Victoria Fine is an energetic and passionate leader in the social impact space. Her experience in the content strategy and business growth is outstanding.
Before her current role as the CEO of Finally, a growth hacking company, Fine spent time as the director of Strategy at Slate where she launched new platforms and growth plans for an audience of more than 25 million people.
She was the first managing editor at Upworthy, where she built the distributed editorial team to more than 40 people and grew traffic at the publication 10x.
She was the founding managing editor at Huffington Post Impact and Education, where she raised thousands of dollars through social impact reporting.
Victoria also co-built The Tiziano Project, a digital media nonprofit that was rated by Fast Company as one of 2014’s most innovative companies and was supported by the Knight Foundation and Google.
Lastly, she has published several books, taught at major universities and received awards and speaking honors from SXSW, the Webbys, and the UN, among others.
In this interview, we discuss questions and topics such as:
What did she learn at HuffPost, Upworthy and Slate and how were those approaches different?
Where do young brands start to tell their story in an effective way?
What is a big challenge faced by entrepreneurs in the social impact space?
What are some of the common challenges she has seen among brands when creating a content strategy?
Considerations when building a team.
Should you focus on viral content or organic for traffic?
I coach new social impact entrepreneurs around the world as they build impactful businesses. One of the biggest challenges I see social impact entrepreneurs facing is how to manage the ‘balancing act’ between the business and the social mission.
I’d like to introduce you to Peter Antonsson, founder of Anton Frans Sunglasses. Peter agreed to be interviewed for this story in hopes that his experience will help you if the ‘balancing act’ is something you’re struggling with.
Background
Several years ago, Peter’s mom was sadly diagnosed with Alzheimers Disease. Peter is a lifelong entrepreneur, so for him, an incurable disease like Alzheimers was an especially devastating bit of news. As entrepreneurs, we’re used to being able to take on problems and solve them. Not so with Alzheimer’s. There is no cure, no easy answer, and no easy path.
At the time of his mom’s diagnosis, Peter was trying to figure out how to create an awesome sunglass company like his role models at Tom Fords and Ray Bans. So, he went straight to the factory that made them and got some sunglass samples to see what he could learn.
What he found would forever change his life’s direction.
Instead of seeing the news about his mother as an impossible challenge, he saw it as a tremendous opportunity. Why not build a business that would give back to causes his customers cared about, like Alzheimers?
His mom’s experience became central to his WHY: to create a revolutionary sunglass brand that also gives back.
To be honest, when I first met Peter and he told me about his mission to revolutionize the sunglass industry, I wasn’t sure what to think. I’m sad to admit that I hadn’t ever really given enough thought to the sunglasses I was buying or how those companies were impacting the world.
But for Peter, it was an industry ripe for revolution.
When visiting those role model companies, Peter realized as he held samples of sunglasses in his hand that all the famous sunglasses that he had come to love were basically made in one place by one massive company. He felt cheated and lied to. He felt deceived. Despite all the marketing and branding out there that made those brands seem so different, they were really all just the same cheap plastic with different logos.
Worse still, the same company that made them all also controlled the entire chain of production. So, anyone looking to take on the industry would have to play by their rules.
He got around the unfair monopoly by completely revolutionizing the quality of his sunglasses. Because he made them in a completely new way, he didn’t have to march to the beat of that other company’s drum.
Balancing Mission and Business
But what about balancing the social impact that started with the story of Peter’s mom?
That’s the most beautiful part of the story. Peter realized that we all have a cause that’s near and dear to our hearts, so his business model embedded impact with each sunglass purchase.
To make this work, Peter developed relationships with a leader in each social cause space by connecting personally and explaining the benefit of partnering with him.
As a customer, you’re able to support a cause that has personal meaning to you. Simply pick the cause at checkout, 15% percent of each purchase goes to the cause you choose, and then you can start rocking your sunglasses.
5 Key Takeaways
If you’re building a business with an impact model but are struggling to balance business and mission then here are a few things you need to do:
Lead with a cause that’s near and dear to your heart. Peter started with a cause that couldn’t be any closer to him: his mom. He then grew that to allow other people to support causes that were personally important to them.
