Category: Shel’s Personal Life

By Posted on Posted in Abundance and Prosperity, Green Business, Shel's Personal Life Tagged with , , ,

1. To move forward on my goal of reaching critical mass for the two self-syndicated columns I’m launching, Green And Profitable, for business, and Green And Practical, for consumers. Both emphasize easy, low-cost, high-return approaches. Click here to see samples of the business column. (I’ve written text and sample columns for Green And Practical, and bought the domain, but this is so new that the site isn’t live yet.) My goal is to have 1000 paid subscribers and/or generate $10K/month from this by the end of 2012. It’s going to be really cheap for media, $10 per insertion—and I’m also offering private-label (PLR) e-mail/print rights to corporations and associations at 25 cents per name per year, which is where I suspect the money will mostly come from. If I’m successful, I will actually, for the first time, make my living as a writer of consumable content, rather than of marketing materials—this after publishing eight books and more than 1000 articles.

–>And by the way, I’d be very grateful for connections to people who might want to license PLR rights to one or both of the columns (people with a green product or service, for instance). I am willing to pay $200 commission for any column client who commits to $1200 per year or more. shel (at) principledprofit.com or twitter to ShelHorowitz.

2. To structure my work days to include two hours of billable/client work, 1 hour on my own writing or marketing (blog, columns, speeches, services), 2 hours maximum on e-mail, 15 to 30 minutes on social media, 1 hour of professional reading, half an hour each on office organization and bills/postal mail, and an hour of exercise. I have timekeeping software, and I’m going to use it.

PS–instead of an annual letter, we did a humorous quiz. If you want to learn more about my family and get a smile in the process, click over and have a look.

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By Posted on Posted in Energy & Sustainability, Events, Green Business, Green Marketing, Publishing, Shel's Personal Life Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

I have only half an hour left of being 53. It seems a good time to reflect on the whirlwind year I’ve had. Professionally, a lot has gone right for me this year.

First, of course, this has been my initial year as a Guerrilla Marketing author, and the publishing world is definitely nicer to authors who have hitched their wagon to a star. The folks at Wiley have been far more collaborative and helpful than many authors experience with their big NYC publishers, and certainly more so than Simon & Schuster was with me all those years ago. I’ve been promoting the book constantly all year long, and the publisher and even Amazon have also worked on that goal. And as a result of all that effort, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green has been on the Environmental category bestseller list for at least 11 of the last 12 months—we’re not sure about March—and was #1 in the category for part of April and May. Even cooler—within three weeks of publication, a Google search for the exact phrase “Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green” brought up 1,070,000 hits—far more than I’ve ever seen for anything else I’ve been involved with. Some of those pages have come down since, but as of today, it’s still quite respectable at 551,000. And a search for my name peaked last month at 119,000, nearly double the previous high point of 62 or 64,000.

Because of the new book, I’ve also done quite a bit of speaking this year, including my first international appearance (at an international PR conference in Davos, Switzerland, home of the World Social Forum and World Economic Forum. This was a different event, but in the same venue, and it felt pretty trippy to be speaking from the same building that the likes of Bill Clinton and Warren Buffett speak from. And when you write a book called Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green, you have automatic “chops” in both the green community and the marketing world—which is great, since the book really looks at the intersection of profitability and sustainability. I’ve spoken and exhibited at quite a few green events this year (ranging from the mellow, outdoor SolarFest in Vermont to the huge Green America/Global Exchange Green Festival in the Washington, DC Convention Center) and made numerous great contacts.

And I discovered, particularly when doing media interviews, that I really do know quite a bit about going green, on a much deeper level than just “made from recycled materials” stuff. I was very pleased with the quality of some of the more than 100 interviews I did this year, finding that a number of the journalists went a lot deeper than others I’ve experienced in the past—and I was able to take them deeper still. I’m not saying this to brag, but because I didn’t actually realize how much I do know about many substantive issues around sustainability until I started answering so many great questions about it.

Part 2 will discuss the most exciting part of my year: a way to get the message in front of a much wider audience. Stay tuned.

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By Posted on Posted in Arts & Entertainment, Demographics/Psychographics, Frugality/Frugal Fun, People Helping People, Shel's Personal Life, Web 2.0/Social Media

flashmob:“a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual act for a brief time, then disperse.” (Wikipedia)

For the year or so that I’ve been watching the occasional video of flashmobs gathering in public places to perform, I’ve wished I could be part of one. But I didn’t wish strongly enough to organize one.

