This is not another post on food trucks. Instead it is a look at how a 25 year old woman founder has launched an online ordering platform for restaurants with delivery services and street food vendors. Currently serving New York city, FoodtoEat.com is one more online service that wishes to make it easier for their consumers to find and buy take-out food. Two things from their offering grabbed my attention. What I like about their business approach is what I will discuss here.

Instead of going after the gourmet food trucks who already use very well social media (mainly Twitter) to find customers, Deepti Sharma Kapur tailored her online platform for the rest of the street food market, for the ones who are not tech-savvy. Many restaurant owners and street food vendors don’t have the time nor the skills to go digital. FoodtoEat provides them with a Web presence, and an online ordering service that can easily reach their food cart or food truck. Since many orders are taken before the rush hours, it enables the food vendors to better manage their work and how much food they need to buy to meet the demands.

On the customer side, like its competitors, FoodtoEat allows them to locate street vendors by cuisine type and near by their current location. Customer save time by placing their order online.

Where I think that FoodtoEat stands out is by supporting corporate accounts. I think that it is brilliant since it enables them to reach a bigger market. It addresses the needs of the employees and the entreprises. By opening an executive account, a business have control over who can order food and when they can order. Employees gain more freedom to order food to their own diet and taste. Since everything is managed through one system, it reduces the paperwork and administrative costs associated with ordering out.

As I learned on this video interview for Fast Company, FoodtoEat was founded through a $500,000 friends and family round. They have a sister site who takes restaurant reservation. I am curious to see how they will do. For the moment, I have to applaud the spirit of this 25 year old woman entrepreneur. She inspires me to do more.

More Help for Food Entrepreneurs

If you are interested by the food industry, I invite you to read about San Francisco’s La Cocina incubator program. The mission of La Cocina is to cultivate low income food entrepreneurs as they formalize and grow their businesses by providing affordable commercial kitchen space, industry-specific technical assistance and access to market opportunities. Nina Tamburello did a great interview for the Daily Muse with Carola Mulero, Marketing and Events Coordinator at La Cocina, along with three graduates of the program.

photo credits: Co.Exist by Fast Company

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Until two years ago, I prided myself for not needing corrective glasses. After months of resisting to the fact, I had to come to the conclusion that I needed reading glasses. Even then, I was so not used to carrying reading glasses that I often asked strangers to read me the labels at the grocery store. I finally bought a second pair to always carry one pair in my purse.

For people like me, buying ready-to-wear reading glasses remain the best options. You can’t justify the expenses of having several prescriptive glasses since  presbyopia only stabilizes after 65 years old. I used to buy mine at the drugstores. I found these cute reading glasses at Costco Canada this morning. The Innovative Eyewear pack includes three pairs of lightweight, scratch-resistant reading glasses with a color coordinated neoprene case for each pair. All that for less than $18. You get the choose between 6 or 7 collections; some are for men and others for women. I selected the Fashion collection.

At that price, I didn’t let the fact that I could not try them in store stopped me from buying them. I asked two salesperson. Both confirmed me that if you are not satisfied, keep the packaging and Costco will refund them. So far, I am happy that I did. I will keep the packaging for a couple of days, just in case.

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If you live in Montreal, you probably know that the city approved 9 locations where street food vendors will be allowed to sell their creative food-to-go. The 9 food truck spots are located in the Ville-Marie borough. They are:

• Mount Royal, at the Chalet lookout – two spaces
• Mount Royal Park, near the George-Étienne Cartier statue - two spaces
• Place Émilie-Gamelin - three spaces
• McTavish Street, near McGill University - one space
• Victoria Street, next to the McCord Museum - one space
• Place du Canada – two spaces
• Square Victoria - two spaces
• Peel Street, near ETS, between Notre-Dame and Saint-Jacques Streets - two spaces
• Cité du Multimédia - two spaces

You can see where the food truck locations are on this Google Map prepared by The Gazette.

View Food truck sites in Montreal, Summer 2013 in a larger map

Again this year, street food will be at Olympic Park the first Friday of every month. The food trucks will be parked at The Esplanade of the Olympic Park. After 6 decades without street food other that at festivals, it is great to have them back in the city. Let’s encourage the vendors.

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Anyone who visited The Netherlands knows that the Dutch are not afraid of colorful spaces, even for the corporate office spaces. It is easy to add a punch of colors into an office space. For example, you can paint the cabinet drawers, choose a fun color for the chairs or use the color blocking technique for your room dividers.

