Have photos in the cloud, sky, on your computer and everywhere else? Get it together in one spot and share your photos too with ibi smart photo storage.

This post was sponsored by the makers of ibi, who also sent me the product for review.

I am an admitted pack rat.

I have boxes in my office dedicated to putting the kids’ school crafts, remnants of cute notes they’ve drawn, greeting cards they’ve received, ticket stubs and of course, all their class photos.

That’s the kids’ boxes – you should see the ones I have for myself and for work.

So it’s no secret that my phone’s photo album acts like a digital version of all the photos and events of our lives. Then add on an event I’m covering or an impromptu blog post or social media opportunity and photos stack up quick.

Currently my phone reads at 20,000+ photos and 2,000+ videos.
2500 are just from the beginning of this year.

And before you ask, yes, I also back up.

There’s iCloud, Dropbox, and Box. Hey I even have some CDs burned with old photos like from our trip to Italy, our wedding in Puerto Vallarta, and Jackson’s once-in-a-lifetime Wish Trip to Disney World. And I pay for all the subscriptions and their expanded storage.

And none of them are complete collections.

And that’s before you count the backup boxes we also have of the actual photos. Then to share, I normally upload to Facebook to share with my network or send via text five at a time to my parents. And after all that, I’m spent and I don’t share much of anything else because it’s just a lot of work.

Another issue is that I don’t always want to share photos with everyone. I want to make sure that I documented the moment for me and my family, but it doesn’t mean I want to share it with my network of friends on social (work, church friends, or acquaintances.) Considering not every shot is award-winning and ready to be put on social, doesn’t mean that I don’t want to keep it and in some instances, share it.

Besides one day my kids will be on social and I know there are some shots they’d rather mom not share to the Interweb:)

Needless to say, it takes a lot to keep and share memories at your fingertips.

That’s why ibi might be your next best friend.

Don’t know ibi?

Well think of your own personal hub for all photos for all your devices that automatically makes sure your best moments are always saved, all in one place. But even better, ibi makes it easy to connect with your inner circle of family and friends (whomever you’d want) to receive photos, but not to everyone on your social media list. I mean there are times you want people on social to see that first day of school pic or maybe that travel shot you took when you get home from vacation, but with ibi, you can make sure it’s just your mom and dad or your sisters. And if you don’t want anyone but your hubs to see your shots, then don’t worry, you set up your circle to make sure it’s only who you want who can receive what photos you have on ibi.

Set up is a cinch…you just plug ibi in, download the app, and get ready to directly upload those photos. Done.

Hey, with all the other mamachallenges you have happening, if you snap that perfect shot, don’t you want to make sure you don’t lose it and most of all, don’t necessarily share it with the world?

That’s what ibi smart photo can do for you so you can keep taking the photos and enjoying them!

Purchasing a used car but freaked out by the shopping experience? Make it easy with a click with car shopping and delivery to you with Vroom. 

Thanks to Vroom for this collaboration so we can make used car shopping easy! 

Shouldn’t getting a new car be a fun experience? Whether you’re in the $10K budget or the $40k, it’s still a lot of money to drop on one single item that you spend a lot of your time in making your life happen. School, work, grocery stores, whatever, it’s should be something to look forward to if you’re gonna have to be married to it for while. 

Unfortunately that’s not normally the case for any car shopping experience, especially used car shopping. You either have to go to a dealership, drive by, online…basically a lot of time researching a car, especially if you’re looking for a specific make. And that’s just finding the car…there’s still the whole getting it in your driveway. NOW that’s a process. 

This part of the process…the haggling, the negotiating, paperwork, and waiting – it’s enough to make you want to pull your eyes out. And if you have to take the kids, well we know several hours in a quiet room with strangers will be the death of all you – especially your patience! 

So why do it? Why can’t it be as easy as hitting up the computer, clicking what you want, and then have it at your door – without the hassle? 

Don’t worry, Vroom is on the way!

1. With Vroom, you can now buy or sell a car from the comfort of your couch.
2. Find what you want – from every kind of make, model and year! 
3. Finance the purchase on the website. (They handle financing too!) 
4. Get your new used car delivered to your front door—free of charge (in a cool glass truck.)
5. Then spend your weekend somewhere other than a used car dealership.

It is as easy as ordering a pizza. There is no haggling. The price you see is the price you pay. And free 7-day returns. Try your car out for a week (or 250 miles). If you aren’t totally satisfied, they’ll pick up the car for free and refund 100% of your money, no questions asked.

They take care of everything – and most the cars on their site are late model vehicles less than three years old. 

Everything you need happens at the website. Even that haggling part. So why would you do it any other way? 

If you need to sell your car, Vroom has you covered too! The selling process is just as easy, so you can get a great offer quick, just by providing your VIN number and a photo of the car. 

