Why Earth Day Isn’t Every Day |  |
- Why Earth Day Isn’t Every Day
- Joe Fiveash, President of Vertical Acuity: Relieving Blogger Content Woes
- Someday This Will Be All Yours
- Tips Offered On Building Your Business From Scratch
| Posted: 20 Apr 2012 11:30 AM PDT Like many eco-conscious consumers, I'm bothered when I see businesses use Earth Day as a blatant excuse to sell more stuff. Not to mention that many people have questioned in recent years whether Earth Day really serves a purpose anymore.
Shouldn't we be celebrating Earth Day every day? Hasn't sustainability progressed so far that we don't need an annual holiday promoting it? I'd argue that while, yes, sustainability is talked about and recognized 365 days a year now, that Earth Day — April 22 — still serves a purpose. The problem is that many consumers and businesses have lost sight of that purpose, or never really bought into it. Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. senator from Wisconsin, helped start Earth Day in 1970 because he wanted to take one day out of the year and dedicate it toward public recognition and respect of the environment. Nelson said, in his famous Earth Day kick-off speech on April 22, 1970:
Businesses often embark on environmental sustainability for reasons other than the protecting the earth, as pointed out in this article by The Economist. Sustainability can save money. It can improve a company's image. It can offer new business opportunities. These are all understandable business reasons for adopting sustainable practices. It's wonderful when sustainability boosts the bottom line and fuels business growth. But not that many businesses adopt eco-friendly practices because it's the right thing to do. Consider how long it took some corporations to change their ways, even as signs were popping up that climate change was underway in the 1990s. Today sustainability is expected – even demanded – in the business world, and some companies do it because they pretty much have to in order to protect their image. Earth Day should serve as a reminder of what business sustainability is all about – why the planet needs protection and what needs to be done about it. Businesses that want to show real concern can use the day to get their employees involved in meaningful ways, including volunteering for an important environmental cause in their community. They can commit themselves to even more ambitious green goals. They can help customers get involved in reducing pollution and encourage them to be more sustainable in their everyday lives. Sustainable business is making progress, but it's not moving fast enough to save the earth from disruptive climate change. Businesses should think about using Earth Day as a way to make their sustainability practices about more than just green marketing or saving money.
From Small Business Trends |
| Joe Fiveash, President of Vertical Acuity: Relieving Blogger Content Woes Posted: 20 Apr 2012 08:30 AM PDT Bloggers are well aware that creating content can be a very demanding and even costly task. Writers block, nothing new and interesting to inspire you, the time involved to conduct proper research and create something useful to your readers and the cost involved to employ freelance writers. These are familiar obstacles to bloggers. The good news is that there is an easy and affordable solution available and in this interview, Joe Fiveash, President of Vertical Acuity joins Brent Leary to share it. * * * * *
Joe Fiveash: I started in the Internet world in 1994 and in one weekend, went from being a lawyer to being the first sales guy for an Internet company called Landmark Communications that used to own The Weather Channel until it was sold. Small Business Trends: Wow! So now you help people leverage content to build a presence in getting people to notice them. Can you talk a little bit about that? Joe Fiveash: I worked at The Weather Channel. I ran the interactive site of weather for about six or seven years and did a lot of deals to get our content out and a lot of deals to get other peoples content into our site – but it was hard. They were manual, there were plan rides, negotiations, contracts, and it was very difficult. The platform we've built allows websites to partner with each other on top of our web platform. So if Boston.com wants to get Inc. content into their site, all they have to do is click a button. So long as Inc. said yes. Then the content starts flowing in. Scribit, which is a product we launched last week, allows company websites to bring in content from all over the web to display on their site to share through social media channels. When they share it and somebody clicks on it, they come back to the customer's website to read the article, because that is where the article is published. Small Business Trends: So this is a service where a small business could sign up and start leveraging the content from major content? Joe Fiveash: That is exactly right. What if I wake up every morning and say:
What we do is give you an interface where you can go search millions of articles, grab some great stuff, put it on your website, Tweet it and put on your Facebook page. Small Business Trends: You have made business arrangements with the content providers. So if a small business becomes a Scribit customer, they are able to basically pick and choose what type of content they want to place on their website, without having to worry about any issues? Joe Fiveash: That is exactly right. It is fully licensed content. If you are a financial planner and you want content from Income Magazine, Forbes, Motley Fool, and Business Insider on your site, you can't really call them and do a deal with them. They are not set up to do that. But through Scribit, we have done those deals and now we can pass those deals on to our customers. Small Business Trends: How quickly can a small business get content onto their website? Joe Fiveash: It takes about 15 minutes. It is a self-service product. If you go to Scribit.com and sign up for the 30-day free