Weave your cause right into your brand as part of the model. It’s not enough these days for giving to be an ‘afterthought’. For example, Peter’s customers select their cause as they’re buying. It’s front and center on his website, his mission, his branding. You’ve seriously got to weave your cause in that tightly if you want to make it in this business.
Be bold about the change you want to make. It took some major chops for Peter to take on an industry as entrenched as the sunglass industry. But, our movement is a rebellious one that’s all about challenging the status-quo.
Help your customers become part of your story. People yearn to become part of causes that are larger than themselves. So, you need to make this easy for anyone trying to become your customer to also get involved with your social impact.
Business and mission should coexist as one. Too often I hear social impact entrepreneurs trying to figure out how to ‘balance’ social and business missions when they really could just weave them together as one. Anton Frans and many others like it tie their impact indirectly with sales. In other words, the more their business grows, the more their impact grows. You should do the same.
The ‘balancing act’ between business and mission doesn’t have to be the daunting task we make it out to be. Consider the lessons shared in this article, learn a bit from Peter, and you’ll be well on your way to knocking this out.
P.S. Far from the ‘sunglass skeptic’ I used to be, I wear and love Peter’s sunglasses on the regular!
There’s something happening as we speak. People are starting to perk up and take action against plastic pollution which is suffocating our planet.
Change Creator is passionate about getting rid of plastic pollution and we follow new innovations closely. This is also why we recently interviewed the founder of S’well, Sarah Kauss. Her work building a premium water bottle brand in an effort to combat plastic bottles is impressive.
These innovations are very important because when you stop and look around, plastic is everywhere. And the worst part is that it’s not really recyclable and it’s definitely not biodegradable. Every bit of plastic ever produced is still with us today and will be for 1000 more years.
Here’s our list of the best plastic replacement innovations today.
1 ‘Ooho’ by Skipping Rocks Lab: The Edible Water Pod
Plastic water bottles might feel convenient but they come with huge costs, socially and environmentally. Actually, you end up paying a premium for water that 25% of the time is just tap in a bottle or it has added chemicals from production or leaching.
The consumption of non-renewable resources for single-use bottles and the amount of waste generated is profoundly unsustainable. The aim of Ooho is to provide the convenience of plastic bottles while limiting the environmental impact.
This little pod is just that, it’s little and may not have the same practical use as a plastic bottle, it will have different applications. Everything starts somewhere and this is a truly a unique innovation that is going in the right direction. There are many ways this could help people and of course take a lot of pressure off our environment and food chains.
At the moment Ooho is mostly being sold at events, while they get their fully-automated production machine up and running.
An entrepreneur from Bali, disgusted at the rubbish littering the famous holiday island Bali, is trying to tackle the problem with alternatives to conventional plastic.
Every year, an estimated of 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. Avani’s non-toxic cassava-based eco bags should be considered as one of the solutions to mitigate this horrible worldwide epidemic. Avani bags are a bio-based alternative that becomes the ideal replacement for petroleum-based plastic bags.
Through years of preparation prior to its launch, Avani has successfully embarked on its mission to replace disposable plastic products which take hundreds and even thousands of years to be decomposed by Mother nature by using renewable resources made from plants. Parallel to that, placing sustainability as its core business values, Avani is committed to exercising good corporate governance by adopting the Triple Bottom Line approach in assuring the sustainability of its business.
While water bottles themselves are not a new innovation, the approach S’well has taken is which is why we were eager to interview their founder, Sarah Kauss. She has built a premium brand on the foundation of a very strong story pushing a mission to replace water bottles.
During today’s awakening around plastic usage, this could not have been a better time for S’well to pop up.
It’s S’well’s ongoing mission to create products that are both beautiful and eco-friendly, that infuse innovation with inspiration, and that continues to give back to communities in need.
S’well is a proud partner of UNICEF USA, committing $800,000 since 2015 to help provide clean and safe water to the world’s most vulnerable communities. Through 2018, S’well is focused on supporting water programs across Madagascar – a country where nearly 50% of the population lacks access to clean drinking water. We’re supporting UNICEF’s efforts to build infrastructure, educate families on water-borne diseases and promote national reform to make a sustainable, long-lasting change. To learn more visit: www.unicefusa.org S’well also supports BCRF and (RED).
Learn more about how Kauss has built such a successful movement in our exclusive interview.
