Ideas to change the world.
Certain individuals in this world are mutants — people who, through their ideas, actions, and behaviors — bring about a change in the consciousness of others. People who recognize the imbalances and seek to bring about a balance, a reduction of the lies, deception, pollution, politicizing, what have you.
Are you a mutant?
There are many ways to market a product or service using custom hats, custom t-shirts and other products. The key to effective marketing is repetition; in this day and age it’s not enough to have a batch of custom t-shirts printed and handed out at your favorite trade shows or conventions. Marketing-savvy companies have filled the market with t-shirts, custom made hats and other items–the key is to design a logo which is simple, eye-catching and tells the viewer everything they need to know about your company, product or service at a glance. It’s a tall order, but with a little careful planning and smart logo design, you can make your brand visible.
One of the most important aspects of good logo design is your budget. Do you know how much you have to spend on custom marketing products over the course of the next year? Believe it or not, the amount of money directly affects logo design and the type of custom hats, t-shirts and other items you want to order. Single-color designs are by far the cheapest, but if you require a more elaborate logo design, the additional colors increase the complexity of the printing process and your final price tag. If you have a small budget, simplify your custom logo where possible and try to reduce the amount of colors. The more money you have to spend on printing, the more elaborate you can make your designs.
To properly set your budget for custom printing projects, don’t just calculate how much a single-color or multi-color business logo will cost for the current print project. Anticipate running out of the first batch quickly and decide how much you want to re-order in the second and third runs. Don’t forget that you will save money by printing fewer large runs than multiple small print runs of the same items. You may also be able to keep your print setup on file for future projects, eliminating setup fees or other first-time printing costs.
Be sure to tell your customer service rep that you plan to do multiple runs through the year rather than a one-off printing job. That way your information will be stored and the second print run of your custom business logo on t-shirts, custom hats and other products will go much faster when you need replacements.
Everything that you can see, feel, touch, smell, hear, and sense is a part of Nature. Part of the mega frequency that envelops everything in the world. Your job is to tap into this frequency and explore your true potential — your infinite potential. I love you.
How easy is it to watch an endless stream of videos of people doing amazing things such as recycling, practicing sustainability, and consuming environmentally-conscious foods? How easy is it to smile when hearing about great leaders doing positive things for their communities? How easy is it to listen to stories of heros who took a stand against great opposition for what they believed in?
It’s ridiculously easy to watch from the sidelines a see great things taking shape. Because it feels good, as it should. No doubt. It feels great to see positive change manifesting. Hell yeah it does..!!
But, my friends, don’t get trapped by “watching” these amazing things unfolding. Don’t remain on the sidelines in a passive — “positive” — position only watching and observing these things.
Because when you do that — remain on the sidelines — you’re dis-empowering and declaring yourself as a rock on the beach. No. Become the lively and vigorous wave crashing about, constantly moving and changing.
Join the movement. Join the fight. Join the pains. Join the struggles. Join the joys. Join the tears. Join the blood. Join the death. Join the peace. Join the love.
Whatever you do, don’t just watch in a zombified state of passivity. You’re better than that. Don’t live your life vicariously through the courage, bravery, and actions of others. Become an ember and contribute to the flame.
We need all the sparks we can to help keep the flame of positive change and peace burning. For I tell you, it’s dwindling. So step up an jump in. You can do it. I know you can. You know you can.
We need you.
Boom!! You’re hit over the head with a 10 ton sledgehammer and for the next few hours your entire existence surfs on the reverberations — the cosmic current raging through your blood, your every thought.
Scary — yet, amazingly beautiful.
It’s a struggle to bring back ideas, but not impossible. The most brilliant ideas are configured right in front of you like spiritual logos, each stack bringing forth new levels of understanding. But at the same time, you aren’t free from the most negative of all thoughts.
“What did I do to this dog? Why does it want to kill me? Wait, this dog doesn’t want to kill me, it’s my friend. No! No! It wants to bite my shit off!! Oh shit! I’m fucked!”
Chill…. Relax…. Breathe… Embrace it
“Dave, it’s so easy to lose control — so easy!” “Dude, I know, it really is.”
“Hey man, why are you brining her up? Taking me down memory lane and shit.” “Dude, she’s a hoe nowadays.” “Shut up, no she’s not. I don’t want to hear that shit!”
You don’t use language to communicate, everything is beyond words. Everything relies on feelings. And when the ideas are introduced, you try your hardest to hold onto them, but you see them dissipating right before your eyes.
“No… No… No… Please, let me just take this one back. It’ll change the world”
Everything that you thought you were is shattered — all aims, ambitions, plots, plans, and schemes shatter. You can see them on the ground. Then they begin to melt and you’re a clean slate — tabula rasa baby!
Coincidences are raining down all over the place. But they aren’t coincidences, they are holes. Not worm holes, but sort of like them… You can tell that someone is trying to communicate with you through these sequences of beautifully constructed coincidences. So speak back into the hole! Speak back! That is your job.
“Get out of the house, there’s too much going on in here. Television is on. People are singing. People are dancing. People are talking about Madison Ave. bullshit! People are desperate for attention! People are so weak!”
Get out and let nature soothe you. You’re okay now. Hush. Breathe. Relax. Notice the white buds coming into blossom.
My hypothesis: If you speak to nature, she’ll speak back to you. If you slap nature, she’ll slap you back.
