Keeping up with the Blog

Keeping up with this blog has been more challenging that I thought! At the end of the day it seems sitting by my computer isn’t the thing that most excites me, but I am really happy I have it. It’s been a great way to slow down and think about my day, and it will be great to look back and see where I was a year or two from now. This week has been extremely challenging in my business. I have three events that need sponsorship: Pride Brunch, Possibilities Fashion Show, and Crossroads. It has been challenging deciding who best should be part of what event, and then to simply ask for help. It’s a lot easier said than done. I am very excited about each event and I hope that each sponsor involved understands that this will really help them build their business. I know it has helped mine just simply being involved!

Green cleaning isn’t really new at all, in fact, it’s old very old. Most of what our grandmothers used was green simply because it worked and it was what was available. The cleaning companies like any other companies have one main goal: to sale their product! So they do this by introducing new and exciting products for you to clean with. The reality is that these products end up being unnecessarily strong for the task. For instance, usually there is no need to use a scrub like comet or other scrub with bleach in it. When simply using a mixture of baking soda, water, and elbow grease will do the job just fine. Why is that better? Because the bleach in comet can make you sick and is toxic to your nervous system. It also pollutes the environment and ads additional waste just by owning the container. The best thing to ask yourself before you clean is, what is the least toxic way that I can clean this? Here is a list of items I use regularly to clean my home:

Baking Soda – Cleans anything that needs a good scrub.

Dish Soap – In a large spray bottle put 3 tablespoons soap with 3 cups water. This is your all-purpose cleaner.

Vinegar and Water – Equal parts for the best glass cleaner ever! And, the smell goes away when it dries.

Purified Water- I keep a small spray bottle of purified water around for items that are delicate. Sometimes that’s all you need to clean something is a bit of water.

Rags – I’ve almost eliminated the use of paper towels in my home by using rags, washcloths, etc. I tear up old sheets and use those to clean too. I’ve already saved 15 dollars a month in paper towels.

I really hope you will start cleaning green too! Feel free to email me for more information!

Being Green

Being green isn’t as hard as you might think. In fact everyone’s business can be a bit more green by making some small changes. For the next few days I’m going to describe some of the ways Out of Box is green. First off, I love Google so I was so happy to find http://www.blackle.com/ it’s Google, but with a black background. This black background uses less energy than the white background on Google making it far more green.

Here’s what it looks like:

Pride Brunch 2008

I’m really excited about the Pride Brunch that is coming up on June 15th! Tickets are for sale at http://www.iowatix.com/ I need volunteers for this event. If you are interested please email me at pridebrunch@inbox.com and we can send you all the information.

Here’s the details:

What is Out of Box? Day 5: Staffing and Everything Else

Staffing is a key part of any event, and something that can add a huge expense to an event. Out of Box uses contracted employees for their events, and can staff your event too. You can email Out of Box for rates on servers, bartenders, event planners, etc. Another large part of our business is customized services based on the client’s needs. Specific vendor management, finding a location for your event, help in hiring, speakers, talent, coaching. If it’s something that we cannot provide we will help put you in touch with the person, business, or group that can provide you with your need. So this is Out of Box in a nutshell – I hope to be doing business with you soon!

What is Out of Box? Day 4: Marketing

Each event has it’s own set of marketing needs. Not all event planners work with their clients on the marketing of their event. They may simply send the person to a marketing company or to an advertising agency. At Out of Box we’ve created a separate entity called In The Know where we will email to our email list and invite people on Facebook and Myspace. It’s a way of building your event by keeping people in the loop in a more grassroots fashion. If you want to stay In The Know, email intheknow@inbox.com to be added to the email list.