SAVE $250!

You can get $250 cash back when you use CODE “VIPAUS21.”

Start saving money and making car buying easier with Vroom! 

Find your next car online at Vroom.com.

When my husband and I found out we were pregnant with our first child, we spent weeks figuring out just the right name. We thought of all the scenarios of how people would receive him, how it would look on his college applications, on his business card, how it would sound coming out of my mouth when I yelled at him…needless to say we thought of everything possible that gave him that  “je nai se qua” (AKA that something special) that would make his footprint on the world memorable when his name was used.

Naming and owning a business is a lot like naming and having a baby. It’s something you want so bad to be yours and you’ll work so hard to have it and while in the end it’s totally worth it, there is going to be a lot of tears, not a lot of sleep, and probably a lot of money spent to take care of it. So why would naming it be any different?

Also as part of mom duties and blog duties, I also double as a super agent in marketing, public relations, and social media consultant. I’m pretty lucky that I get to be a part of the growing up process of a business – no matter what age it’s at – and nuture it to the next stage. Also sounds a lot like rearing a child, there’s no such thing as ever being “done” with marketing a business; it just changes the stages it’s in.

Notice how close baby and business are even on Google!

But ironically enough many people don’t take the time to think of all the scenarios naming their business (and their website) and why you need to take in account so many different points of view before landing on just the right name for your baby...business.

Picking the Right Name for Your Business 

1. Does it describe what you are? There is something for getting to the point of a name. Calling a company Bob’s Dog Sitting gets to the point of the business and leaves no room for wondering if just “Bob’s” is a dog sitting service or a bakery. It says what it is and thus acts like your own SEO (search engine optimization.) However, you have to think about the big brands and how they became household names. Does Apple, Starbucks or Tory Burch say what their business are in just their name? Nope, they built a brand based on going to the next step.

2. Create just the right recipe for uniqueness, but not too off the beaten path.  Calling yourself “ABC Cleaning” might put you first in ABC order, it doesn’t exactly make your company standout. Conversely, if you use something so unique like “Obelowys” then the name is so unique that it doesn’t have the sticking power you want for building a successful brand. Just like a good song, if you can’t figure out the name of the song in the lyrics, you won’t necessarily go out and buy it later.

3. If you can’t pronounce it, spell it, or it doesn’t fit in a Twitter username, it’s not the right name. This is a pretty easy explanation. Remember that film that Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck did together and began their long romance until it fizzled? The answer to that is my first point, but my second is that both the relationship and the movie went down in flames, but that much star power shouldn’t have put the movie on the list of one of the worst ever. The blame here went to its name “Gigli.” Most moviegoers and media didn’t know how to say it, so they didn’t go and see it. This same rule applies to your business name. If your potential customer constantly will misspell the name of your business or it’s so long the name won’t fit on social media, then you know it’s worth throwing back in the pond for another fist.

4. Do your homework!  This is a huge one…you don’t want to create a name that 15 other people in your city have for a hair salon. You also don’t want to create a business name like let’s say “Apple.” and not expect to have lots of confusion – and if you’re not careful – lawsuits. Recently a restaurant in my neighborhood named their Italian restaurant the same name of a big celebrity chef’s eatery in NYC. When the big restaurant found out the new restaurant had used their copyrighted name, a cease and desist letter appeared in their mailbox. Too bad it was AFTER they had printed menus, secured their social media, and had an expensive sign mounted. That was a lot of money and resource time wasted that could have been avoided if  they had done their homework on the front end.

5. The biggest and most important: Land it and immediately claim your website and your social media channels.  While you’re developing the right name, you should also be checking at the same time if the website and social media channels are available. One company I worked with had done so much work to create just the perfect name and then found out no part of the name or even an acronym could be claimed.

[Tweet “People expect your company name is also how to find your company on the web and social media. “]

I’ve seen it happen so many times that a business works so hard for so long to come up with the right name only to find someone bought your .com several months before you. Thankfully, there are now more creative and memorable options than ever to find the right website domain by using a “not-com name” like .PIZZA, .FLORIST and .COFFEE (and many more!) 

Speaking of food, Name.Kitchen, powered by Donuts, helps to make the process easier for your restaurant, cleaning business or law firm. Designed as a resource to help you create just the right recipe for your company’s name. Geared toward entrepreneurs (aka “business chefs”), Name.Kitchen offers tools and inspiration on cooking up that perfect identity with tons of apps to get your brainstorming going and then to Claim Your Name.

Still a little leery of going with a “not-com?”

See what other companies did creating their name and brand with the Name.Kitchen’s “I am.__” video series from real customers going through the same process of you to create your perfect baby…your business.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Name.Kitchen.