tapTank.com

#TapTime with @SKJask!

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 00:17:00 -0400

TapTime with Shoshanna Jaskoll, cofounder of REACH3K

You can tap Shoshanna for: “I write and work with communications- i.e. getting your message across. I’m good at helping people analyze a problem and narrow down the best way to solve it. I also like to tell people whats so great about them. Not enough people do that often enough and its so important.”

Shoshanna would tap you for: “Its helpful for me to know whats going on in nonprofit- who’s running the best campaigns, how they are using the realities of the new world and web to further their reach and cause. Also, branding, marketing, and corporations looking to get involved in good causes is a big one.”

Shoshanna is just as much a bold tough cookie, as she is a gentle loving friend. Her warmth and friendliness comes though in most photos and videos. But if you catch her in the midst of activism- my does she become quite the warrior!

As a cofounder of REACH3K, Shoshanna works with nonprofits to help understand their needs and how to reach their audience. Her first exposure to social media was Facebook, by impulse. Twitter came along soon after. Like most people, she chooses to keep Facebook to a more personal level for her family and close circle of friends. Twitter, she claims, “made it possible for me to reach people and agencies I would otherwise never - or at least not without a lot of work and time- have gotten to. The next thing that became clear was the incredible way people look out for each other on Twitter. People are happy to hook you up with others they know, with their experiences, contacts, and knowledge, it’s really amazing. People on Twitter understand that far from losing their edge by sharing, they actually increase it.”

Shoshanna respects genuine people who speak of life and their surroundings, and make attempts to make it better. She is a firm believer that people should be there for one another, support one another, and at the very least- help others with their knowledge. Shoshanna seldom directly asks people for assistance, because she is open about her involvements, and that prompts others to step forward and offer assistance to her, or link her with someone else who could help.

Shoshanna’s network consists of “everything from techies to travel ind people to nonprofits, to writers to housewives … and everyone has value.” She even provided examples by saying, “…every time my site crashes I have techies that have it back up for me. When I’m planning my conference people suggest speakers and sponsors, I have people who help with my Mac, my PC, with a word I can’t find, with a nonprofit question I need to hash out, and mostly I have great friends to share life’s ups and downs with. They even send me clips of comedy when I need to be cheered up.”

When asked what kinds of goals get fulfilled through her social networks, Shoshanna says it’s a mix of both personal and professional.

Click here for more info on REACH3K.

Passover cleaning - there's a plan for that! (on tapTank.com)

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 10:03:00 -0400

As most Jews and non-Jews know, Passover is coming up real soon. And for Jews that means two dreadful words: Passover cleaning!

But don’t fret, tapTank is here to help!

Since ancient times, people observed Jews doing what it seemed like spring cleaning, which seems like the most sensible thing to do - clean your house thoroughly at least once a year.

Well, apparently, Jews are obligated to do so by the Torah. You may have heard the story: when Jews escaped Egypt lead by legendary Moses (“Go down, Moses, waaaaay down to Egypt la-a-and…”), they didn’t have the time to sit around and wait for the bread to rise and so the uncooked bread resembled matzoh crackers.

In honor of this great escape filled with miracles, such as Red Sea being split into two, we now suffer through 7 days of matzoh crackers and constipation. But we’re not complaining: we’re free of slavery, and now, every year we celebrate our physical and spiritual freedom.

Nevertheless, the period before Passover strongly resembles what Jews have undergone in Egypt before they were free. People, and especially women of the households, and in some cases those are men :), are slaving away trying get their dwelling free of any crumbs and making sure the place is kosher for Passover.

We wanted to make it easier for you to deal with this stressful and emotionally draining period by creating a plan for your Passover cleaning. And if you are not Jewish and not obligated to clean before passover, it wouldn’t hurt you to clean your house anyway!

Enjoy!

Prepare my house for Passover plan on tapTank.com

tapTank unveils new features!

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 08:53:06 -0400

tapTank.com has added a few new features today in response to our users’ feedback.

1. Behold! A shiny new logged-in home page design that features users’ latest 3 plans, feature plans & a way to browse plans by life category

Check it out:

2. Another awesome new feature is a new sponsor profile layout.

This actually is really exciting news for tapTank’s content partners. Now businesses can feature their plans and package multiple plans into “Lists.”

