Hey PR intern…we need you!

Are you looking to launch your career in PR or Marketing? Do you love design and pitching products that you love? Are you awesome and charming? Then come work for Soft Cities over the summer! I have a small company with huge potential and need help. You will be working directly with the owner, learning how to run a small business and launch a product from strategy to execution. I’m located in the Inner Sunset neighborhood and will have weekly personal check-ins with you, but most of our work together will be via email and ichat. You must be very good at staying motivated and focused on your own. We’ll have fun and work hard!

20 hours per week, 12 weeks. Mid-May to Mid-August. Unpaid, but with many benefits! Seniors or new graduates only.

MAIN INTERN DUTIES (this is not a run around doing errands job, it’s the real thing so only apply if you KNOW you have the work ethic to create results)
== Work with owner to develop one year plan for Marketing/PR
== Write weekly pitches for editors/bloggers
== Create marketing materials to support strategy
== Research partnership opportunities, large order opportunities
== Manage product shots, clean up images for posts
== Manage social media: write twitter posts, Facebook contests and posts, learn how Pinterest works for business and implement ideas
== Research story ideas for pitches, our blog, monitor editors’ posts for relevant inquiries
== Create a press page on our site (programming is not necessary)

YOU MUST KNOW OR CAN EASILY PICK UP (I can’t spend the whole internship teaching you photoshop, please be fairly expert at this already)
Photoshop or Illustrator; Mac, Social Media, clever writing, fashion or design passion will help, especially in your writing

IN RETURN SOFT CITIES WILL:
== Provide you with direct, PR and Marketing related work experience that any large company or boutique firm would kill for in a new employee!
== If you love this job and if your work at the end of the internship creates enough new business to support it, we would happily keep you on full-time at $20/hour.
== Provide school credit if you have all the necessary paperwork I need in order to help you with this
== Pay for you to attend seminars in brand strategy, social media strategy, PR/Marketing
== Make introductions to people we know in similar businesses, data visualization design firms, design, interior design, real estate…whatever might be your passion I probably know someone worth talking to in that area of expertise
== If you kicked ass and achieve the goals we set for you, Soft Cities will pay for a 7 days stay in our Inverness cabin on Tomalas Bay after your internship is over (September or after…August is not available)

PLEASE INCLUDE IN EMAIL
1. Cover Letter (If you don’t reference Soft Cities products or write as if you didn’t take two minutes to look at my site, then I will throw your application directly to the trash!)
2. Resume (please include GPA, no transcripts required).
3. Contact info for three references (two of the three must be a former employer, teacher, instructor, advisor and/or coach)
NO PHONE CALLS

ALSO NOTE:
== This will be your only internship. A part-time job such as babysitting or bartending is okay but I need your strategy and writing brain to be centered on Soft Cities while you are interning.

== The hours are flexible as long as the work gets done.

== A two week vacation is fine, but please let me know ahead of time, preferably at the beginning of the internship so we can plan around your schedule. More than two weeks is not the ideal situation.

Looking forward to working with you!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Mother’s Day Gift Idea: Spring Mapkins!

Bold, bright mapkins are a great idea for the mom who loves one-of-a-kind gifts. If she shops at Walmart exclusively…maybe not the best gift. You know who she is! Each napkins will feature her favorite location…a cafe in Paris she always talks about, where she met your dad (or your 2nd Mom), her home town. You pick!

We do have a pretty fast deadline for these so quick like a bunny head over to Soft Cities. In order to create, print, sew, and ship on time we need your order by April 11th. (yikes! I told you it was coming up!)

Set of 4, $79. Made with soft, beautiful Kona Cotton.

Posted in Gift Ideas, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

We now take credit cards!

FINALLY I got my act together and applied for a real business account. We now take Visa, Mastercard AND tada…American Express! Yes, also Paypal. So buying your favorite map textile just got easier!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

We hired the awesome Melissa Marie!

