The Art of Asking

What makes a crowd funding project successful? How do you connect with and audience? How do we move from asking customers to buy something to being apart of something? When does investing become more about fair trade than money?

These are all questions I ask when it comes to creating projects and getting people on board with them. It’s not just about begging and talking, it is about making a connection that’s deeper than surface interfacing. But that isn’t easy, it takes risks.

Watch the TED talk below with Amanda Palmer and perhaps you’ll learn something like I did.

Costumes Corsets and Conventions

I may have a slight obsession with buying costumes and corsets even if I don’t have many places to wear them. Matter of fact I have so many I have a closet devoted to them. Did I mention I just bought three corsets, a Victorian blouse, and a renaissance chemise?

Yeah I may have a problem.

My other obsession: conventions. You know like comic book, anime, sci fi, and the like. I go partly because I’m a nerd and partly because where else can I wear all my costumes and not have people look at me weird. I used to go to about five conventions a year.

Side tip/confession: if you volunteer or get on staff for a convention you can get a free pass, free food, access to exclusive panels and guests and even a free hotel stay with all of the benefits of a regular convention goer. Of course you have to work shifts but pick an area that interests you and it can be a lot of fun.

These days though I haven’t gone to many conventions but having just gone to the renaissance festival yesterday I think I think I’ll start making them more of a thing again. Next up Halloween, super excited.

Trying New Foods: Kale Chips and Seaweed

So recently I’ve been into trying new foods. Mainly this is for substituting things that I eat all the time that aren’t that great for me. The big thing is chips. I am all about my Cheetos, BBQ, and sour cream and onion chips. I eat a lot of chips and it’s just an easy thing to grab when you want to add side dish or are just looking to snack but not wanting to create a big meal. But of course they are not good for you. Not even Sun Chips which I love. Chips are high in sodium and fat and have very little or no nutritional value.

So what I found so far to substitute are Kale chips or dried seaweed. I’m sure if you are an a health kick you’ve heard all about kale, it’s everywhere. However this was my first introduction to it. This was the brand I tried:

It had a good flavor to it and I was fine eating it on its own. Eating it with a sandwich was kind of weird but I could get used to it. The only thing is I wasn’t how sure if it would hold up if I took it to work since it is in a tight container and not sure if moisture would seep in.

As for the seaweed I tried it in two forms: dried and seaweed salad. Seaweed is very nutritional and high in vitamins. The dried seaweed was mostly for a chip/snack substitute. I tried it in wasabi and sesame flavors. The wasabi I liked the most since it had a kick to it. However on the other side I tried making seaweed salad and although it came out correctly I ate some at first but then couldn’t take how slimy it was. So I think I will stick to the dried version until I can figure out a better way to cook it.