Mana Ionescu
Updates
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Pinterest Hits 10 Million U.S. Monthly Uniques Faster Than Any Standalone Site Ever http://t.co/tnOyE2b3
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@foundingmom you kidding me? It wasn't harsh enough! you didn't say anything about the pricing lol
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Great chat with @twatan about @ShortyAwards and @MuckRack. Have you submitted a Shorty nomination yet?5 hours ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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@sherrierohde I think my friend has a portion control issue, not a fatty cucumbers issue lol
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Andrew Mason’s First Earnings Call: “Stop Sending Me Pole-Dancing Deals” http://t.co/KfYHwG8V
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@martinjon omg, busy is an understatement. looking to hire an assistant, then I'll have more time and we'll do coffee!
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+1 “@IowaHawkeyeMeg: Inspired by @manamica yesterday! Will be turning off my phone 9-12 today. Minimize distractions &be more productive!”
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Addressgate: After The Path Fallout, Whose Address Book Is It Anyway? http://t.co/rOgen6Fl
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Six Sizzling Suggestions to Make Valentine’s Day Last All Year http://t.co/wnGC2Qcd #productivity
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Chicago's Own Trevi http://t.co/hjQIfxCy #chicago
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@hurriednotes I think odds are that's the true culprit :)
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@RossLaRocco @bookoisseur @mattlindner @javilabbe I tried to get a gentlemint account... not luck :( I guess I have to stay pinteresting
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Pandas on Smithsonian! Gotta go watch the adorable!
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@DarcyKieran gonna hit the red sea in the area first lol.
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@Amanda_Jeanette @12Most @9inchmarketing I love it too! What's your link? I'd love to connect. Here's mine: http://t.co/RgQ7WlS515 hours ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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@DarcyKieran wow this docu turned out great. 80 food deep papira caves that these crocs navigate and dominate!
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@askewaskew there is if you say there is, or if you say u just made that up :) @rcktorres
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@mattlindner @bookoisseur I have one, but rarely pin on it. I only pin orange food lol. @RossLaRocco @javilabbe
Posts
And he wasn't selling. He was teaching. He told stories, and listened, and showed tools, and told more marketing stories. The energy was high. You could just tell how much he loves what he does. He used simple words and told the potential clients marketing tricks he learned from others. A lot of that knowledge was not related to his product. But it was part of the conversation.They didn't even notice the Nikes he wore. They were in love.
My wish for you in 2012 is to go out there, be you, teach, and make them love you!
Gasp! I said it! And it's a simple story of how my dependency on online shopping turned into more work for me.
Last weekend I ordered an office item from Amazon. I have Amazon Prime, so I went with 2-days free shipping to get it by Wed. I needed it urgently by Thursday so I figured if it's delayed I will get it Thursday at the latest. After all, Amazon always delivers and the UPS guy is my friend, so I will surely get the package on time.
I was wrong. For this particular shipment Amazon used Ensenda, not UPS. And Ensenda came by after 6 PM when no-one was there. So I called them to ask for an earlier delivery or delivery at home. And they said that they deliver when they deliver (more or les... ).
Thursday I called again and they said they weren't sure when they'd deliver. So I took a quick trip to Staples, bought the damn thing and dragged it back to the office.
That was easy! (Yes, in celebration, I did walk away with a bunch of "easy" buttons)
The item was delivered on Friday (although Ensenda claims they delivered it Thur. at 9:30 AM).
Lesson learned. Some things should just be bought in a store. I don't mean to say I will never use Amazon again. I love Amazon, and I wish they stopped using Ensenda (this is my second failed customer-service story with Ensenda).
So here’s what I learned:
- Self-service is not always the best service.
- "Free shipping" doesn't mean hassle-free.
- The experience should be considered as part of the cost or benefit of doing business with someone.
- UPS knows that a business address means delivery during business hours. Ensenda doesn't.
- Our office needs an assistant...
Do you have a failed “online-shopping” experience where you wished you shopped in a store? Please do share!
Every week I talk to people who are looking for work, or people who are looking to restart their careers. Yesterday I looked through about 10 resumes in helping a friend recruit for a position. These were just 10 of many, many others.