Interior designers Van Eijk & Van der Lubbe went a step further when they gave new life to the ABN Amro bank office in Eindhoven. Instead of the typical commercial blinds, they collaborated with Rubia Natural Colour to create a series of curtain panels made with 100% natural pigments.

I read on Raw Color that 13 curtain panels were executed in semi translucent wool. The beauty comes when they overlap with each other to create colour blends between the panels. Really, it is a simple project for you to do. I love the pop of colors and the green living aspect. You could boost the morale of your team by trying to incorporate each member’s favorite color in the space where they mostly work.

Photo credits: Van Eijk & Van der Lubbe and Raw Color 
+ Via Bloesem

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It has been a while since I had my eye on a Nike+ Fuelband. Yesterday, I took the plunge. The reason why I bought a Fuelband is to help be more active. Yes, I wish to look better in my bikini but my real motivation is to stay healthy. Following my toddler boy around helps me but I want to do more. For the past 6 months, I try, without success, to add a daily yoga session to my routine. Between my work schedule, the household tasks and making dinner, I don’t seem to find the time to squeeze a yoga break. I wish that by raising the bar of my Fuel goal, I would have no choice but to integrate yoga in my life.

There are several contenders for activity-tracking bracelets. I read some reviews before making my purchase. I wanted a no-fuss, easy to use activity-tracking bracelet, one that tracks my steps and movements automatically. I don’t have the time nor the desire to photograph my meals. And I don’t want to wear on bracelet when I sleep. For these two reasons, I quickly eliminate the Jawbone Up. Plus, I like the fact that the Nike+ Fuelband is also a watch.

For your information, a Fuel is a unit specific to Nike. Your number of fuels will be a lot larger than your burned calories. Before you first use your Fuelband, you need to record your weight, height, age and gender. Nike developed the fuel metric system to enable people to compare their efforts with an universal value, no matter what height, weight, gender or activity they do. The Fuelband also tells you how much steps you did and your burned calories. At midnight every day, the Fuelband automatically resets the counts to zero. Nice weekly tracking reports give me incentives to continue. I can view my reports online and via an iPhone app. You can set a challenge over a period of time.

After taking to a few friends who told me that their Fuelband continues to motivate them after several months of usage, the choice was a no brainer for me. So far, I like it. It shows me that I am more active that I thought. To make it more challenging, I increased my daily goal at noon. We will see if I am too optimistic.

If you are interested in getting one, I bought mine at an Apple store. Apple carries them in stores and online. There are many Canadian retailers who carry them. The Black looks great on pictures but I heard that it always look dirty. People complained that it is hard to keep the Black band clean. I recommend that you opt for a White Ice or a Black Ice. If you need to know, I bought a small Black Ice (a clear black).

Photos credits: Nike on Facebook and Nike+ Fuelband

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Every blogger develops their own writing style. This is a part of the attraction of reading a blog. If we were to examine your writing style, we will probably find that reflects the type of person that we are in real life. Loyal readers can discover some of your character traits and your skills just by reading your blog. For instance, I like to get to the point, which is why I prefer shorter posts to long ones.

My writing process has been influenced by my experience as a technical writer, a business analyst, a designer and digital product creator. The layout, the images that I choose and the words that I wrote are all part of my blog signature. I also rely on a set of writing techniques to produce content. What I would like to discuss here is the writing process that I used once I did my research and narrowed the topic.

1. Determine what is your message

I start every post with a purpose, a specific goal in mind. As a rule of thumb, I will continue to work on a text until it says only what is crucial to deliver that message. I rely on a set of rules that help me convey that message. It is essential that you establish first what is your goal, why are you talking about it, why the audience should care about it. Everything else that you do after that is to support that goal.

2. Determine the format

What is the best way for your words to deliver the message? Do you wish to inspire people, convince them of the value of an idea, recollect an event, share an experience, suggest solutions or write a tutorial? There is a lot of talks these days about storytelling. Think about you can integrate a story line.

3. Words have a cost even in the digital world

In a world where you compete for people attention, I give just enough details to make the information valuable and understandable by the readers.

4. Don’t get attached to your text

If I worked hard on a section and it never seems right, it is usually because it doesn’t belong there or that it is a distraction. When I have doubts about a section, I ask myself why I should keep it? Does it helps people to understand my message, is it a lesson that I want them to take home, is it necessary? Before you throw the section away, you could ask yourself if that could become the story of another post?

Personally, I can be too ruthless when it comes to cutting the text of a post. When I am not sure if a stranger would grasp the point I am trying to make, I ask a few people that I trust for their input. The same way that great speakers invite a trusted group of people to a rehearsal of their presentation, you can ask a few people to read your post before publishing it.