Let me tell you a secret. Your branding matters more than ever today. It’s more than visual and using the right colors. It’s grounded in your intent, your story, your purpose. Everything you do is a reflection of your brand.
In this amazing interview ,we talk to a mission-driven branding expert who can help you transition into a brand that matters. But first ,you need to understand how branding has evolved for today’s world.
Her name is Mona Amodeo, Ph.D.. Amodeo helps organizations transform into brands that reach beyond short-term vision to new levels of possibility. Her expertise brings simplicity to the complex process of building, managing and maintaining brand reputation.
Mona’s mission is to elevate brands that make the world a better place through a collaborative, strengths-based stakeholder engagement process she developed from her personal relationships with some of the brightest minds in organization change, identity dynamics, positive organizational psychology, entrepreneurial leadership, sustainable business and marketing communications. This process—aptly named Branding from the Core®—is a multi-disciplinary approach to strategic brand development.
She inspires audiences across the nation as a keynote speaker, making recent stops at Harvard and the United States Green Building Council, just to name a couple.
Mona holds a Ph.D. in Organization Development and Change; and is recognized as an expert in the areas of brand identity, organization development and change, community engagement and sustainable business.
In this interview, we discuss questions such as…
How has branding changed over the years and what does it mean today?
What do you need to consider today for your brand and what steps can you take?
What kind of brands are consumers backing now and why?
What are some of the fundamental questions you must answer for your brand?
What is the difference between convincing and connecting with your brand?
We all find inspiration from different places and need to hear certain things more than once.
He went from being a monk to a social media influencer who’s mission is to make wisdom go viral.
His videos have been viewed billions of times and it’s because he knows how to tell stories that connect to the human condition.
His name is Jay Shetty and his infectious storytelling landed him on the Forbes 30 under 30 list and was noticed by Arianna Huffington who hired him to host Huffpost Lifestyle.
Nearly every human on this planet has a dream. Yet as we all know, some dreams come true while others don’t. Why do certain goals seem to come to fruition, sometimes with the aid of what can be described as luck, serendipity, even a touch of magic? Maybe the magic touch isn’t magic at all, but rather setting an intention, putting our goals out into our community and working hard — even when we’re not certain we’re on the right path.
Future State CEO Shannon Adkins’ LinkedIn profile touts her as a “keynote speaker.”
But Adkins recently admitted — during her keynote address at a Bay Area B Corp Leadership Development event — that it was her first time filling that role.
Sometimes, she told the audience, you have to tout first and achieve later — especially when it comes to “outrageous statements” about the future of business, the world or humanity. But of course, she knew she wasn’t telling her audience anything new.
“This is this group of people who make outrageous and ridiculous declarations of futures that no one else thinks are possible, and then build coalition and then take action and then extraordinary things happen,” she told the B Corp crowd.
She’s long heard from others that they “couldn’t possibly do that” — the outrageous, the unusual, the unexpected — for one reason or another. So Adkins suggests adopting another mindset that makes the outrageous accessible to everyone: achieving big goals isn’t luck and it isn’t magic.
“How many people in this room have been told, ‘Well, yeah, but you’re just lucky. You have magical powers, like something extraordinary happens when you’re around’? But having it be personality-based or having it be luck-based or having it be leadership-based makes it not accessible for everyone else to really see themselves inside our outrageous futures,” she says.
So just how do we go about making outrageous ideas reality? Here are Adkins’ five steps.
1. Speak the future.
“What’s really important is that you speak that future even if you have absolutely no evidence that it’s possible. Right? So I don’t have any evidence … I mean, I’m not a scientist, I don’t have any evidence, but it’s possible in my own brain. For example, I don’t know that it’s possible to reverse climate change by 2050, but I’m all in. You know, I’m gonna take that pledge, I’m gonna take that commitment and I’m gonna do what I can to do that. So speak that future, even without clarity on exactly how that’s going to happen.”
2. Share widely and boldly.
“Share your crazy dreams, your visions for reality with everyone — and not just with people that you think can help you. So not just with the one person that you know has a connection to that particular point of contact or one person that’s an expert in that industry.
“Recognize that you won’t always know who’s going to be the person who’s going to be able to connect you to that future, to that reality. So you have to share it wildly and widely.”
