Model Lily Cole – Paying with a “Thank you”

Actress and model Lily Cole launches all-new BlackBerry Q10, at Selfridges on London’s Oxford Street. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday April 26, 2013.  Photo credit: Matt Crossick/PA

Nowadays it is almost impossible to think about a person or organization that works expecting only a “thank you” as payment. This concept, however, exists and it is not some sort of scam or slavery. On the contrary, impossible.com is a global community that aims to help each other out by sharing people’s time, skills, and objects; with the simple objective of boosting people’s profile by encouraging kind actions and work, using only the “thanks currency” in exchange.

The mind behind this innovative concept is Lily Cole, the English model, actress, and entrepreneur who has been also image of Vogue in several occasions. This idea came partly from Cole’s University of Cambridge thesis “Impossible utopias”. In her History of Art thesis, Cole meditates about momentary utopias in everyday reality, contributing to the possibility of making such utopias a reality; a concept somehow similar to the original term of utopia, first coined by the political philosopher Thomas Moore in his 1516 political fiction work of the same name.

In further analysis, Lily Cole wondered about the possibility of a website or platform where people could do things for one another without money being necessary as currency. In words of Lily Cole for Vogue “it just felt like quite a simple, obvious idea”, impossible.com was taking form in Cole’s mind.

The concept of impossible.com is simple and clearly reflected in its manifesto: having in mind there are only two things you can spend in this world, money and time; we all should be wondering what we are doing with these things, spending them or turning them into something impossible. Impossible.com is a group of people sharing knowledge, skills, and some time without expecting money in exchange.

Although Cole admits her model and actress profile has helped her idea to take off, the objective is that impossible.com can continue on its own. In the future people will realize that being helpful and selfless can bring enormous satisfaction as reward. Lily Cole is also demonstrating that the times we are living now need new business and economic models. Sustainable, equitable, and responsible business models also look for people well-being for nothing or little in exchange. Step by step social-engaged entrepreneurs like Lily Cole are making utopias coming true.

Hope you enjoyed the read!

Sponsored by: LIDER Marketing & The Sustainable Entrepreneur

How I Knew I Was Ready to Become an Entrepreneur

 

A friend of mine, who is an avid reader of my blog, asked me if I could write a post on when and how I knew was ready to start a business. Thinking back, I remember it started at the age of 19 when I was in college studying business. To keep afloat, I worked small part-time jobs in restaurants, bars and small offices. While I was enrolled in business classes I learnt that starting a business wasn’t as hard as it everyone said it was. I also realized that I would much prefer to work for myself than the employers who I had currently worked for. With that in mind, I made my first step into the world of entrepreneurship but before I took that important step I ran down these 6 points:

• Was ready to start crafting my passion?:

When we start our careers we usually start in low entry jobs. These jobs generally entail tasks that are repetitive or soon become repetitive. It came to the point where I wasn’t pshcially capable of doing work I didn’t want to do anymore. I knew that by becoming my own boss and by stepping into the world of entrepreneurship I would be able to experience and practice a much broader line of skills. Entrepreneurship allows you to focus on the activities and passions you care most about or are most interested in. You can do this by finding ways to incorporate them into your business or forming your business around this concept.

• I never received anything from the companies I worked for that was as valuable as the time I invested:

Building someone else’s dream is what we call a job, or even a career. If you have a job, it needs to bring something into your life. As for me, completing projects that brought an already wealthy person more money wasn’t filling in my achievement meter. I found the companies I worked for generally lacked a sense of community, meaningful goals and proper values. If you’re going to work for a company find one that you can admire and if you can’t find a non-materialistic value in them don’t work for them. Start your own projects, make a difference in the world and don’t submit to a greedy CEO. I decided that my time was best invested when it was towards my own dreams and passions.

• I desired to live my life to its fullest and was ready to create the time to do so:

When you’re employed you will always have schedules, mannerisms and goals to follow. You’ll have deadlines to follow, a boss to follow, a contract to follow – you’ll be following something constantly. To me, becoming an entrepreneur was my entry way to following my own schedule and creating my own rules. I know, many people who put up with unjustified behavior and treatment at their jobs because they enjoy the comforts of their stability within their jobs. Something they don’t realize is that their quality of life has declined for all the wrong reasons and reasons that are not worth it.

Maintaining a free schedule that allows you to stay disciplined is important. Being able to freely decide on what they are doing, when they are doing it, how they’re doing it and who you are dealing with is what I define as true freedom.