5. How you would promote your post?

I wish that I would have done this more often before hitting the Publish button. Think about how you will promote your post on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. More than once, a better way to phrase my message or a more catching angle came to me when tweeting. I wished that I thought about it before the post went live. I now allow for a short break period after I saved my final draft. I use the break to free my mind or do another task. If I still like it after the break, it goes live. Otherwise, I will fix it.

6. Think about your opening and ending of your story

To be honest with you, this is not my forte. I like to write openings but I always seems to lack imagination when it comes to conclude my post. Therefore, I will refrain to give you any more advices on the topic. If you can help me, I would like to hear your suggestions.

7. A picture is worth a thousand words

Pictures sell. The most powerful element of your opening to get readers care about your post should be a photo that captures the spirit of the post and put the readers into the right mindset. When I select the picture depends on the type of topic. I select the images first when I write about design or a product. Otherwise, selecting the photo(s) is the last thing that I do. Use your own pictures, whenever you can. With time, creating your own picture will not take longer than searching for a photo that could fit your story.

Adapt the rules to your style and use the rules as a checklist before you hit the Publish button. Have fun writing!

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I wish all the dads a wonderful Happy Father’s Day! The time you spend playing with, talking to and caring for your kids has a tremendous effect on building their self-esteem and making them happy. Your presence counts and puts smiles on their face. We love you for everything you do for your family!

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I became a mom after 40s. I gave birth so late that my age group doesn’t appear in fertility tables. I was 47 years old when I gave birth to my beautiful son. For readers who are aware of the congenital heart defects of my son, it has nothing to do with my age. I don’t have any fertility stories to share since my son was conceived naturally. What I want to do here is addressing misconceptions about midlife parenting.

Some call us selfish to have waited so long, others assume that we do it to fill void in our life. Personally, I feel that it is better for everyone — that is, you and your kids — when you are ready to be a parent.

Zack was planned. I reached a point in my life where I saw myself embracing motherhood. I knew that my life would change and I welcomed it. I already had a full life. So I didn’t mind to put a few things on hold since I already lived many amazing experiences, I achieved many personal and business goals and I have travelled a lot. Being a parent enriches my life and made me a better person.

The ideal situation for kids is when they live with both parents in a happy home. The first advantage of being an older mom is that, statistically, we are in a stronger marriage. This fits my situation.

You have more focus on what matters to you since you know what makes you happy as you grow older. This impacts how you choose to raise your kids, which values you wish to transmit them, which rules they must follow and what your family life will look like.

I always have a career. Working plays an important role in defining who I am. I need that sense of fulfillment and excitement. When I decided to get pregnant, I felt great in my work. It is probably why I knew that I could and would go back to being a full-time entrepreneur. I knew that I would be able to adapt and if necessary, to reinvent my business. This is what I am doing. I reexamined my personal goals and business goals in other to focus on what really matters. This is one advantage of being your own boss: you can create a business that enables you to have time for your business, for my family and for yourself.

One comment that we often hear about older moms is the fact that we might not live long enough to see our grandchildren. It’s true! I used to worry about that after his birth, but not anymore. My son doesn’t care about my age. What he cares about is the quality time and the love that I give him. Plus, nobody can predict when he or she will die. In fact, older moms tend to live older than the norm. I believe that it because we already enjoy a good health. Therefore, as any actuary will tell you, we are more likely to live longer.

In case that you are considering midlife parenting, let’s quickly examine the fertility element. Did you know that the three main factors that improve any woman’s chances to get pregnant are: being healthy, having a normal weight, and reducing her stress level? You can take control of at least 2 factors out of these 3.

My message has two parts.

• Parenting is awesome when you are ready for it. I can’t imagine my life without my son in it.
• Don’t let your age dictates what you can or can’t do. I am proud to be an older mom. 

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A recent TED2013 talk by Nilofer Merchant offers us a way to mix work with leisure. It is easy to see why a walking meeting is great for your mind and body. With careful planning and some luck, I bet that they could save you time by allowing you to move between the places where you need to be. They could be more productive than the typical business meetings.

The idea of walking meetings speaks to me for several reasons. First, I love to walk; it is my prefer transportation mode in the city. I even walked in L.A.. Secondly, a walking meeting seems more fun and engaging than sitting at a corporate conference table. Third, by removing the distractions caused by the computer screens, you can discuss the important issues, explore ideas and talk about real solutions. Lastly, a walk keeps the meeting relatively short, which is way more productive.

