Category: Abundance and Prosperity

Looking at abundance as not necessarily monetary–how to get your needs met and desires fulfilled without necessarily needing money to do it.

By Posted on Posted in Abundance and Prosperity, Customer Service as Marketing, Marketing Techniques and Philosophies, Web 2.0/Social Media Tagged with , , , ,

Why have I been mostly absent from my own blog lately? Because I’ve been working long hours on behalf of a client who had some pressing and time-consuming needs—including hands-on media training, helping him hire a PR assistant, and getting out a rush press release with a very short window of opportunity.

How did I get that client? A referral from a client whose book I produced a couple of years ago. That original single project has now turned into work for four different clients, putting a significant amount of money into my bank account.

It’s hard to beat a direct referral from a delighted client, unless perhaps with a direct referral from a well-respected industry guru (and I get plenty of those, too, including one earlier this week). In both cases, they come to you pre-sold, and if you don’t mess things up, they want to work with you.

Plus, since they came through referral, they often are happy to refer others. Your marketing cost: zero.

Of my seven most recent major clients, three were referrals, one I met at a networking event, one found one of my websites, and one remembered me because I wrote an article about her years ago. I’m not sure how the sixth found me, will have to check.

To get referrals: do the best job you can, and encourage your thrilled clients to tell others about you. If you’re in an Internet social media community together, and the client expresses delight privately, ask that client to share this feeling with the community (that’s when you start getting referrals from industry leaders).

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By Posted on Posted in Abundance and Prosperity, Energy & Sustainability, Peace and War Tagged with , , ,

As it happens, my breakfast reading this morning was the latest Utne Reader, specifically an article called “The Big Green Machine.”

It describes a speaking tour featuring four veterans speaking on climate change and energy independence. The vets are one unit in Operation Free, sponsored by the Truman National Security Project, which has an all-star board fronted by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Vets speaking as part of Operation Free have logged 25,000 miles in 21 states to make the case that switching off oil to renewable energy is crucial not only to our prosperity, but also to our national security. Speakers note that both the Department of Defense and the CIA have endorsed the energy transition and are taking major steps forward. “These are not organizations known for hugging polar bears,” points out Robin Eckstein, a former Army fuel truck driver in Iraq.

This might be the way we make change as a society: by moving people from sectors not typically involved in activism to convince others who don’t listen to activists.

Drew Sloan, who was badly inured in a grenade attack and went back for another duty tour in Iraq, says even if we don’t know everything, we have to make the shift:

When [people attack] the science of climate change, they ridicule the data as being uncertain. “Veterans know you can’t wait for 100 percent certainty. If you wait until everything is clear and laid out, you’re probably no longer alive. . . . Veterans know how to deal with ambiguity and still make decisions.

As Ms. Eckstein notes,

When certain individuals hear the words “climate change,” they shut down. For whatever reason, when they hear veterans speak on it, they actually listen.

Utne’s article was excerpted from a longer piece in On Earth, which ran under the title, “Patriots Act.”

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By Posted on Posted in Abundance and Prosperity, Energy & Sustainability Tagged with , ,

I tried to make this comment directly on the article, at https://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/thegreenguide/2010/09/urban-foragers-cropping-up-in.html. It wouldn’t take, and I’m not one to waste a good comment.

I’m a long-time forager. Just today, I was checking on the Russian olives in my neighborhood (an invasive that I find quite tasty). I’ve picked plenty of wild raspberries and blueberries, and have a fondness for lambs’ quarters.

As the primary author (with Jay Conrad Levinson) of Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet, I follow sustainability issues closely. I see foraging is one part of the sustainability recipe, as we move, society-wide, toward locavore diets.

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By Posted on Posted in Abundance and Prosperity, Energy & Sustainability, People Helping People Tagged with , , ,

Last night, the local organizer for the Transition Towns movement finally got around to doing one in my town. We were a small group including several of the “usual suspects” (old friends from previous organizing campaigns) as well as a handful of others I didn’t know–with a lot of good ideas.

