I was a guest on “Startup Day,” and discussed how Sittercity broke the childcare mold and created an entire industry to help parents in finding a babysitter online. This session was delivered as streaming video and audio broadcasts that could be viewed on personal computers as it happened live. Immediately following the live broadcast of this Microsoft Small Business Summit, the session for the day was re-broadcast and recorded, and is now available for viewing on-demand online. It was a lot of fun! Answering questions was the best part–I was able to speak to a number of small business issues, including how to guerilla market a new company, do your own PR and also how to become the industry expert in your field.

For more information on this Microsoft Small Business Summit, visit http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/summit/guests.aspx.

In this segment, I talked about the fact that ten percent of Sittercity’s parents report that they’ve taken a sitter with them on vacation and another 40% stated that they’ve considered it but not tried it yet. When bringing a sitter with you on vacation this Spring Break, there are three main tips I have for you:

Remember the sitter’s sacrifice: When it comes to a trip like Spring Break, it’s different that a typical summer vacation trip. On Spring Break, your sitter only gets that one week, which you are asking her to sacrifice.

Remember that it’s not exactly a vacation for your sitter: The whole point of taking a sitter on the trip is so she can take on a lot of the grunt work. It’s hard to lounge by the pool when you have two toddlers in your lap.

What to pay: $120-200 per day is a good flat rate. If you’ll be bringing your live-in nanny with you, pay her the same weekly rate you pay when you’re all at home – even if she’ll be working fewer hours on vacation.

What else should you provide? Good question. Vacation sitting etiquette dictates that you should provide the following:

• The sitter’s plane ticket, and room and board
• All of her meals
• A small daily allowance of $50/day for transportation, lunch, etc. for the kids
• Her own room for some private time
• Some time off each day, around 2-3 hours to herself

Good luck, and remember…bringing a sitter with you should provide you time to have a romantic vacation with your loved one, but also time with the kids. Make sure to balance both and you’re sure to have a great time.

Here’s a link to the segment:

http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&fg=rss&vid=daff2fe3-c444-42eb-918b-9aeae40b720a&from=34

Then, on Tuesday, March 4, I was in the audience for a taping of The View! It was incredible to sit in the audience and watch Whoopi Goldberg talk about Sittercity.com. It again reminds my why it’s worth flyering an entire city to invent online care. The segment was about how to live the life of a celebrity–without the cost. Here are the perks the privileged enjoy, along with tips for how you can get them without emptying your piggy bank:

• Why do celebrities and rich people never have to wait in line at the airport? Flyclear.com

• How to get the best nannies and topnotch childcare? Sittercity.com

• How are the rich and famous always in great shape and tend to have the best trainers? Pumpone.com

• How do celebrities have the best clothes before they’re even in stores? Gilt.com

• How do you eat like the rich? Magickitchen.com

• How can a regular person vacation like a rock star? Homeexchange.com

The rest of the week was a fun mess of meetings and keynote speeches. On friday, March 7, I also did a live spot on CNN, for their “Young People who Rock” section. We talked about how I had invented Sittercity and the idea of online care at Boston College, back in 2001, and where it has gotten to now as the leader in its field. They specifically asked me what my family thinks, which is funny because they are still making fun of me…and making me babysit. But that’s what family is for, I guess.

What a fun week! The funniest part about Friday was that my spot was bumped due to Jesse Jackson, who was in the CNN briefing room and VERY agitated about something, I never learned what. He had a lot to say, and so my segment ran 15 mins later than usual. However, I got to high-five him into the segment room, which was worth it just to email the story back to the Sittercity home team later.Anyway, more from the road as the adventure continues…

An Oak Brook, IL family”

Thank you for your feedback! It made my day. No, month.

What is OpenBooks?

Open Books was founded in 2006 to open Chicago’s first nonprofit literacy bookstore: a two-storied dream where proceeds from the sale of 50,000+ used books on the fun, colorful, comfortable first floor will go to fund a spectrum of unique adult, family, and computer literacy programs upstairs. While they wait for our new building to be ready in spring 2009, they are working with literacy groups around the city to help students of all ages make literacy a fun and fundamental part of their lives.

And they throw a mean volunteer party. When we got there, we were nearly smothered in pizza and donuts and then set to work moving boxes and crates of books across a huge warehouse floor. The girls were hilarious…not only did they graduate within an hour to being on elevator duty on two separate floors with walkie-talkies, they also kept putting their boxes down to paw through them if they saw something interesting (which was like every five minutes.) I was less helpful, ending up at one point with a load of more than 23 boxes of books on my foot. At the end of the event I talked Erin and Ebony out of carrying off two full bags of books and into carrying away just one, crammed to the gills with Jules Verne, Harry Potter, Greek mythology, and Sherlock Holmes.

When OpenBooks opens their Chicago location, I honestly think it will be one of the neatest storefronts in Chicago…to watch their progress and see how its going, track them here.

