| Concrete Mixing Kit Promises To Help ‘Mix-It-Quik’ Posted: 04 May 2011 12:00 PM PDT 
If a contractor wants to move quickly while working on a house, it helps to have a list of tricks up your sleeve. Patrick Senn has one trick, but it is so effective that he has been able to make a business out of it, reports Wicked Local Dedham. Q: So you developed Mix It Quik based on a technique that an 82-year-old Italian mason showed you 22 years ago? Sounds like a good story. What were you doing in Italy? A: I was working in Cambridge helping a friend, and I was told that I could get a week's pay from an elder gentleman in Porter Square. This frail 82-year-old Italian mason showed me a technique that was taught to him by his father for mixing and pouring cement/concrete. He told me that this was how the Roman Empire was built and that the Romans used animal hides to mix and pour the raw materials they used back in the day. With his technique, I was able to mix and pour three pallets of ready mix concrete in about four hours. Needless to say, my week's pay ended up being a day's pay, but the wisdom he shared with me was priceless. Q: How did you invent the Mix It Quik tool that goes with the technique? A: Friends and coworkers, who had seen me use this trick on jobs and projects, inspired me to make the tool to go with the technique. Everybody I have ever shown this to has loved it and agreed that it was the most efficient way of mixing and pouring cement. I was told by a contractor, who saw me teach this trick, "If you make this tool, I'll buy it." Mix It Quik was born. I went to a local home center and bought some raw materials. I built a working prototype in my garage in Dedham. After searching for a manufacturer, which wasn't easy, I found someone in Massachusetts that was able to make and distribute my tool, turning an idea into a reality.
Photo from Mix-It-Quik 
|
| Entrepreneurial Worm Farming Posted: 04 May 2011 11:33 AM PDT 
Mother Nature Network has an interesting interview with worm wrangler Bentley Christie of RedWormComposting. Bentley Christie is a blogger, entrepreneur and composting worm guru. The father of two lives with his wife, children, two cats and “a bazillion” red wiggler worms in Ontario, Canada, where he spends his time running his business Red Worm Composting, blogging about vermicomposting, and producing video courses on the subject. He’s also a passionate gardener with a particular fondness for giant sunflowers. Christie studied science in college but decided he wanted to strike out on his own into the world of worm composting. I have known Christie for years in my capacity as an environmental blogger, and I’ve always been a fan of his writing and his business. In fact, my worms come from Red Worm Composting. Good interview if you’re at all in professional vermiculutre (worm farming). Photo by JPascalBeaudoin. 
|
| Breastfeeding Dilemma Leads To Business Inspiration Posted: 04 May 2011 11:00 AM PDT 
Judi Weinstein was ready to breastfeed her first son, but latching problems made that difficult. That experience left her with a plan B: to pump and store breast milk for bottle feeding. Unfortunately, she encountered another roadblock during that process. Determined that there had to be a better way to pump, store and feed the breast milk, she created her own solution. That solution is called the Mother’s Milk Mate, reports Trib Local. "I wanted to create a system that would benefit moms like myself, as well as those moms returning to work, who were still committed to providing breast milk to their babies", Judi says of her invention. The Mother's Milk Mate Rack & Bottle Breast Milk Storage System offers breastfeeding moms and their babies a variety of health, safety and convenience benefits. Most importantly, it lets moms pump, store and feed their breast milk using the same BPA-free, recyclable bottle. "I was tired of sorting through disorganized, messy and leaky breast milk storage bags," Judi says. "I knew I could come up with a better way to organize my pumped breast milk. I also knew I wasn't alone, and a great solution could benefit other moms." “My motivation was simple. The desire for a single bottle for pumping, storing and feeding that would make for a happy, healthy, breastfed baby and a less frustrated mom!”
Photo from Mother’s Milk Mate 
|
| Weird: Nose Stylus Posted: 04 May 2011 10:00 AM PDT Dominic Wilcox has found a way to make it easier to do something most people will not admit to: playing on the phone while in the bathroom. Although you may not be willing to admit that you have used the phone while visiting the toilet or taking a bath, he openly admits it and he has put together something that makes it easier for him to play on his phone while doing it. Like many good ideas, Dominic’s comes from inspiration. He was using his phone in the bath one day when he got his hand wet. Realizing his mistake, he decided to try and see if he could work his phone using his nose. From that moment came a creation straight off Pinocchio’s face: a nose stylus. Finger-nose stylus for touchscreen technology from Dominic Wilcox on Vimeo. Via MSNBC 
|
| Super Simple E-Commerce Posted: 04 May 2011 09:15 AM PDT 
Business Insider: New York-based Goodsie just created a super simple way to set up branded online shops. Goodsie makes setting up stores very similar to setting up WordPress blogs. Users choose from multiple layout options, color pallets, background patterns, and typography without ever having to muck in code. “I have tried at different points in my life to sell T-shirts online,” founder Jonathan Marcus tells us. “They were the most frustrating experiences of my life.”
Goodsie, he hopes, will change that. Goodsie.com from Rob Morris on Vimeo. 
|
| Becoming A Social Entrepreneur Posted: 04 May 2011 09:00 AM PDT 
Scott Harrison was one lucky 28 year old. He found himself sitting on a beach with the perfect girlfriend, a Rolex watch, and a beautiful car nearby. He was living the life he had always dreamed of, but it was not enough. He suddenly realized something about himself that he did not like, and he decided to change it. It has been several years since that day on the beach, and Harrison is now the head of a non-profit organization, charity: water. Stories like this are not very common, but not impossible. So, how can you become a social entrepreneur? Inc. looks at the process Harrison went through to help you answer that question. Know Your Issue What made Harrison’s mission different? While in Liberia taking photos, he recognized the one item that was causing sickness and even death for most of his subjects was something many of us take for granted, clean water. He saw it (people walking miles to get clean water), photographed it (including emails to club-promoting friends) and found his calling. When he returned to the U.S., he knew what issue to tackle, and he has never looked back. Build the Brand “Nicholas Kristof wrote in the New York Times that any brand of toothpaste is peddled with far more sophistication than all the world’s life-saving causes,” says Harrison. “That really made me think: how could Doritos go out and spend hundreds of millions of dollars talking about chips and sneaker companies spending billions marketing shoes? But here we are trying to do one of the most redemptive things in the world, and bring clean water to every man, woman and child. To get the message out, we had to create an epic brand that people could trust to do that.” Think of It As a Business “I think of charity: water as a for-profit tech startup that has no profits,” says Harrison. “We give away 100% of our profits. So the better year we have, the more people around the world have access to clean water. Our shareholders are people in 17 countries around the world waiting for a rig to drive into a village to provide clean water to a few hundred people living there. We use the word business so much more than non-profit, even though that’s what we are.”
Screenshot from charity: water 
|
| Treehouses for Grownups Posted: 04 May 2011 08:57 AM PDT 
Many adults yearn for the warm summer days of their youth, when they whiled away the days lazing on a few rough planks, twenty feet up in an old oak in their backyard. Today, because they’re adults and have jobs that pay real money, they don’t have to settle for used lumber: The trend has continued to grow, as luxury or designer treehouses are becoming crucial for any smart garden. Whereas previously they were often designed just with children in mind, a new generation of designers is creating wonderful pieces that are for adults’ enjoyment too and can also be works of art in themselves. 
|
| Today in Entrepreneurial History: May 4 Posted: 04 May 2011 07:45 AM PDT |