Here’s an example of a sponsor list from our awesome sponsor in the teen self-improvement area, Superfutures:

3. You asked for it - here it is! Private comments!

We added a private comment mode for users’ actions so that the comments that are posted in a private mode are only visible to the owner and the poster of the comment if the owner chooses to turn on that mode.

Please see the example here:

If you have any questions about the new features, please ask contact us at support@taptank.com.

If you are a business interested in using tapTank’s platform to leverage your social plans and campaigns on social networks, e.g. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, please let us know at contact@taptank.com.

Wish all your plans come achieved!

Team tapTank

Alisha Outridge, Founder & CEO of tapTank.com, takes a...

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 08:51:44 -0400

Alisha Outridge, Founder & CEO of tapTank.com, takes a minute to describe what social life planning is & the problem today that tapTank solves. Let us know what you think!

Here is our Founder Alisha Outridge of tapTank eating Pi on Pi...

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 17:10:44 -0400

Here is our Founder Alisha Outridge of tapTank eating Pi on Pi Day (3/14). Oh, and no, that was not a typo!

Tweet us a a photo of you eating pie or post a photo on our Facebook page of you eating Pi too!

Here’s Yael of tapTank eating pie on Pi Day (3/14). Tweet...

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 05:14:05 -0400

Here’s Yael of tapTank eating pie on Pi Day (3/14). Tweet us a a photo of you eating pie or post a photo on our Facebook page at exactly 1:59 and we’ll send you a prize! Why 1:59? Because the good ‘ole Pi is 3.14159……. and it goes on and on… :)

Early stage company valuation

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 11:50:00 -0400

What’s the value of a company that has had no revenues, qualifies as an extremely risky investment and does not have a registered patent/IP that could be licensed?

In other words, how to you justify a valuation of every other startup in the high tech field?

It’s true that valuation is very subjective. A company is only worth as much as an investor is willing to pay for a part of its equity.

However, the conversation has to start somewhere.

Valuation starts with a business plan.

1. The business plan starts with assessment of costs for the next 3-5 years.

2. Next we estimate the sales projections based on a variety of parameters, such as the product’s market and the expected market share, the breadth of the company’s technology and its market disruption, market segmentation (amount of market players and their dominance), the unique features vis-à-vis competition and market opportunities (such as M&A via strategic partners).

3. Then we decide on the method of valuation.

Check out a tapTank plan for creating an early stage valuation:

http://www.taptank.com/plan/757

There is a number of methods for early-stage company valuation.

There are 6 key methods used to valuate technologies(1):

We prefer the regular discounted cash flows model to create a valuation based on the uncertainty (stage) coefficient.

Mathematically, it is expressed as (2):

The significance of this method lies in the fact that it allows for a matrix of risk parameters in order to receive the most conservative assessment of the company’s value. The main risk on which we based our discounting, consistent with literature, is the uncertainty (stage) risk, the higher value (in percentage) signifying higher risk.

High risk signifies new and unknown, possibly revolutionary, technology in early stages of development while lower risk signifies a more proven technology, possibly existing in the market in different modification, as well as in the later stage.

The risk-adjusted hurdle rate is approximated as follows (3):

An example for a startup company with positive profit in the second year of the three-year forecast is as follows according to the formula shown above:

This company is moderately high risk - k coefficient of 60%. The present value for the revenues in each year (2012, 2013, 2014) is calculated separately and then summed.

The Net Present Value of this company is about $5 million or its current valuation is about $5 million.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us at contact@taptank.com if you have any questions of would like to learn more about the current methods of early stage company valuation.

Check out a tapTank plan for creating an early stage valuation:

http://www.taptank.com/plan/757

____________________

Source (1), (2) and (3):

Razgiatis, Richard. Early-Stage Technologies: Valuation and Pricing. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1999

tapTank Will Launch Personal Development Tool for Social Achievement

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 21:02:00 -0500

New Platform Lets You Achieve Socially With Friends

NEW YORK, NY, February 29, 2012 - tapTank (http://taptank.com) will unveil the Beta version of its new personal development tool for planning and achieving goals with friends in March 2012. Early adopters, who signed up in advance to try tapTank, as well as journalists, bloggers and other media outlets, can take a look inside before the Alpha Invite code is lifted.

Bloggers, journalists and other media outlets should email press@taptank.com to receive an Alpha Invite code.

