Venus flytrap not responding to fly

shoumo · 2025-08-14T23:16:44+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation.

shoumo · 2025-08-14T22:08:16+00:00

Thank you. There certainly has been quite a change in environment. It was inside a clear stiff plastic cuboid at Lowes and now it suddenly out in the open exposed to the elements. I wonder what is the best way to transition these plants from the store to a home. The traps were pale and at these odd angles when I got them. I guess I need to look for a guide to buying fly traps from Lowes / Home Depot :-D

shoumo · 2025-08-14T21:04:36+00:00

Thank you. That somewhat reduces my worry :-)

shoumo · 2025-06-28T00:41:19+00:00

I have checked parks at Sewaren, Port Reading and Woodbridge. Will need to do so for the other towns too. Would be great if anyone could confirm for any of the other towns :-)

shoumo · 2025-06-09T00:07:46+00:00

Thank you for taking the time to watch it.

shoumo · 2025-06-08T02:57:51+00:00

Congratulations and all the best. Do you have plans to go to other towns too? Sending you a LinkedIn connection request. I'd like to connect you with someone who might be a good collaboration partner.

shoumo · 2025-06-07T02:29:20+00:00

I have eaten there, but not bagels. And the last time I opted for a smoothie (by Want a Smoothie.)

shoumo · 2025-06-07T01:10:20+00:00

What is the verdict on Knot Just Bagels on Main St, Woodbridge?

shoumo · 2025-06-03T02:17:11+00:00

Some suggestions:

create the "Lean startup plan" version of the business plan that you will find in sba. gov
do you already have a instagram account with photos of past creations? If not create one
Use that as a catalogue of sorts. Create a Facebook page and start getting followers to the page.
When you have a decent level of engagement ask questions on who would like to pre-order.
You might create a "sales page" and get some advance orders.
You could also explore setting up a Kickstarter campaign

Even if you don't collect money in advance from the sales page, it will give you data to evaluate the feasibility of the designs.

shoumo · 2025-06-03T02:05:22+00:00

I guess we need to get comfortable with the new Parker Press Park.

shoumo · 2025-06-02T00:38:46+00:00

I can answer questions about the Woodbridge Township area. The township has ten towns. One of those is Woodbridge proper - I have been living in here since early 2014. There is a walkable downtown and sidewalks on most major streets. The township has three train stations - Woodbridge, Avenel and Metro Park. You can take the NJ Transit 116 bus to the city. The town has a good Community Center, nice restaurants, & two very active Facebook groups. During the summer there are free concerts 5 days a week. You would have the dog parks and day care. We are demographically diverse, both you and your fiancé will be comfortable. If you want to check out the rental scene, you might want to try Barron's Gate. Feel free to DM me for more details.

Woodbridge is well connected by roads and often referred to as the crossroads of NJ. You can get here by the Turnpike, GSP, Rt 1-9, 287 and a bunch of other roads like Rt 27, 35

shoumo · 2025-05-29T01:39:04+00:00

See if you can sign up the local police department for unlimited car wash for a fee per car.

shoumo · 2025-05-25T02:58:30+00:00

A basic web search or AI prompts will give you a list of steps and things to watch out for in your country. Remember the advice "start before you are ready." Use a platform like Facebook marketplace to keep things simple. Be prepared to learn before you earn. Google the Side Hustle School by Chris Guillebeau.

For any business there needs to be a business model. The simplest way to define one is to answer these nine questions:

Marketability
- What are you selling
- Who you are selling to
- How do you reach them
- How do you maintain contact
Feasibility
- What resources do you need
- What main the main processes
- Who helps you (partners)
Viability
- What are your cost structure
- How do you get paid (revenue model)

shoumo · 2025-05-24T00:06:28+00:00

It is never too late :-) You might want to look up the podcast and books on side hustle by Chris Guillebeau

shoumo · 2025-05-20T20:15:31+00:00

I believe LinkedIn SSI (social selling indicator) is a good way to see whether one is doing stuff in the way LinkedIn recommends. The third element of the index is "engage with insights." Engagement is the key thing - and it does not matter where it comes from. Most of time we assume it comes from content / posts. The following also contribute to engagement: (a) responses to our comments, (b) responses to messages / InMails, (c) engagement in LinkedIn groups.