Transition towns organizing involves taking steps to get society off fossil and nuclear fuels, and building community in the process. It’s very much directed by the people who participate, so if a few people want to form a sewing circle to make cloth totes residents can bring to the market, or plant trees, or insulate houses, or work with local government to install traffic calming, or whatever—they do it. And it’s nice and small and manageable, town by town, neighborhood by neighborhood.

The movement started as an outgrowth of the permaculture movement in Kinsale, Ireland and Totnes, UK, and has spread widely.

Now, with a few years under its belt, it may be one of our best hopes for avoiding catastrophic climate change (on which the window is getting smaller) and the great hardship of massive price shocks on all the things based in fossil fuels—which is pretty much everything.

Resources:
Transition Towns organizing site for the US
The “get moving” page on the international website (which I found after getting distracted by some wonderful storytelling about live in past generations in a British village
The simple little WordPress site for Transition in my own community of Hadley, Massachusetts

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By Posted on Posted in Abundance and Prosperity, People Helping People, Shel's Personal Life Tagged with , , , ,

There is definitely something to all this Law of Attraction stuff. Consider this: For the past few months, I’ve been putting out a lot of energy around four things:
1. Expanding the public speaking portion of my business
2. Pitching myself as a syndicated columnist writing on Green business (working a long-term plan)
3. Founding the International Association of Earth-Conscious Marketers
4. Working with unpublished writers to help them become well-published and well-marketed authors

Here’s some of what happened today:

  • While listening to a teleseminar with a syndicated columnist, I asked a question–and he offered to give me contacts at his syndicate
  • Got interviewed for a radio show and book about public speaking—and the interviewer may become a book publishing consulting client…and spent a half-hour getting acquainted with another marketing consultant, and he too is thinking of doing a book and letting me help
  • I did a little Green business of my own today, selling five pounds of surplus organic hot peppers from our garden to our neighbors’ farmstand (I had more to sell, but that was what I could easily carry on my bike)—it’s such a hoot for me as a New York City native to sell farm vegetables to my neighbors, whose family has been farming this land since 1806
  • Responded to a HARO query from a reporter, and the reporter wrote back that instead of just using my short quote, would I be interested in writing a regular column?
  • Received an invitation to speak at a high-level international conference in January, and a contract from a different organization for a talk I’m doing in December
  • Had a brief teleconference with a subset of the IAECM Steering Committee. I continue to be so impressed with the creative thinking of this talented group.
  • And still managed to get out and vote early (I was #16, so I could get the car back in time for my son to drive to school)…get several hours of billable work done…get in a lovely hike.

    It’s feeling like a pretty abundant day :-). I’ll even forgive the mice for chewing up the spout to our can of Chinese sesame oil, forcing me to change my dinner plans. (I went for Italian instead, and it was delicious. Guess the mice don’t like or haven’t discovered the olive oil.) I like it that I’m putting energy out on these four things, and permutations of those four are coming back to me.

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    By Posted on Posted in Abundance and Prosperity, Energy & Sustainability, Entrepreneurship Tagged with , , , , , , ,

    The latest stimulus proposal, announced this week by Barack Obama, will put $50 billion into the hopper for improvements to “the nation’s roads, railways and runways,” as the Associated Press story alliteratively noted.

    And certainly, those improvements are needed. Europeans and east Asians laugh openly at our rail system. Our roads and bridges need shoring up. And plane travel in general has become a chore.

    But before we go off improving more roads (which seemed to be where the bulk of the first round of stimulus went), shouldn’t we be looking at energy? How about a program to deep-energy retrofit many existing buildings, become a world leader in nonpolluting renewable energy, and reinvent public transit in ways that encourage its use. A massive program to cut fossil fuel and nuclear dependence by, say, 75 percent would have these extra advantages:

