OpenSky Blog

With GroupShops, Dinner Parties, and a sneak peak at a new home page, this week was indeed an exciting one. But by far, the most exciting and important news was the addition of 8 new Live Shopkeepers. The OpenSky community is rapidly growing, so please take a moment to get to know the Shopkeepers below.

A dinner party should always be memorable; however, what is your party going to be remembered for – the overly dry meat? the watered down soup? OR perhaps the delightful dinner setting and perfect soufflé? Thanks to the OpenSky’s “Dinner Party Dream Team” we can ensure yours will be the latter.

From inviting the right mix of people to creating a perfectly flowing dinner menu (vegetarians welcome), our Exclusive “Dinner Parties: The Complete Expert Guide” has got you covered. This amazing collaboration, features our party-throwing superstars Jay & Irwin from Design2Share and seven of our cooking Shopkeepers.

Using products from their own OpenSky Shop, each of our Shopkeepers proivided a recipe for one meal of our seven-course feast. For each dish, helpful hints are provided so you can whip up any of these tasty and creative masterpieces in no time. Prepare to dazzle your friends and family!

Purchase any of the selected products and you will receive the complete Dinner Party PDF. Recipes include:

• Hors d’oeuvre – Best Hummus Recipe. Denise of DedeMed
• Soup –Butternut Squash Soup. Shannon & Alison of Cooking with Friends Club
• Salad – Avocado and Orange Salad. Cory of Zesty Cook
• Vegetarian Entrée –Sundried Tomato and Feta Frittata. Lori of Finding Radiance
• Meat Entrée – Pinot Braised Short Ribs. Michael Ruhlman of Ruhlman
• Side Dish – Creamy Potato Mustard Gratin. Greg of Sippity Sup
• Dessert – Grapefruit Panna Cotta. Michael of Michael Laiskonis

Get shopping and get cooking! Any leftovers, please send them our way…

- Josh & Lindsay

That’s right, we have the latest additions to the OpenSky family.  This week four amazing and diverse Shopkeepers went live.  Take a moment and look below, get to know them a bit and make sure to check out their Shops and blogs soon!

And the first one is….

Amber Haines of The Run-a-Muck

Amber is a writer, wife, and mother of three (soon to be four) living in Fayetteville, AR. She adds a southern twist to topics in Christianity, housekeeping, travel, and writing.  She said she loves OpenSky because it allows her to keep her “voice, share stories, and give tips in association with good products.”

Julie of SavvyEat

Julie first started her blog in September of 2009.  Her blog provides insight into the science of food, great recipes and intermittent tales of her adventures sprinkled into the mix.

Nick Rosen of Off-Grid

Since 2004, Nick Rosen’s Off-Grid blog has sought to provide both world news coverage and practical advice by tackling topics such as global warming and renewable energy.  His products are meant to give you a sense of security and give you the tools you need to survive in the event of a disaster.

Michele Tune of Healing With Juices

Michele started her blog in 2008 as a way of sharing with others her journey towards healthy living and eating.  She credits raw foods, smoothies, juices, juice fasting, and alternative medicine with helping her to become a much healthier and happier person.  In her blog and in her Shop she shares her health tips, inspiration, and words of encouragement.

And that’s it for this week, welcome Shopkeepers!

Step into the OpenSky headquarters in New York and your first impression is sheer intimidation. Just typing on our laptops, our muscles ripple through our sweaters with the intensity of any great athlete. And then you realize those awkward lumps along our biceps are not muscles but rather bunches in our t-shirts. Your eyes then shift to the five empty pizza boxes in the trash and the half-eaten candy bowl. It clicks – these are not fine tuned athletes, but well-fed geeks!

Luckily for us, we have several talented and toned Shopkeepers who serve as the face of OpenSky. These include Ben Collins, a champion triathlete; Candace Stupek, a personal trainer, nutrition coach, and fitness competitor; and several mothers who balance jobs, exercise, healthy eating, and family time with impressive grace.

In honor of the Olympics, we have partnered with 9 of our most athletic Shopkeepers to bring you the Train Like an Olympian promo. Each Shopkeeper selected one product from his or her OpenSky Shop to be sold for a 15% discount until next Wednesday, February 24.