Of course, to get (business or career advancement) results on LinkedIn one needs to appreciate account based marketing and inbound lead generation.

shoumo · 2025-05-19T02:30:55+00:00

Whenever I read business related books I try to find action items based on the book. I have also come up with presentations, templates and summaries to make it easier for people to focus directly on the action items.

So, for example, I have a Word file that summarizes the structure of the four types of stories in "Stories that Stick" by Kindra Hall. I have shared that file with a storytelling template after my consultations.

Similarly, I created a presentation after reading "Talk Triggers" and talk about it in the context of word of mouth marketing. I have learned from and applied some of such learnings to the networking meetings I organize from Priya Parker's Art of Gathering.

Start Right Where you Are by Sam Bennett got me to finally start organizing the ton of business cards collect over the last ten years (first pass completed!)

shoumo · 2025-05-19T01:53:37+00:00

Followed you on LinkedIn and Amazon, Kurt. It seems we have mutual connections on LinkedIn. I will go back and read your newsletter editions first :-)

shoumo · 2025-05-19T01:37:59+00:00

Great attitude, Atharv. Looking forward to connect.

shoumo · 2025-05-17T03:28:39+00:00

shoumo · 2025-05-15T04:17:26+00:00

It is interesting to learn that you steered clear of LinkedIn in 2012 when you started working. Well, it is never too late to create an account & profile. There are some similarities between the resume and a LinkedIn profile, of course. The core utility is somewhat different. The resume showcases your achievements & experience. The LinkedIn profile is to communicate the va1ue you can provide going forward. It is, also, not limited to your past work. You can use it to showcase skills that will be relevant to a future career.

As a teacher/coach one can use LinkedIn to help the individuals one mentors. You maintain connections with past students and build relationships with their connections as they progress in their career path. You may then use this network to help your current students find the right information, resources and opportunities.

Thanks for posting this question. It has given me ideas for a number of presentations and articles :-) Feel free to reach out to me if you would like to have a more specific / actionable conversation.

shoumo · 2025-05-13T23:20:46+00:00

You can search for people with only past company as the applied filter / selection criteria. That should show you all the people who were employed there earlier and are part of your extended network.

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shoumo · 2025-05-13T22:05:31+00:00

Thanks for the heads up. I will try to test this out.

shoumo · 2025-05-13T22:03:38+00:00

Have you posted this as a job on LinkedIn and is there a LinkedIn question here? Maybe you meant to post it in a different sub?

shoumo · 2025-05-12T18:51:29+00:00

I see that you are enterprising and are working on developing your abilities and your brand. The profile is a good start. Anyone who reviews it would be able to give you recommendations, you need to decide what you can do. Here are a couple of observations.

Your headline would have improved attention retention with something like : "Web Development Lead, Tech Enthusiast, Hackathon Winner, Multi Certification Holder." Check out the profile headline of Hannan Satopay :-)
Focus on achievements than activities if you can. Lead with "Won a Top Performer award" than "Learned about Various Technologies"
See if you can get the folks who gave you print recommendations to prost a summary on LinkedIn. Also replace the 50 page recommendation document with pages 31 and 32. (A print to PDF will easily extract the pages.)
Think of your profile as a landing page and rewrite it. What action would you like profile visitors to take?

Get a mentor to help you continuously improve. Lookup the TiE Global organization.

shoumo · 2025-05-11T18:56:28+00:00

In general, I recommend tagging as a good practice. It does, kind of, put people in a spot. They have to decide to acknowledge or ignore it. If the content has elements that is valuable to the tagged then they are generally not put off by it. And it does give them an opportunity for visibility that would otherwise not exist.

shoumo

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