  • Immediate economic stimulus, in the form of dollars saved on energy costs that become available for other uses
  • Tens or maybe hundreds of thousands of new jobs: in production, installation, weatherization, analysis, and more
  • Reduced dependence on foreign energy sources, thus freeing up foreign policy decisions to be made on other criteria than protecting our oil interests
  • Ability to curtail unsafe deepwater oil drilling until the bugs are worked out
  • New life for existing residential, commercial, government, and industrial buildings
  • Drastic reductions in prices for solar, wind, geothermal, and small-scale hydro, as larger markets enable economies of scale
  • Reduced air and water pollution
  • Reduced carbon footprint and maybe even the potential to reverse catastrophic climate change
  • Far less energy wasted in transmission losses, because more of it will be generated at the point of use and won’t need to be transported
  • Conversion of energy from a constantly rising ongoing cost to a fixed one-time cost amortized over many years
  • Elimination of any possible argument in favor of extremely dangerous and/or highly polluting power sources such as nuclear or tar sands

    • And those are only a few among many.

    The really good news? Such a plan could be put into place with surprisingly little capital outlay, because creative financing structures already exist that can let private investment step to the plate. I’ll talk more about this in my next post (after Rosh Hashana is over).

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    By Posted on Posted in Abundance and Prosperity, Energy & Sustainability, Frugality/Frugal Fun, People Helping People, poverty, Shel's Personal Life Tagged with , , ,

    This time of year, we spend an astonishing amount of time dealing with food: harvesting from our garden, making salads, cooking, preserving, giving or occasionally selling surplus…but it is SO worth it!

    Long before we had a garden of our own, I’ve been an advocate of local community food self-sufficiency. Not that a neighborhood or village would grow all its own food, but even the most urban could grow some vegetables and herbs, some berries.

    Food is a basic necessity, and as such should be a right (ditto for drinkable water and health care, among other things). But in many poor communities, there are few gardens and not even any supermarkets. Rooftops, vacant lots, and even windowsills could change this—and in the process, empower residents, break down barriers, form friendships, save people money…and introduce folks to the absolute joy of eating fresh organic produce grown right where you are.

    Yesterday, I made a batch of pure tomato sauce: no oil, no water, no herbs, no onions or garlic, just fresh ripe garden tomatoes, cooked in their own juice for several hours, until the sauce was about a third of the original volume, and had a flavor so royally rich you’d think it was made of 24-karat gold. Today, it was Dina’s night to cook. Earlier today, she went and got a couple of pounds of green beans out of the garden (along with another 40 full-size and 125 cherry tomatoes, enough corn for our lunch, celery, eggplant, edemame, zucchini, and I forget what else). She cooked the beans lightly for a few minutes in my super-intense tomato sauce and served them over couscous. WOW! Served with a salad of our own cucumbers and tomatoes and lettuce from our local CSA farm, plus some Turkish olives and feta cheese, it was a fabulous dinner.

    Today, I made another batch of that good sauce (most of which we’re freezing for the winter), a batch of zucchini pickles, and a batch of dried tomatoes. Dina processed the leeks for freezing. I confess, we’re putting in a couple of hours a day. It really helps that I work at home and that Dina doesn’t have to go teach at the university in the summer. Seems like every break I take from the computer I am dealing with food. But come January, when the produce you can buy is almost inedible, we will pull some of our bounty from the freezer or from the dried stash in the pantry, and we will enjoy locally grown meals almost as good as those we’re feasting on now.

    It’s an experience that should be shared widely. I feel very sorry for those people who’ve never had a REAL fresh tomato. Comparing it to a supermarket tomato is like comparing a perfectly aged French triple-cream gourmet cheese with Velveeta.

    And I feel grateful not only to live in a place where we can have a garden, but in a time when consciousness of local organic and fresh foods is high, and where food is helping people know their neighbors and boost their nutrition.

    Yes, a tomato can change the world.

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    By Posted on Posted in Abundance and Prosperity, Corporate Social Responsibility, Marketing Techniques and Philosophies, poverty, Social and Economic Justice Tagged with , , , ,

    Editor’s Note: Sometimes I like to post things to stimulate controversy, and thus I’m running this guest post by Alexis Bonari, critiquing one of the sacred cows of the sustainability movement: fair trade certification.

    From my own point of view as a consumer, I look to Fair Trade certification for many products, especially chocolate. I am all-too-aware of the use of child slaves to harvest cacao, particularly in the Ivory Coast, and as a lover of chocolate, I don’t want to be a party to that. Fair Trade labeling is my assurance that the cacao was grown honestly.

