An entrepreneurial freakout moment, a business turn around, or simply: making a Whoopi?
Read more on Bone Up! Blog at Herringbone.
Photo by: StevenGregoryPhotography.com – warmly recommended for event photography, professional or children portraits as well as tongue-in-cheek business photos.
Whoopi photo credit: Annie Leibovitz
Originally posted at ShoeRumors.com
Some things do give you a special smile.
Having had a friend stay with me for a few days and get the inspiration to a new Cinderella Story… is fantastic. This is what she posted to me at the time of the opening reception of the one-year anniversary shoe exhibition: Cinderella – The Right Shoes.
Cinderella’s shoes weren’t as tiny as you thought.
Having read it to the end, I am curious: who is the president in the beautiful shoes? I would be happy to see the current presidents wife, Michelle Obama, wear “my shoes”.
Because I know she could. And she would love them.
Thank you Abi Post for “let[ting] a story out in the wild”! Including your lovely Brittish vocabulary.
I did enjoy. Hope you do too.
Johanna
New York by night. I glance down the street as I cross the way on the way home. Furthest up, is an ad on Broadway, that fully resonates with me and the moment: “The Further I Get, The Further I Want to Go.”
And I say like Jay Alexander: “it only gets better.”
A conversation at the bus stop.
6.15am. On my way to volunteer at GLIDE and serve breakfast to those who need.
I buy a coffee to get change for the bus and overhear a conversation: “After 38 years together they finally got married.”
Inspired of the beauty of it I turn around and say “did I hear 38 …”
“Yes. Two ladies”, the two men say and nod their heads.
“Oh, I’m happy for them” I say, and start walking out.
“And can you do me a favor, lady?” one man expresses. “No, please…” the other man says.
“Yes, what?” I ask.
“Can you get a little heel? Just a little heel?”
“I have heels. I have them in my bag here. I work with shoes” – and hand him my card.
“All ladies should wear heels. All tall ladies should have high heels. And a pin in their back. You know why? To keep their back straight, because they have low self esteem.”
That is exactly my finding with most women who have big feet.
Last comment by the man: “I used to wear 5 inch heels myself – and I used the run the beat out of them all”, holding my card in his hand.
LLXLLQ – beautiful larger size shoes – including heels – for women. And of course, those men who enjoy the occasional heel. If the shoe fits.
Johanna
Last night I stopped by the SF Launch of BRAVE NEW WORLD – the latest edition of the coffee table magazine Sex+Design, that is issued quarterly.
“Sex+Design Magazine is a pull-no-punches publication exploring the counter-culture of urban life. Sex+Design highlights the balance between sophisticated living and downtown debauchery. Writers from the New York Times, Paris Review and Juxtapoz are featured along with art, design and photography from a number of cutting edge worldwide artists.”
As I was walking around I was thinking of a possible feature of shoes… and on my way out I couldn’t resist testing the footprint. See – it fit right in!
Every where else, these red LLXLLQ shoes stand out. I get so many complements. I even got advised by a guerrilla publicity specialist to do a campaign ‘Where are the red shoes”. Well… I think they have found a home.
Although – what’s the point if you don’t make a mark. You want to be seen – no? I guess the setting would be different… a different setting that makes the LLXLLQ shoes stand out. That they do at Dolce Amore, 1477 Van Ness and Pine in San Francisco. Come on by – Shoe Exhibition “Cinderella – The Right Shoes”. Opening reception tomorrow at 5-7pm. RSVP Here. Exhibition open until August 31st. Man or woman, size 10-12 in shoes or not – you will enjoy. The food is delicious too.
I bet – a shoe closet like what you will witness there, was never seen in Sex in the City.
Stand tall in style,
Johanna
I find life amusing. Recently I have ordered killer deal printing jobs from Vistaprint. Of course they up-sale in the end of the purchasing process, and you end up buying more. Maybe. This time they offered me the car magnets that I have had the intention of getting for a very long while. I just didn’t get to getting the right help I thought I needed for the design. Well, this offer at the end of the purchase was so in-expensive, so I just used the same image for the car magnet as for the front of the business card, and hoped that the file quality was good enough.
The print job was mailed sooner than expected, and I was very pleased with the result. It was with great enthusiasm that I displayed the “LLXLLQ – Size 10-12 Handmade Italian Shoes” on my golden Subaru. One of the first stops outside a friends house, someone past by and after reading on my car stated that “That is a very specialized niche”. That is true. Only for women with larger sizes shoes.