• I wanted to do make decisions and felt entitled to my opinion and beliefs:

I am a free soul who bases everything I do off of my vision, morals and values. Within a job, often times employers make you operate on their terms. They force you to see from their perspectives with the bribery of money which will eventually corrupt the soul. You have to always remember that you can be your own leader and develop your own methods of business even if they are not as prosperous as other solutions. For example, I am completely against non-environmentally friendly production so I do my best to find dealers who are socially and environmentally friendly.

When you give yourself the freedom to navigate your operations the way you desire – you’ll notice immediately the inspiration that will fill your mind with good.

• I had the will power to minimize my life in the mission to maximize it.

Almost every self-made business owner knows the struggle of starting their own business with no support other than our own two hands. We have less money, time, social life and romance all for the sake of our start-up. Building a business from the ground up is like having a new born baby – you invest everything into its growth. You have to give up the expensive life style that included your fancy meals – unless it’s for potential business, reduce the amount of times you go out, limit your unnecessary shopping, etc. This sounds depressing but it’s actually so empowering. I’ve become a minimalistic through these strict practices and I do not not feel as if anything in my life is missing. I believe it is because I am working towards something that I believe is far greater than materialistic things.

• I felt uncomfortable staying in something I didn’t believe in:

This point is my finishing point – it is also the most important. This doesn’t just apply to work or business – it applies to everything in life. As individuals, we have so much power and groups we have even more. When you are in a situation that makes you feel uncomfortable or feels wrong you must take action. For me, I simply didn’t agree with  my past employmers which is why I took a step in my own direction. You should do the same.

I hope you enjoyed this read and please share your experiences and thoughts in the comment board!

Sponsored by :Lider Marketing & The Sustainable Entrepreneur (TSE) Project

9 Vintage Black and White Business Photos

Black and white identified as a symbolic trait of our history. I’ve always gathered inspiration through B&W photos because they arouse our curiosity or interest. Here are a nine (9) of my most favored black and white photos that I’ve came across during different moments of browsing and they all relate to businesses, inventors and owners:

The Disney crew getting their lunch

Hotel owner pouring acid into their pool with Africans

One of the first Ronald Mcdonald’s scary clowns

An inventor testing the final version of his bullet proof vest

A business man who thought this would be a great form of transportation. I wonder why it is now around today…

A DIY tan spray machine

Vintage Business in Norwalk, 1887

Business men on a train

Peter Maturi

Sponsored by :Lider Marketing & The Sustainable Entrepreneur (TSE) Project

5 of The Oldest Businesses On The Planet

The oldest businesses in the world are certainly businesses we should take after and learn from. The power of persistence and keen, educated business minds are very powerful tools that are essiential for business success. If you think a 100 year old business is fascinating just imagine a business that is over 1000 years old like the ones in our list. Here are 5 of The Oldest Businesses On The Planet:

• Kongo Gumi – 578 AD

Kongo Gumi is a construction company over 1400 years old. They apparently survived for so long because of their busines flexiablity. They were remarkably capable of swiftly going with the current era’s devastations.

• Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan -705 AD

Is a hot spring hotel located in Hayakawa, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. It is one of the oldest operating businesses in the world and the oldest hotel. It’s been a family run business for 52 generations.

• Sean’s Bar -900 AD

Located in Athlone, Ireland. It is considered to be the oldest pub in Europe. It was originally known as “Luain’s Inn”.

• Stiftskeller St. Peter – 803 AD

Located in Salzbury, Austria sits Stiftskeller St. Peter which is considered to be  the oldest inn  within Central Europe. It is also cited to be one of the oldest restaurants in Europe.

 

Château de Goulaine – 1000 AD

In the Loire Valley located near Nantes, France sits a former castle called Château de Goulaine. The castle was home to the family of the marquis de Goulaine for over a thousand years. Now, it is the estate-bottled wine produced at chateau.

Do you have any other businesses to add to our list? If so leave them in the comments with their locations!
Sponsored by :Lider Marketing & The Sustainable Entrepreneur (TSE) Project

source: wiki

Local Quebec Business: Forest Lumina

My business and I took our camera to Forest Lumina to show the world what they are all about. Forest Lumina was a truly magical experiences and would make an excellent adventure for anyone traveling.

Tickets are only $16.75 and they also have a campground call Parc St-George Campground which is $38 a night. This price gives you access to their hiking trails and their bike trails. They also offer bike rentals and horseback riding on the campgrounds. For more information view the link below:

http://gorgedecoaticook.qc.ca

I hope you enjoy this video and don’t forget to explore your local communities and support all of your local small businesses!

