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• Julia's Latest Tweets:
  
  1. That's my staff ur talkin about RT @arikhanson @annebuchanan Wanna impress me? Stick ur head in my door at 5 & ask, anything I can help with
  2. Step away from ur phone - it applies to husbands too. RT @ThinDifference: Step Away from Ur Devices During Meetings http://t.co/PinnYafl
  3. @DickPittman7 You are welcome. Thanks for the recommendation for ROBERTS. We had a blast - stayed out 'till 1:30.
  
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• John's Latest Tweets:
  
  1. @piratebluestar What you've said - social is built in. Content and #ideas are shared and worked on together: http://t.co/86Ei4tlq
  2. Are Big Corporations Putting the Brakes on Social Media? Interesting: http://t.co/6ot49cw4 via @entmagazine @djsroka
  3. @piratebluestar Can u take a break from the FB rave party for 1 min & swing by LinkedIn so we can get some biz done http://t.co/I5gbxWm9
  
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• Our Latest News Blog:

  Blue Star Design in the news.

  Corporate Structure and Small Business Don't Mix.  

  By John Briggs as told to Plain Dealer Reporter Marcia Pledger 

  The Mistake: I was a marketing manager in corporate America for a long time, working for multi-billion dollar companies with resources at my fingertips. When my wife's small design studio got to the point where she gained a client that could help take the business to the next level, she begged me to join her. With reservations I finally did. But I started off wrong, bringing my corporate mindset to a small business.

  Read the entire article and the fix at cleveland.com.

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• A blog about how we think and how we work:

  And just how are you running this race?

  
  
  
  This year we signed up our 8-year-old daughter, Lydia, for CYO cross country – mainly because she’s proven to be quite agile and lightening fast while darting around the house and on the playground, trying – at all costs – to avoid any inkling of parental control. We signed up her twin brother, Nate, too, simply so we could all be in one place, at one time for once.
  
  Surprisingly, it turned out our son is pretty good at long distance running. And our lightening-quick daughter was the one to struggle at times during these meets. She looked almost directionless.  Thank goodness for the all signs, spectators, spotters and orange cones or we could have lost her to the woods.
  
  It was just perplexing. This is the same girl we frantically chased through the doctors office along side the nurse, needle in hand.  She’s way speedier than she had been letting on at cross country.
  
  It appeared, after a few long drawn out races, that our lovely Lydia lacked a goal – she was simply running to run.
  
  That’s nuts. No one runs a race to run a race, no more than one runs a business to run a business. You don’t run for the heck of it. There is a reason you run. And it’s not just to finish, either.  Finishing is not a goal, it is an integral part of the race.
  
  The idea is to finish each race AND improve. Carefully defined goals help you measure your progress along the way, and give you the focus vital to reaching your destination. Achieving a better standing, better time, better running form. Earning better profits, reaching more customers, reducing expenses. 
  
  Without goals you end up going through the motions, trailing behind everyone else in the field. If you’re persistent, and a bit lucky, you will finish – but without any kind of reward or true satisfaction. More than likely you’ll only be left with exhaustion.
  
  Our son's  goal was clear from the start of cross country, to be the first one in on among his teammates. Lydia, on the other hand, loved the social aspect of the meets. She looked forward to hanging out with her girls before and after the race.  So we helped her discover the goal she needed. We simply pointed out she could “hang out” with her faster friends DURING the race, too – something she didn’t realize she could do.
  
  Finally, on the last weekend of the season, Lydia ran her best race ever. She shaved 5 minutes off her time, and actually beat a few of her friends along the way – both to her amazement and ours.
  
  Funny, the one thing I didn’t have to point out to either of our kids is that all goals end up being worthless if you aren’t willing to dig in and get a little dirty to get the job done. 
  
  
  
  
  
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• A blog about what we've made -- Our Online Marketing Automation Tools:

  Ronald McDonald House of Cleveland Chooses Flier Styler

  
  
  “Flier Styler™ ensures we stay on brand without having to micromanage layout and content creation,” said Samantha Stroud, Marketing and Communications Manager at Ronald McDonald House of Cleveland. “Since content is entered directly into the tool by our volunteers and employees, Flier Styler™ reduces the amount of time required to create, edit and approve content for publication. With Flier Styler™, users are guided through the creation process, so content is more likely to be on target and the final product will be consistent with our brand and will look great.”
  
  Check out their fliers on the web >
  
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• Flier Styler™ — a place where you create fliers, notes and announcements that are styled for you.
  Read about how companies are using Flier Styler.
• CaseSnap is a web-based system for documenting customer references and creating success stories. Find a Case. Share a Case. It's a Snap!.
  Read about how companies are using CaseSnap.

©2011 Blue Star Design LLC / 4164 Lorain Ave., Cleveland OH 44113 / 216.334.1312 / Creators of Flier Styler™, Buzz Caddy™, and CaseSnap™.