3. Take action.
“It’s not enough to say what you want; you have to take action as well. My personal experience is that I take action consistent with the commitment, but it isn’t usually that action that leads to the outcome.
“Take action consistent with results that align the universe for that outcome to show up and to be available in your life.”
4. Ask for help.
“Be willing to tell people about your outrageous dreams — your ridiculous hopes and dreams. Ask for help frequently. Build your coalition. Rally your community. Know that the people in your life, they want your dreams to come true for you. So it’s an honor and a gift to give people the opportunity to help make those dreams a reality.”
5. Say yes.
“Say yes, even if you have absolutely no idea what you’re going to say in front of a room of people. When I was asked to be the CEO of Future State, I didn’t have the on-paper qualifications. And in looking back through that, I don’t think I’ve actually ever had the qualifications for any job I’ve ever done, in my entire life!
“And maybe none of us do. Maybe that’s the thing, right? This illusion that there’s a formula to success and it looks something like work hard, put in the time, and eventually, someone will notice that you’re ready and they’ll give it to you. But you really have to sort of demonstrate and prove these moments along the way.”
When you start your business for the first time, your goal will probably be to start making money as quickly as possible.
As you start to see some success from your strategy, you’ll begin to look into other things, like growing your company, developing into new markets, and make sure that your books stay “in the black” so to speak.
However, as time goes by, and you discover new opportunities in your life, you may decide that it’s time to think about your future, and what you’re going to do when you’re finished running the business you have now. After all, you can’t work forever. Even if you have no plans on shutting down any time soon, you might want to switch into a different industry or idea. That’s where an exit plan comes in.
Every Company Needs an Exit Strategy
An exit strategy is just another component of your business plan and something that sets you up for long-term growth.
Without the detail you need from your exit strategy to guide your business in the right direction, the chances are that you’ll end up working harder, not smarter. Think of all the other plans you put in place to help your business grow:
Merger and acquisition plans so you can steer your company’s growth.
Even if the thought of selling your business seems difficult to imagine right now, remember that every company needs an exit plan at some point. The only true variable is whether your exit is planned, or unplanned.
Here are a few reasons why you should take the “planned” route.
1. An Exit Plan Gives You Something to Strive For
An exit plan doesn’t have to be a sad thing. It doesn’t mean that you’re giving up on your business. Instead, it indicates that you’re moving onto the next stage of your life – whatever that might be. The most common exit strategies involve ensuring that you get the most value possible out of your business, options to consider include:
An Initial Public Offering (IPO): An IPO allows you to sell a percentage of your company in the stock markets. This can be a great way to start selling off your business, without necessarily handing over full control of your business to anyone else straight away.
A direct sale: This is a more cut-and-dry approach to selling a company. You broker a deal with a suitable buyer and essentially leave the business in their hands. Sometimes, you may be required to stay on as a member of the board and offer advice for the growth of the company.
Mergers and Acquisitions: Finally, merger and acquisition deals mean that you merge your company with another brand, or another organization offers you money to combine your business with theirs. Sometimes, this is a great way to grow a business, and take the next step in your journey as an entrepreneur.
2. Goals are Accomplished Easier When They’re Planned
As mentioned above, an exit strategy is just another plan in your business.
With your exit strategy, you can outline your road map to success, complete with ideas of what you want your business model to look like five, ten and twenty years from now. Ultimately, implementing an exit plan means thinking about what the actual “best result” would be for your company. Where do you want to be before you feel ready to sell, merge with a different business, or start something new?
Entrepreneurs should always start their company with several long-term goals for success. Just remember that it’s likely that these goals will change over time, according to adaptations in the market, and changes in your own personal objectives.
Having at least a basic exit plan in mind will ensure that you don’t go too far off track over the years as you move towards your end goal. Think of it like the compass that’s keeping you running in the right direction.
3. Exit Plans Make you a Better Leader
Exit planning, just like any other form of strategic business planning, can help to make you a more effective leader as your business grows and develops.
For instance, whether your merging, retiring, or selling your business, your exit plan can help you to figure out how you’re going to keep your employees informed of the progression of the company, and set them up for success in the future. If you’re selling to another buyer, then can you work something into a contract that ensures your most loyal employees still have a job?
