Let’s face it. It’s 2010 and considering oneself to be environmentally friendly, or “green” is no longer limited to park rangers, UC Santa Cruz students, people that listen to Phish or anyone that has both dreadlocks and a bottle of patchouli oil. The Harley-Davidson riding motorcyclist standing in front of me in line at the liquor store the other day had brought his own tote bag so as to avoid wasting a plastic one. Wow. Talk about progress over the past decade or so. But amidst all the flurry of “going green” and making eco-friendly choices, have we forgotten what it’s really all about? The other day I saw a “Keep Tahoe Blue” sticker on the back of a Hummer SUV.
While I applaud the fact that caring for the environment is trendy, it seems to me that too often, people make the decisions that are most apparent to others. Parking
At least they're trying?
your prius…
I have a friend who asks for a discount on every single thing he purchases. He is a business owner, but he doesn’t just ask for discounts when signing contracts or making purchases for his business. He asks for a discount on every single thing he buys, business or personal. A lot of the time his inquiry is done in humor and good taste. I finally asked why he does this and he explained that if he does not get into the habit of asking for discounts or negotiating, you may miss your opportunity or not have the confidence when the time comes for it to really make a difference.
This makes sense. How many times have you bought something where you knew you could of negotiated but felt uncomfortable to ask? Well, you just left money on the table. In some countries negotiating is a part of the culture. I’ve heard from several people…
This is what you don't want.
I was reading an interesting article in February’s Inc. magazine (FYI I’m able to see into the future) by Joel Spolsky about communication, or more so, over communication. Everyone has finite resources (time, money, energy) that they want to use as effectively as possible. A big part of using your resources effectively within your organization is effective communication. In the article, Joel describes a few ways in which the way we communicate may be becoming less effective instead of more.
It all starts with Brooks’ Law. Fred Brooks worked on a massive software project for IBM in 1975. As the project fell behind schedule, IBM added more and more people to the project to speed up the completion time. What Brooks noticed was that adding personnel had the opposite effect; it actually slowed the project down. Brooks’ Law says that “adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.” The Law…
Every year around October, resorts across the US are scrambling to become the first to open. Snowmaking (an energy and water intensive process) is employed by almost all resorts in order to at least open by Thanksgiving in order to capture tourist dollars on what is a very busy weekend on the slopes. By April or May, however, when these same slopes now have a base of ten plus feet, the resorts close as skiers and snowboarders have lost interest and moved on to warmer weather pursuits. After a big winter, resorts often have snow through midsummer. Which begs the question, why don’t we just move our idea of “ski season” a month or two back in order to coincide with nature’s schedule?
Real snow is better than manmade, anyways. Just don't forget the sunscreen.
We have also become quite accustomed to being able to enjoy certain fish year-round regardless of the fact that fish should be…
I’m going to introduce you to someone who should be a “household” name in the online entrepreneurial community. If you know Seth Godin, great. I’ll share two pieces he’s written about entrepreneurship for you. If you haven’t heard of Seth Godin, even better! This may be one of the most important blog posts you’ve ever read about entrepreneurship/marketing.
Godin is a marketing genius. I’ve haven’t had the opportunity to read 100% of what he’s written between his books and blogs, but from what I have read, I’m sold. And so is almost anyone who comes across his writing.
Now that I’ve shared a link to his bio, and you’ve gotten to know what he’s all about, let me share two great books he’s written. First, is a free e-book called The Bootstrapper’s Bible . This literally is a manual on how to get over the hurdles of financing your own start-up. Everything about this to the point e-book is hands-on…
