Teacher centered business seeking like for partnership, possibly more

Website landing page...check
Blog...check
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn...check, check, sorta
It is now time to start seeking partnerships. As we are not launching until January, we are not currently charging for these partnerships. We want to find like-minded businesses with whom we can trade links and cross-promote.
We are primarily interested in working with four types of businesses:

1. Businesses that offer teacher discounts
2. Businesses started and/or run by teachers (whose success directly benefits a teacher/s)
3. Not-for-profit organizations that are in some way related to or benefit education and/or educators.
4. Businesses that offer products or services that help teachers (Remember: teachers are people too, so almost any business fits into this category. However, we will give priority placement to businesses that benefit teachers most directly. i.e. the Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union before a consignment clothing store. OR, if the business offered a teacher discount, it would net top priority.)

 If you have a business that fits into one of these categories, contact us through the website landing page (or any of the contact pages, really). Please make "business" the subject, and include up to 50 words (this will be your ad copy) in the body. All listings must include an image, so don't forget that.
If you know someone who may appreciate this opportunity, please share this post with them.
If you would like to suggest a business to us, please do so through the contact form with a subject heading of "suggestion." Or you could simply comment below.

We hope to get this feature up and running by the end of next weekend, but there are no guarantees in life. Please subscribe for updates or follow us on Facebook or Twitter. Thank you for your support!

What a good partnership can look like

Saturdays are for celebrating

Saturdays are for celebrating here at iheartteachers.org, and we have accomplished much this week.

The first requires a tiny story involving a bathroom trip in an Atlanta mall and a big red button. We were at a publishing conference when we hit the mall for a break. There, in the restroom, was a big red button...in the middle of the wall...away from everything else on the wall...with no label. We were confused, tempted, and finally overwhelmed with curiosity. What would it do?

Red buttons incite action.

We were dreamers/English majors, and we hoped to grow up (or at least graduate) and create a publishing company that incited action. What happened when we pushed the red button? The Red Button Press was born.

The website iheartteachers.org is actually the first project of the Red Button Press, and this week we received official confirmation of incorporation in the state of Florida. YAY!!!

We have finished (sorta) the redesign of the landing page for iheartteachers.org. At least it's functioning now. Feel free to leave constructive and appropriate advice if you spot any problems. We launch officially on January 1st 2014 at 12:01 am.

We also have our official logo, which means we can start buying marketing materials.

Oh, and we now know how to upload and display images. ;-)

Getting setup allows more time for marketing and interaction, so now is the time to join our community. Whether you have knowledge, resources, or suggestions that can improve the lives of teachers or just want to passively watch us work, keep in touch. Follow us on this blog, Facebook, and/or Twitter, and join our community for monthly (ish) newsletters about our progress.

Celebrating

If you think you noticed a pattern in my blogs, you might be right. Monday through Thursday, I like to write about teaching. On Fridays, I focus on family. Saturdays are for celebrating milestones in my business (iheartteachers.org), and on Sundays I like to call for support.
We had a lot to celebrate this holiday weekend (personally and professionally), but I did not stop to write about it. ;)
The big personal notable is my baby's upcoming birthday. He turns ten (TEN!) tomorrow, but due to work schedules and the general chaos of life, we celebrated today. We drove out to Orlando to eat at CiCi's Pizza and check out Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge.
The CiCi's the hubby found for us shared real estate with an awesome (and reasonably priced) adventure mini golf course. We took a 45 minute detour to let the kids play a round (pun cheerfully intended).
My baby is sure (and has been since he started speaking) that he will be a zookeeper, specifically the man in charge of the giraffe habitat. Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge has an animal reserve on site so that certain rooms have animal views. Zebras, antelopes, and ostriches live on this reserve, along with our favorite attraction: giraffes. There are windows in the hallways that offer animal views, and there are balconies and paths where animal fans can get even closer. While the giraffes did not cooperate with our plans today, the one zebra who rolled repeatedly in the mud was entertaining enough to make up for long-distance giraffe sightings.
I am feeling a little panicked about my BABY turning TEN. I do not think I am ready for all of my children to be in their double digits. Do any of you experience your youngest child's milestone birthdays similarly to how you experience your own? What did/do you do to cope? Write in the comments to tell me stories about your coping mechanisms or just about the personal impact of your children growing up.

P.S. The professional celebration is a teaser because I want to see the official paperwork before I make the announcement. Stay tuned!

First Attempt

Wow! I have a blog. I am officially a blogger. I am a teacher, mother, and wife in the middle of the process of starting a website (iheartteachers.org), and in this process, I have grown exponentially in my technical abilities. In just a few short years, I will know nearly as much as my 13 year old son knows now.
I have waded clumsily into the waters of the world wide web and have established rudimentary presences on fb, Twitter, g+, Pinterest, and here. (If I have learned anything from my high school students, it is shameless self-promotion: follow me! like me!) My goal for this week is to have a logo so that I can begin pulling my "social media strategy" into some semblance of coherence. Right now, my "strategy" is to congratulate myself for having accounts and hope that I can log back in with my logo.
Why a website, social media, and blog if I'm beaming at rudimentary? I have a goal, a driving desire to unite teachers and the education community around the world to enable collaboration and provide support and appreciation. To accomplish that, I have to create a real-time environment. The ends merit the means (even if it means the teachers I heart the most are my adolescent children).
Teachers, professors, students, parents, and members of the education community, I am willing to sacrifice both pride and dignity to show you appreciation.
When do you feel appreciated? I myself like a good swag bag. Today I scored a haul by going to training. The district gave me a bag, binder, notebook, pencil case, highlighters, pens, and sticky notes. (Oh, and I learned quite a bit about the new curriculum I'll be teaching this year too.)
I will post pictures as soon as I find the best way.