If you’re merging with another company, how can you make sure that the mergers you choose are moving your team towards the goals they wanted to achieve when they first joined your business? An exit plan not only helps you to think about the best route forward for you, but for the other people involved in the growth of your organization too.
4. An Exit Plan Protects You Financially
A pricing plan and a good strategy for getting business capital aren’t the only parts of your business plan that are designed to set you up for long-term financial success.
A business is a complicated financial asset. Whether you’re selling the company or merging it with another brand and accessing ongoing compensation as a board member, it’s important to know how you’re going to protect your finances going forward. An exit plan is where you can detail all of the different things you’ll need to think about before you leave your business, including valuations, and legal contracts.
When constructing your exit plan, think about how you want this business to help you fund your retirement. Are you happy to stay on and help the company continue to thrive after you’re no longer leading the way? Or do you want to cut ties entirely with a significant cash settlement?
Are You Ready to Plan Your Exit Strategy?
The best time to plan an exit strategy is as soon as you start your business.
Some entrepreneurs look at exit planning as a pessimistic process, but it’s actually a great way to pave the way for growth and development. When you have a clear vision of your future, you can make the right strategic steps to help your company grow faster, and more efficiently.
Planning an exit strategy isn’t about wishing for an end to your company as soon as it starts. It’s about making sure that you have the guidelines in place to guide you all the way from your initial launch point to your ultimate vision of success.
How do you create impactful content that cuts through the noise? To find out we spoke with a master storyteller. Someone who made the @forbes 30 under 30 list, has billions of views for his videos and was the host of HuffPost Daily.
His name is Jay Shetty and he is making waves on his mission to make wisdom go viral. His videos are so powerful that even Arianna Huffington took notice and invited him to be the Host of HuffPost Lifestyle in New York. Jay moved to New York in September 2016. Jay moved on from HuffPost to create his own viral video agency and grow his brand.
In our exclusive interview, Shetty shares his in-depth strategies to help you create more impact with your content.
He now works with the biggest brands in the world. He has been invited to keynote at leading companies including Google, L’Oreal, Facebook, Coca-Cola, HSBC, EY, Microsoft and Accenture. In 2016 he won the ITV Asian Media Award for Best Blog and came 3rd in the Guardian Rising Star Award in 2015.
What is Danny Meyer’s enlightened hospitality model anyway? And why should you care about hospitality at all in your social impact business? Hospitality is more than just good customer service; it’s the heart of your brand if done right.
Danny Meyer: A Customer Service Guru
Danny Meyer has some amazing views on hospitality and customer service. I recently watched an interview with him where he talked about the virtuous cycle of enlightened hospitality, and therein he discussed taking care of the team first and the investors fifth. In so doing, he contradicted the traditional views of capitalism and created a company culture that seeks to make an impact before making an income.
His team philosophy stresses hiring those who can challenge themselves and others to be their best, and take their experience to the table, thus providing a dining experience that is beyond satisfying. It is remarkable. In fact, his restaurants have won 28 awards for customer service, all of which he attributes to the virtuous cycle of enlightened hospitality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiUt4HTV2Y8
Enlighted Hospitality — A Driving Force
This virtuous cycle is as it sounds, with the idea of enlightened hospitality as the driving force. Not just taking care of the customer, but doing so in such a way that you create an experience in the customer’s life. Hospitality is making sure you provide that service in a way that makes the customer feel great about doing business with you.
Danny Meyer picked out 17 companies that embody that philosophy. Companies that don’t just provide a service, but motivate and challenge their teams to provide that service in more imaginative and gracious ways than the next guy. To provide that service in such a way that makes the customer feel warm, fulfilled, and genuinely better than before they walked through their doors. Seventeen companies that outperform the S&P by leaps and bounds.
These companies embody the team-centric mindset that creates hospitality. These companies treat their respective teams as people. People who are capable of creating change. People who are empowered to be on their customers’ sides. People who lead and challenge and grow.
We can learn a lot as entrepreneurs from Danny Meyer. Here are my top key takeaways:
1. Follow your passion.
Simon Sinek said it best. The market leaders know why they do what they do. One trait of great leaders is the ability to inspire others. When you know why you’re in business, and that why is something you are passionate about, your team will buy into your vision.