All the videos I’ve been sent took places in major cities like Amsterdam and Philadelphia. I live in a very rural area whose biggest city (Springfield, MA) has a population of only 155,629. And yet, to make a flashmob, you only need a dozen or so people.

I think a lot of the allure of flashmobs is that for the most part, we live in a society where entertainment is provided, prepackaged. Until 1877 when Edison invented the phonograph, if you wanted to hear music, you gathered some friends with instruments and songbooks and made some. If you wanted a theater experience, you played charades. Public concerts outside of major cities were few and far between. Now, every tiny town has live music 20 or 30 nights a year, and many have music every weekend night all year long. We are, for the most part, deprived of the opportunity to not only make our own entertainment but perform it for others. The flashmob at the Holyoke Mall had one day’s notice, no rehearsal. Singers were to wear a solid color indicating their part (my alto wife wore green, other parts wore red or white)—and of course, many people who just happened to be there joined in the singing.

Thursday, I received an e-mail from the organizer of a local folk music sing-along: a flashmob would gather the following day to sing Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus at the food court of the largest shopping mall near us, the Holyoke Mall (halfway between our house and Springfield, in a town of 40,005). On a Friday night just before Christmas, it would certainly have an audience. Better still, it was organized by the local opera company; the singing would be worth hearing.

The next morning, my wife, D. Dina Friedman, who sings in a community chorus, got an e-mail about the event that went out to all the chorus members. This was looking better and better. And the timing was perfect; we could drop our son off for the final rehearsal of his school’s winter show, go sing, and be back at school in plenty of time to watch him perform.

The singing was magical. Sound coming from every corner of the large and crowded food court, and a few stunningly stellar voices rising above the crowd. It reminded me of the time more than 30 years ago that I happened to be out on a lawn at my college while the chorus was rehearsing for their upcoming tour, and they invited me to stand within their circle and be surrounded by beautiful sound.

What amazed me the most, though, was not the event, but the aftermath. By the time we returned home after Rafael’s show, when I went to post something on Twitter, I found links to at least two different videos, including this very high quality one posted on the Springfield newspaper’s site.

I sent the link around, and got a couple of “wish I was there” or “how did you find out?” responses. And then last night, I went to a different performance, more than 40 miles away from the shopping mall at a retreat center in a really remote area (it happens to be the most beautiful house I know, one I love to visit for this annual storytelling concert)—and at intermission, I heard people talking about the flashmob and wishing they had known ahead.

In other words, even without a big-city backdrop, this flashmob had an impact well beyond the borders of the food court. E-mail made the event possible; social media gave it permanent life. “And I say to myself/What a wonderful world.”

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By Posted on Posted in Green Business, Green Marketing, Shel's Personal Life

Just a quick brag: Monday, the Daily Hampshire Gazette, my hometown paper in Northampton, Massachusetts, became the first newspaper to contract for and publish an installment of my new column, Green And Profitable (Note: this paper may not let you see it if you’re not a subscriber–but it’s one of the sample columns on this site).

1 down, 999 to go to make my goal of 1000 paying markets for the column within two years.

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By Posted on Posted in Entrepreneurship, Green Business, media-general, Shel's Personal Life

Shortly after starting my blogging career, I switched from Blogger to WordPress and began hosting the blog on one of my own sites, Principled Profit. Since the blog was called “Principled Profit: The Good Business Blog,” this made sense. I also had a radio show called “Principled Profit: The Good Business Radio Show” from 2005-09, and of course, my award-winning book at the time was Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First.

But from now on, my blog’s primary home will be on GreenAndProfitable.com, and the blog will be known as the Green And Profitable blog

So after all this time, why change? I still feel a lot of empathy for the brand, after all.

First of all, as a condition of publishing my latest book, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet, John Wiley & Sons required me to take Principled Profit off the market; they didn’t want my self-published book competing with theirs.

#2: Yes, I have a website at https://www.guerrillamarketinggoesgreen.com—but that didn’t seem the right place to put the blog. I’m in a thinking-big mood lately, and I wanted something that would encompass the whole world of successful green business, not just the marketing slice.

And finally, I’ve had a long-held dream (at least 25 years, maybe longer) of being a syndicated columnist, kind of like George Will but with progressive, earth-centered viewpoints. I want to use the “bully pulpit” to make a difference on the environment, move the world toward ending hunger, poverty, and war, and reach a lot of people who haven’t read my books or e-zines. I’ve sent out column queries a number of times over the years, but so far, no luck. (I have served as a non-syndicated columnist for various publications over the years, most recently Business Ethics for over two years, until the magazine rebranded.)