Proponents of walking meetings say that being outside and in movement clears your mind and fuels your imagination. I believe it! To get results, you should select a quiet place, like a city park. Make sure to remind the other attendee(s) to wear their walking shoes. And yes, you can stop to grab a take-out coffee on your way to the park.

Not convinced yet? Watch this factual and inspiring short talk from Nilofer Merchant at TED

As for me, don’t be surprise if instead of asking you to meet you for breakfast, lunch or a coffee, I ask you to meet me for a walk.

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Today marks a great day for me. At last, a new chapter of my blogging career is starting. Starting today, At home with Kim Vallee becomes a blog about Making life easier for entrepreneurs and parents.

I passed half of the year reinventing, redefining and rebranding what is, at the end, the new At Home with Kim Vallee. The funny thing is that a key element changed last night. That important detail makes today’s reveal possible thanks to my mentor and to my little boy.

I took this rebranding seriously. I took some time off from blogging to allow me more time to think about what I really care about at this point in my life. I talked to people, read business books, write down my priorities, consider my strengths, etc. I put on paper the mission statement several weeks ago. I designed a new template. The programming of the new design is still in the making, which is why I call today reveal a pre-launch.

Over the course of all this branding operation, I wanted so much to differentiate the new blog from what it used to be that I forgot the basics. Remember what I was telling you back in March. I knew that something was wrong since I have headaches all weekend trying to cope with the fact that I would launch under a new name and with a new URL. How can I leave 6 years of work and start all over? It didn’t sound like a good business decision.

Before midnight last night, my mentor (the editor of MOCO LOCO) put me back on the right direction when he texted me that I must continue as At Home with Kim Vallee. He got a point: this is where my audience is. Still, I had problems figuring out how I will make it work. Then, my son cried for some comfort. As I held my beautiful toddler boy in my arms, listing to a soothing lullaby, my mind was free to relax. Eureka! I recalled that when I started the rebranding of my blog, At Home referred to our personal life. All the new topics that I wish to explore, even the work related ones, are linked to work/life balance and happiness. I didn’t need to let my old identity go.

The business lesson is that it is important to surround yourself with advisors that will enable you to bring you back home when it is necessary, and that know when to push you forward.

Let me share the story behind the new At Home with Kim Vallée. I always did more than talk about good design ideas and time saving tips for the home on this blog. Yes, I still enjoy design but after 6 years of blogging about home décor and entertaining, I wish to discuss other topics. In fact, I started On the Web with Kim Vallee (my social media blog) in 2008 with that intent but never fully pursuit it. I reached a point where I care more about how the digital world is changing how we live and work than to talk about home design products. I decided to go for it with a new mission statement for my blog.

Like many of you, I don’t look at my personal life and my business life in silos anymore. This way of thinking is an emerging trend. All the business books that I read and conferences that I attended lately made that same point. If you care about that topic, you will enjoy reading my blog from now on.

What to expect?

You can say that my blog reflects my life. I am an entrepreneur and a parent in this digital age. Through my writing, I aim to fuel your imagination, to talk about things that matter and  to interview people who are embracing change.

The new editorial will be centered around work/life balance, living in the digital age, creativity, education and entrepreneurship. They are the topics that I follow the most these days. I hope that you will continue to read and comment on At Home with Kim Vallee. You can bet that you will encounter tweets and shares on Facebook of home decor and entertaining ideas that inspire me.

To conclude this post, what do you think of my new identity? Depending of your browser settings, you may have to reload the page to see the new logo in the header.

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If you dream of showing off your own drawings, you will love this next idea. Designed for iPhone 4 and 5, a Krillz iPhone set comes with a 40 page drawing and a clear iPhone case.  There is a dye-cut iPhone cutout, that fits your model, on every page. 

Where to buy: Krillz iPhone case for creative people at Neo-utility $35 USD

Keep it in mind for a creative gift for a teenager, for graduation or Father Day. If you draw well, why not customize the gift even further by sketch a case in the book?

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Here is a fun pretend play alternative to the cardboard fruit and vegetable market. The best thing for busy parents is that you only have to fold it for your kids to be ready to play. Cool features includes a service window that easily opens and closes.

OTO is a brand new toy company starting up in New York. They design and make huge cardboard food trucks for kids. Besides making food trucks, what stands their concept apart is the level of detailed illustrations. It looks realistic. They already have a free editor on OTO to personalize and print the licence plate. You will have to pledge your support if you want it. Their OTO ice cream truck is a crowd-sourcing project that you could fund at Indiegogo.

I hope that it is only the start of a long list of cardboard food truck collection for OTO. Kids would love it.

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