Sponsored by :Lider Marketing & The Sustainable Entrepreneur (TSE) Project

Youtube Discouveries That May Increase An Entrepreneur’s Inspiration Meter

One thing we can all count on is finding inspiration from those around us whom are like-minded entrepreneurs. We are a community that is capable of changing lives and enviornments. I wanted to set-up a post with some of the most inpiration indivduals I’ve found on Youtube. Youtube is not always an accurate source for information, however, it is proven time after time that is is astounding for finding indivduals who do impressive things and who are simply impressive. Here are 5 inspiration individuals/groups I found on youtube:

 

1. 44 Flood | Tome:

I first discouvered Tome when I was browsing Kickstarter for examples of how to prepare my first kickstarter video. Ever since watching their video I had been transformed into a very big fan. Their passion for their work is mind-blowing and they’re deep understanding of who they are, what and who they love along with the sheer happiness and fulfillment that dances in their eye was memorizing. The group has one of the first most successful campaigns on Kickstarter drawing in a total of 1,130 backers that equaled out to $132,538 in start-up money for their book project.

Youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN_zxSq7uuDEURxpbRm-_pw/featured

 

2. Michael Blake:

An aspiring artisit whom I discouvered when I was very young. He inspired me to stick to my dreams and passions and move forward with them even if I didn`t get any recongition. He started off with about 20 000 views to this video – now he is at 600 000 views:

Youtube channel: 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwMDLy2cEoZIlkI16vBI90A

 

3. Kirsten Dirksen:

I first stumbled upon Kirsten Dirksen when I was running some reserach on susainable communities for the Sustainable Entrepreneur Project (TSE). Kirsten has a number of videos that focus on localization, minimum consumerism and most importantly sustainablitiy and pro-social activist. She is an inspirational woman who has a drive and create very interesting, intelligent information that could possiblely change your way of thinking and even living. Just watching her work will inspire you to work as hard as her.

Youtube channel: 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwMDLy2cEoZIlkI16vBI90A
 

4. Steve Cutts:

As most of you have noticed, I`m naming indivduals who are not featured in their own videos. People tend to mistaken confidence for quality or wisdom and in truth it is irrelevant. Steve Cutts is an artisit that creates pieces protraying the harsh reality of the human race. He focuses on protraying a number of social issues all stretched through a 3 minute video. The video I posted below is the first video of his work that I viewed:

Youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpQLC-evmUAon9BBpcW4kYg

 

5. Michelle Pham

Don`t forget we are talking business here. Michelle Pham is a makeup vblogger,however, it`s not what she vblogs about it`s about how she vblogs. Michelle Pham started vblogging when she was a little girl and gained herself a international fanbase. There are loads of girls blogging about makeup but Michelle has out done them all. By watching one of her videos you will see how much work goes into just one of her projects and it will inspire you to do your best the same as she has done. Her videos are an inspiration to anyone`s brand.

Youtube channel:
 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwMDLy2cEoZIlkI16vBI90A

In hopes of sending you a little inspiration I wish that it helps in the most effective ways! Now it`s your turn – share with me your favorite most inspiration indivduals you found through the use of youtube! Share them in the comments below!

Sponsored by :Lider Marketing & The Sustainable Entrepreneur (TSE) Project

How to Start Your Day Productively

Being productive in the morning is a challenging thing. Productivity takes discipline, dedication and thinking. Many people know what their distractions are but need some set stone steps to get them started. To help, I’ve listed 5 steps on how to start your day productively:

1. Hit up the cafe up your street 30 minute before your usually departure time:

I used to walk up the street and grab a coffee at the cafe up my street where I would then sit and plan my day. The cafe didn’t have internet which meant I had no distractions while using  my tablet.

By planning your day just before it starts you’ll feel more clear minded and have a higher chance of completing all of your tasks. Make sure to create a check list so you can keep track of what you have to do, what is done and what is left.

2. Work on the hardest and most dreaded tasks first :

The hardest task is the task that you may end up stressing over because it usually gets pushed aside due to its level of difficulty. This will often times cause you to procrastinate with the smaller and easier business affairs. This is because you may start to feel overwhelmed with the fact that one thing (most of the time an important thing) isn’t done and this will generally cause the rest of your list to fall behind schedule thus preoccupying your mind resulting in no productivity.

My advice is to start with the hardest affairs and go down to the smaller affairs so that you stay focused and feel motivated as well as accomplished throughout the day.

3. Log out of you social media accounts & close your browser:

Most people love to start their mornings off by checking their Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest, Twitter and whatever – instead, just log out and don’t open them. If you do work with social media be sure to schedule your posts for the entire week at the END of your workload.