    I also disagree with Bonari’s two points:

    First, there’s nothing, to my mind, inherently evil about mechanized farming, as long as it’s done sustainably. Many Fair Trade products are also organic, and that’s a big step in the right direction. Systemically, of course, we should be looking at how we power our tractors and all the rest of it. And we can all look for ways to increase our “locavore” quotient by consuming products (including food) created locally. But I do believe there is a place for imports in the mix, and in fact, in my book, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green, the section on “Local as Green” is followed immediately by one called “Global as Green.”

    And second, Far Trade (while far from perfect) certainly does provide a wedge against poverty. Farmers in Fair Trade co-ops are demonstrably better off than most who sell through conventional channels and who have no choice but to accept a pathetically low bid. Remember, too, that economic leverage varies a lot from country to country, and differences can be orders of magnitude. There are many parts of the world where an income of $25 or $50 a day puts someone in the upper half of the population, but it may only cost a few cents to cook a meal.

    I’ll turn the floor over to Alexis now—but I’d love to know your thoughts. Please add your comment below.
    —Shel Horowitz

    Marketing Honesty: Is Fair Trade Really a Fair Deal?

    By Alexis Bonari

    The Fair Trade label has become a marketing boon for many companies. Soon, even Nestlé’s Kit Kat bar will be made from Fair Trade sources.

    Essentially, the term Fair Trade refers to the following business model: companies pay craftsmen and farmers in developing countries an increased wage for goods that are traditionally produced in that region. These goods are produced with an eye to minimal environmental impact. Examples of Fair Trade goods are: bananas, honey, cotton, wine, handcrafts, coffee, sugar, and tea. As of 2008, the annual amount of revenue generated by Fair Trade goods amounted to approximately US$4.08 billion worldwide.

    While the popularity of Fair Trade goods is almost certainly a byproduct of good intentions on the part of consumers, is there a downside to the Fair Trade industry?

    The problem is twofold:

    1. Unsustainable Markets
    While incentivizing the production of local crops and handcrafts may temporarily short-circuit the cycle of poverty in certain communities, it does nothing to address the problem of supply and demand. First world countries lead the global economic market by producing technology and mass-produced products. India, and other developing countries experiencing economic growth, are educating their people and encouraging them to adopt mechanized means of production and farming.

    Fair Trade workers are being incentivized to continue producing the very same products that are keeping them in poverty. A comprehensive solution would encourage education and new business ventures.

    2. Perpetuation of a Toxic Cycle
    Simply put, Fair Trade policies perpetuate a system that denies the citizens of developing countries control over their own businesses. Under the banner of Fair Trade, foreign companies are offering them pennies on the dollar that a citizen of the US or a member of the EU would make for the same service.

    Fair Trade is a case of inaccurate marketing. The consumer is convinced that they’re working toward eradicating poverty in the Third World. In reality, Fair Trade could potentially hurt the very people it intends to help.

    Alexis Bonari is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is a passionate blogger on the topic of education and free college scholarships. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

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    By Posted on Posted in Abundance and Prosperity, Peace and War Tagged with , , , ,

    Since I’ve often been critical of President Obama, it’s nice to point out two bits of positive news you probably haven’t heard on national media:

    First, this press release reports that the bailout is actually working; the government has now been repaid more than the amount outstanding–and if I’m understanding this correctly, the program should eventually show a profit.

    And second, the Washington Spectator (which can always be counted on for great under-the-radar reportage) reports significant strides toward nuclear disarmament (and a much lower number of n-weapons than existed 30 years ago). (You have to be a subscriber to read the article.)

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    By Posted on Posted in Abundance and Prosperity, Ethics: General, General Commentary, Politics, propaganda Tagged with , ,

    I’ve long wondered why the people who so strenuously object to socialized medicine have no problem with other socialized services, such as police and fire protection (on the government monopoly model) and education (the “public option”/private competition model). This bit of satire makes the point better than I could. I was hoping to be able to attribute it (it came anonymously as an e-mail) but on a quick Google, I found that it’s a very popular text, but couldn’t locate a source.