My hypothesis: Everything is round and relies on curves for some reason that I don’t know. There’s a certain curvature at play. You don’t actually see the curves, it’s more like you feel them… then you, in a way, see them.
My hypothesis: There’s a relationship between your mind and your stomach region — perhaps the solar plexus and the pineal gland are dancing together in harmony. Not sure what it is, but these two regions of your body are most definitely speaking to each other on some sort of meta-physical level.
“Dave, you alright dude, you look worried?” “Nah man, I’m cool. Just inside and once you’re inside, you’re there. You’re in it.”
An idea: The process of crying is a spiritual experience. You are watering yourself and the tears are speaking to you. Whatever made you cry is built into the tears. The people, the situation, the experiences — they are in the tears and they speak to you!
An idea: Coincidences don’t exist; they are holes into other dimensions — they are lines of communication and you must speak back into them so he/she/it will hear back from you.
When your slate is cleared, you are naked. Truly naked. It’s scary as hell. It’s amazing as heaven. You are totally naked, open, and exposed. This world is for the brave.
Go in. Create and Destroy. Come back. And share. This is what it’s all about. Pheww… I’m back.
Why doesn’t Al Gore ever mention the stopping of meat consumption, or even cutting down meat consumption, throughout all his speechifying on global warming? Doesn’t he know that meat production and consumption leads to the destruction of the universe? Not to mention the extreme harm it does to our health. I mean, even with all the science showing the causal links between meat consumption and death (re: heart attacks, high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer etc…) and the actual first-hand experiences people encounter when they find themselves getting sick 10+ times a year… it’s still not enough to get people to put down their burgers. Absolutely, amazing!
When starting your own small business it is easy to rack up early expenses that don’t get recorded for use at tax time. Did you know that custom printing jobs such as ordering checks online, cheap invitations and custom postcards for marketing purposes are all considered deductible on your taxes if you file as self-employed? You have to demonstrate these expenses were used in the business if you are asked to do so, but these and similar costs of small business startup are definitely legitimate deductions.
The problem for some new business owners is keeping track of it all. From the first tank of gas you use to promote your business to the latest batch of business checks, you should save every single receipt and record every purchase. Getting into the habit is difficult, but once it becomes second nature you won’t think twice about where the receipts should go.
One of the most important tools you can use to keep a record of those early expenses is a business checking account. When you order checks online, you aren’t just purchasing a custom-printed set of mini-advertisements for your company. You also give yourself a way to go back and pull up a record of your expenses paid for with those custom checks. Some banks will provide a comprehensive list of all your cancelled checks for a specific time period, proving that you spent money on a particular item or set of purchases you can’t find receipts for at tax time. Your bank may charge you for this service, but it is an alternative to simply not taking a legitimate deduction just because you can’t locate a receipt.
The paper trail issue is so important that some people delay making critical business decisions in the early stages until they can pay for their equipment or essential services using their business checks. If you have a business account but are still waiting for your checks to arrive, you can always use a business ATM card for purchases in the interim since they too have a record and a way to track the purchases. The only difference in this case is that, unlike your custom ordered business checks, there may be only a date and an amount showing–the actual items or services purchased may not reflect in the record. Your checks will reflect much more detail, especially if you are diligent about filling out the “memo” section.
If you have started a home business, you might not think much about how the income from that business is separated from the rest of your personal finances–at first. Most financial planners encourage people starting a home business to take great pains to keep business expenses and income separate. The Internal Revenue Service requires self-employed people and home business owners to justify any deductions and expenses for the business, and it’s far easier to show exactly what those expenses are by ordering checks specifically for your business. Keeping your custom personal checks reserved for personal business is a way to keep the business paper trail uncluttered and easy to prove.
When you order checks for your business, you will need to provide a tax identification number or your Social Security number. For security reasons, it’s best to leave this data off of the checks itself, but there is plenty of information that should be included when you order checks online. Start with the company logo, name and address. Be sure to add your website address and phone number. You may wonder why it’s so important to include all this information, but when you have a new business and need to order goods or services, you want people to be made aware of who you are and what you do when you pay them for those business-related expenses.
Some people would rather get an ATM debit card or corporate credit card and pay that way; by ordering checks online you get your name and website in front of people in ways paying by credit card never could. It’s a shrewd marketing technique especially useful for service-based businesses or websites. You should keep the colors and designs of your business checks simple and easy to read, just like any other type of marketing. In the early stages of your business growth, any chance to expose your brand to a potential customer is worth its weight in gold.
The key to making a business checking account work for the business is to get in the habit of using your business checks every time you need to spend money to make money. It is difficult for some to get used to the second set of checks, but over time it becomes habit. Ordering checks especially for your business needs will keep the IRS and your tax preparer happy.
Some business owners miss a great marketing opportunity in the early years of their business; did you know the anniversary date you opened for business is a fantastic marketing opportunity? Many people miss the chance to turn that first and second anniversary into a chance to reach out to their new customers. Later, they do wind up catching on and making an annual business event out of that special date. If you want to turn a celebration into a way to further connect with new and existing clients, start by planning a special sale, discount or event to coincide with the date you went into business.
The way you celebrate the day isn’t quite as important as how it gets promoted and making sure you have adequate preparation on the day in question. Have some birthday invitations printed up that detail your special event. Do you want to give all visitors to your e-commerce site a special discount? Put a special coupon code in your invitation which can be redeemed on the day of the anniversary only. You can also use the birthday invitations to expand your mailing list simply by requiring people to sign up for your newsletter in order to get the special discount code.
Send out cheap invitations to a small on-site party in honor of your one-year anniversary, promising a special discount to anyone who shows up with a party invitation in hand. By putting a small sign-up form on the invitations you can add more names to your physical mailing list for direct mail. Regardless of what incentive you offer, your birthday invitations should include your company logo, address, operating hours and any special hours for the day of the going-into-business anniversary. The level of detail on your party invitations should be kept simple, just like a regular party invite.
Any special event which takes place at a business may require extra staff and possibly some hired security, depending on the nature of your business. A car dealership may not experience the same problems as an independent book seller, so it’s best to evaluate your needs ahead of time and plan accordingly. The success of your event depends on having the right number of staff to continue business as usual, plus make sure your guests feel wanted and attended to.
Are you worried you’re wasting postage stamps and valuable time with a marketing postcard campaign that isn’t working? There are several ways to tighten up your postcard marketing strategies and test to see whether you are actually reaching your intended audience. With a few simple steps you can make the custom postcard work better for you and your business.
The first step is to examine the design and layout of your custom postcards. Just because you have found a resource for cheap postcards doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pay strict attention to what goes on them. Are your current designs too busy? Is there too much text cluttering up the landscape on your custom postcard? Simplify the design and make it easier to read.
What is your postcard telling your customers to do? If you have an effective layout and a simple message, you need to be prepared to respond to whatever it is your postcard is asking the reader to do. Do you have enough customer service to handle a rush of customers all responding to your call for them to come visit your shop or operation? Have the people power on hand to address the need created by your marketing postcards if the campaign goes as planned.
The same tactic applies to your website and phone numbers as well. Are you asking your readers to visit your website? When was the last time it was updated? A common mistake some beginning marketers make is to give an Internet address out with no new content to read. Your postage stamps are wasted if you send people to a site they won’t browse because nothing new is offered. Update your website before mailing out the custom postcards and you’ll be prepared for the new wave of visitors to your site.
Do the marketing postcards used match your other marketing materials? If you aren’t using the same fonts and graphics from your website on those cheap postcards, ask yourself why not. Standardization is an excellent way to give a uniform, professional appearance both online and in the local community.
Finally, remember that the job is never finished, even when you have applied the last postal stamps and dropped the cards in the mail. A call to action may not be heeded until weeks later, so be sure to remind your staff that your campaign is still active until the expiration date passes or you decide to discontinue that plan.
If you need to get the word out about your business, your car or truck might be the fastest way to raise awareness while you develop your marketing plan. Car magnets featuring your logo, phone number and website address are a great way to kick start your image branding, especially while you wait for custom postcards, 2009 calendars, brochures and other marketing materials to come back from the printers and go out to your customers. If you have employees willing to use their vehicles for some mobile marketing, have enough car magnets printed to attach to your entire “fleet” of vehicles.
You can make the most of a car magnet by taking into consideration how people will see your logo and web information, and structuring the graphic design of your car magnet accordingly. If you want people to see it while you drive down the street, keep the wording simple and make the logo, phone number, and website information large enough to be seen at a distance. The more complex your car magnet message is, the harder it will be to read while in motion. Letters should be large and in a simple font, phone numbers should be placed last.
If you want your magnet to be viewed while the vehicle is at rest, you can add more information to your magnetic car signs. Do you plan to use the vehicle and car magnet in a trade show or parked outside an event? Any message you place should be simple and easy to read, but you can include additional details on your company when the magnetic signs are designed to be viewed while the car or truck is parked. Any colors you choose for the car magnet aside from your logo design should be complimentary to the vehicle where possible. Neutral colors work best for most situations.
Custom magnets should be applied to your vehicle carefully, and should fit within a single panel of the body where possible. If your car magnet doesn’t fit snugly against the metal, you risk losing your car magnet when the vehicle gets up to speed on a highway or city street. Always measure the length and width of the area you need to place the magnet in to get the proper dimensions for the best fit.
Some kinds of small business marketing are a one-time proposition. You have a brochure printed or a custom postcard, mail it out and start planning your next round of marketing ideas. Other kinds of small business ideas for marketing last a bit longer in your customer’s minds. Do you want to keep your company logo or web address in front of your customers longer? There are many products you can have printed which are functional, useful, and remain in a home or office much longer than a marketing post card, such as magnets and calendars.
Consider the value of a custom printed 2009 calendar, complete with your website and logo on every page. Your customers will keep this posted on the wall for an entire year, giving you brand reinforcement and a small marketing edge every time they need to mark an important date. A 2009 calendar is a miniature billboard for your business and a very effective way to stay top-of-mind.
If you work as a salesman, company rep or in any capacity where your customers need to remember you personally as well as the company, try ordering a run of business card magnets. These are very useful as they often wind up placed in one of the most high traffic areas of the home–the refrigerator. Every time someone goes for a cold can of soda, your name and company logo is there to remind them. If repetition is the key to marketing, the business card magnet could be one of the best promotional tools you have.
You can combine these two ideas by printing a miniature calendar on an oversized magnet. Place your company logo and website address at the top, and include the 12 months below. The calendar magnet is popular because the larger size makes it handy for refrigerator reminders. The business card magnet is a handy fridge enhancer, but the larger size of a calendar magnet makes it handy for storing menus and other items you can’t get to stick on the refrigerator with a small magnet.
All of these ideas are ways to keep your business in the minds of your customers through repeated exposure to your logo and web address. Use these together with your regular direct mail campaigns and other advertising for a powerful combination.
There are many ways to increase awareness of your company or brand, includingbrochures, merchandise with your company logo printed on them, using customized return address stamps on your correspondence, and custom printed envelopes complete with a logo and web address. These are all great techniques, but when you need to raise awareness of an event or a new product, there are many simple things you can do by mail using a custom-designed postcard.
Bands and artists have used postcard printing for decades; any group or individual who cultivates a mailing list can print up a run of postcards, buy some stamps, and get quick publicity for their latest work with a visit to the mailbox. The key to an effective postcard mailing campaign is having a current mailing list made up of people who have opted in to that list. Those who sign up for mailings are clearly interested in you and your company; those are the people you want to reach with your postcards.
Postcard printing is a bit different than brochure printing in that you have the opportunity to place a large, colorful graphic on the front of the car, and display the most relevant information on either the front or back. Some choose to place only graphics on the front of the postcard and leave the details to the back; this is especially helpful if you need to market a product or service that demands good visual representation. A t-shirt or poster company should put the best example of their work front and center on a postcard along with e-mail and other contact information. In this case, don’t let the contact data interfere with the main graphic on the front of the card, keep the text small and rely on the postcard’s reverse side to convey the vital details.
Postcard printing is subject to the usual rules about color accuracy and printing variations. Try to choose an image that can hold up under slight variances in color or tone, and always check with your printer for tips on the required photo size and quality before submitting artwork. You may need to calibrate computer monitors when adjusting your graphics to get the most accurate representation of colors. If your postcard printing job requires specific color accuracy, consult with the printer first and see what you can do to insure the smallest amount of color shift possible.
Do you need to make your own brochures for a product or business? You have two basic choices before committing to a print job; let the printing company design the brochure for you or do it yourself. By making your own brochures you can save money on your print job—money you can add to your printing budget to add more quantities of the finished product. You can never have too many brochures and are sure to run out before you expect it.
Once you are committing to making your own brochures, the first challenge is how to structure the information. Is your brochure about an upcoming event? Put all the most important information on the cover, including the place, date, and hours of the activity. If you have a special website dedicated to your event, but sure to add that address on the cover.
Many people put graphics on the cover, but if the size of your artwork crowds out the vital information, reduce the dimensions of your graphic to allow the date, time and location to fit on the front of the brochure. Your cover graphics should be easy to view—avoid murky photographs that can’t be identified without peering closely at the image. Simple, eye-catching artwork works better than detail-heavy photos.
Inside your brochure, the structure of your information should run in much the same way. Place the most vital information at the beginning of the document. Don’t sacrifice the information for flashy graphics. Keep the designs simple and easy to read at a glance. If you need to call attention to your web address, company name or other important branding information, consider a multi-color print job that features your website and company name in a different color than the rest of the text. This mimics the presentation of links on a web page and can raise awareness of your company’s brand.
When deciding on the contents of your brochure, avoid the temptation to cram as much information in the document as possible. A brochure should be short, simple to read and easy to understand. You can provide web addresses or phone numbers so your customers or attendees can get more information. When you design your own brochure, try to structure it in a way that appeals to the casual reader. Expect those who pick up your brochure to skim it instead of reading closely—keeping this notion in mind can help you design a more effective document.
If you need baby shower invitations, graduation announcements or any other “time sensitive” printing job, letting a professional printer handle the work is an excellent idea. Chances are you’ve already got many other details to worry about, a custom printer can fuss over the technical details while you plan the specifics of your event.
Time is of the essence in more ways than one when it comes to these types of printing jobs; a bridal shower invitation or baby shower invitation job should be submitted to your printer well in advance for two very good reasons. There’s no way to tell how busy your printer may be in the weeks leading up to your event, and if you need graduation announcements chances are your printer has several other projects of the same nature lined up as well. Don’t delay when trying to get printing done in high-demand seasons. Springtime is high-volume time at the print shop with hundreds of brides-to-be trying to get their invitations printed.
The second reason to book in advance is a “just-in-case” measure. If something goes wrong with your printing—if you accidentally put the wrong date on the invitations, for example—you’ll need time to reschedule the print run to correct the problem. All print jobs are not created equal; bridal shower invitations often have more sensitive aesthetic issues than a brochure; if the bride is even slightly unhappy with the results and needs a reprint, that extra time you gained by starting early will come in handy.
Brochures aren’t as flowery as a bridal shower invitation, but they can often have the same types of deadline issues. Are you creating a special printout for an event such as a trade show or expo? An early start date for the printing of your materials can come in handy here in two ways; you can include copies of the brochure in any press kits you need to issue prior to the event, and you can send copies to your participating vendors or attendees in advance.
Announcements for any event should be printed in excess of what you think you will need. There are always extra people to add to the guest list and it helps to have a stack of extra graduation announcements or brochures to give to those you forgot to add to your original invitation list.
Understanding the various games of society is essential to understanding what’s really going on — figuring it all out and deciding if you’d like to stay in and play or pack up the pieces and start your own game. In this discussion I answer the following questions of:
Please enjoy
For as long as I can remember, I think that I have isolated myself from society in one way or another. Back in my early school years — middle school — when I a little menace involved with the groups of “cool” kids that made fun of “fat kids” and picking on “nerds” and intentionally flunking classes and simply acting like someone who I wasn’t in order to fit a certain image. I remember going home as asking myself “wow, why am I acting like this just to be ‘cool’ and just to ‘fit in’ — I don’t believe in any of this, so why do I do it?”
I got caught up in living a double life of maintaining my popularity with the “cool kids” and “macho people” and all the while living a secret life of thinking about and doing things that were of real interest to me, such things like: science, nature, learning about ancient civilizations, learning about programming languages, physics, etc… things that I liked a lot, but was always scared to speak about them with my current “friends” at the time because I was scared of being labeled a nerd or kicked out of the cool gang. I didn’t want to lose the good grace of the society that I worked so hard to be ingratiated in. I didn’t want my polished position to be compromised in any way.
I fooled myself into believing that this was the right course to go down. That I would be okay and that what I was doing, holding back my true nature, was right. Society lead me to believe that this was right. I lead myself into that belief. But the reality of the matter was that I was, in fact, isolated. Because no matter how demonstratively popular and “cool” that I was when leading that life, I was nothing short of a genuine phony by not living the way that I wanted to live; sweeping my passions under the rug while people ventriloquize my every action and behavior — telling me how I should act, perform, and be like. Suppressing what I was really all about.
It wasn’t until, say, mid-college when I began to figure it all out. When I pulled down the curtain behind the almighty image of what I was supposed to be, where I was supposed to go, and how I was supposed to live my life. The greatest, most brilliant, trick that I’ve ever fallen victim to. Now, all of a sudden, I began chipping away at the illusion and started living a life the way that I want to live — not by the standards of others.
I bring all this up because I feel that many people, right now, are caught in situations of suppressing who they really are, in an attempt to perfectly fit a certain mold that society pressed. They don’t feel that they have an outlet and/or a community of people whom they can really relate to and speak to about what’s really going on inside. Maybe you’re thinking about things like spirituality, sex, quantum physics, religions, theories, philosophies, etc… but are simply too scared to discuss them with your so-called friends (trust me, they aren’t your friends if you are scared that they’ll reject you) because you feel that they are “too weird” or eccentric.
Well, I was fortunate enough to wake-up and say FUCK THAT! And come to the realization that I am free to be who I am — no matter what. And so are you. One of the reasons for starting the Mind Petals Organization, which grew out of mindpetals.com, was because I figured that there are people out there who intentionally become isolates — isolating themselves from the greater society because what they have to say, in their mind, is just too “out there” or radical, and have opted to either remain silent or only hold these sort of discussions with a select group of individuals (what I call TRUE friends) who are open-minded and accepting of novel ideas, no matter how “weird” they may appear to be.
I created Mind Petals Organization to bring together these small, yet immensely powerful, islands of people who speak about certain things amongst themselves and now bring them together into a community where there is freedom of thought. Freedom of expression. Freedom in art no matter what the medium may be. A place to throw your ideas into a pool of loving, open-minded, caring, and enlightening people who strive for positivity, never negativity. This is what utopia is. This is the paradise that I am growing.
Today I took a trip to Elizabeth A. Morton National Wildlife Refuge and I thought that I’d share my experience with you with a picture story that I made below. Please enjoy.
A soon as I started the hike, I was greeted by these birds. Literally, hundreds of them all over the place. They were following me as I walked — guess they wanted food or perhaps just to chill. These birds totally rocked! They are called Black-capped Chickadee’s. They are really brave as well. For the first time in my life, a wild bird landed on my finger for a second and it was amazing. I wish I had some food for them.
I came across a few small ponds
This is me on the beach after a hike through the forest. It was cool because I was in the woods for about an hour then all of a sudden I pop out into this awesome beach. I was like “wow! sick!”
I found some crab claws and cool shells. I brought a few home with me. This beach was really nice. I sat on it for a while and observed the ocean and meditated for a bit.
As I continued up the beach for about an hour, I found another large forest. It was a bit creepy looking, but as I entered I saw this awesome patch of flowers
Here’s a cool dried-up flower
When I popped out onto the other side of the beach, I found this HUGE…HUGE… hawk’s nest, an Opsprey’s nest. I didn’t see any hawks, but the nest was cool. When I first saw the nest I was amazed by its architecture, so I climbed up to it. The hawk actually used a sandal as building material — look closely and you’ll see a peace sign on the sandal. The hawk was PEACE!!
While on the other side of the beach, I began tracking a raccoon (or perhaps Opossum). I wasn’t able to actually see it, though. It must have smelled me coming and left. But here are the tracks.
Walking back to the main side of the beach
Now I’m walking back through the forest towards my car. But before I ended my journey, this Eastern Chipmunk came up to me to wish me farewell
Thanks for virtually walking with me on this journey. Hope you enjoyed! Peace!
Some businesses—even those with active mailing lists—miss an important opportunity to connect with their customers one last time during the closing days of the year. Custom Christmas cards sent to your mailing list can be an effective way to enhance the relationships your company has with long time customers and newcomers alike.
Christmas cards don’t have to market goods or services; they don’t even need to be considered part of your main mailing list campaign. Whether you choose something simple like a personal message from the head of the company, or a more complex option such as photo Christmas cards, the contact is a tradition your customers will appreciate.
What is it about holiday cards and Christmas cards that makes the tradition so effective? Doctors, dentists, car salesmen and others in service-related industries send out seasonal cards with no other message than “happy holidays”, and many believe that lack of a sales message is the key to making custom Christmas cards work.
Sensitivity is important when choosing photo cards or season’s greeting messages. If you know your customer base well enough to know when “Happy Holidays” is more appropriate than “Merry Christmas”, you’re a step ahead of much larger companies. If you have no way of knowing what message is appropriate, a neutral greeting is best.
For small businesses, controlling costs on these holiday cards is an important part of the equation. Single color cards can be effective, but a colorful photo Christmas card is more memorable. If you can afford such a card, it’s a great way to stand out in the mailbox, but if you can’t justify the expense, try ordering and printing one or two color custom Christmas cards printed on card stock in a compatible color rather than on plain white stock. This is a great way to add color without incurring additional costs on the printing job.
The non-marketing contact technique works well even in non-holiday situations. Does your business have a major event planned such as a change of location? Try sending a moving announcement in the form of change of address cards to your mailing list a few weeks in advance. The main thrust of the message is your move, but getting your company name, web address and new physical address in front of your customers will encourage them to come back for more of what they liked about your goods or services in the first place.
Repetition is the key to marketing, and reminding your customers about your brand is always a smart move, whether it’s a targeted mailing, moving announcements or a Christmas card.
Ordering business cards is usually fairly simple, but there are a few considerations to keep in mind whether you order in person or online. One of the most important is to provide printer-ready graphics if you require a business logo. Do you know what formats the printer will accept? It’s not safe to assume you can simply provide a digital image from your graphic designer. Some of the most commonly accepted images include .jpg and .gif files, but you should provide the images in a resolution of 300 DPI. This insures your graphics look as they are intended to when printed on the card.
When ordering business cards online, you may be able to upload an image directly from your graphic design program such as Adobe Illustrator, CorelDRAW, or even an image from an Adobe Acrobat file. Check the Supported Files section of the printer’s website to see what programs are supported. Be sure to check the version of those programs, too—some older editions may not be supported by the printer.
Cheap business cards and expensive ones alike often feature color variances. Sometimes this is due to minor pigment shifts during the printing process; you may notice that the color changes slightly on the basic colors of your card depending on where in the stack of business cards you pick from. This is a common occurrence and there is no way to prevent minor shifts. Drastic differences may indicate a problem in the printing process—always check your order and speak to a customer service representative if you have questions.
Another type of color variance sometimes happens when ordering custom business cards online; your monitor may display some colors inaccurately and the results that come in the mail may not be those you expect. This is another common issue when ordering business card designs on the Internet, and the printer can’t be held responsible for variances due to an inaccurate monitor display. The best thing to do is to download monitor calibration software to insure your display is as accurate as possible before ordering. Your graphics design program may feature a handy tool for correcting monitor colors; check your user manual to learn more. Once your monitor is correctly calibrated you’ll get a better idea of what the final business card design may actually look like.
When starting a small company, business cards can be one of the most important initial purchases you make in those early stages. You don’t need much more than a set of cheap business cards at the start, especially if you haven’t worked out a company logo or website details. That first business card design should be simple and easy to read; it is a strictly utilitarian item you can use for networking and your initial marketing campaigns.
Once your business becomes more established and you’ve committed to a company logo, you can order more elaborate business cards online. When it’s time to commit to a large run of cards, decide if you want to stay with cheap business cards or if you need to order a more complex type.
Simple, inexpensive business cards are effective for many business people; those in the insurance industry, auto sales, and other types of service-industry businesses most likely don’t need an elaborate design, fancy watermarks or expensive card stock. That’s not always true of people in the creative and financial sectors, where much weight is carried by first impressions. Your business card in these industries is often much more than just a way to convey information.
Simple business cards are the least expensive when using standard card stock and single-color printing. Black ink and sturdy cards are very affordable. The prices start getting higher when you require specialized cards with multiple colors. Some business card designs are made to be as eye-catching as possible, with full color graphics and raised lettering. These can be very handy for trade shows and other situations where your business card is competing with hundreds of others, but if you plan to simply use your card to hand out to new clients you meet every day, you may not need something quite that elaborate.
You can save money by starting small and using simple designs that get more complex as your business grows. Cheap business cards are appropriate for most in the early stages of a new small business idea; by the time your company is flourishing you will have a better idea of your business card needs and you can budget accordingly. Your customers may respond better to one type of cards than another—if you notice compliments on a new design or if you’re already getting interesting feedback on the one you currently use, consider staying with that design unless the information becomes out of date.
Direct marketing concepts can be an important part of a growing company’s marketing strategy. If you’ve never attempted a direct mail campaign, there are several simple things you need to get started beyond the contents of your direct marketing materials. The first direct marketing attempt doesn’t have to be elaborate, but you should use custom designed address labels or address stamps that include your company logo and web address. A small business with limited resources may be served well by a custom rubber stamp with this information.
This can save time as well as resources; with self inking stamps, there is no need to spend time peeling and applying address labels. Just stamp the information on the envelope and drop it in the mailbox. If you choose to use a rubber stamp for your return address labels, it’s important to make sure the stamps are applied so they are evenly aligned with the envelope’s edges. The more professionally your envelopes appear, the better that all-important first impression will be. It’s also a good idea to experiment with a new rubber stamp until you get the technique right for applying the proper amount of ink.
Once you have the resources to create a more elaborate direct mailing campaign, the customized return address labels can be a very effective first impression when your customers get their envelopes in the mail. The more times your customers see your web address, the better they will remember it. The return address label is the first place they will see that address, but if you follow current direct marketing strategies, it won’t be the last in that mailing.
If your direct marketing strategies include a call to action in the mailing, thank you cards are vital for follow-through. Any customer who responds to your call to action should get a thank you card with the same company logo and web information in the mailing label, and a special message acknowledging the participation. This extra touch will set your direct marketing strategy from companies that use more impersonal techniques. A thank you card should include a name and signature. Even if it is simply included as part of the thank you card’s graphic design instead of an actual signature, our recipients will respond to this personal touch.
In this segment I wrap up with my closing remarks and we enter into a question / answer / feedback forum — which is always really fun! What I really love about discussions such as these is that they can never really end… they can just keep on going because the possibilities of talking about life are endless — they really are. Please enjoy.
In this segment I continue my discussion on the sticky web of society and how to avoid being trapped. As you’ll gather from my discussion, the way out is to simply love — to dig — what truly makes you happy and do that just for that… not for anything or anyone else. To come to this realization it may be immediately or it may be years, perhaps never. But we all have the potential, the opportunity. Please enjoy.
Someone once commented to me, vehemently, calling me an anarchist, to which I hastily responded “no.” But to a degree, I was wrong. And through some meditating on the matter, yes, in many ways, I am a proponent of anarchism. When the system is fucked, step outside of it. Build your own system. If people really knew what anarchism was all about, they would have a beautiful appreciation for it. Nature, being the biggest anarchist of all, teaches us so much about how to get rid of the waste, how to rejuvenate stagnated growth, how to regenerate a way of living that has been severed by society’s razor of mind control, fear, and aggressive –misguided– capitalism. These subjects and life experiences are of great interest to me. Please enjoy (or not…). Like I say in the discussion: “either is okay!”
There are many types of direct marketing strategies, but some of the most effective campaigns are the ones that don’t look like direct marketing. Holiday cards are still a time-honored tradition between friends and family, even in the Internet age this is a popular way stay in touch. Consider using a custom printed holiday card as part of your direct marketing concept. The holiday card can be most effective when it is designed with the company logo featured in an eye-catching way, but not as the centerpiece of the mailing. Holiday cards should look like a personal touch rather than a mass mailing. Small and medium-sized businesses should try to have the holiday cards hand-signed where possible.
It’s possible to add the look of a personal touch even if you can’t spare the time to have the cards hand signed. Include the signature of a prominent name in the company as part of the graphic design of the holiday card. You can even order some special address labels to put on the holiday cards that include this person’s name. Seeing the name on the return address label and the accompanying signature gives the card a more personal feel. For the personalized touch from a team, consider including a group photo and signatures included in the graphic design of your holiday cards. The return address labels can include the name of your team instead of a single person.
Some holiday cards are actually more effective without the personal touch. A great example of this is the card that offers a discount on goods or services when presented at the time of sale. This turns the holiday card into a “gift” from your company and offers an incentive for the customer to return to you. Are you trying to track the effectiveness of your direct mailing strategies? One way to do this with your holiday cards is to offer a discount or incentive with an expiration date and a redemption code. When it comes time to collate the number of cards and redemption codes used, you can see how many cards came back to you and the dates the redemption codes were used.
For some companies, the simplest approach may be best. A simple card which says “happy holidays” and offers the company logo and website information on the return address label is sometimes the best strategy. It all depends on the mindset of your customers.
Food is not something to be underestimated. It’s not something to never consider when consuming. It’s quite the opposite. Food is an experience that one should cherish, love, and respect. Certain foods help to elevate our spirits and some aim to weaken our spirits / energy. In this discussion I speak with my younger brother, Khalik Allah, about the life experience of building a relationship with food; how food communicates with our spirits, our thoughts, and our actions in life. The main food we discuss is real raw chocolate called cacao. We can all help to evolve our nature by building strong, cohesive, and high-frequency bonds with what we consume — what we nourish our bodies with. Please enjoy.
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Lately I’ve been toying with the idea that the universe — everything from the sand, water, and hills to the bees, birds, and humans — are all a part of this mega-frequency tuned into the same channel, working as one organism. Surely this isn’t an entirely new idea as the Gaia Hypothesis examines the earth in a similar fashion.
I’m really digging this — the universe and all its parts being a part of the same frequency, as I’d put it. This mega-frequency that acts as a current, running, no, flowing, through everything in existence. Flows through us. Flows through the rain. Flows through the rock. However, each part still having its own frequency which is mutually exclusive of the rest.
Now with the assumption of the universe and all its members being a part of one large mind as a collective whole and being one multi-tracked organism that cumulatively has an effect on life, death, mutations, tidal patterns, temperature, and all changes as we know it, I’d like to now, abruptly, speak a bit about mutations and how I believe that mutations aren’t monopolized by the genome and how mutations take form and shape metaphysically.
In nature (re: the universe) we have many forms of mutations in a myriad of species of plant and animals. We tend to think that all mutations are bad. We think of cancerous cells or grotesque scenes of the X Men flashing through our heads. But this isn’t the case. A mutation can be a good development as well.
Certain strains of flowers that grow on high mountain regions develop a genetically superior coating of hair that offers them an extra level of protection. Now these genetically superior plants blossom and fertilize the plants below them and those plants fertilize the plants below them as so on… spreading this mutation throughout the region.