Some of the things you will do on tapTank:

Plan your goals (e.g. learn salsa, get a promotion, get into Harvard, travel to India)
Share goals with friends on social networks & invite them to help you accomplish them
Track your achievements by life category, e.g. Career, Health, Hobbies, Learning & Leisure
Get some achievement tips and learn productivity techniques
Get suggestions of people to tap and things to do

Analyze Your Life Balance:

Users can sign up using their existing social profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Furthermore, users can monitor their success rate on plans in different categories and track their “life-balance” graph making sure that not one single domain overpowers the rest, which is frequently the case with goal-minded individuals.

#tapYourNetworks across all of your social networks to achieve your goals:

Create Your Own Plans or Do an Existing Plan

Users get to use our exclusive plan templates, create their own and share them with friends to achieve goals using their social networks.

tapTank has nearly 5K users who joined as early adopters. These early adopters will be notified of being able to use tapTank before anyone else on Monday, March 5 2012. In addition, all the early adopters, journalists, bloggers and the media are invited to the #TapYourNetworks pre-SXSW party hosted by tapTank on March 5 at the Empire State Building’s elite Empire Room lounge in NYC. For more details and to RSVP, please visit http://sxsw.taptank.com.

And the story continues…

Last year team tapTank went to TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco and met a lot of awesome entrepreneurs and startups. This year, tapTank will continue the tradition at SXSW.

tapTank has created a special plan for launching a startup at SXSW, complete with videos, blogs and expert advice, which you can use right now by going to http://www.taptank.com/plan/592.

Product Snapshots:

Please email press@taptank.com for more info, materials or assets.

Download tapTank’s logo and screenshots here: http://yousend.it/Apr4f7.

Useful links:

tapTank blog: http://blog.taptank.com

Twitter: @tapTank

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tapTank

YouTube: http//www.youtube.com/taptankdotcom

Skype: ladymyyuli (Yael)

This is what nostalgia looks like. In this is a slightly...

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 20:34:56 -0500

This is what nostalgia looks like.

In this is a slightly embarrassing video you see Alisha & Yael from Team tapTank at the TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Alley in San Francisco in September 2012. This was when we have just started and were testing the waters of a tech conference.

We’re all grown up now and ready to launch! And guess what? We’ll be partying like rock stars at SXSW in Austin in less than 2 weeks! If you’re going to SXSW, please let us know because we would love to hang out with our fans and friends.

Do you have your own cool conference videos? Share with us!

Which tank top do you prefer? #SXSW tapTank.com swag

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:16:25 -0500

Which tank top do you prefer? #SXSW tapTank.com swag

#TapTip: Importance of goal setting for decision making

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:23:00 -0500

Here’s a #TapTip vlog about the importance of setting goals in order to compare your decision outcomes with what you need to achieve according to your plan.

Posted by: Yael Tamar Greenberg

The article about Cassanova McKinsey can be found here.

tapTank is a platform to manage goals, achieve & stay motivated with a little help from your friends. Friends that achieve together grow together.

Sign up to be an early adopter here:
www.taptank.com/alphainvite

More of us on the web:
http://www.facebook.com/tapTank
Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TapTank
On linkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/2262377

"The 10K hour rule" : if you want to achieve, spend 10K hours at it

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 05:10:00 -0500

Key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours.

By Yael Tamar

In his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell builds an impressive case of why very talented people succeeded. He uses examples of famous composers, musicians and scientists to show that it was not by talent alone that they got to being incredibly good at something.

He calculated that one needs to work on something for about 20 hours of work a week for 10 years in order to convert your “talent” to greatness. In other words, talent is simply “practice makes it perfect.”

Some examples that Gladwell gives are the Beatles, who before becoming the most popular band in the world logged more than 10,000 hours of playing on stage in a German bar (over four years, sometimes 10 hours a day), an experience to which other bands could not come near.

Another example is Bill Gates, who by sheer luck had logged in more than 10,000 hours of programming by the time he dropped out of Harvard.

Of course these historical examples have to do a great deal with opportunities. The Beatles got invited to perform at the German club and Bill Gates lucked out to be one of the 50 guys in the world (allegedly) who had an unlimited access to a computer at the time he grew up in.

However, opportunities present themselves all the time. We just have to have an eye for them and work hard logging in hours at something we want to be great at.

And this is good news for most of us!

