Ribbon Cutting

Kidwinks.com is going to be having a ribbon cutting. When I say that to people I get one of two reactions. One reaction is “Oh, that’s great! When?” It is usually accompanied by a big smile. The other reaction is a look of confusion accompanied by “Where?” Yes, we are an internet site and no we don’t have an actual location, yet. We are going to have our ribbon cutting at the Park Ridge Chamber of Commerce. We are going to invite our Aldermen and State Representatives, the media, other chamber members, business associates, Kidwinks.com members, friends, and family. The Chamber of Commerce has recently hired Gale Haller a woman who was born for the job of Executive Director of the Park Ridge Chamber of Commerce.

Now we need to get ready. The plan was easy, now comes the hard part, pulling it together. We need to write a press release, invite all of the media and officials. We already know that the mayor of Park Ridge is going to be there to do the actual ribbon cutting. We need to get a banner made, food ordered, and all of the supplies purchased. We need to get an outfit fitting of such an occasion! Hope I don’t get a zit the day before. We have already gotten a door prize for a raffle. The Wine Styles store in Park Ridge is going to provide a wine tasting session valued at $100. All On The Road Catering is going to be providing mini breakfast treats, coffee and juice. I will keep you updated on our ribbon cutting progress. This is such an exiting time but also a bit stressful. We have so many things going on at once.

For those of you who don’t know what the site is, here is a little info:

Kidwinks.com is a resource for parents looking for kid-friendly events, activities, restaurants, shops and services throughout the Chicago land area. Find everything from story times at area libraries and neighborhood festivals to all sorts of Chicago fun -- all in one place! Get the lowdown from the experts by reading reviews posted by other parents. Sign up for our newsletter and get a list of upcoming kid-friendly events emailed to you twice a week! If you find yourself searching for family fun using the search terms, Chicago kids, or Chicago for kids, kidwinks.com is the site to know.

Networking

I have been doing a lot of networking the last 2 weeks. Talking to people I don’t know, about business, has never been something that I seek out. In fact, I never really talk business at all. I prefer to talk about places I can go with my kids, good restaurants, and traveling. And I prefer to talk about those things over a bottle of wine or two. Now that I have Kidwinks.com I have to go out and talk it up. I am finding that I enjoy talking about the site especially to people who get it. They get the idea and why there is such a need for it. Of course, I don’t particularly enjoy talking to those who either don’t get it or are uninterested. As a business owner socializing and getting the word out is something that I have to do. Luckily, it turns out I may actually like it. The problem is that the time I spend talking to people is less time that I spend working on the site. There are just not enough hours in the day. Because I work from home I need to stop working all the time. I need to set some limits on the time that I spend thinking and working on the site. It is hard! I want to shout from the rooftop what a great site Jean and I have created and that every parent should know about it. The goal – make Kidwinks.com a household name. For those of you who don’t know what the site is, here is a little info: Kidwinks.com is a resource for parents looking for kid-friendly events, activities, restaurants, shops and services throughout the Chicago land area. Find everything from story times at area libraries and neighborhood festivals to all sorts of Chicago fun -- all in one place! Get the lowdown from the experts by reading reviews posted by other parents. Sign up for our newsletter and get a list of upcoming kid-friendly events emailed to you twice a week! If you find yourself searching for family fun using the search terms, chicago kids, or chicago for kids, kidwinks.com is the site to know.

Children's Charities

Another week has gone by. I am trying to come up with any and every way to let Chicago parents know about kidwinks.com, still. We are now working with some of the area libraries. We are going to give away tickets to Kiddieland and Donley’s Wild West Town during their story-time events. I will post when and where we are going to be when we set our schedule. We are also going to start doing some fund raising for children’s charities. We are going to be asking our members for which charities they think we should be working with. I think that we will get a lot of great ideas. The plan is to create some banner ads and make announcement in our newsletter encouraging members and non-members to donate to the children’s charity. I think this is going to be a great way to help kids. We are helping parents with our site now it will be nice to help kids who maybe can’t enjoy all of the fun activities kidwinks.com has to offer. If you have not heard, www.kidwinks.com is a searchable website for parents looking for places to go and things to do with their children. We are a great site for families who find themselves searching for: Chicago fun, Chicago for kids, kids Chicago, Chicago kids, kids eat free, family fun, kids activities, kids fun.