Most of you know Melissa from GAFFTA.org. She has been an early supporter of Soft Cities and recently made it known to me that she wanted to help make us HUGE. (her words!) So every bit of profit is going to hiring her and I’m so excited! She’s already helping us develop scarves and possibly maybe tights as our Project Director. Have you seen her personal collection of tights? This is an amazing opportunity. WOW!

 

I am thrilled beyond belief, please give a shout out to her at melissa@softcities.net.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Win a Soft Cities Blanket on Trekaroo!

Today we are featured on a great travel site for families. It’s called Trekaroo! They review travel inspired products, hotels, restaurants and locations that are a good fit for families on the go! The review is really fun, thank you Tina! Read more here:

Their Monday Madness contest is featuring one of our blankets so head over to enter to win! Contest ends Sunday, July 30, 2012 at 11:59PM PST.

Trekaroo readers get a special discount that I’m passing on to OUR readers! Get 10% off your next purchase through August 7, 2012 with this promo code TRKROOWP on softcities.net

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

And the winners are…

Thanks again for supporting Soft Cities in the LivingSocial $200,000 grant competition. We were a little short of our goal…rats! We may do a Kickstarter campaign soon, so I’ll ask you for your help again!

Very Possibly Limited Map Plate by Soft Cities

 

As promised 4 lucky voters won never-seen-before-and-may-never-become-a-product-but-cool-anyway Map Plates!

Bobbi Clements, Anita Wilhem, Katy Newton and Chris Heathcote COME ON DOWN!*

*The Price is Right reference for those of you too young to know

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Help Soft Cities qualify for $250,000!

I applied for a grant from LivingSocial. They are giving away $250k to 12 small businesses just like ours! But I need your help. They want to see that 250 Facebook friends have voted for your business before they will even consider your application – yikes!

Won’t you take a moment to vote for us? 

The deadline is July 30th, just three days away and we need, well, a lot of votes!

With this money, I would hire 2-3 people to help with orders and finance stuff giving me more time to create new map styles, produce new products, move my workspace from my living room to a studio and best of all…buy a fabric printer!

Imagine the possibilities!!

Click https://www.missionsmallbusiness.com and sign in through Facebook. Enter Soft Cities into the search box, vote for us and you are done!  Then if you don’t mind, post/share your vote so that maybe some of your friends will vote too!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Working Map Mother

This is pretty much my life right now here at Soft Cities HQ. I have a sitter for three hours a day so I cram in as much creativity as I can. Man it’s hard! Especially when Hugo is so darn cute!

But, this spring has been fairly busy with orders from all over the world: Germany, Australia, and the US. The process is a little slower than I would like. With a 4-month old I’m learning that time is a slippery concept. I will say that at least I’ve come out of the BabyFog so I’m able to work more efficiently. Thanks everyone for your patience as I crawl out of this new baby stage.

I’m so excited about what’s in store for Soft Cities. This summer we will be showing off some new maps and a new product. I can’t talk about it now in detail because I’m still sourcing the materials, but I’ll give you a hint with two words: watercolors and silk. Subscribers to our mailing list will be the first to know, so sign up ya’ll!

I hope to be sharing more of the maps I make for customers on Pinterest and this blog. I think they are so beautiful it’s a shame not to share (with permission of course.) You can find me here: http://pinterest.com/nikkirodenbeck/ I’m also collecting inspiration for new map colors there if you like that sort of thing. It’s fun.

More from me soon I promise!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Our youngest customer!

A customer sent me a picture of her adorable new baby on her first keepsake–a map blanket! Maybe it’s just me, but I think she loves it already!

"I love milk, mommy, and maps!"

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

2nd round of Mapkin testing

Okay, so the linen/cotton blend soaks in the color nicely! Below are some pictures from my visit to the printer. I’m washing them now, keep those fingers crossed that the color stays put. I know my iPhone isn’t the best, but the colors really do pop! I just love the neutrals. Be sure to click on each row for a closer look!

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment