SAVINGS, ESPECIALLY FOR SMALL BUSINESSES WHO HAVE ACCUMULATED A FEW REWARDS POINTS

My natural frugality is coming to whole new levels as I encourage creative resourcefulness to obtain 100% points-paid gift cards.  

After 20 minutes of paperwork sifting & sorting, I managed to locate my Airmiles rewards card and statement, confirming a little bit under 1,500 Airmiles.  Not enough for a flight anywhere, or even any cool electronics like a small iPod, but I was thrilled to select:

• 3 x $25 Cara gift cards (Swiss Chalet, Harvey’s, Montana’s)
• 1 x $50 Gap gift card
• 2 x $20 Second Cup gift cards 
• 1 x $25 Starbucks gift card

A few quick clicks on airmiles.ca and less than a week later, $170 worth of gift cards arrived in my mailbox. 

Especially if you don’t often collect Airmiles, only amassing small amounts in balance, I think there’s never been a better time to spend those points on rewards and cross a few names off your holiday list, without paying hard-earned cash.

START YOUR OWN BLOGGING BUSINESS, ENTREPRENEUR PRESS AND J.S. MACDOUGALL, 2007

I’ve read three blogging books so far and this is one of the better books - more than the others, possibly because it was published more recently, so it speaks to people who at least read a few blogs and are not entirely foreign to how they work.

Here are a few of the most valuable links I found included in the book.  For my complete list of links & recommendations, email me or grab a copy of the book for yourself here, or through your local library (I borrowed mine from Toronto Public Library).

FREE Blog Aggregators, to help build your blog’s audience:

1. Technorati
2. Blog Explosion
3. Weblogs

1. Linkshare
2. ClickBank
3. Commission Junction
4. Amazon Associates 
5. Chapters Indigo

Want to sell advertising on your blog?  It will be more difficult now given that economic downturns often mean shrinking ad budgets, so a media kit prepared to showcase your blog best (audience) features, so include in your media kit:

1. Blog overall description and details of topics, milestones , awards and honors as a business
2. Audience: Age range, gender, location, occupation, annual salary, etc. 

     To get specific info on your readers can be challenging, so you may want hire a Survey company:

• Survey Monkey
• Vanguard
• Question Pro
• Survey Gold
• Vovici
• Zoomerang

TREEHUGGER SUGGESTS GREEN BUSINESSES THAT COULD SUCCEED, EVEN IN A RECESSION

Even though economic uncertainty makes it seen like all businesses are failing, many in the green sector are not, and some are even taking advantage of their sustainability activities to cut energy costs further, letting them save money and contribute to saving the planet at the same time.

Although green business supplies and hardware historically cost significantly more than regular supplies, the important first step is to:

1. REDUCE WASTE and SAVE MONEY- turn the lights down and unplug electronics when not in use. Telecommuting one day a week can save you time and money and provide a new perspective on project objectives and challenges.  Save and reuse paper.  Bring a stainless steel food container and water container to the office to use for any fast food, lunches or sandwiches you eat at the office.
2. INVEST IN ENERGY-SAVING HARDWARE AND SUPPLIES - Now here’s the key to really saving money: take all the savings from Step 1 and set that money aside to INVEST in carbon-friendly office supplies, energy-saving technologies (like energy efficient power strips that can SAVE YOU $71/year per computer), manufacturing and distribution systems and more. 
3. ENCOURAGE YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN TO SAVE MONEY AND THE PLANET, AS WELL - let your supply chain know what you are doing, and how it is helping you save money & feel better about your product/service contribution to society.  As your supply chain begins to participate and realize the savings themselves, as a group you’ll be setting a competitive example, giving you a leg up up on the your competition.

If you’ve got the money, why not start out green?  Your long-term operating costs will be much lower than if you didn’t work on being more green.  This is illustrated well in examples from Harvard Business Review’s “Green Business Strategies”.

Want to compare many “smart” power strips available?  Check out our link in the Resources page.

Well said!  

This 3-Minute Ad Age talks to IMC2, who notes that while S&P 100 corporations in Automotive, Forestry and Chemical industries are enthusiastically embracing sustainability, Media and Entertainment companies are falling behind.

I think now is the perfect time for agencies who are looking to improve client relationships to do so by taking control and spearheading our own transition into sustainability.  Agencies who take the lead will enjoy the benefits of generating early industry standards and best practices in:

• Inventing new agency service offerings, improving client ROI on agency relationships (and vice versa: agencies’ ability to deliver & maintain profitable accounts), through sustainability in both media investments & ad messaging/content
• Leading development of industry standards transitioning to sustainability; agency as role model
• More stable financial bottom line for agencies, through sustainability activities of waste reduction to afford investments in sustainable hardware & business sytems