A large 68 percent of workers say they have been distracted from completing work by browsing the Web, engaging with social media and checking emails.This brings us to our next point:

4. Limit your email & text responses:

Sure, you have to answer a few emails relating to potential or existing customers regarding their projects or status of their orders etc, however, if it is none of those it can wait for a response. Pick an hour in the day to respond to unimportant, non-urgent or non-priority emails. Focus on the tasks that will move your business forward.

5. Meet a like-minded friend for breakfast:

This is something that has always had an extremely positive outcome for me. My friends that own businesses or whom are students in university or professionals who are working hard and share the same ambitious as me are the best solutions to being productive in the morning. Pick a fantastic friend, pick a fantastic breakfast spot that has fantastic food and a fantastic ambiance and then have a fantastic conversation. This has never once failed me.

In the end, when you place yourself in a setting you love and admire nothing can stop you from your goal, objectives and your dreams. Be clear minded and don’t fall off track with all the distractions we have nowadays. I hope this blog post helped you! If you would also like to share some tips leave them in the comment board below!

Sponsored by :Lider Marketing & The Sustainable Entrepreneur (TSE) Project

Introduction to Content Marketing

Content Marketing raising awareness and interest within a product or service through the distribution of educational, entertaining or informative material. The most Successful content marketers provide materials that are of high quality and helpful in solving problems people may have.
Content Marketing, when done correctly, can be your leading source of lead generation. There are hundreds of businesses who make all their sales through distributing information. The main function of Content Marketing is to have their material shared and published in places that will reach their target markets eyes. Many businesses create anything from news, video, infographics, white papers, e-books, case studies and static repots, how-to guides, question and answer articles, photos, etc.
Wiki had a great way of summing the definition of Content Marketing up by writing:
“the technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire and engage a clearly defined target audience in order to drive profitable customer action”

Be sure to follow these steps to create material that will be successful :
1. You must fine tune your target market and
2. Study your market’s holes, know its flaws as well as missing knowledge and find solutions
for them
3. With those solutions create valuable and quality content
4. Research and build relationships with associations or site that are capable of distributing
your materials to the right audience.
5. Begin sharing your content. You can do so by submitting your material to sharing sites that
fit your content and type of business.
6. Analysts and measuring ROI and traffic

Here is another chart displaying a case study conducted by MarketingCharts displaying the success rate for each step when launching a content marketing campaign:


It shows the that the majority do have a generally positive experience when working with Content Marketing however the ”Business Results” shows that more than half were under preforming. These results are most likely due to lack of defining their own target market. People will not take interest in your product or services if your materials are complete irrelevant, your Content Marketing campaign will definitely fail for example: LIDER Marketing is currently working with Norn Pants on a content marketing project using an infographic. Norn Pants specialize in high-end male dress pants therefore the info-graphic we chose to do is on pants ONLY. Most info-graphics focused on an entire suit, however, if Norn were to create an infographic on a full suit anyone trailing back to their website through this infograpahic will be looking to buy full suits NOT just pants.

Keeping your content relevant and unique is key to creating brilliant sharable content for your business and projects. We hope you enjoyed this blog post and if you have any questions, comments or requests please leave them in the comment box below!

Sponsored by :Lider Marketing & The Sustainable Entrepreneur (TSE) Project

4 Reasons You Should Use Social Media To Market Your Business:

1. Our Generation:

Photo credit: us.gmocloud.com

We know all about our generation and that we are currently obsessed with our phones, apps, and social networks. Why not use this to your business’ advantage? Humans nowadays want to connect through the internet and get the latest updates on the brands that fit their personalities and interests. Most people have an account on a social media platform so you should be taking advantage of this opportunity as a small business owner.

2. You Connect and Build Better:

Photo Credit: executivefinancialenterprises.org

Social media is a great way to build a loyal fan base or even client base. Because social media taps deep into your brands personality. Individuals feel as if they’ve gained a personal insight into your business and tend to feel like they can truly connect with your business brand. Social Media allows users to identify whether or not your brand truly fits them and their needs/interests. It also allows you to engage with your followers/fans/clients in a much more personal and satisfying manner thus creating strong relationships with them.

3. Low Cost:

http://www.debtadvisorycentre.co.uk

Social media can be free but you have to have exceptional amounts of talent in content marketing or have an excellent sharing strategy. Social media marketing is one of the lowest costing marketing methods you could possibly invest in and use to market your business and brand. Learn how to promote your brand.

