I’m checking in to thank-you all for still stopping by and to let you know I’ll be back again soon!

Since my last post I put my Grandmother house on the market, sold it in a week, travelled 21 days in a row for work and then threw in a couple of extra days for good measure, committed to a lease in the Baltimore area, started packing and now looking for work in Baltimore!  When it rains it pours!!

But I haven’t forgotten about you all and I have posts spinning in my brain literally jumping to get out.  Bear with me for a few more weeks and all will be back to normal!  Thank-you for hanging with me!!

So I appear to still have Under Armour on the brain. In a previous post I ended by saying I had some fabulous ideas on how they can connect with the rowing community. Now I have to admit to having a soft spot in my heart for the sport. I first stepped into a boat my freshman year of high school and never looked back. I’ve trained, raced and coached juniors through masters level athletes. Rowing is in my soul.

Under Armour, whether they know it or not, already have a grass roots connection to rowing. Go into any boathouse and I promise you over half of the athletes, from juniors to masters, will be wearing at least one piece of Under Armour apparel. Better yet, right in their own home town is the Baltimore Rowing Club. They can take a morning (a very early morning) and do a little field research for themselves.

Let’s take that thought a little further. Baltimore Rowing holds The Great Baltimore Burn every year. This year it will be held on Feb 6^th. It is an indoor erg race. These indoor races were originally set up to break up the monotony of winter training – painful, painful event I might add. Baltimore Rowing Club bills theirs as being named after the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904 and the deep pain you feel in your legs during and after a 2k sprint – yeah barrels of fun! But my point is this is a local event. Under Armour can do some small test marketing here and see how they best connect with the rowing community. From there they can take what they’ve learned and bring it to the Crash B’s (the World Indoor Rowing Championship) and also forge a connection with Concept 2 (the makers of the erg).

Under Armour has a well planned marketing strategy of working with top high school and college teams and there is no reason this wouldn’t work in the rowing community as well. However, I’d also like them to consider a different tactic. The fastest growing segment in the sport of rowing is in the Masters Division – age 21+. Within that division it is women who are leading the way. Find away to connect with these women!

Finally I’ll end with a dream product that if Under Armour could find a way to produce I will fall at their feet!! Get a rower to talk about the shoes attached to the foot stretcher in the boat and you will hear a never ending litany of complaints – they’re to small/large, can’t keep them closed – ties/velcro are worn out, they’re just plain nasty and the list goes on and on. If Under Armour could come up with a quick release type shoe system – maybe something similar to how a bike shoe clips onto a pedal – and each rower could invest in having their own shoes in the boat – you would have rowing gold!

I would love to see Under Armour strengthen their already unofficial ties to rowing. As always I’d be thrilled to discuss any of my ideas with Under Armour in person. And for all you rowers reading this – Stay Long, Row Hard!!

Last week I read Chris Brogan’s post “Wiring Yourself for Success”. Chris picks 3 words each year to help guide him in refining his goals and decisions for the upcoming year – a lighthouse beacon to see through the fog so to speak.

The past 2 years I have been using themes to define my upcoming year. 2008 was the year of “play”. I realized I had forgotten how to enjoy all the little fun things I so enjoyed as a kid. I made it a point to play when ever possible. To that end – I finger painted in the yard with one of my nieces, slept under the stars in the backyard (ok I added an aerobed – my back isn’t as forgiving as it use to be!), rediscovered skinny dipping, got lost in a corn maze and made a snow angel. I had a blast but more importantly my creativity was revived – new ideas came – it was a rebirth of the person I had loved and forgotten – me!

2009 was the year of “being bold”. When you get into a rut you forget to put yourself out there, blinders get put on and change becomes a thing of the past. I wanted to break new ground and went bold in many ways. I formed a partnership and new business – Strawberry Road, finally bought the hot red lipstick I talked about doing for years, physically visited the work sites of complimentary vendors to my industry and asked if they would be interested in a collaboration and I made the decision to move to the Baltimore, Maryland area (still putting the pieces together on that). In each case being bold and moving out of my current comfort zone has been a great success which in turn has made being bold something to be excited about and not feared.

I love to try new things or put a new spin on something I’ve done previously so when I read Chris’ post I thought it was the perfect way to revamp the way I do yearly themes. 2 words came to me immediately. The 3^rd one took more thought but I finally found it. As my work and personal life are so interconnected you will see that my words can and do refer to both areas of my life. Here are my 3 words for 2010.

(Before I share – I learned a really cool trick from a Seth Godin post – go to google – type in define: then a word you want the definition of and it pops up an answer – so cool!!)

define:sleek – well groomed and neatly tailored.

To me this means every aspect of both brands – Lil Blu Dragonfly and Strawberry Road – is tight. The message, the look, etc – is so well put together that you know who it came from and it brings certain expectations and emotions before you even get into the meat of it. For me personally it means making sure that I too have a completed pulled together look when I walk out of the door. I tend to fall into that category of working from home in yoga pants and fleece – when people meet me there is a disconnect between what they see and who I am – I need to be sleeker.

define:ownership – relation of an owner to the thing possessed.

This one comes from conversations I had with a particular person this summer. I met a man who is a contractor and during our conversations it always struck me how he took ownership of his gifts, skills and workmanship. He wasn’t afraid to come out and say I am very, very good at what I do and proud of it. It really impressed me and made me realize 1) I am good at what I do and 2) that I literally wanted to be like Mike – be proud and take ownership in myself and skills. In 2010 I’ll be tooting my own horn more. On the flip side I acknowledge that when I mess up I have to take ownership of that as well.

(PS: Mike really is good at what he does – I’ve seen his work first hand. If anyone in the Baltimore, North Shore area is looking for a reputable, reliable person to help with a home improvement project contact me and I’ll pass his contact information on.)

define:remarkable – unusual or striking.

In my industry we are a dime a dozen. There are photographers in every town and street corner now. I know that for me to continue to grow and work with the people I aspire to work with I can’t be like everyone else – be it marketing, style or presentation. I have to find a way to stand out of the pack and be remarkable. But, and here’s the key – remarkable in a way that is completely me and shows my true self.

So now I have my three words to guide me through the year. As a reminder and to keep me on course I plan on doing something that helps me focus when I work on particular projects. I take a dry erase marker and write what I’m focusing on onto every mirror, window and dry erase board I see. So don’t be surprised if you walk in my bathroom this year and see the words: sleek, ownership and remarkable staring back at you in the mirror.