Check out our Shopkeepers blogs for helpful workout tips and delicious fuel burning recipes! Start training like an Olympic Athlete today!  http://promo.theopenskyproject.com/olympics.html

• Fitness for Mommies’ Handful Inc Sports Bra

http://fitnessformommies.net/2010/02/17/train-like-an-olympian/

• Danica’s Daily’s EatSmart Precision Pro Scale

http://danicasdaily.com/why-i-love-my-eat-smart-scale-an-os-sale/

• Finding Radiance’s HarbingerWeight Lifting Gloves

http://findingradiance.com/2010/02/17/train-like-an-olympian/

• Ben Collins’ Body Sport Jump Rope

http://bencollins.org/blog/2010/02/cross-training-make-you-wanna-jump-jump

• Healthy Fit Mama’s FS2 Heart rate Monitor

http://healthyfitmama.wordpress.com/2010/02/17/a-few-of-my-favorite-things/

• Makeover Momma’s In Stride Electronic Stepper

http://www.makeovermomma.com/blog/steal-training-tips-from-olympic-athletes-workout-from-home/

• Candace Stupek’s Scivation Xtend

http://candacestupek.com/blog/2010/02/time-to-train-like-an-olympian/

• Healthy Apple’s Herbal Water

http://thehealthyapple.com/2010/02/17/15-discount-on-ayalas-herbal-water/

With these tips, you’ll be seeing us in London for the 2012 Games.

Move over Michael Phelps!

Today I sent an email to our community and have been thinking about some of the great comments and responses that I’ve been getting.

Across the internet there are platforms to help people become entrepreneurs. They include Twitter for marketing, Facebook for community building, YouTube for entertainment, WordPress or Tumblr for publishing, and many others. OpenSky fits into this set.

Using each of these platforms and creating an experience that is meaningful requires commitment and creativity. Time is spent making videos, sharing tweets, composing blog posts. The more creative, persistent and networked the participant, the better the results. You get out what you put in.

OpenSky materially enhances the utility of the other platforms. OpenSky makes the time spent on WordPress more valuable. The more Twitter followers, the more effective the OpenSky shopping experiences. You get the idea.

And importantly, at OpenSky, we’re the only platform that send checks to our participants every month. So the time spent at OpenSky is creating direct economic benefit to active participants.

Today Shopkeepers are using the OpenSky platform to create one-of-a-kind experiences for their audiences. This means that fans can buy a good from someone they trust and get an experience that is only available from their trusted taste-maker. Here is an example of Amy Powers of InspireCo http://inspireco.blogspot.com/2010/02/special.html

I’m excited to see this and the OpenSky platform mature.

- john caplan

If there’s one thing we LOVE here at OpenSky, it’s meeting face to face with every one of our Shopkeepers.

This morning we were treated to a lovely visit from Bailey Vincent Clark of MakeoverMomma.com and her good friend Sierra Young. Bailey and Sierra are in New York for the weekend while they attend a number of NYC Fashion Week events.

If you are in the NYC area anytime soon, let us know!

We’d love to have you by and welcome you into our house.

From L to R: Sierra Young, Bailey Vincent Clark (MakeoverMomma.com)

Last week we held a Super Bowl contest. We asked you to enter your email address along with your favorite Shopkeeper for a chance to win one of two awesome Super Bowl Packages. Everyone who entered the contest received a coupon for 25% off any of the gifts in the package, but two lucky winners received a package for free!

The first winner was Raeleen from Oregon and her favorite Shopkeeper is Kath of Kath Eats Real Food.   Raeleen won the Super Chic Super Bowl Package, check out these pictures she sent in of her family putting the gifts to use on game day.

As you can see, the kids’ favorite gift was the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker from Chef John’s Shop, Food Wishes. Josh points to the ice cream machine while the other kids are all smiles for the camera.

In this picture Caleb tests out the final results using the Ice Cream Power Scoop from Greg’s Shop, Sippity Sup.  Instead of using the product to make traditional ice cream they opted for some quick root beer slushies!

In this picture Charis and Caleb are having fun displaying the Set of 4 Green Dinner Plates from Kelly’s Shop, The Party Dress.  The next step: crème brulee!