4. Scalability: 

Running campaigns can be a difficult task due to the worry of an ineffective campaign that will amount to a loss on investment. Measuring performance and ROI is much more easy when using social media. With the insights recording most of your pages activity you can easily optimize and change your strategy to perform better according to the detailed. You also have the option of stopping any ads or employees if the results are not what your team projected.

I hope these pointers give all of you some insight into the benefits of maintaining a social media page! If you have a social media page you would like to share please paste the link into the comment board as an example!

 Thanks for reading!

Katie Raspberry | Creative Business Blog 

– Follow us on Instagram: katierasp

Sponsored by:
LIDER Marketing |  Montreal Marketing Boutique

Avocat Sebastien Dube |  Avocat Montreal

5 Ways to Promote Your Business and Brand

1. Start a Blog:

Many businesses owners say their blog is one of their most important assets. Depending on your gender of business your blog can be your primary lead generator if given the right touch of creativity. Some examples are:

Products:

Lufa Farm is a Montreal based greenhouse. It is the first commercial rooftop green house that is ecologically and economically sustainable model for urban farming. They support local businesses that share the same green concepts as them which is green and urban foods.

In their blog they usually talk about other green stores, products and affairs that their buyers generally take great interest in. A lot of research is done in order to really find content that fits their readers  interests and get them to share the content. At the same time, they build relationships through creating this content with not just their readers but with the other businesses they support. As long as the content is creative people will fall in love with the brand and become loyal followers and sometimes buyers.

 Services: LIDER Marketing is a Montreal based Full-Service Marketing boutique that runs their blog quite differently than other marketing businesses. Most of them blog about their latest marketing projects and mostly about themselves and their updates whereas LIDER Marketing takes affairs to another level by blogging about small businesses who have unique concepts, Free Marketing Tips, Business Advice is a , and more.  Because they work with small businesses they created a small business community would really help build their network and help them prosper. Learn more about their project here: Business Advice “>Business Advice Sustainable entrepreneur

• Create social media accounts that are relevant to your brand:

Most businesses have their business social media accounts like Facebook Fan page, Twitter accounts tailored to their business’s feed. But why not create seperate social media accounts focusing on topics/images related to your brand or products? For example: A pet store creating an Instagram page with cute and funny animals or stories, or rustic furniture store creating a blog about how create rustic pieces and designs.The reason for starting a social media project such as this one is to attract your target market without them knowing you’re trying to attract them. And with time you can post about your own business perhaps once a month. It’s a great way to create backlinks. Back links will be created when your content or photos are shared and your website link is in the caption box.

Win an Award

When businesses win or even get nominated for an award they gain quite a bit of exposure. They also appear to be more accredited in comparison to the other businesses that did not win an award (even though it isn’t at all a reliable source to trust, considering they mostly consist of votes only – not stats or accurate business comparisons).

Exchange Promotional Services:

 Exchanging services is a great way to really promote your business. An exchange of service could be anything from placing each other’s logos or websites on each website or doing free materials or services for in exchange for some credits or promotions, examples:Videographers sometimes do celebrity music videos for credits at the beginning of the video. Sometimes music videos, movies and etc are sponsored and paid for by phone companies, alcohol companies and etc. In exchange their product or logo appears in the video/movie. Another example would be RBC + Apple: Apple supplies reduced costs for ipad to RBC and RBC promotes free ipad. Everyone wants an ipad, free or not so all existing member will not be able to get a free one but will want one after trying to get one for free and will eventually think about buying one- In which some do end up purchasing it – a good example of that is myself..Doing services like creating a flyer or going on a talk show to talk about cooking receipts, how to decorate your home, how to save money, etc  all for free in exchange for a mentioning your business and services/profession.

Do something helpful or heart warming with no expectation of getting anything back:

Photo Credit: startupfashion.com

We’ve all seen this method of marketing, some people are touched and others might be disgusted. When people first started promoting their brands through filming a positive stories filled with heart-felt emotional things it was really effective. Some example would be the ‘’Dove’’ commercial and how they told women who thought they were ugly that they were in fact beautiful or the Indian prankster who helped a homeless man get off the street, get a job, and rent his own apartment. Many people shared these videos thus creating back links, they also made them go viral.Dove Advertisement: http://goo.gl/Qm3T7bHomeless man is given $1000:  http://goo.gl/ImKzPRHomeless man gets an apartment and starts new life: http://goo.gl/o8nh2RHowever, there was a lot of controversy and debate about how this businesses or celebrities are using social issues, such as those in these videos, for promotional alone and they and it through some people off :  I hope you enjoyed my 5 tips on promoting your business for particularly free!