PROUD to be able to provide a supportive environment like MMP for women in all walks of life. Some just starting in business, some solidly grounded in their business and some just thinking about starting a business. It doesn't matter what your level of expertise is, we provide support for everyone. I vividly remember the early days of business. The days when I had no one to turn to for advise, no one to share my accomplishments with and no one to act as a sounding board when I had a new idea. I had no idea how to find resources. I had a limited marketing budget and felt very much alone. I was then and still am, determined that no one has to go through what I did alone. Through friendships, mentoring, sound business advice and shared advertising and marketing opportunities, our members are able to move forward in their business with confidence. We all need someone in our corner.. let Make Mine Pink be in yours! Please drop by our forum and say hello. We'd love to meet you.

Now.. back to our exciting news. Our Make Mine Pink Marketplace Catalog! Make sure you drop by www.makeminepinkmarketplace.com and join our mailing list if you'd like to be notified when our catalog is available. You won't be disappointed!

Keeping up with the Make Mine Pink Tea Parties..

It's almost 10 pm and too late to indulge in a cup of tea. So instead I share more of my rarely used collection! My tea cups and teapots have seen more hot cocoa for the grand-daughters than tea. I used to love when my Mother in-law visited so I would have an excuse to pull out my pretty things for her. She has always been a tea lover. I remember the first time she taught me to read tea leaves 30 years ago!

Make Mine Pink Tea party..

Today I'm joining my MMP friends for a mini tea party! My plans had been to have a tea party last night with my granddaughters, but they arrived too late for tea. And Jim just wasn't having any part of my tea party, so I opted to have a mini tea by myself. I rarely enjoy a cuppa tea and never ever drag out my tea pot and tea cups. So even this mini tea was fun and pampering. I enjoy being surrounded by pretty things but in my rush I rarely take the time to enjoy the simple pleasures. I'm looking forward to visiting all the other tea parties to see how they celebrated their tea time.

Interview with Jennifer Paganelli of Sis Boom

I know it's Monday and we need to get back to business, and on that front I do have some exciting news, But first I'd like to boast a little about our Make Mine Pink interview with Jennifer Paganelli of Sis Boom. I KNOW you know who she is and have lost yourself in her amazing fabrics! Now you can read her open and inspiring interview right on our sister site Make Mine Pink. I'd also like to give a special thanks to Arlene from Lil' Cottage Shop for conducting the first of many Successful Women Entrepreneurs interviews on Make Mine Pink.

Our next interview is with Amy Arnaz of themagictutu.com (Lucille Ball's daughter in-law) and one of Cottage Collections fav clients! She's one of the sweetest people we've ever worked with. We'll tell you all about her soon! In the meatime, please visit her fun and inspiring website.