January 30, 2011
Kristie Hendricks

The Nordonia area homes a large assortment of commerce.  Local business has ebbed and swelled in the past few years, but 2011 welcomed many new faces in our community.  Business growth offers us an opportunity to experience new things, or witness changes in the community.  New business ventures create jobs in our area and hopefully, new products or services for us to enjoy.

One new business for 2011 is Spinnerz Internet Sweepstakes Café; it is nestled between Pepper’s and Wing Warehouse in NorthfieldVillage.  Inside the café, there are many comfortable office chairs accompanying tables with large touch-screen computers, warm colored walls and décor, and artsy blue ceiling lights.  A refreshment area and office occupy the center of the space.  Customers are welcome to coffee, soda, and snacks.

Spinnerz’s manager, Stephanie Pieronek, has successfully nurtured a clean, non-drinking, hangout for locals since the opening in May.  Spinnerz offers long distance calling cards, including international cards, for people who don’t have nationwide cell phone coverage.  They also offer internet time, copying, faxing and other business services within.  Some of their products come with free points to play casino-inspired games, and each outcome has a pre-determined ticket number which may result in more points.

Pieronek has worked in the hospitality industry since age 13, and says she loves interacting with people.  Her heart is focused on the enriching the Nordonia area.  Everyone working for Spinnerz is from the area.  The extrovert also supports local businesses by using area restaurants and stores to cater the complimentary lunch and dinner meals at Spinnerz.  The support of local businesses helps to strengthen our community and links us closer together.

When asked why she decided to open in this community, Pieronek stated that she grew up in the area and often found there wasn’t much to do after 11pm.  Although Northfield has many bars, she found the night life lacking.  Spinnerz is open everyday, but from Thursday at 8am they don’t close until 2am Monday morning.  Spinnerz has a weekly cash drawing on Thursdays and on other nights they have given away prizes anywhere from Kindles to vacations.  Pieronek takes pleasure in running the Northfield location and two others: in Bedford and Geneva-on-the-lake.   In particular, Ms. Pieronek enjoys organizing new promotions, seeing networks of people expand before her, and maintaining relationships with her regulars.

So, we’ve gained a locally-operated place to conduct business services and have some fun!  Spinnerz is one of many new business endeavors in the area.  Any addition to industry helps sculpt our community’s identity.  In future articles, we will continue meeting members of the new business influx.

“I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.” – Estee Lauder

Almost anyone can post information on the internet. Because of the large volume of information on the net, it is important to define blogging. Blogs can be written by any writer, so the articles naturally range from low-researched to well-researched articles. Blogs are not all opinion-based rants published by amateur writers, an interpretation bloggers must fight to redefine. Also, the writer’s style varies greatly. Content seekers need to evaluate what type of writing they want for their project.

When assigning a project, determining style of the article is a shared task between the writer and the employer. The employer has the key information about their target market. Do they want exalted and highly technical lexicon, or should the writer use everyman’s language? The amount of work done to post the writing must also be a factor in calculating pay rate. The freelance writer may post their material or simply submit it to a web site manager. Once the amount of research for the article, posting responsibilities, and style are determined by a freelance writer and employer, a rate can be fairly judged.

Most sites hosting debates on freelance pay either pay by article or completed page. The pay rates varied from ten dollars to two-hundred and fifty dollars an article. Pricing the written word is essential to the career of a freelance writer. The words on a web page represent an organization or person. They speak to the site-viewer. They exhibit your purpose. This article is 336 words, took 15 minutes of web browsing to prep, 1 hour to write, 30 minutes to proof and polish. What is it worth?

If you are a local writer that would like to blog, or if you already have a local blog, contact Julie D’Aloiso at julie@nordoniahills.com. NordoniaHills.com is looking to feature local bloggers!

Before Thanksgiving, people are busy, on cell phones, making plans, and stressing about stuffing the bird.  Afterwards, when asked how their Thanksgiving was, most stopped briefly before responding, and smiled.  What mental reflection caused their tooth exposure?  In the smiling moment of pause, they were thinking of the folks around their tables, not the fattening gravy, stuffing, or cookies.