To my great disappointment I lost one of the car magnets on my first drive on the high-way. I think it was a bad sample, because I noticed that it felt like it came off very easily. Now, that doesn’t matter, because Vistaprint replaced it with no comments more than providing a guide sheet.
That’s the background info. Yesterday I was walking around with the “I love Vistaprint” thought in my mind. I should take a photo and tweet them, sharing my love and appreciation. Thinking – I wonder if they would retweet – would that lead to more cross marketing.
Early this morning I was submitting a press release for distribution. Using the free version, there was an add in the beginning of the press release, that happened to be Vistaprint. Interesting.
Later today when I was looking at the press release report – this is what I find:
“Search Phrases – this report lists top 5 phrases that visitors used in search engines to find your release on PrLog.
1. vistaprint”
Mind you – this was a search engine optimized press release with keywords – for large size shoes. Isn’t that wonderful – I didn’t even tweet my love to vistaprint – and they have already sent me traffic. Hm. The power of thought… or the power of unconditional love. Vistaprint – the company that keeps giving.
Vistaprint – Thank you!
Johanna
Below is a preview shot by StephenGregoryPhotography.com, of the LLXLLQ shoe, named after the founder Lucia. The shoe is one of many that is installed for the Shoe Exhibition August 9-31, with opening reception 5-7pm Friday August 9. join us at that event – more info and RSVP: www.therightshoes.eventbrite.com
And yes – below is also the bespoken car magnet of LLXLLQ from Vistaprint. The car is on brand.
In the Starbucks line this morning:
“Excuse me, may I ask which shoe size you wear?”
“For what? Size 9.”
“Ah – then you are too small. We’ve just launched a shoe line for women with size 10-12. It is so difficult to find shoes that size, and when I see women who I think could be my size, I ask.”
“Oh I don’t know – I am size 9 in men’s shoes.”
DO YOU GET THE PICTURE? I need a megaphone… size 10-12, Italian handmade shoes…. LLXLLQ
Please SHARE this and send your friends and friends of friends with larger sizes shoes my way. Have them sign up for the newsletter http://bit.ly/LLXLLQnews , using campaign code “FRIEND” and they will receive a very special offer on top of the 15% for signing up for the newsletter.
If you act now they can participate in the LLXLLQ shoe giveaway by June 30, 2013: http://splur.gy/r/dz2v4
When it comes to social media and getting your message across, you can sometimes ride on the wave of success created by others.
The last one I would have loved to see from (more…)
When I started this blog some 3-4 years ago, I did it because I had an urge to write – although I didn’t quite know about exactly what. Initially I just wrote from my heart and posted, quickly looking to see if it got any hits at all. If someone was reading. Curiously hiding behind the screen.
I got a push to make it public within a week of start by a coach friend of mine. So I did. (more…)
Friday, Oct 25, 5.06pm. iPhone reactivated, restored and functioning. With data as of October 23, noon.
Dear Apple: I love you. Your product features are unbeatable, and your service outstanding. Getting a new SIM card and SIM card holder and a functioning phone same day, was fantastic.
Police Department of San Francisco: you did an amazing job, thank you for finding the thief and for driving me till the bitter end…
Dimitri: thank you for calling the cop and for pulling up “Find iPhone” on your Sportique store computer.
Anna Sandgren, E. Denise Johnson, Roger Francisco and team: having a team that know what they are doing and if not, create from what is, is fantastic. I’m glad I could join the photo shoot in the end.
Denise, Tatiana, Agatha and Valencia – you looked beautiful. Especially in those LLXLLQ shoes 😉 You are such pro’s – an honor to work with you! The Michael Boris and GreenBlackDress clothing was a very nice, classy and classic complement as well.
SFMTA – you only did your job – but you better accept my citation protest for the $501 car tow fee and $83 parking ticket, due to me being stuck at the police department processing the claim.
Lessons learned:
1. No matter time and location: don’t walk with valuable things in your hand that can be easily taken away from you.
2. If someone robs you – it is worth running after and screaming – other people will help.
3. The iPhone app “Find iPhone” is outstanding. Having the police on the phone and being able to tell them the exact corner where the phone is located helped track down the thief.
4. The back seats of Police cars ain’t made for comfort – you don’t want to sit there.
5. And finally – it is true what they say: Ladybugs brings you luck. This was my screen “savior”.
If my letter to the 14 year old boy, who stole the iPhone from my hand when I was standing on the street looking for a store, impacts him in a positive way sooner or later – then this was all worth it. That is my last wish to this ladybug before I change the screen saver.
Yesterday was quite a day – from beginning to end. It ended well, and I’m glad it is over.
Enjoy the weekend all. Keep dancing in the moment!
Johanna
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