Guffly, a website offering one stylish eco-friendly product for sale each day, launched to the public yesterday, providing further proof that green is the new black.
Think of Guffly as Woot, StyleCaster and TreeHugger rolled into one. No longer do you have to work so hard to be nice to the Earth. And, you can stop sacrificing style for sustainability. Guffly does the work for you, scrounging up cool and fashionable products that are also eco-friendly and fair trade. One product per day, one inch closer to saving Mother Earth.
Guffly was created by Jordan Contreras and Chanell Scott, both graduates of Bizdom U, the Detroit-based entrepreneurial academy founded by Dan Gilbert.
The concept arose from an eco-friendly blog the two-some launched in early 2008, where they discovered an entire world of hip, environmentally-friendly consumers who care enough to go green. As Contreras and Scott began to engage this community and do further research, they found many of the eco-friendly products available to be unappealing to young, stylish city-goers. Guffly was developed to fill this void.
In addition to their daily offering of hip and green products, Guffly also uses drop shipping directly from suppliers to minimize environmental impact. Not only is this an Earth-friendly shipping model, but it also allows for lower shipping costs to customers.
I’d like to introduce you to the newest addition to our “family” of companies and the future of style and fashion: StyleCaster.
StyleCaster is a new website that will change the way you look at fashion. It’s your very own 24/7 personal shopper that gives you personalized style tips, the low-down on the latest fashion trends, access to a large catalog of cool clothes and the ability to buy your favorite items with a few clicks of your mouse.
The best part? StyleCaster doesn’t tell you what’s fashionable based on the latest runway style or celebrity endorsement, it actually learns from YOU and serves up outfit ideas, product suggestions and premium content from the top fashion editors and stylists based on YOUR tastes.
How does StyleCaster know what you like? Here’s the magic: With every click and every choice you make on the site, StyleCaster pays attention and remembers for next time. The more you interact, the more your fashion profile grows, offering you a super customized experience and bringing you closer to the styles you want most.
In addition to knowing your tastes, the website serves up outfit recommendations appropriate for the weather in your area (yes, it knows that too). It not only connects you with people who have similar ideas of fashion as you, but you’ll also become part of a social community where you can swap ideas, inspiration and advice with top fashion editors, stylists, models and trend-setters.
We’ve previewed the website to a few select media and fashion insiders, and the response has been AMAZING. Here’s what a few of them had to say:
W Magazine: “Its combination of big money, big talk and big ideas seems to have scored points among the fashion set.”
ShopBop: “This is the stuff of fashion fantasy, and StyleCaster is making it a reality.”
WalletPop: “A free personal stylist, only nicer… StyleCaster will provide you with the dream cyber closet of ideas and network you with stylists, models, and other fashionistas with similar tastes. It’s Facebook meets Elle.”
GlamChic: “Stylecaster is essentially catering to every woman’s guilty pleasures and taking you inside the fictitious closets of fashion’s top influencers. And as fun as it is to rummage through your friends’ closets, it’s far more fun to peek inside those of seasoned professionals, like famed celebrity stylist Annabel Tollman and editors Meg Cuna and Carol Han, or to browse through the picks of creative novices with tremendous flair.”
StyleCaster.com is in a private beta test and will open to the world soon, but as part of the family, the StyleCaster Team is passing along a special VIP link for all of our team members, family and friends: www.stylecaster.com/vip/invite/AllUniverse/0na4l
The halls of Quicken Loans are abuzz this week with the news that the company will move its headquarters and about 1,700 team members to the Compuware Building in Detroit by mid-2010. The move will come two years earlier than originally planned.
In late 2007, our company pledged to move its headquarters into a newly constructed building downtown to be completed by 2012. However, given the turmoil in the economy, obtaining commercial financing for such a large-scale project has become extremely difficult.
So instead, we’re “quickening” our timeline, moving into One Campus Martius with the goal to eventually construct our own building.
“We pledge to fulfill our commitment to the city,” said Dan Gilbert, chairman and founder of Quicken Loans. “This is an interim step that allows us to begin transforming Detroit into a high-tech hub of business and ingenuity.”