Now keeping in mind the notion of the entire universe as one living organism, couldn’t we now propose that human beings could spark mutations — mutational shifts — as well? But not mutations on the level of the genome — that’s a given. I’m speak of a societal mutation. A mutation that spreads into the culture through thoughts, actions, ideas, — essentially through behaviors.
And such a supposition is supported by biology. In biology we understand that on a certain level, behavior is a variable, a player, in the genetic makeup/development of a species. When a certain animal begins to act in a new way, say comes up with a new hunting technique to compensate for the faster prey that have entered the region, and teaches that technique to their offspring — those offspring and their offspring, over time, begin to grow that particular hunting technique into their genetic code. And this was all initiated through behavior.
So now, if nature is one all-encompassing mind at work — which I believe that it is — and it recognizes an imbalance, it’ll initiate a series of solutions to bring back the balance and return the equilibrium. This happens all the time, think about it. When new growth is required in an arid terrain, nature brings about a fire to renew the land and promote green, lush sprouts. Before tsunamis and hurricanes occur, we can observe many animals, albeit anecdotally, such as dogs howling, rats fleeing from buildings, and oceanic animals breaking patterns way before anything happens.
What if nature can also recognize societal imbalances, infections, and disease. Such as racism, painting myths as absolute truths (out of a book) to control the masses with fear, using lies and deceptions to trick, steal, and take advantage of, and all sorts of other imbalances and negatives that, at the time, may be surpassing the positives?
What if nature is able to recognize these patterns and, through the consultation of certain human individuals who are open to nature’s universal mind, come into existence to inoculate the societal disease — to be the fire purging the negative thoughts, lies, and deception. People, grown into the universe who act as knives, cutting away the cancerous cells that have infected the minds, hearts, and spirits of those who have drawn away from nature and got lost in the midst of illusions, false power, ignorance, and corruption?
What if someone like Martin Luther King Jr., having consulted with nature, came about to return the racial imbalance back to an even keel. Nature, having seen the ridiculousness of people killing people due to the pigmentation of their skin, brought forth King to eradicate this infectious and pernicious ideal?
What if nature brought about someone like George Bush to project lies, play games with the psyches of the masses, and use mind tactics to control the masses by imposing powers and laws under false pretenses to nail you into a wedge of fear? Nature having brought about Bush so that a select few could awaken and see how fickle our minds have become, how weak our will to freedom has become. And these few sprouting into society to revive and awaken the masses out of the virtual reality and into the truth.
Well this isn’t a book, just a posting of thoughts… so let me wrap this up on this note: My proposal is that nature, through its organisms, can correct any imbalance in the same exact way that the stock market (which is directly controlled by the psychology of the players), will correct itself as long as the balance of intelligent investors slightly rises above the amount of unintelligent investors — it always does. In society, nature can incite a, what I call, “Mutational Paradigm Shift.” Brining forth, not by commanding, but with the cooperation of the minds of certain individuals in society to act as a mutant, positively infecting society with certain acts, thoughts, and behaviors in an attempt to combat those that prey on the minds, seeking to control, kill, and destroy. Scrambling the inner working of the current paradigm and creating a new one, with balance, positivity, and dare I say — Love.
I’ll be speaking more about this on Tuesday March 25 in New York City, for those interested.
[photo credit: Noli & Provoste]
Today I took a trip to one of the wildlife refuges on Long Island, New York. Close to my home town. Ha, before I left I remember speaking to my mother about going into the woods and being with plants, trees, animals, and other forms of nature. She laughed — actually, scoffed — at me with a: “why would you want to go into the woods. I hope that you aren’t going crazy.” To which I responded: “Well if that’s the definition of crazy, then, yup, I’m crazy. Definitely.” Curiously, if I told anyone that I was going shopping on Madison Ave. they would say: “Awesome, cool.” And when you tell people about going on an adventure in the woods, they think that you’re crazy. Wow, how backwards have we become? It’s sad, really. When we valorize consumerism over nature. How did this happen?
Here’s a section of my journal that I jotted down while staring off into the marshland:
“How beautiful these marshlands are as I stare off into nothingness. A bird just flew by and sang a note above my head — an unusual sound that I don’t believe I’ve heard before. I didn’t know how beautiful Long Island could be. I’ve been so consumed with all the homes, developments, and stores that I almost forgot to search for places such as this one. The sun plays hide and seek with the clouds, running from the cover and popping back its magnificent rays onto my face. Hello sun, how are you today? There you are, my friend. I am told that migrating birds visit this spot, traveling several thousand miles using the sun, stars, and wind, arriving in only days. That’s truly amazing. I feel a sense of peace here. Almost like watching that movie, what’s it called? with Kevin Costner on the Great Plains of America — Ah, Dances With Wolves. How he enjoys himself on the open grasslands. But this isn’t a movie and I don’t have to pretend to be at such a place. I’m here. There is music in the wind. Closing my eyes, I hear the wind gently wrestling with the leaves, swaying with the grass, and snapping frail twigs — that is nature’s drum-set. Nothing short of a symphony, indeed. If you listen with care.”
Had a great time of meditation, contemplation, seeing animals, and walking through an amazing forest full of surprises. I’ll continue to share my entries as I go on more of these journeys.
"Young and Hungry: The New Entrepreneur" will take you on a journey of two young entrepreneurs who share their thoughts, experiences, and lessoned learned while in the process to finding success. Everything from discussing entrepreneurship with your parents to building a business team -- it's covered in this book. Read now »