The holidays are a stressful time where almost everyone over-spends, trying to show appreciation and love with gifts.  What a sad concept.  We should spend time and money on loved ones all year round.  The excitement from objects fades, the enjoyment of travel also dims when we return home, but most precious additions to our lives are the people we cherish.

A teacher once told me to be successful; you need at least 5 stable, successful, supportive people close to you. Think about it: do you consider yourself a success, on the road there, laying the foundation, given up?  Think about the number of people you can truly count on, who honestly care about you and your future.  How often do you contact them?  Spend time with them?  Call them?  Think about them?

It’s so easy to focus on tasks you think must be done.  It’s simple to sacrifice happiness for money you think you need.  It’s nearly inevitable to waste time on thoughts and people who don’t matter.  Get it straight, get on track.  How difficult is it to stay focused on your success when others demand your attention, money, and time?  There is truth in consistently touching base with five caring people.  Five is a magic number, as it covers the possibility of one being busy, one being sick, one being at work, one having an off-day, or all of the above.  Five promises you’ll have someone in a time of need.  Five also ensures at least a mild variety of expertise.  Five is good.

During the holidays, most of us can find a way to coordinate the time off to spend with the big five or most of them.  So here is a suggestion: buy reasonably priced gifts for the five people closest to you, who have helped to support you and make you the success you are.  For you, this will minimize stress, worry, and time spent in the awful department stores, and maximize your available time to say thanks.

So many of the devices that we use every day, have changed greatly.

Think of growing up. What did your phone look like? What did your radio look like? What did your camera look like? Computer? We did not have them until the 1980′s. But we had fancy calculators!

These devices are not gone, they have just evolved. When you think about the radio, phone, camera and calculator. I now have all of those devices (and more) within my Apple iPhone.

Some devices from the past that are extinct or on their way out:

• Pager
• DVD Player
• Fax machine
• Cassette tape
• VHS Tape
• Rolodex
• PDA
• Answering Machine
• Paper Road Map
• Polaroid Camera
• Phone Books
• Comic Book
• Catalogs
• Print Magazines
• Movie Projector

I could go on and on about these devices and how much better things are now. Remember how long it used to be for us to be able to see the videos we took? Now we shoot a video, view it, and post it to YouTube or Facebook. No movie projector needed (the screen was always so hard to set up anyway).

There is something that we use most every day that will probably be added to the list of items to become extinct. In the future, we will not have mail boxes. If you are sent a special package or a thick envelope,  FedEx, USPS, UPS (or who ever is still in business then) will deliver it. And of course you will  still be able to pick-up special deliveries. You will receive an email notification of where and  when to pick up your package. (not a sticky note that can blow away).

But the box at the end of the driveway, the slot on the door, and the boxes at the apartment buildings will all be gone.  The United States Post Office will not be able to afford to send us mail every day. Companies are already having trouble paying for the big catalogs that arrive. It costs too much to print them. And it is not easy to add a product to the catalog (or fix a typo). An online shopping cart does the trick these days.

Think about what you get in the mail these days: checks, ads, bills, magazines and notifications about upcoming doctor appointments.

Bills you can pay online. Many people have been getting paid via direct deposit for years. For my company, 1/4 of my clients pay me via PayPal or credit card.

Letters and Birthday cards? Not many. Most people send you a note on Facebook or post a Happy Birthday message on your Facebook wall.

Magazines? I see beautiful online magazines on my computer or on my iPad. Some are customized to my interested and are created dynamically. No paper cuts there.

More doctors are sending email reminders or voice mails to remind you of upcoming appointments.

And ads?  Yep we see those everywhere anyway (bathrooms, bill boards, grocery cart signs, banner ads on websites. The ads we receive in the mail just get tossed.

Now I know some people enjoy getting the mail. Yet I also know some people that do not check it for days! Some people will miss it. But don’t worry. It will take awhile for this chance to happen. I for one embrace change. If we desire to thrive in the future, we must do our best to evolve with our devices.

Julie D’Aloiso
216-534-7467
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