The Ultimate Standings, now in its seventh year, ranks each team based on eight categories: bang for the buck, fan relations, ownership, affordability, stadium experience, players, coaching and title track. The Los Angeles Angels (MLB) grabbed the #1 spot overall.
It’s been the source of rumor in the sports world for weeks now. Would 15-time NBA All-Star and four-time NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal join LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers? And today, we finally have our answer. The Cavs have officially acquired center Shaquille O’Neal from the Phoenix Suns in exchange for forward/center Ben Wallace, guard/forward Sasha Pavlovic, Cleveland’s second round pick in the 2010 NBA Draft and cash considerations, General Manager Danny Ferry announced today.
“It is a really unique and rare opportunity to bring in a player of Shaq’s caliber. We are excited to see how his presence, experience and play positively impacts our team,” Ferry said. “We truly appreciate all that Ben and Sasha gave to this team and community in their time here. They were good teammates and we wish them nothing but success.”
I’m sure I speak for a lot of Cavs fans when I say, welcome to the family Shaq!
As the second round of the NBA playoffs kicked off this week with the Cleveland Cavaliers leading the series over the Atlanta Hawks 1-0, LeBron James is having the “best week ever.”
Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James was named the 2008-09 NBA Most Valuable Player, the NBA announced Monday. In addition to the biggest honor the NBA can bestow upon a single player, James was also named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team on Wednesday.
James became the first Cavalier in franchise history to win the MVP award and the second Cavalier to earn first team honors.
James won the MVP trophy, known as the Maurice Podoloff Trophy, by quite a margin too, receiving a total of 1,172 points, including 109 first-place votes out of a possible 121 from a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada.
To earn a spot on the All-Defensive First Team, James received 47 votes, the third-most overall, including 22 first-place votes. The voting panel consisted of the NBA’s 30 head coaches. James was joined on the first team by 2009 Defensive Player of the Year Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic, Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets and Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics.
This week’s all yours LeBron. Congratulations from the “family!”
LeBron James and the Cavs face the Atlanta Hawks tonight at Quicken Loans Arena in the second round of the playoffs. They currently lead the series 1-0.
LeBron James’ Season Highlights
Led the Cavaliers to an NBA and franchise-best 66-16 (.805) record and became just the 12th team in NBA history to win 66 or more games in a season. Also, helped Cleveland post a 39-2 (.951) record at The Q, which tied for the second-best home record in league history, and a 27-14 (.659) road record, which tied for the second-best road record in the league this season.
Helped Cleveland improve its win total by 21 games from 2007-08 (45-37), tying the 1971-72 L.A. Lakers in NBA history for the second-largest improvement in wins of all teams that won at least 45 games in the previous season.
Led Cleveland to 16 victories during March, tying the NBA all-time record for most victories in any month. Finished March with 479 points, 152 rebounds and 143 assists. The only other player in NBA history to reach each of those totals in one month is Oscar Robertson, who did it in eight separate months, most recently in January 1965.
Became just the second player in NBA history to post five consecutive seasons of at least 27.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists (Oscar Robertson)
Is the only player to average at least 27.0 points in each of the past five seasons
Became the youngest player in NBA history to score 11,000 points (23 years, 324 days) and 12,000 points (24 years, 35 days) during the season
Became the youngest (23 years, 308 days) and fastest (395 games) player to reach the following totals: 10,000 points, 2,500 rebounds, 2,500 assists, 700 steals and 300 blocks
Scored 41 points in three of the Cavs first eight games (41 vs. Chi on Nov. 5th and 8th and 41 vs. Milwaukee on Nov. 11th), becoming the first player since Michael Jordan in 1991 to score 40-or-more in at least three of a team’s first eight games of a season
With 38 points, seven rebounds, six assists, three blocks and four steals versus Boston on Jan. 9, James became the first person to reach those numbers in a game since David Robinson on March 19, 1994
Totaled 23 points, 15 rebounds, 11 assists and three blocks versus Sacramento on Jan. 27th, posting at least those numbers in a game since Larry Bird in 1987
Tallied 33 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists on Jan. 24th at Utah, becoming the first player to record at least those numbers in a non-overtime game since Kevin Garnett in 2004
Made a career-high eight three-pointers on 11 attempts on his way to a season-best 55 points at Milwaukee on Feb. 20
Became only the 12th player in NBA history to have three consecutive triple-doubles (March 7th, 10th and 12th).