trial – you do not put in a credit card – you get to configure the widgets that display the content going onto your site. There is a Wysiwig editor that lets you make those widgets look exactly the way you want them to look and we push out a piece of code that you put on your site. Then you're done. I watched it done right after we launched it in ten 10 minutes. Once the article is on their site, then they can tweet links and put links to that content on Facebook. The same way you put links to things anywhere. Except now they are coming back to your site to read this article. Small Business Trends: Have you been able to measure the impact this kind of service has had on some of your customers? Joe Fiveash: I can be on Google Analytics and I can watch visitors come to my site when I tweet something. I can see the visitors go up on Google Analytics so, that is exactly what we are trying to produce. Small Business Trends: Is this is for companies of any size? Joe Fiveash: That is exactly right. Anybody that wants to use content as part of their marketing strategy. We think this is an important missing piece in the content marketing ecosystem. If you want to be interactive with the people that are following you and your fans, and the people that are coming to your website, it is really hard and expensive to produce that much content. That is where we see us fitting in as coming on top of that original content to provide interesting and timely, topical stuff. Small Business Trends: So this is a way to enhance what you can do personally with some great content from around the Web? Joe Fiveash: That is right. Then the starter package, once you do the free trial, is $50 per month. That gives you access to all of the content in the database. There are millions or articles so when you think of the cost of producing one article versus having access to this buffet of articles, we think it is a very efficient way to get access to a lot of very good content. Small Business Trends: Where can we lean more about your service? Joe Fiveash: Go to Scribit.com. This interview is part of our One on One series of conversations with some of the most thought-provoking entrepreneurs, authors and experts in business today. This interview has been edited for publication. To hear audio of the full interview, click the right arrow on the gray player below. You can also see more interviews in our interview series.
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| Someday This Will Be All Yours Posted: 20 Apr 2012 05:30 AM PDT
I’ve done a few of these “someday this will all be yours” cartoons. They’re not necessarily a cartoon staple like, say, the desert island, but they crop up now and again. And generally they’re not good news. For example, for this cartoon I toyed with:
Eventually, I came up with this cartoon, which is somewhere in the middle. . . I think. From Small Business Trends |
| Tips Offered On Building Your Business From Scratch Posted: 20 Apr 2012 02:30 AM PDT Starting a small business presents huge challenges, but many who’ve succeeded believe it’s worth all the struggle. Here are some tips we hope will help you as you build a new business. Do you have any suggestions to share with other entrepreneurs starting out? Starting UpCreating your dream business. Take a look at the story of one couple who has built a multimillion dollar business out of a game they once played with their kids and a $100 investment. It took courage and lots of hard work, but now listen to these entrepreneurs talk about what small business ownership means to them. Yahoo! News Buying a franchise remains an option. One business adviser says this remains a good route for baby boomers looking for an option beyond the workaday world. If this is something you’ve thought of, read on! The Executive Suite Blog Learning the RopesMaster your business credit early. Start building your small business credit from day one. Creating great small business credit to fuel early success takes time and effort, but managing your business credit will pay long range dividends in the future. Small Business Trends How the law applies to you. Know the law applying to your small business. This remains one of the most important lessons you can learn as an entrepreneur. Take this tax cut passed recently in the U.S. applying to some, but not all small businesses. Could it apply to you? WSJ Assessing ResourcesKnow what you’re really worth. Before the sharks start circling, know what your business is really worth. This presents a special challenge for some small business startups and even successful operating small businesses, as this cookie chain operator discovered while swimming in the Shark Tank. Entrepreneur Got support? No entrepreneur is an island and so, while the phrase “self-made” is often bandied about, the realities are often quite different. Do you have the necessary support system, both personally and financially, to endure the trials ahead? Personal Dividends Important TipsSome ideas on hiring. When it’s time to start hiring for your small business, you may need some advice on bringing the right people together with the right opportunities. Here are some unconventional suggestions that may help in your efforts. UPrinting.com Why your business needs blogging. Yes, we know! You’ve heard it all before. But seriously, building your business through blogs is becoming even more important these days. Are you using blogging to boost your company? Tweak Your Biz Developing SkillsHow mastering payroll pays. If you have an operation larger than a one person venture or perhaps a mom and pop business with owners draw, or, if you plan to eventually grow your business larger, then mastering payroll is an absolute necessity. Shoebooks Blog Learning from employees. For smart entrepreneurs, communication is not a one way street. Great leaders learn from those they lead too. Are you tapping into what your employees can teach you? Partners in Excellence From Small Business Trends |
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