With some good coaching from my Mastermind group, I’ve decided to move forward and begin at least by self-syndicating a column called—want to guess?—”Green And Profitable.”

I’ve long been a believer in speaking, writing, and consulting reinforcing each other and moving forward both a business success profile and a social agenda. If I can begin to find newspapers and magazines to take a monthly column (and pay at least a little something for it), I’m hoping my ideas will reach enough people to make a difference in the world. And as the climate crisis worsens, I feel like I can not only be an antidote to all the doom and gloom, but a conduit for ideas that people can incorporate into their own lives…ideas that make a real difference in the world and in my readers’ personal success.

Wish me luck!

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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 censorship, Democracy, Diversity, Peace and War, propaganda, Protests and Crackdowns, Shel's Personal Life Tagged with , , , , , , ,

    Today marks the 47th anniversary of the March on Washington, and of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Right-wing extremists Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin will dishonor King’s memory by having a rally on the same site, opposed to all the values King held dear.

    I’m okay with that, actually. I’d never go, other than to hold a counterprotest sign—but I believe strongly in the 1st Amendment rights of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. As did King, by the way.

    I think Beck and Palin are despicable. I also think they have every right to hold their gathering of the lunatic fringe. And I’m aware that I’ve taken plenty of stands over my career for which others would paint me as “lunatic fringe.” Some of them are now mainstream, such as aiming for zero waste, repurposing rooftop space into food and energy collectors, and getting the heck off fossil and nuclear power sources—but they sure weren’t 30 or 40 years ago. I would not have granted then, and don’t grant now, the right of others to tell me how to think, and I don’t claim that same privilege against others whom I disagree with. The right to try to convince them, certainly—but NEVER to dictate what is or is not acceptable thought.

    I remember holding a lone protest in front of the local courthouse when the U.S. bombed Lybia. The first day, I got a lot of middle fingers and angry shouts. By the second day, a few people had joined me. On the third day, with a larger crowd, we were getting mostly thumbs ups and supportive honks. It was hard, on that first day. But I remembered my favorite Abraham Lincoln quote, “It is a sin to be silent when it is your duty to protest.” Taking an unpopular position didn’t take the burden off me to take a stand.

    And some of my positions are still out of the mainstream—so far. One such is that a Muslim group has every right to practice that other First Amendment right, freedom of worship—even two blocks from Ground Zero. As Keith Olbermann pointed out recently, there’s already been an Islamic center coexisting in that neighborhood since before the World Trade Center was even built. But even if there weren’t, this country was founded on the principle that people can peaceably assemble, worship the God of our choice (or no God, if we choose), and say what we want to say even if it makes others unhappy. That’s what made us the shining light of Democracy for the world, the example that so many other nations wanted to follow. Those are American values that I hold dear. And I predict that they will once again return to the mainstream of an America that seems to have forgotten its proud heritage.

    It means the right to build an Islamic Center—a gathering place for peaceful worship and community activities—on an abandoned site a few blocks from Ground Zero, and it means that Beck and Palin are appropriately permitted for their disgusting festival of intolerance. The appropriate reaction is boycott or counterprotest, not an attempt to silence those we disagree with.

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    By Posted on Posted in Energy & Sustainability, Shel's Personal Life, Uncategorized Tagged with , , , ,

    If you think we in the Green movement tend to take ourselves waaaay too seriously, here’s a bit of comic relief.

    Dilbert creator Scott Adams describes with excruciating humor all the missteps in building a Green home.

    I can relate. In my own Greener home adventures, we’ve discovered…

  • Solar panels without hinges cost A LOT of money to take down and put back up again when you need a new roof.
  • Tax credits are available for new roofs that keep your house cooler in the summer, even if you don’t use an air conditioner. But they don’t apply to roofs that keep you nice and toasty warm in the winter, even if you live in COLD New England.
  • Because of stress from extreme temperature variations, solar water tanks wear out in about half the time of conventional tanks—but not so fast that they’re still under warranty. Right about the time that the savings had paid for the unit.
  • Just because you want to go Green doesn’t mean it will be easy. When our furnace went, we couldn’t justify the cost of geothermal, and ended up replacing our oil-burning furnace with…another, more efficient, oil-burning furnace. Sigh!