Posted 43 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists, four steals and a block versus Orlando on March 17th, joining Larry Bird in 1992 as the only players to record at least those numbers in a game.
Is the only active player in the NBA to have five consecutive seasons with at least 2,000 points and became just the ninth in NBA history, joining legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, George Gervin, Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlin, Dominique Wilkins, Oscar Robertson, Alex English and Karl Malone all-time.
With his fourth season of at least 2,000 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists, James became the 2nd player in NBA history (Oscar Robertson) to post at least those numbers in four seasons or more.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have a lot to be proud of this season. They finished with the best record in the NBA and the best record in Cavaliers history by going 66-16. They became only the 12th team in NBA history to win at least 66 games in a season. They established a new franchise record for home court wins by going 39-2 at The Q. And today, the Cavaliers Head Coach Mike Brown was named the winner of the Red Auerbach Trophy as the NBA Coach of the Year for the 2008-09 season.
Brown received a total of 355 points, including 55 first-place votes out of a possible 122, from a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Coaches were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote received.
Brown becomes only the second coach in Cavaliers franchise history to receive the award.
“Mike Brown is one of these rare people that has nearly every tool in his tool box. He is smart, hard working, and selfless. He is curious and hungry to learn. He is philosophically driven and derives his decision making from his strong philosophy,” said Cavaliers Majority Owner Dan Gilbert.
“Mike is a man of character and integrity. He is a natural leader and has a ‘magnetic charisma’ which automatically attracts people to him and his message. He has stuck to his ‘defense first’ strategy when it would have been much easier not to. As a human being, Mike treats everyone with respect no matter who they are or where they come from.”
The Cavs face the Detroit Pistons tomorrow at Quicken Loans Arena in the first round of the playoffs. They currently lead the series 1-0.
Although our economy is struggling and our jobless rates continue to rise, a “silver lining” can still be found in the City of Detroit. Enter Bizdom U, an entrepreneurial academy started by Quicken Loans Founder and Chairman Dan Gilbert that teaches budding entrepreneurs the ins and outs of business from a real-world perspective. The reward — for both the students and the City — is funding and support for new businesses that call Detroit home.
Featured today as the cover story in USA Today’s Money section, the Bizdom U program has already yielded five new Detroit-based businesses and may serve as a model for similar entrepreneurial programs in other parts of the country.
“Entrepreneurs — not government programs — create businesses, jobs and growth for a city,” said Bizdom U founder and Detroit native Dan Gilbert.
While some may caution budding entrepreneurs in these tough economic times, Bizdom’s Executive Director Ross Sanders sees things differently. “These are times when entrepreneurs see opportunities that others do not. As companies downsize, this is about creating jobs and wealth in urban areas. We want brain gain, not brain drain.”
CBS News also covered the story, explaining how Bizdom U is contributing jobs, optimism and an entrepreneurial spirit to “The D.” Check out the video below:
I was thinking about how life and the financial markets mimic each other. You see, those who know my family, know we have a dog. (I think it’s a Pug or a Fug or maybe it’s a German Shepherd… I forgot.) Our five offspring love the aging pooch.
Recently, a sequence of events occurred involving our dog (I forgot its name… we’ve only had it for 5-6 years) that, strangely, caused me to ponder the similarity of these events and the events in the financial markets and our economy over the past 18 months.
