Ok ok, La Boheme is sung in Italian. Regardless, Opera Hamilton deserves a big “bravo” from the entire city of Hamilton. La Boheme is a classic tale we’ve all lived to a certain degree, full of high school emotions and “I love you! / I hate you!” quarrels, campy make out scenes and death by consumption. (Like I said, to a certain degree). For someone who doesn’t get to the Opera very often, Opera Hamilton’s production is perfect to cut your teeth on. And when it comes to “La Boheme”, loosely translated the bohemian life, lots of young Hamiltonians might be surprised as to how little things have changed since the Paris in the 1830′s in terms of life and love in the city as a struggling artist. There is only one more performance on Saturday April 24th, and you can find all the information about tickets, time and venue at Opera Hamilton’s website.

Meet Swatch 383. It’s kitestring green.
We like to think it speaks volumes about our brand’s personality.
Then we put our ears up to it and took a listen, and realized it was trying to tell us something.

We’ve been getting ready for this for a long time and now we’re ready to take it on. Swatch 383 wants kitestring to go on a mission to try to become as green as possible in 2010.

How fitting it is that Earth Day is the kick off to the Swatch 383 campaign.

kitestring invites you to watch us as we’re taking eco-friendly trip to the Green Living Show tomorrow (Friday, April 23rd) beginning our day at 9:30 on the GO Train. Ask us a question or read our updates on twitter (@kitestring), send us messages and view our photos on our blog and on twitter throughout the day (Follow all of the conversation even here #swatch383).

We know there is a lot a small creative studio can do to make a big impact. Check back in the Swatch 383 section to see how although it ain’t always easy, it’s worth it trying to be green.

Yesterday at McMaster’s Communication Studies and Multimedia Career Networking Breakfast I was swarmed by armfuls of fresh faces wanting a glimpse into the kitestring world. Awesome! Thanks for inviting me to bend their young minds Mac! Just kidding! It was like speed dating, career style. Every fifteen minutes, my huge banquet table of Communication students switched and we started all over again. I asked each and every one what they wanted to be when they grew up. I ask myself that every day and I plan on doing that until the day I’m done.

Meet Karen, Leah, Kate, Nisa and Katie. Get ready, they’re smart as a whip and coming to a communications department of an organization near you. If you were at the breakfast and didn’t get enough face time with kitestring, email me: meg@kitestring.ca.

Chris and I had the pleasure of meeting with a potential client this morning. During our conversation, the idea of ‘building your business success on your own terms’ came up. I actually jotted this line into my notebook as it really stuck with me – what an important concept!

Often new entrepreneurs are faced with the necessity of taking on any work that comes their way in order to build the business – it may be outside of your area of specialty  and it may be for clients that frankly, aren’t fitting into the landscape of what you envisioned. You can’t turn it down, right? YOU NEED THE BUSINESS!

It’s easy to understand this logic and quite honestly, it is most likely necessary. It provides you with work, a track-record and most importantly, capital to keep building your dream. The important thing to remember as you’ smile and service’ your way through these projects is that all of these ‘experiences’ help you define and build your business – and your brand.

Continue to build a strong brand that clearly articulates what your business is and the experience that you promise to your clients. Most importantly, infuse all of this into the marketplace! Ensure that your unique brand is being consistently used in all of your marketing materials (both in print and online) as well as your social networking efforts, face-to-face interactions, your physical environment, the style in which you answer the phone, your business card…I could go on and on.

By doing this, you’ll have your first filter in qualifying clients. The right clients will be naturally attracted to you. Your cultures will align, the work will excite you and TA-DA – you’ll start to build ‘success on your own terms’.

It’s a lovely place to be – you should try it!

- jenn

It’s 2:30 and I just sat down from putting my little dude down for a nap.

As you may have guessed, I’m at home today.  A nasty ear infection has thrown our daily routine into a bit of a whirlwind.

As I was upstairs rocking Jack to sleep, I got to thinking about how wonderful it is that I can stay at home with him and spend the day snuggling him back to health. I have no worries that projects are falling behind or that clients are left stranded. The team at kitestring doesn’t miss a beat when a hiccup is thrown into the team mix. Having this kind of team behind me lets me to ‘be in the moment’ when life happens and I need to wear my mom cape for the day.

I came to realize pretty quickly in my mompreneur career that working from home was not for me. It was too tempting to throw on a load of laundry in between emails and perhaps a batch of muffins if I was lucky. Turns out, I’m much more productive and happy when I have focused time for both work and home.

Having said that, I knew that to accomplish this structured work and home life, I also need a strong support on the childcare team as well.  Having this allows me to ‘be in the moment’ when I’m at the kitestring office. I never worry about Jack or feel guilty that I’m not at home with him.

Figuring out this work / mom formula has taken me some time but in the end, I know it makes me the best mom and business owner that I can be.

Okay, Blog post done! Maybe I still have time to vacuum before Jack wakes up…

-jenn

Chris’ post about creativity got me thinking about a great little interaction I had this past fall. Although it was short, it stuck with me.

A few weekends ago, we were at one of the wonderful Fall festivals happening in the area. At the end of the ceremonial parade, one of the firefighters came up to Jack and I and gave him a colour book and crayons.  ‘Mamma, I draw!’ Yes, Jack takes any opportunity he can to break out the crayons and scribble! It’s one of his most favorite activities.

As we were thanking the generous fireman, he admired Jack’s innocent excitement and shared a little story…

“I remember exactly the moment in life that I realized that it wasn’t acceptable to draw outside the lines. I was in grade one colouring away like a mad man. The teacher came around and admired the girl sitting next to meet for how well she was colouring. As I looked over, I noticed that there was something distinctly different about our two papers. Hers was neat and tidy and all inside the lines. Mine was a free-for-all a big splash of colour – and certainly not inside the lines. Hmm, I thought, I guess that there are some rules here to be followed…from then on in – I did my best to colour inside the lines.”

This story not only stuck with me but also made me think that maybe the ‘colour inside the lines’ philosophy isn’t always the best route. We need to reach outside of the lines – not only on our colouring sheet but in life in general. Reach for the stars as they say! As a mom, I keep this story in my mind as Jack grows up. I think its important for Jack to understand that sometimes its okay to colour outside the lines – it makes life interesting!

-jenn

With Bjork and too Much Denim.

What are you going as for Halloween?

We are! Meg and Chris from kitestring will be at Supercrawl this Friday. We will be handing out big prizes. BIG prizes. Make sure you spot us in the crowd. We will be wearing our underpants so it won’t be that hard !

Check it out!

See you there!

kitestring is celebrating its second successful year of business in Hamilton. Thinking back to how much love went into our brand to launch it as the business we know today, we wanted to give something similar to small business entrepreneurs getting started around us.

Maybe you know someone who should enter. Like a new entrepreneur that doesn’t like to give out their business card because they were designed in some unlucky parent’s basement by a guy who swears by youtube tutorials. Or a new business owner who has gone though the branding, print or web design process and came out the other end with nothing but some dumb t-shirt or a really ugly tri-fold brochure. That is who should enter this contest. Maybe that business is yours.