"Far away in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see the beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they lead."
- Louisa May Alcott
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"Far away in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see the beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they lead." - Louisa May Alcott
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Get Involved
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March 12, 2010 | |||||||
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 The Product Is Inspiration: U-inspire.com December 2000 We at goodthings are always inspired by businesses based on a passion to make a difference. Here's the story of how U-inspire --the largest searchable database of motivational content, greeting cards and products on the Web--was born. Their mission is to provide people with the tools to help inspire and motivate themselves and the people they care about. Michael Weinbach Founder and CEO When I was in ninth grade, my high school wrestling coach gave me a pamphlet full of inspiring quotes and stories. I used to re-read the pamphlet daily as I visualized the successes I hoped to achieve in wrestling and in life. From that day on I was hooked! Every time I found something inspiring I would save it. I have pages that are ripped out of magazines and even books. Eventually I took to keeping my own journal where I wrote down inspiring quotes and stories and where I worked out my own personal thoughts on how to be my best self. Fast forward to Harvard Business School, where I met Bill Plautz, a fellow long-time athlete and someone who clearly inspired people around him with his kindness, drive and good-natured attitude. The two of us decided that we would like to start a business together, but, for months, we couldn't find an idea that we thought was worth pursuing. "B2B" [business-to-business] was all the rage at that time; however, we wanted to do something that "inspired" us. We felt the pull of one of our favorite Henry Ford quotes that says "a business that makes nothing but money is a poor kind of business." We hadn't come up with anything, and it was time to get a summer job after the first year of my MBA program. Before interviewing at a company that let people build free personal Web pages, I tried their product. I didn't want to build one of the standard Web pages with "these are my favorite links," so I put part of my collection on-line. See my first attempt on Homestead.com. I sent the URL to five friends, and something magical happened. People liked it. Of course, I had hoped this would happen, but I didn't expect them to also send it to their friends. Then people started e-mailing quotes to me. I soon realized that people love to be inspired as much as I do, and that it would be great to have a Web site to give people the tools to inspire both themselves and the people that they care about. I ran the idea by Bill who liked it as much as I did. We have been running with it ever since. We launched the site in July 2000, after spending a lot of time researching how inspiration is a part of people's lives, hiring great people, and putting together a business plan. We are working hard to make U-inspire a business that can be a positive force in the world. We are also working hard to make U-inspire a business that makes money and can sustain its mission.
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