Danny Meyer is passionate about bringing people together around the table and making that experience the kind his guests talk about. It’s his love story – watching his family enjoy their meal. The smell from the kitchen, the closeness of family, the conversation, the laughs, and the food. The recipes handed down from generation to generation, all creating the kind of experience you remember fondly.
Every business decision he made was done so with one end goal in mind – would this outcome produce the kind of restaurant that I would love to visit.
Be passionate. Make an impact.
2. Take care of your team first.
What? Shouldn’t that read investors? Or customers?
No.
By taking care of the team first, Meyer created businesses where employees are treated like people. People who have hopes and dreams and goals and talents and knowledge. People who are empowered to take care of the customer, and thus create a greater return for the investors.
His team philosophy could be well encapsulated in this “I can’t expect someone to care about anyone else unless they feel cared for.”
This is quite possibly the most critical factor in the success of a business. He hires people who can both perform at consistently high levels and have the emotional skill set to make people feel good about being around them.
His impact model works because it fosters growth. The team is one where they can learn from each other, have fun with, be a champion with and grow with. Success becomes a byproduct, instead of the goal. His customers return so often because they feel cared for.
“They’re happy, they’re fulfilled, they’re warm, and it is genuine.”
3.Hospitality over service.
Service is simple. It’s what we do as business owners. Service is how well you do what you advertise. Hospitality, however, is how the customer feels about doing business with you. That’s the fifth star.
Is your team delivering your service in a way that keeps customers coming back? Are your customers understood, and do they know that? By this I mean, are you answering customer needs in a way that leaves customers feeling loved and fulfilled?
Love? Fulfillment? Is this a relationship?
Yes. Yes, it absolutely is. Remember, your customers feed the business. Impact model businesses take amazing care of their customers, and their customers know it. Creating a relationship with your customers will ensure they know your business takes amazing care of them. It ensures loyalty. And brand recognition. And the single greatest method of advertising in the history of ever – word of mouth.
Hospitality is more than what you do, it’s how you do it. It’s your impact.
4. Give back to your community.
It’s where we are. It’s the neighborhoods our customers live in.
It’s where we give back. Danny Meyer has a company ethos – engaging team members in volunteer opportunities. He provides channels for the team to build a bond with customers outside of the restaurant. It gives his team a place to lead, help and share, and it gives the community an opportunity to see the team truly cares.
It’s the law of reciprocity in action. The business that gives back to the community creates customers. The influence is felt – and seen.
5. Be a mentor.
This is the takeaway that resonates with me more so than others. Impact models have mentors in the organization. Maybe this should be a subheading under takeaway number two, but the process of mentoring and challenging the team creates innovation. It eliminates stagnancy. It produces growth.
And growth plus passion plus hospitality plus giving back equals success.
Are your product and mission symbiotic? What is your ethos all about?
Two years ago, Jake Orak was on the cover of the very first edition of Change Creator Magazine. We decided to catch up with Jake to find out where he is with his company, Ethnotek, today.
Now he shares some of the major challenges they faced, how they overcame them and incredible lessons we can all learn from.
In this segment, we discuss the question:
“How do you lean into your social mission to stand out?”
(This article, written by Rebecca Brown is used with permission from Cause Artist. It was published in full here.)
Over the decades, travel has become a multibillion-dollar industry. It keeps growing and becoming more accommodating, and we now find that plane tickets are cheaper, that there are travel agencies at every corner, that tourism is booming, and that all you really need to go somewhere these days is some money and a bit of free time.
As an interpreter, I travel more than an average person for the sake of work. And honestly? It’s all made so easy for me. I hardly have to plan anything on my own, and going from one end of the world to the other is no fuss at all. But comfort and convenience have their price, and it goes well beyond money.
The fact that I travel so much has actually made me think: how am I impacting the planet? And how can I make it better? While these are only my musings, they are based on research and experience, and if you want your own vacations and work trips to be more sustainable, read on.
1) Start with the Culture
If you ask your parents, they might remind you of a time when traveling somewhere meant having to learn at least a smattering of that country’s language. If you wanted to know how to ask for directions, or book a hotel room, or find a good restaurant, you had to know a few phrases.