This dog is OK as far as wrinkled, small dogs go. “It’s” (frankly, don’t know if ‘its’ a male or female… I never really looked) nice enough, very lazy and besides the random “bark” for no reason whatsoever, out of nowhere, knows its place on top of the ledge of the couch in our family room, where it curls up as it alternates in and out of sleep, except for the 3-4 times it fully awakes daily to run its set routine…
First, it takes a 12-second walk and stretch, then a quick sprint outside to water a tree and squat followed by a fast check around the kitchen table floor (usually, after the humans have eaten a meal) for a hopeful discovery of scraps on the ground, finally, finishing with a fast stop for one bite and one lick out of its own designated dog food and water bowls.
The entire cycle runs about 90 seconds and then it’s back up on the ledge for its journey in and out of the ether. At the end of the day, it becomes very tired and climbs into one of our kid’s beds for a nice deep 12-hour sleep only to awake the next morning and begin its relaxing day once again.
Not such a bad life… If you are a hound.
Now our ‘Fido’, although lazy and unmotivated, very much loved its routine, sort of like your typical unregulated and unstimulated economy. But change came blowing in the form of very cold weather over the last few weeks and after several years of unimpressive growth both emotionally and mentally from our family canine, the dog ‘randomly’ and without thought or even any instinctual yearnings, decided not to invest in taking that “quick trip” outdoors I mentioned above.
It happened about as fast as the housing crisis smacked us when the first Bear Stearnshedge funds collapsed in June of 2007. Unfortunately, like most dogs, it’s not trained to go the bathroom anywhere except outside. You may be seeing the problem unfolding here, hopefully, better than most of us saw the housing crisis, unfolding a couple of years back.
Luckily, Jenny and I have two bathrooms in our master bedroom. It’s a virtual panacea of marital space that keeps everyone (that being me) happy. Unfortunately, and this is where the story really comes together, this unregulated dog has taken to defecating on the floor near my toilet.
Not my wife’s toilet. Mine.
And it got me thinking about the mortgage mess and how 10% of borrowers defaulting on their loans can literally turn nearly an entire market and even economy into a toxic mess, much the way a 12-pound dog can do the same thing to the air quality of an entire bedroom suite. Because my wife is clearly the President, COO, CEO, Chairman and VP of everything in our home (and my life), she introduced her own stimulus package to light the economy… or a candle in the case here. And she placed the lit candle on top of my toilet to counteract the negative forces affecting our quality of life.
Unfortunately, as any stimulus plan goes, without proper oversight, bad things happen. Upon forgetting the stimulus was lit, the candle melted, dripped heavily down the toilet and started a fire of burning plastic. Not exactly a better smell by the way, but I digress.
Luckily, the heat literally split the toilet top in half making such a loud crack that we jumped up from bed to investigate the consequences of my household president’s stimulus package.
“Shock and awe” only begin to describe it. The stimulus was LITERALLY, burning the very last “pot I had to piss in” (keep in mind I am “a mortgage guy from Detroit“).
The blackened, molten plastic was dripping onto the tiled floor and a gaping crack in the ceramic now existed under the epicenter of the stimulus. But, hey, luckily, a potential economic disaster was averted and the toxicity left by the dog could no longer be detected. With a little bit of elbow grease and some more money to fix what the stimulus caused, I’ll be in good shape.
Although – we do still have the dog and the country still has the housing crisis.
And now you know why I feel that everything is connected to everything else, and like my life at rare times, the economy, would be better off if it was just “flushed down the toilet” and allowed to begin anew… in a more, should I say, “natural” kind of way… an “economic enema,” if you will.
Guffly, a website offering one stylish eco-friendly product for sale each day, launched to the public yesterday, providing further proof that green is the new black.![[del.icio.us]](http://choosethinking.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
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The best part? StyleCaster doesn’t tell you what’s fashionable based on the latest runway style or celebrity endorsement, it actually learns from YOU and serves up outfit ideas, product suggestions and premium content from the top fashion editors and stylists based on YOUR tastes.
The halls of 
As the second round of the NBA playoffs kicked off this week with the 
Brown received a total of 355 points, including 55 first-place votes out of a possible 122, from a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Coaches were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote received.