Start planning your achievement today, sign up for http://taptank.com

#TapTime with: Daniel Feldman, #SocialMedia Manager of @Waze

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 01:34:00 -0500

Author: Farhana Rahman

TapTime with: Daniel Feldman, Social Media Manager of @Waze

You can tap Daniel for: Customer engagement advice, help building a fantasy football team. I’m going to tap him for Hebrew lessons.

Daniel will tap you for: Networking purposes

Where do I start talking about Daniel? He’s one of those personalities that makes look forward to getting on Twitter. When asked of his interests, Daniel responded, “I play squash, fantasy football, cook, go salsa dancing and study for an MA degree in conflict research resolution and management. I also work at Waze which is an amazing, top of the line startup. Shameless plug: For those who aren’t familiar with Waze, its a free GPS application that routes you around traffic http://www.waze.com”

Daniel landed his first position in Social Media in 2008, ‘before anyone even knew what social media was,’ while living in Israel and seeking a position as an English teacher. He originally used social media to keep in touch with his friends. As time went on, he used it to “keep up with my interests, get useful ideas that I can use at my company, as well as make connections that could serve me well in the future.”

He also likes connecting with people of positions similar to his, such as: Liz Heron (Social Media editor at New York times), Meghan Peters (community manager at Mashable) and Martin Beck (Social Media/Reader engagement at LA times). In approaching people of such influence, Daniel simply tweets them with direct questions, and comments.

Most of Daniels connections are in the U.S, Canada, Israel, Taiwan, the U.K, Hungary, and Australia. But from what I have seen, he really has ‘em all over. Feel free to reach out to him through Waze, or his personal Twitter handle.

Hand Out Those Business Cards in a Natural Way

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 01:12:23 -0500

Author: Farhana Rahman

The biggest rule-of-thumb when it comes to handing out business cards is to not hand them out like playing cards. Presentation is key. That doesn’t mean presenting your card on a mini silver platter though! If handling a small number of cards, you don’t even need a business card holder, so long as your cards are easily accessible, and neat. Also-do make an impression in your delivery. Show your personality, and add a humanistic element to your card.

I like to perk myself up before handing one of my cards over to a person-of-interest, and I like to come off as a personable professional, rather than a pitchy annoyance. Below is one approach I take. Works very well for me:

Clearly you could see that I am being personable and professional- not pitchy or ridiculously fake. People love praise, so praise them. Let it all come naturally, because the whole point of exchanging business cards is in the prospect to have a professional future with the contact.

One thing I learned the hard way: Business cards- never leave home without ‘em!

#TapTime with: @AboutDotCom #Video Producer: @Pelpina Trip

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 02:38:19 -0500

Author: Farhana Rahman

TapTime with: About.com Video Producer: Pelpina Trip

You can tap Pelpina for: Production and hosting of videos, host events, conduct presentations, help with brand awareness, review products/websites on video, etc.

Pelpina will tap you for: “I would love to help with a company or product’s brand awareness if someone wants to talk about their social media/marketing/PR expertise on video with me (Skype works), and I would love to teach you Dutch over Skype if you can create a cool Twitter background for me!”

I must say, Pelpina is as close to ‘Superwoman’ status as a woman can get. She’s smart as a whip, oozes with intelligence, has an endless list of accomplishments, is a proud mother, and is super humble! And she’s also very pretty. :-)

Pelpina first gave social media a try after she noticed a co-worker checking out ‘The Facebook’ in early 2005. Like many of us, she hesitated to join, but got addicted within weeks. As she continued using it, she came to realize that social media than sharing photos and funny websites, “Reading stories in the news about the impact of social media on politics in other countries truly made me think about social media’s influence. And when I was an intern at a local TV news station, I decided to give it a serious try. I worked my way up, became a web producer, and within months - became their social media reporter.”

While holding that post, Pelpina turned to social media “to find interesting stories, connect to people, and build a network of social media professionals.” This led to her finding her next job, as the host/producer of WebBeat.TV. She loves connecting with anyone who uses social media to benefit themselves and others in a positive manner, typically entrepreneurs, internet influencers, and social media professionals/techies such as bloggers, podcasters, and video producers.

Feel free to connect with Pelpina on Google Plus, Twitter, and Facebook. You can come back to me anytime, to tell me I was right about the ‘superwoman’ part.

Someone just launched your product. Close up shop?