Now? Everything is in English, and not only do you never have to inconvenience yourself to learn something new, you can even find all your favorite chain brands – from McDonald’s in the middle of the square in Milano, to a huge Starbucks at pretty much every corner in Beijing.
Being a green traveler isn’t just about the environment, it’s also about our impact on the culture of the place we’re going to. It’s about the fact that a beach in Barbados and one in Cancun look almost exactly the same because even when we go to a whole new place, we seem only to want to find familiar things and never get out of our comfort zone.
Sure, you’ll visit six museums in a day when you go to Rome, but you won’t remember any of them. Sustainable travel simply means mindful travel. It’s about paying respect to the place you’re going to, it’s about exploring and learning, not simply going to a Sephora in Paris and claiming you’ve seen France.
2) Get a Green Car
Solar-powered cars are a great way to lower your carbon footprint, and the prices are definitely getting lower as the world tries its best to find more energy-saving solutions. Since I can’t always afford to rent a green car, I also try taking the train instead of flying whenever I can. It’s slower, but unless I’m in a big rush, I actually don’t mind that at all. You get to see more of the country that way, and chugging along in a train is always better than flying in my opinion. Better for my health, and better for the environment.
3) Walk
When I fly for work, I try to be quick and efficient, but when I travel for my own soul, I prefer adventure. I want my vacations to be memorable and important, and so far, my favorite trip ever was walking the Camino de Santiago. It was hands down the most fun I’ve ever had in my life, and since I took the French Way (the longest route, basically) I got to learn so much about each little village, each little spot I visited.
I’m already planning to do it all over again next year, but even if you don’t think you’re up to such a long trip, I urge you to try similar options. You can actually go to pretty much any big city (Amsterdam is one of the best options), download a map of it, and then walk your way through it as much as you can. Don’t use cars or even public transport, simply get a good pair of shoes and see where your heart takes you. You might see fewer things, but the places that you do see, you’ll actually remember.
Always be aware of the impact you’re leaving on a culture. Instead of going to big places that are congested with tourists, try traveling locally, or try exploring a country that has never crossed your mind before. Be a mindful sustainable traveler.
Let’s face it. Your website is your calling card online. It can also be your online store, revenue generator, audience builder, lead generator and so much more. When it comes time to give yourself a new look online, where do you start? If you want to create a visual brand that tells your story, there are a few things you can do right now before you even hire developers. What am I talking about? The 20-second Gut Test of course. This is such a great exercise to do first, before the logo, the branding, the style guide, the development — basically before you spend your investment.
What is the 20-second gut test anyway?
In my line of work, I get to see and work on a lot of websites. Some are incredible and really speak to their customers, draw you in, and have amazing useful content. Some are flashy and false and speak to no one. In today’s crowded marketplace, it can be tempting to mimic a popular site, or even worse, just get something (anything) up so you can say you’re online. Yikes!
I would strongly advise against hastily throwing up a website without doing any kind of research or gut test first. Often in branding, our first instincts, our gut will be right all along. That’s why I love the 20-second gut test from Help Spot Design Academy so much. It really simplifies the entire process from the get-go and get’s you working towards your end goal.
How to start your 20-second website gut test.
While the test itself only takes a few seconds, the prep work is going to take a little longer. First, dig into some competitor websites in your industry. Make a list of about 10 sites or so that stand out. You don’t have to evaluate them on any level yet, just make the list. Choose the most popular ones, or just 10 sites that stand out for whatever reason. You aren’t evaluating anything yet, you are just listing them.
Now, I recommend taking another step forward too.
Make a list of 10 sites that you love (in your industry or not).
I think a valuable second step for this gut test is going to be looking at websites that you already love, use, admire — for whatever reason and giving them a gut test too. This can be a great exercise to do at any time in your online journey from time to time as well. Are your visitors not converting as much as you’d like? Has your growth stalled? Looking to make improvements on your website, but don’t know where to start?
This gut check can help you clarify all of those issues.
Too many times those of us who spend our lives online get bogged down the rabbit hole of Google. We can spend countless hours meandering among the world wide web that we forget to take a step back and listen to our gut. There is a reason we react ‘strongly’ to something, even online.
Now, the 20-second gut test begins…
I only recently discovered this little online gem and I have already started using it in my client processes to help people get mental focus on what really matters to them online.