It's heartbreaking and encouraging at the same time. Why? It never ceases to amaze me how unwavering Americans are when it comes to work and their future.
I am not an optimist by nature, although I feel that living in America has taught me to be more hopeful of the future. So here I find myself having so much hope that we will get out of these tough economic times if not next year the year after. We will have much to sacrifice but we will make it.
Resilience. Resilience is the word that comes to mind when I think of Americans. Most of the people I've talked to have figured out small ways to make an income, while searching for a full time job. Many have started their own companies. Others have turned to their passions, photography, painting, arts. And many are asking for help and finding that support in unexpected places.
Ultimatelly I hope this will bring us all together as a closer community. In fact I see it happening already.
I want to encourage anyone who is looking for work to do a few things:
1. Tell everybody what you would love to do to make a living.
2. Ask for help.
3. Give help.
4. Be humble. I've seen people turn down good jobs because it was a "lateral move." A lateral move from being unemployed is being unemployed! Titles are insignificant.
4. Do this over and over again and never give up. You are not alone in this.
Since the rise of Google+ many have wondered what other social network to sacrifice to make time for Google+. Thanks to the creativity of the tech community and the flexibility of the Google platform, Chrome and Firefox users can bring Twitter inside Google+ and manage both networks from the same location.
All you need to do is install Google+Tweet on your Chrome or Firefox browser, go to Google+ and you will see the Twitter icon to the left of your Home icon. Click the Twitter icon and you will be prompted to log into your Twitter account.The functionality works nicely however it's been very slow to load, which is not unexpected given the meteoric rise of Google+. But once you have it installed you can manage your Twitter account from inside Google+.
Have fun!
There is much value in connecting with people online but we should be in control of technology, we shouldn't let technology control us.
We can make much more effective use of technology when we connect with people online through a planned and purposeful effort, rather than through mindless reactions to push notifications on our mobile devices.
Bon appetit!
I can't get over this picture. Thanks to my friend Georgianna Gleason and her dog Ridley for sharing this with the world (Facebook world). It's just too good! Can your dog do this?
Back in my corporate days we ran a web ad/banner test and found that text-style ads (similar to google search results) got 400% higher click-through rates than image ads. These ads disguise themselves as regular content. Since then I've been wondering why Facebook advertisers don't apply this approach. Google figured it out a long time ago, yet on Facebook text-only ads, or smartly disguised ads are a rare breed. Well, this morning I saw this ad disguised as a poll.
What do you think, would you be more prone to click on ads if they looked more like regular content?
This is when I hope media outlets can act responsibly. I hope they can put sensationalism on hold and act like responsible citizens. And I hope individuals will jump in to help too. I am talking about global media outlets and I am talking about us, people who are safe in our American or European homes devouring everything that media throws at us.
I am only writing this because I was shocked when my mother started emailing me panicky messages related to the radiation leaks in Japan. She saw something on Romanian TV, panicked and has been emailing me repeatedly to tell me to take iodine and hide. I understand the fear, since I was part of the Chernobyl generation and I did have to stay indoors and take iodine.
But let's just be clear on three things:
1. Radiation was found 18 miles outside of Japan plant. The danger zone is considered at this point to be within a 50 mile radius. I'm 6,299 miles from said plant.
2. Don't believe everything you hear on the news. Do we really need to talk about this idea?
3. I am not in danger, but many people in Japan are.
We shouldn't hide, we should help.
Instead of panicking I chose to make a donation today. I went with Direct Relief International based on their great reputation. If you'd like to donate, click on the image below. Or choose one of the many ways to help. So let's not hide, let's do what we can to help.
Ten days ago my wallet was stolen and a bad experience turned into a great confirmation of the kindness of people. I was (positively) overwhelmed by offers of help from friends and people I didn't know so well. From train passes to offering to buy me lunch, to kind words, people came through when I needed them. I was reminded of the little things people do for each other every day to strengthen friendships and communitites.
And it just so happens that now I have the opportunity to give back, and more that just that, I have the opportunity to make a call to you all to join us in making our communitites better through simple, small and random acts of kindness.