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:21:00 -0500

By Yael Tamar

So you have an idea for a great product. You’ve been obsessing over it for some time now; and not only that, you’ve been working on it full time. You’re an entrepreneur…

And then one day a friend sends you an article that [Insert company name here, e.g. Google, Facebook or smaller players] has just launched something very similar to what you thought was going to make you rich.

Do you close up shop and go back to your full-time job?

The answer is, not so quickly. Remember, competition is a good thing. I am sure [Insert company name here, e.g. Google, Facebook or smaller players] is not the only one who has a similar idea to yours.

The way it works is when you create an initial offering, you initially guess what people will need or like. However, users will dictate to you eventually what they really need and want.

That’s why companies do what they call a Beta with their new product. They monitor users’ behavior for a few months to see whether the product has answered the need those users have.

You run several pilots to cover all kinds of users to see which kind of products or services that you offer are in the highest demand.

After 6 to 12 months of such testing, you evaluate and streamline our activities using a 80/20 principle - which 20% of activities you provided brought 80% of the revenues and then you focus on those activities.

Let’s assume that [Insert company name here, e.g. Google, Facebook or smaller players] is really top-notch in a specific area of operation and covers the whole nation geographically. Then if you fail to offer added value to users in that area and your potential users chose not to use your service or rate it badly, you will not offer that service and focus on more profitable activities.

However, this is not the most likely outcome at all! OK, maybe statistically, it is, but if you take different measures and steps to be a successful startup (Example: Lean Startup methodology created by Eric Preis), then statistics are on your side.

The more you try, the higher is the probability you will succeed. That’s why the most successful entrepreneurs are the most persistent ones.

Good luck!

Approach Successful People with Ease!

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:38:00 -0500

Author: Farhana Rahman

Are you one of the many people who feel a degree of intimidation in approaching successful people? This could include anyone… a superior at work, management of an establishment, affluent people with a high level of influence, etc.

Personally I’m not afraid to approach these people, because of a little outlook that I taught myself. Works great for me! Allow me to explain in the video below:

In addition to treating successful people as… people, you can’t allow yourself to worry about making the other person ‘like’ you. We all have a lot to learn from each other, so allow your confidence to shine through in a personable manner. Talk about what the person would find useful and fascinating, don’t just throw a bunch of trigger words at them (that’s annoying.)

It’s understandable that you wouldn’t want to risk losing what could be a valuable relationship. Even so, what really matters is making an impression. That’s what plants the seed. Even if you flub here and there, you can redeem yourself as you follow-up, because the connection has been made, and the seed has been planted.

#TapTime with #PR & #Media Maven: @SabrinaGFadlun

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:36:25 -0500

Author: Farhana Rahman

TapTime with PR & Media Maven: Sabrina G. Fadlun

You can tap Sabrina for: Multilingual, PR and media support. She’s also fantastic in editing documents. And oh, she also says, “I can also teach how to cook great Italian home meals once I learn how to do it myself!”

Sabrina would tap you for: Insight on tech, journalism, convos on the arts and movies. Plus points for anyone with a sense of humor!

Sabrina acknowledges that social media is the present and the future. She calls it “the real way of communication and outreach to millions of people all over the world sharing similar passions and interests.” And trust me, she is a fantastic communicator with an outstanding understanding of cultures around the world.

When she first started using social media, Sabrina wished to gain professional contacts. But as she progressed, she came to realize that she was losing sleep from the enjoyment that came with engaging with a multitude of people “despite language, religion, ideology, belief or any other kind of barriers.” Most of this Italian beauties current contacts are in Israel, and are English speakers in their mid-late 30’s.

In addition to collaborating with her on TapTank, be sure to reach out to Sabrina on Twitter, and you’ll see why so many high-profile people in many industries adore her. And here she is on LinkedIn!

How can you improve negotiation skills by using body language cues?

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 04:05:00 -0500

by Yael Tamar

This was one of those pictures that make you grunt and worry that you’ll never get that modeling contract. “Hey, Gil! Could you please take down that awful picture of me? Oh wait, on the second thought…”

On the second thought, leave it. I will use this horrendous piece as an example of how to pick up on body language cues from a person’s body language and how to use it to your advantage.

Right before this picture was taken I was thrown a ball and asked a question. This is a mirror image and so I’m looking to the right as I am responding. I am right handed (as you can see, I caught the ball with the right hand). A right handed person looking to the right while answering is constructing a memory, as opposed to creating a story. At least I am not lying!