“What is your gut reaction to each website? In other words, if each site was yours (swapping in your content, logo, branding, etc), how happy would you be with it? Rank each site on a scale from 1 to 5, with 1 being extremely negative and 5 being extremely positive.”
Rank each site from 1 -5, with 5 being a really great first ‘gut’ reaction to a website.
Now, comes the hard part.
Evaluating your gut. Moving forward with design.
Now, tally up your scores. What sites stood out to you as extremely positive? Take a deeper dive into the top 2 sites that you really loved. What is it about these sites that drove your fancy? Is it the color scheme? The user design? The content? Write these thoughts down. You’ll need them for the next phase of website development.
What sites were really low on your list? What made them stand out in a negative way?
How would you feel if this was your online presence today?
Now, do a final gut check on your own site if you have one. Does it make it make you happy? Are there things to improve? Does your branding really reflect your company vision?
This is just a place to start. Of course, there will be a time when you want to get something in development, but keep coming back to this gut check. It can save you countless hours by going down a path that just doesn’t jive.
There are lots of tools to help you get online. If you want to get up and running fast, we always recommend Clickfunnels (you can read our full Clickfunnels review here). It can really help you propel your business and you don’t technically even need a website to start promoting things.
In this interview with Nathan Hirsch, we cover a lot of topics! If you want to learn how to bootstrap and grow your business and get to the multi-million dollar level, then this podcast is for you.
Who is Nathan Hirsch?
Nathan Hirsch is the Founder and CEO of FreeeUp, a marketplace connecting business owners with the top 1% of freelancers in eCommerce, digital marketing, web development, and much more. Interested in being a client or partner?
Reach out to him anytime. Mention Change Creator and get $1.00 off your first hire’s rate for a lifetime!!! https://calendly.com/freeeup-nathan
He built FreeeUp to address the frustrations I had. FreeeUp receives hundreds of freelancer applicants each week to join the marketplace. Through interviews, they vet the freelancers, take the top 1% (based on skill, attitude and communication), and make them available to our clients quickly whenever they need them. On the backend, they have 24/7 support to make sure people have a good experience. Lastly, they have a no turnover guarantee covering replacement costs if the freelancer ever quits. FreeeUp has been growing rapidly since and is now a leader in this space.
Here’s a breakdown on what you can expect in this Podcast:
Learn how Nathan started his dropping shipping Amazon-based business in his college dorm
How he grew that business to a multi-million dollar business in just a few years
The toughest lessons he learned along the way
“I was on top of the world, I had decided to take a much-needed vacation after a year and a half of my business. I had trained a manager to run my entire operation and trusted this person to do the operations when I was away. The second day of my vacation I get a call from my largest (and almost primary) supplier saying that they no longer wanted to work with me. That same day, my go-to manager quits on me. Oh, and I also found out that I was a victim of identity theft.”
Learn how Nathan took his passion for finding good people and created a new freelancer platform that is disrupting the industry called FreeeUp
How he grew FreeUp to a multimillion-dollar business (Did we mention he bootstrapped this too?
His best advice for the areas of the business you need to invest and hire first. Here is his top 5:
Customer Service
Bookkeeping
Graphic Design
Web Development
Content Development
Take it from us, this guy knows how to create a business from scratch, make it grow and find the best people to get you there and he’s sharing his insights with us on the podcast. Here’s Nathan in his own words about the start of his journey:
In 2006, I founded my first online venture out of my college dorm room, selling and buying student textbooks. I rapidly scaled my e-commerce business, bootstrapping from a $20 student – cause initiative to a multi-million dollar e-tailer clocking in revenues in excess of $30 million on Amazon across a 6 year period while serving over 10,000 customers.
I have never had a “real job” besides being a high-school Intern at Aaron’s Inc, a large retailer headquartered out of Atlanta, GA and later with Firestone Corporation in 2006 where I successfully handled a whole suite of critical deliverables from exceeding sales targets, leading the District Credit Card Sales process and managing critical customer touch points. The intensive Customer Service Training at Firestone inspired me to incorporate key elements into both Portlight and FreeeUp.”
If you want to scale your business, learn how to hire the right people, this interview is for you.
