From Jill Jones

At discount stores: Hit “sale” racks first. Often there are only one or two total of each garment on sale. It’ll hurt to see the perfect item walk out the door with someone else because you were focused on new arrivals. Unless you personally have the skills to mend zippers, fix holes, attach buttons, etc, avoid items that need work in order to wear them. Chances are you wont complete the project in a timely fashion, and at that point, the fact that you saved money to begin with is moot. Stay away from super trendy items on sale racks–buy classics–neutral-colored tanks and tees (black white gray tan) that never go out of style. Never buy something because you know it will look good if you lose ten pounds; It will weigh like a brick in your closet.

Shopping in general: Breathe deep. Scan the whole room. Don’t allow the first sales person who addresses you to dictate your experience, as they will likely drive you to the newest, more expensive items. Use your senses to absorb the merchandise–touch, feel. Walk the perimeter–discounted items are usually on endcaps and towards the backs of stores. Once you’ve gotten a feel for what is being offered, find a competent sales person if you have specific questions.

Second hand stores: On quality–make sure to examine the stitching, lining, all buttons, and zippers on used clothing. Dont pay attention to sizes at vintage or second-hand stores, those numbers likely meant something different twenty years ago. The numbers are more like general guidelines, and really don’t mean much. So don’t freak out if all of a sudden the extra large fits, when usually you are a medium. Go for fit and comfort. (Do the stretch, reach, or bend test–you’ll know if something is not going to work out if you practice a few “real-life” movements in the dressing room. If you find leather boots (cowboy), leather bags, cashmere, or anything that says JCrew, that is in god shape and fits properly, buy it. Crew and v neck sweaters generally never go out of style.

Flea markets and discount stores–go early in the day when stores are generally more quiet and the “help” is fresh.
At flea markets–good to know what you’re looking for, because vendors will not often “hold” things for you. Going to see what else is around is a good idea, but be prepared if the item you loved is sold when you return. Sometimes you just have to pull the trigger (and always worth it to see if prices are negotiable . . . just don’t offend the vendor with a super low offer!)

Full retail items–winter coats–pea coats, trenches.

Lists are great, and will help an inexperienced shopper stay focused. It is of course ok to stray from the list, but not unless you’ve tackled at least part of what the trip was intended for. In the long run, you’ll feel unsatisfied when you get home and realize you have to plan another afternoon at the stores.

Cohesive room–think about lines. Repetition. If your couch has straight lines, continue that feel with a coffee table with strong, straight legs. Finish–If you have a coffee table with chrome–follow that with a similar frame or frames on the wall or around the room. In the end it’s about consistency.

September 2010

French Davis: Can you tell us how the idea of TalentDiscovery.com first sprang to life?
Steve Stith: I was seeing amazing talent everywhere: On Venice Beach, the subway in New York and on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. Also, the talented people who post videos online that go unnoticed. Plus, those who didn’t make the cut onto the talent shows on television. A few of them, in my opinion, were better than some of the ones that did make the cut. That’s when I thought “We will give talent a new way to be seen. We will give them a new way to be discovered. They deserve it.”

FD: I get Los Angeles, but why is Denver your other main office?
SS: L.A. makes the most sense, I agree. However, I have worked in Los Angeles, in Chicago, in Dallas and in Denver. We have partnered with some very talented graphic designers, website designers, developers, idea generators and more in Denver that are willing to do whatever it takes to make this site great. (Plus, in addition to the beach, I love going to the mountains).

FD: Is this self-financed, or are there investors? If the latter, how tough a sell was it to raise the capital to launch, especially given the economic climate today?
SS: This project is partially self-financed and partially financed with investors. The pitch to investors for any venture is tough right now. The good thing about TalentDiscovery.com is it will be a phased project creatively and financially for the next two years.

FD: Is your revenue purely advertising? What’s the pitch like to your advertisers?
SS: Revenue will come from two sources: A nominal fee to enter your video, which is only $3.99. This will help pay for the encoding of the videos, the judging, administration, etc. And the second is advertisers. The pitch to advertisers (in addition to the analytics) is first and foremost that if they become an advertiser now, they will be able to be the category-specific sponsor/advertiser when this gets big. Plus, we demonstrate to them that the length of time that they are featured on the site at our low rate is a great way to augment their other media buys.

FD: What’s your 30-second pitch to contestants?
SS: I’ll give you the 10-second one: Would you rather post your talent video on other video sites with hundreds of millions of other videos…right alongside the ones of “Dogs chasing their tails” and “Babies Laughing”? Or would you rather have your talent seen by the professionals who can make a difference in your career?

FD: How long is a “season?”
SS: Each season will be six months. The first one is a little longer because it took a while for people to hear about TalentDiscovery.com. Plus, we were getting emails asking us if we would extend the deadline a little in order for the talented individuals to get their videos shot, edited and uploaded.

FD: How did you settle on this current crop of categories? For instance, I noticed the only specific instrumental category was lead guitar… why not Trombone or Keyboard?
SS: We chose the current categories based on the types of videos on other sites and the genres of talent shows on television. To answer your second question, guitar is the most popular instrument – that’s why we added it. But, if you play the trombone, maybe next season…

FD: Do you have plans on adding or changing categories?
SS: We do plan on changing categories for next season. We will keep the most popular ones and delete some of the least popular ones. Look for more categories, prizes and new judges too.

FD: Can you tell us about your growth since launch? Web traffic, submissions, etc….
SS: Our growth since our launch has been slow and steady. We’ve spent a lot of time making sure the site worked perfectly and testing the functionality. But I can say that we do have viewers from all 50 states and other countries as well. And, after the first season ends and we announce winners and successes, we will begin promoting the site more.

FD: Do you have any success stories from your content contributors so far?
SS: We have already had some talented individuals get gigs from people who went to the site and saw their videos. The bigger successes won’t happen until the end of the first season and winners are announced (much like any other show). But, a couple of our judges have already mentioned a few individuals who they believe have real potential.

FD: How do you handle copyrights on materials submitted? Do you own them now? Or just retain some sort of license?
SS: We do not have a copyright on anyone’s original songs, original material, etc. We do have the right to use the videos to promote Talent Discovery in many ways (which also helps get exposure for the people who submit). The contestants can still put their videos on any other site or on any other contest that they want.

FD: What’s the long term vision of Talent Discovery?
SS: Our long term vision includes some very big things for our site, for the talent and for our judges. We can’t reveal what the vision is too soon . . . because we don’t want any copycats. But I can tell you – if you want us to add the trombone as a category…maybe we could work something out in the future.

August 2010

There is an old saying, “He who pays the piper calls the tune.” By not taking any corporate or special interest money, Andrew Romanoff is demonstrating his focus will be the citizens he represents. (more…)

July 2010

Check out a few more great photos from our June Hot Issue fashion spread over at photographer Andrea Burolla’s photography blog. Thanks, Andrea! They were all great.

July 2010

By Lindsay Reichel

The Boulder Symphony Orchestra has changed its tune again.

Originally known as the Boulder Community Orchestra and then the Niwot Timberline Symphony, the local group has been renamed and is now being relocated.
(more…)

July 2010