The fact that I was looking up means that I was accessing visual information as opposed to auditory or other sensory form. Basically, me looking up toward my right while holding the ball with my right hand means that I was most likely remembering a past event.

Of course, if you’re a fan of the Lie to Me TV show, you’ll know what I am talking about.

There’s a huge science to picking up cues from body language and how that will take you to another level in negotiations, but we’ll review just a few critical ones here.

1. Visual cues

When you hear a promise or an excuse, look for cues that it’s a genuine one. As you saw above, a right-handed person will look to the right when remembering and to the left when making stuff up. See if they are getting impatient or distracted and if they are looking at their watch or phone. That means you are losing their attention and need to change your pitch/approach.

Watch what your counterpart is doing with their body:

Where are his/her hands, are they folded?

(They are closed up to your idea.)

Is he/she rubbing his/her hands together?

(An indication that they expect to receive something)

Are they rubbing their neck?

(They are embarrassed.)

Are they rubbing their nose?

(They are not telling the whole story)

Are they scratching their head?

(They really don’t know)

Are they touching their ear?

(They can’t really hear what you say.)

Are they tilting their head?

(They are interested and contemplative)

2. Gain rapport by imitation

It’s called mirroring in NLP. Try to imitate a person’s style and gesture, but do it subtly. E.g. imitate their tone of voice, speed of speech, posture and quirky movements (e.g. tapping the table with a pen) without being too obvious about it. This will help you get their rapport and then you can lead the dance. You can even try to match their breathing!

You can further correct the “wrong feeling between you” by mirroring, taking the lead of another person’s nervous or hostile motions and gradually reducing them and transforming them to a more friendly approach.

3. Be on their side, literally

Sit on the same side of the table if possible, and no matter what, don’t sit on the opposite end. Sitting next to each other raises the feeling of a common goal and of a mutual interest.

4. Be genuinely interested

Just like you can pick up on the cues from the body language of others, some people can read you like a book. Make sure you know what you are talking about and exude confidence. Don’t look up or to the side when answering a question and keep your own position is as open as possible. Show that you’re interested in the other person and be as much engaged as possible. For me, I find it easy to keep repeating the phrase in my head: “I’m going to close this deal” or “They are going to love me” during the meeting.

Tune in as we’ll be giving more advice on how to gain rapport and use body language cues in negotiation

#TapTime with: #Entrepreneur & Buff of Finer Things in Life, Lori Lewis

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:48:00 -0500

Author: Farhana Rahman

TapTime with: Entrepreneur & Buff of Finer Things in Life, Lori Lewis

You can tap Lori for: Assisting charities through Social Media. She is always willing to help out a great deal, and rarely asks for anything in return.

Lori would tap you for: Making connections to add to her tribe of people that appreciate the performing and visual arts. She also wants to be connected to people that love food, wine, and travel. But no snobs please- only average people! She also would love to connect with writers and photographers for her site.

Lori Lewis is the founder, and owner of everydayopera.com. It is an online magazine and 24-hr podcast that features food wine and travel. Celebs in each of those fields frequently pop in (she’s just so well-connected like that!) Her friend, Michael Sean Wright of Nice Fish Films previously worked with her in radio. They wanted to bring the world of finer things together by building a platform. Michael came up with the name, and designed the blog.

Lori feels that “social media is the best thing in the world. now I can Skype with people overseas, the reach is worldwide- not just people in the country. Many people became real friends.” She is not afraid of approaching anyone famous, or execs, “…cause I’m excited about what they are doing, and what I am going. I rarely have anyone not respond to me.” Lori’s background in media helps her quickly identify her tribes. She believes that you should talk 80% about others, and 20% about yourself.

Her secret to approaching persons-of-interest is to do so the old-fashioned way: call them directly. It’s particularly easy for her to approach people in the music industry because she was in radio, so it’s easy to call other radio stations. Meeting people in person is the most important thing to Lori. She absolutely enjoys collaborating with people she met through social networks, that sense of unity and everyone helping each other out is very gratifying. She’s on the computer at least 12 hours a day!

What I personally appreciate most about Lori is that she treats up-and-coming artists with the same level of respect as established artists. That’s a rare find for someone as connected and sought-after as she is. Connect with her on Twitter, and you totally have to check out her site (I know I felt a little smarter and more refined after my first few visits!)