Oh, and I think they’re all set for books right now, at least my aching foot says so, but there’s a donate link just in case.

Says Courtney, “I have a dog Maggie and two hamsters and I just thought, ‘Well, if I have so many animals why don’t I just work with them?’”

Though she graduated just a few weeks ago, Courtney already has scrubbed in on several surgeries at South Bay Veterinary Hospital.

“I just thought, ‘I might as well get my dreams early,’ ” she said.

For more information, visit Ellen’s web site at:

http://ellen.warnerbros.com/

Do you have a sitter for Super Tuesday? If you don’t, book now. This is going to be one of the most exciting elections in American history. You’d hate to miss it because of the kids, even if they are the light of your life. You can find babysitters, petsitters, senior care companions, and more at www.sittercity.com, and information about hiring them at www.ivillage.com.

Because if you bring them with you to the polls, you never know what they might push when you’re not looking. (There’s a reason you don’t allow them on your lap anymore when typing at your laptop, eh?)

2. She will love you, and kiss you, and squeeze you, and hold you… (cue bad soundtrack to My Best Friend’s Wedding here.)

3. It is insightful. It shows you have been using the old noggin.

4. If the sitter is awesome, you can use her again for more dates. (And more lovin, and kissin, and…you get the idea.)

5. It will give you a nice overview into the childcare world and how to screen, hire and prepare a sitter for a job. (Which will make you a Sexy Man.)

If you’re looking for a babysitter, you can find hundreds of thousands (with references, background checks, parent feedback, videos and more) at www.sittercity.com.

More ideas for her (that she can use the sitter to get or to do) can be found here.

Not that I would vote for him anyway, seeing as I live in IL.

Under his new tax plan, families would pay one federal tax, which would be applied to everything from health care, insurances, new homes, or even babysitters.

Any individual who might lend their talents in any way out to another person is subject to this blanket tax, under his proposed plan. This is interesting because back in the 1960’s, similar legislation was applied attempting to tax babysitters–also by a Republican. That bill was worse, and would have made parents report to the state even a one hour babysitting job over the course of one year, and monetary sums paid out, under penalty of law.

Right now parents do have to pay something if they pay their sitter or nanny more than $600 in a calendar year, but this just requires that you report to the IRS. You need an SSN, name and home address to do this, but it is relatively simple. If the care takes place under your roof, you are an employer. You can find more information about tax implications at www.sittercity.com.

You can see more about Huckabee’s legislation at http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/showthread.php?t=567498.

Hillary and Obama are really interesting candidates. I’ve met both of them, Hillary for a briefing on small business needs (similar to my meeting with Secretary Paulson about small business) and Obama in IL at a promotion event. They are both engaging, funny and I like their policies. It’s interesting that Obama is considered more laid-back, since when I met Hillary, she was cracking jokes, down-to-earth, and Jerry Springer was hanging out with her. (As well as Jesse Jackson’s son.)

And neither of them wants to levy a tax at 14-year-old girls who get either cash or checks at the end of the night for babysitting–how on earth can you really regulate that? It’s an issue that has plagued the government for a long time.

Anyway, for some good clean fun on all the candidates, check out the Capital Steps–their recent concert in IL was hilarious: http://www.capsteps.com/.

Crain’s 40 under 40 is possibly the coolest award I have seen for some time. The award happened sort of like this:

1. Got a call telling me I got Crain’s 40 under 40

2. Was sent to a (really fun) photoshoot in the Crain’s building in Chicago where they have their own photography studio

3. Took a photo

4. Got another call about an interview

5. Did the interview

6. Got a call from the photographer about the cover shot from the piece

7. Set up a time

8. Woke up in the middle of the night with about 17 awesome ideas about how best in photos to capture an opera-singing CEO

9. Called the photographer, set up two photoshoots

10. Took a photo on a chaise louge with a laptop in Chicago’s Athenaeum theater, the theater where the sun does not shine, cars get towed, and the natives are most certainly denizens of hell (although it IS a gorgeous 1000 seat opera theater)

11. Moved to the basement to do another photoshoot in the dressing rooms, using this incredibly cool frame that the photographer made that makes it look like the picture is taken through the dressing room mirror

12. Did another interview

13. The writer, Brandon Coppell, followed me to the Lyric opera for a lesson. My coach Celeste (LOVE her) did not bat an eyelash, even when I sang a bad rendition of O mio babbino caro to illustrate an oversung Italian aria

14. Went back to the office and took more pictures

15. Got a call saying that they wanted to do an interactive video

16. Went back to the Lyric to do an interactive video and sound clip where I am singing, CEOing and generally being me (albeit me followed by a man with a boom mike, camera and determined expression)

17. The piece comes out!! And it is amazing. AND here is the link:

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/mag/article.pl?article_id=28763

Steve Serio, Brandon Coppell and Crain’s Chicago are the bomb.