That’s it for now, soon we’ll be posting pictures of the Pretzels and Beer Super Bowl Package winner.

Chad of An Edge in the Kitchen , has been a writer and cook for more than 20 years.  He is the author of the book An Edge in The Kichten-the one-and-only guide to the most important tool in the kitchen.  He writes primarily about food, kitchen gear, and kitchen science.  His website discusses the book, kitchen knives, cooking, future projects and whatever else crosses his mind.

Christine of Everyday Mama shares her two passions with the world — writing and being a mom. Follow Christine on her journey for self-fulfillment as she gets excited about local events, new products just for moms, babies and kids, what works and what doesn’t work, and how to balance it all in this crazy, busy world we live in!

Cameron of Cottage Industrialist is a 30-something mother, wife, lawyer, design junkie, and craftaholic. She has long dreamed of owning a little shop where people could always find the tools and supplies she loves to use in one friendly place.

Kevin of Seriously Good has been a cook since the age of six.  As a cook seeks food that gives him a pause, dishes that have demand his attention, flavors that evoke passion.  He seeks food that is seriously good.  He currently runs a personal chef business, is the About.com guide for “Cooking for Two”, and a frequent contributor to NPR’s Kitchen Window.

Jamie of Giving Preparedness has been an emergency management professional for nearly 20 years, first with the American Red Cross and now as a consultant working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Giving Preparedness makes it fast, easy and affordable to give the gift of safety and to prepare your employees, customers and loved ones.  Check out her Ready Home, Ready Auto, and Ready Dog Gift Boxes.

Rachael of La Fuji Mama has traveled and lived around the world.  Through this she has developed an interest in International cuisine.  Now, she is nurturing and nourishing a young family.  She combines these loves on her blog that focuses on enriching life through food, family, and cultural traditions.

Laura of Org Junkie is addicted to all things organizing especially containers. Here is where you’ll find many of her favorite organizing tools. She most appreciates products that contribute to her desire to lead a life of simplicity and order without complicating matters.

We’re excited to add another member to the OpenSky team – Steve Francia recently joined us as VP, Engineering. Steve will be running technology, focusing his primary attention on our development team’s work on the user experience, OSSM extranet, and related technologies.

Steve brings over 15 years of Internet technology experience to the OpenSky, including a healthy mix of both technology implementation and leadership. Steve’s history of success with a range of web technologies – including search, content, social media, and ecommerce – will help us expand the OpenSky platform’s features and functionality and create the user experiences make up relationship commerce.

Previous to joining us, Steve served as the CIO of Portero Luxury, where he was responsible for operations and technology for all web, technology, and infrastructure development. Prior to working at Portero, Steve built sports social network Takkle and ran a consulting firm, Supernerd, where his clients included Priceline.com and Stanford University. He is also the creator of the Zoop Framework, the first object oriented PHP framework.

OpenSky has big ambitions for 2010 and Steve will be a critical component in making our dreams a reality.

Want to learn more about the man behind the legend? Check out his personal blog, spf13.com where he dishes on topics ranging from software development and IT to social media and leadership. And if you’re in New York, swing by our office to meet Steve in person and welcome him to the team!

We are extremely excited to welcome Mary Ann Naples to the OpenSky team!  Mary Ann comes to OpenSky from The Creative Culture, Inc- a literary and talent agency that primarily represents lifestyle non-fiction authors that she co-founded over a decade ago.  Mary Ann has achieved great success in representing authors whose books have helped enhanced the lives of their readers.  Mary Ann’s unique experience, creativity and expertise will be a tremendous opportunity for the OpenSky Shopkeepers.

Throughout her career she has been very innovative and successful at maximizing and clarifying the brands of authors and pioneering the digital landscape to the advantage of her clients and their brands.  At OpenSky she will provide that same leadership and support to enable the Shopkeepers to further strengthen their brands and monetize their influence. She will help Shopkeepers reach a larger audience in a more effective manner through books, TV, and other opportunities.  She will play a significant role in partnering with talent and literary agents and publishing companies to introduce the OpenSky platform to their talent.

We’re thrilled to welcome Mary Ann and her energy, creativity, and experience.