And in case you need more reasons to join in, Meatheads Burgers & Fries have committed to donate $0.25 for each pledged act of kindness, to Aspire.
It doesn't stop here, we are looking to collect 10,000 pledges of acts of kindness.
So help us and pledge your act of kindness today:
- Tweet your act of kindness with the hash tag #meatheadsact
- Post on our Facebook wall or
- Email us at act[at]meatheadsburgers.com
No act is too small, hug a stranger, give someone a flower, smile at everyone for a day to bring joy to their lives.
Join us, in small or big ways to improve our communitites through random acts of kindness.
Between Feb. 28 and April 22 I will be blogging about my adventures in random acts of kindness. I am psyched about the opportunities!
Who's with me?
The Jillian Michaels Cruise 2010 - No Excuses! from Mana Ionescu on Vimeo.
We did a lot of moving and hard workouts during the Jillian Michaels cruise (that's what we were there for right?) and a lot of it was fueled by a team contest. I was part of team Yellow and I never thought I'd run laps around a boat... but I did it, for team yellow. Watch the video until the end to see which team won :)
I learned that Thanksgiving is about tradition. So the best home made pie can't beat the pies one loves to buy.
Since this is my first Thanksgiving as a US citizen I went and bought a pie. I know there is no logic to that statement but there is no reason in the comfort foods we choose. So there you have it.
So this year's pie is apple cranberry from Angel Food Bakery.
What's your favorite pie? Leave a comment or tweet your piece choice using the #piewars2010 hashtag :) Pie wars is on!
Recently I discovered how a good playlist can get me working out so much harder and running so much faster. So for today's Hot Chocolate 5K race I put together a list that I knew for sure would keep me going.
NOTE: I used the original versions of the songs for the mix. This player pulls in mixes from YouTube. So if you want to the originals use the names of the songs and artists instead of using this player.
Enjoy!
www.SonicSwap.com" width="20" /> Share your own playlists with SonicSwap
I escaped the Jillian Michaels Ultimate Wellness cruise for a day of SCUBA diving. These pictures were taken at DC3 Wall and James Bond Wreck sites.
>La Evolución Silenciosa (The Silent Evolution)
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Additional Information
Latest checkin
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@Ravenswood Neighborhood (Montrose and Ravenswood)3 days ago in Chicago, Illinois
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Checkin history
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@Ravenswood Neighborhood (Montrose and Ravenswood)3 days ago
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@Ravenswood Neighborhood (Montrose and Ravenswood)3 days ago
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@Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce (200 e Randolph suite 2200)7 days ago
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@Byron's Hot Dogs (1701 W Lawrence Ave.)11 days ago
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@Fleet Feet Sports (1620 N Wells St)12 days ago
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@Fountainhead (1970 W. Montrose Ave)12 days ago
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@Dental Innovations (4554 N Lincoln Ave)2 weeks ago
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@lakefront (16234 marine drive)2 weeks ago
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@Lyric Opera (20 N Wacker Dr)2 weeks ago
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@Fountainhead (1970 W. Montrose Ave)2 weeks ago
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@Fleet Feet Sports (4762 Lincoln Ave)2 weeks ago
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@Grossinger City Service (1561 N Fremont St)3 weeks ago
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@Watertower Endodontics (845 N. Michigan Ave.)3 weeks ago
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@Frasca Pizzeria & Wine Bar (3358 N. Paulina St.)3 weeks ago
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@Fleet Feet Sports (4762 Lincoln Ave)3 weeks ago
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@Music Box Theatre (3733 N Southport Ave)4 weeks ago
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@Lyric Opera (20 N Wacker Dr)4 weeks ago
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@SUSHISAMBA rio (504 N Wells St)4 weeks ago
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@City Island Restaurant (916 S. Route 59)4 weeks ago
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@La Sierra (1637 W Montrose Ave)5 weeks ago
Posts
Digital marketing strategist. Chicago, SCUBA and opera are my passion. I'm originally from Transylvania, Romania and I cook a mean Romanian meal.