    I, ________________________, do solemnly swear to uphold the principles of a socialism-free society and heretofore pledge my word that I shall strictly adhere to the following:

    I will complain about the destruction of 1st Amendment Rights in this country, while I am duly being allowed to exercise my 1st Amendment Rights.

    I will complain about the destruction of my 2nd Amendment Rights in this country, while I am duly being allowed to exercise my 2nd Amendment rights by legally but brazenly brandishing unconcealed firearms in public.

    I will foreswear the time-honored principles of fairness, decency, and respect by screaming unintelligible platitudes regarding tyranny, Nazi-ism, and socialism at public town halls. Also.

    I pledge to eliminate all government intervention in my life. I will abstain from the use of and participation in any socialist goods and services including but not limited to the following:

    * Social Security

    * Medicare/Medicaid

    * State Children’s Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP)

    * Police, Fire, and Emergency Services

    * US Postal Service

    * Roads and Highways

    * Air Travel (regulated by the socialist FAA)

    * The US Railway System

    * Public Subways and Metro Systems

    * Public Bus and Lightrail Systems

    * Rest Areas on Highways

    * Sidewalks

    * All Government-Funded Local/State Projects (e.g., see Iowa 2009 federal senate appropriations)

    * Public Water and Sewer Services (goodbye socialist toilet, shower, dishwasher, kitchen sink, outdoor hose!)

    * Public and State Universities and Colleges

    * Public Primary and Secondary Schools

    * Sesame Street

    * Publicly Funded Anti-Drug Use Education for Children

    * Public Museums

    * Libraries

    * Public Parks and Beaches

    * State and National Parks

    * Public Zoos

    * Unemployment Insurance

    * Municipal Garbage and Recycling Services

    * Treatment at Any Hospital or Clinic That Ever Received Funding From Local, State or Federal Government (pretty much all of them)

    * Medical Services and Medications That Were Created or Derived From Any Government Grant or Research Funding (again, pretty much all of them)

    * Socialist Byproducts of Government Investment Such as Duct Tape and Velcro (Nazi-NASA Inventions)

    * Use of the Internets, email, and networked computers, as the DoD’s ARPANET was the basis for subsequent computer networking

    * Foodstuffs, Meats, Produce and Crops That Were Grown With, Fed With, Raised With or That Contain Inputs From Crops Grown With Government Subsidies

    * Clothing Made from Crops (e.g. cotton) That Were Grown With or That Contain Inputs From Government Subsidies

    If a veteran of the government-run socialist US military, I will forego my VA benefits and insist on paying for my own medical care

    I will not tour socialist government buildings like the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

    I pledge to never take myself, my family, or my children on a tour of the following types of socialist locations, including but not limited to:

    * Smithsonian Museums such as the Air and Space Museum or Museum of American History

    * The socialist Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson Monuments

    * The government-operated Statue of Liberty

    * The Grand Canyon

    * The socialist World War II and Vietnam Veterans Memorials

    * The government-run socialist-propaganda location known as Arlington National Cemetery

    * All other public-funded socialist sites, whether it be in my state or in Washington, DC

    I will urge my Member of Congress and Senators to forego their government salary and government-provided healthcare.

    I will oppose and condemn the government-funded and therefore socialist military of the United States of America.

    I will boycott the products of socialist defense contractors such as GE, Lockheed-Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Humana, FedEx, General Motors, Honeywell, and hundreds of others that are paid by our socialist government to produce goods for our socialist army.

    I will protest socialist security departments such as the Pentagon, FBI, CIA, Department of Homeland Security, TSA, Department of Justice and their socialist employees.

    Upon reaching eligible retirement age, I will tear up my socialist Social Security checks.

    Upon reaching age 65, I will forego Medicare and pay for my own private health insurance until I die.

    SWORN ON A BIBLE AND SIGNED THIS DAY OF __________ IN THE YEAR ___.

    _____________ _________________________

    Signed Printed Name/Town and State

    Spread it around!

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