    In an ideal world, we’d be able to afford, and justify, the $50,000 superinsulated roof, the geothermal heater, jacking up the R value on our 1743 farmhouse to the point where we had essentially no heating bill…but that’s not the world we live in. We did put in both solar hot water and photovoltaic systems years ago, but we’re a long way from feeling or being energy self-sufficient, and the capital costs were high.

    Am I sorry we took these expensive Green initiatives? Not at all. Do I feel we could have been better shoppers if we’d been more informed? You betcha.

    And do I want incentives to bring the prices down and the reliability up throughout society, especially for those least able to afford a large capital investment with a sometimes dubious payback? Absolutely.

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    By Posted on Posted in Shel's Personal Life

    Heck, I’d settle for two days a week as productive as today. I’d be soooo grateful–and so accomplished! Wrote a long blog on public transit, an article about Green marketing, a much-improved of the query letter I hope will launch my syndicated Green and Profitable column, created a new questionnaire for book consulting clients, and critiqued a client’s book proposal (I don’t normally do ANY client work on weekends, but this had a deadline of tomorrow AM and I was off all day Friday speaking at Boston Greenfest), and managed to deal with 150 or so e-mails.

    And…shelled a bunch of our garden edemame (tender young soybeans), cooked a three-course dinner of mostly garden veggies, made a batch of tomato sauce, hiked for half an hour between rainstorms, did a load each of laundry and dishes plus hand-washed all the pots and wooden stuff. Also got in some fun time with Dina and a bit of reading.

    And now I just wrote this blog, just reflecting on the wonder of it all.

    I have two more hours left, probably, before I crash. Going to try to get through another 100 or so emails and then five miles on the exercise bike with Barbara Kingsolver’s novel, “Lacuna.” And then a well-earned rest.

    All this while everybody’s complaining that Mercury is in retrograde and they can’t get anything done.

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    By Posted on Posted in Demographics/Psychographics, Energy & Sustainability, Shel's Personal Life, travel Tagged with , , , , ,

    Yesterday’s postal mail brought an invitation by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to survey our driving habits.

    I live in a rural area, along a state highway but between two college towns. Green as I’d love to be, I go most places by car. Occasionally, I’ll have enough time to bike to Northampton or Amherst, but it’s about 50 minutes each direction, and that’s a big chunk out of my day. It’s also not a very pleasant ride, along a busy, very hilly highway with lots of curves and potholes and big stretches without a shoulder.

    I’m a lifelong fan and USER of public transportation. Growing up in New York City, I was eight years old when I switched from the school bus to the public bus—and that was with a transfer. I’ll often take buses instead of driving to Boston or New York (and I’ve actually booked Amtrak for my next trip to Washington). When I travel out of my area, I rarely rent a car unless the destination city is the start of an extended driving trip. If I’m just staying locally, I use buses, trams and subways (and the occasional taxi.

    There’s a local bus that runs past my house. But even though I’m a public transit guy, I’ve lived here 12 years and have never taken it. Why? Because it’s set up to fail. The local transit authority, in its wisdom, runs full-size coaches three times a day in from Northampton to South Hadley and twice a day back to Northampton. I have lots of reasons to go to Northampton, but I can’t do it on the bus. The first trip to Northampton that passes my house arrives at 5:30; the last bus back departs Northampton at 5:35. So that leaves five minutes, after business hours, to do my business. Ha, ha.

    If I happened to want to go the other way, I could have a whole hour in South Hadley, between 5:05 and 6:05 p.m. Whoopie! Oh yeah, I could also arrive at Mount Holyoke at 8 a.m., and if I happened to somehow discover nine hours of things to do in sleepy South Hadley, I could catch the 5:05 back home. Thanks a lot.

    I can see these rare buses go by my house, and they’re usually very uncrowded. What a surprise! Set up a bus service to fail, and then complain that nobody takes the bus.

    But how’s this: what if instead of a 40-passenger coach scheduled as to be unusable, there was a 10-passenger van or minibus, going, say, every two hours. Labor cost would be higher, as a driver would have to be diverted from a more popular route. But the other costs of operation, such as fuel, would be sharply less for each run. And my whole family would probably use the bus several times a week, especially if the route were extended three miles past Mount Holyoke to the high school my son attends, at the beginning and end of the school day. Probably so would a number of other people. Maybe enough to make the route viable.

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