Chat Recap: When Life Gives You Lemons, Start a Lemonade Stand

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August 26, 2010 by Laura Scholz | Comments (3)

Last night’s CRAVE Chat: When Life Gives You Lemons, Start a Lemonade Stand, was a night full of fun, great conversation, hilarious stories and inspiration.  Incase you were unable to attend, or just want to re-live the evening, here is a recap of the chat with everything from personal antidotes to inspirational Q & A!

How They Started Their Lemonade Stands:

Christy Annis peasforprosperity.com	Christy had an eye opening experience when she got fired from her job last June.  It made her realize she was on the wrong path.  Declaring herself “The Queen of Free Labor,” she helped everyone she knew, all in the hopes of networking and landing a new job.  She came up with the concept for “Peas for Prosperity” in late October of last year and intended the venture as only a seasonal project to help her land a “real” job.”  300 bags later, and Christy official began her reign as Atlanta’s Pea Queen.  She began creating jewelry with peas and later sustainable materials.  She launched her ecofriendly jewelry line, EcoREcreations, in July 2010.  Christy is thankful for her Second Chance in life and is dedicated to helping others who need a Second Chance. Twitter: @peas4luck Facebook page
Patti Davis designismagazine.com anatomyofadinnerparty.com	Patti’s career change began with a trip to the movies.  After seeing Julie and Julia, her husband turned to her and said, “Hey, you should do that.”  And Anatomy of a Dinner Party was born. Through networking, inspiration and selfless help from others, Patti’s blog brought a wealth of exciting opportunities including a job offer as the lifestyles editor of Design Is Magazine.  Patti says you should do something that brightens you everyday. Twitter: @DinnerPartyP Facebook page
Meridith Ford Goldman lifeislemonade.com	After 15 years in journalism, Meridith realized she wanted to reinvent herself.  Developing many relationships over the years helped her realize and accomplish what she really wanted to do, start a cooking and lifestyles blog and take the leap to the OTHER side of fine dining and hospitality.  She is now the Director of Editorial Services for The Reynolds Group, a local marketing and PR firm. Meridith’s biggest piece of advice is to embrace change.  If you can embrace change and not be afraid, you will find that your entire network will support you.  Don’t be afraid to leap–they will catch you if you fall. Twitter: @lifeislemonade Facebook page

Q & A

Question: Everyone is always telling me that I need to start a blog, but I don’t know where to start or what to write.  How did you get your start and inspiration?
Patti- Just be very conversational and write about what you know.
Christy- As long as you have passion about whatever you do [or write], you will get where you want to go.

Question: Do you do any advertising on your blogs?
Patti- I am a part of Amazon Affiliates, but I’m not making any money from it because I don’t put any time into it.  I feel uncomfortable trying to sell to the people reading my blog so I generally stay away from advertising.  Every Friday I do “Fun Find Friday” where I highlight something that is interesting to me.  It is a lot of fun, but I don’t make any money doing it.

Question: How did you get your readership up so much?
Patti- I saw a significant jump after popular blogs linked Anatomy of a Dinner Party to their pages.  It’s really all about networking.  Linking back to other people’s pages is a great way to pay it forward.
Meredith on Networking- Networking is something you absolutely need to do.  People say it can be all about luck and being in the right place at the right time, but by networking you are PUTTING yourself in the right place at the right time.  The more seeds you plant, the more opportunities will grow.

Question: Did you or do you currently have mentors helping you or certain people that inspire you?
Patti- There are so many wonderful people that have helped me over the last year, even a lot of people I don’t know.
Meredith- My mother, sister, teachers and friends have all be so supportive and inspirational to me.  I have always enjoyed sponging off others. One of my biggest inspirations and mentors was an italian bread maker, whom I met when I was a teacher  at Johnson and Whales.  One day he left me in charge of his class, leaving me to teach the students to make croissants, something I had never gone over with him.  I decided to just teach them the way I knew, but was worried it was not the way he made them.  I showed him how I did it when he returned.  After baking and tasting the delicious crossoints he said, “Well, now they know two ways!”
Christy- I’ve never really had a mentor in regards to my business, but I have had key people I’ve worked with who have been very supportive.  Just remember, if you do not have a mentor or if family and friends don’t support you, don’t let it stop you.  In starting my business, I have found a whole new group of friends and family.

3 Responses to “Chat Recap: When Life Gives You Lemons, Start a Lemonade Stand”

• Noteworthy Post – September 10th | StacyShade.net Says:
  
  September 10th, 2010 at 9:31 am

  [...] I love success stories!  Well, who doesn’t, really!?  This week, I’d like to send a shout out to CRAVE Atlanta and the interesting chat they had with three local entrepreneurs on the topic of “When Life Gives you Lemons, Start a Lemonade Stand.”  The three Atlanta women interviewed, Christy Annis, Patti Davis and Meredith Ford Goldman, reinvented themselves and are pursuing their passions!  I guess that calls for a “You Go Girl(s)!” – check out their interview responses here! [...]

• Patti Davis Says:
  
  September 10th, 2010 at 9:57 am

  Hi Stacy! What a nice surprise! And although I think it would be nice to brighten every day, I always try to do something that frightens me everyday.

  Now…off to skydiving class! LOL

  oxxo
  Patti

• Patti Davis Says:
  
  September 10th, 2010 at 9:58 am

  Oh, Laura! LOL! I found this link from Stacy on Twitter and followed it here.

  I’m so silly.

  Love you!
  P

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