Today is Blog Action Day, an annual event uniting bloggers all over the world by posting about the same issue on the same day. This year, Blog Action Day coincides with World Food Day, so it only makes sense that our topic is food. When I think of food, two basic problems come to mind:

1. A lot of people in developing (and developed) countries don't have enough access to food and nutrition.
2. A lot of people in developed countries choose not to get enough food and nutrition.

Rather than throw a bunch of statistics at you, I'm going to keep it simple. You already know these are two big issues we face. We go about our lives while our brothers and sisters are starving in other countries. At the same time, we've stopped looking at food as nourishing fuel for our bodies, and have started stuffing ourselves silly with the cheapest food we could engineer, yet still suffer from malnutrition.

1,500 or so bloggers have taken time out to write and spread awareness today. I encourage you to take a little time out of your day to think about these two problems. Then take action. I implore you to do just one small thing to help the food and famine problems today. Just one baby step. Here are some ideas if you don't know what to do:

• Pick up a copy of Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food or Nina Planck's Real Food
• Sign One.org's petition to fund Feed the Future
• Donate money to any organization that feeds the hungry
• Sign up to volunteer at the soup kitchen
• Skip the supermarket and fast food and shop at your local farmers market
• Talk to your kids about healthy food and cook with them tonight
• Watch a documentary on food and nutrition, like Food, Inc.
• Make a Kiva loan in the food sector
• Go without industrial meat today
• Spread awareness to your networks

And once you've done one baby step, why stop there? Food is a universal need, it binds us all together. Everyone deserves a real, nutritious meal, and so many of us aren't getting one. What are you going to do about it?

 

Via Good

You know what I hate? I hate it when you need fresh herbs but the grocery store forces you to buy a huge bunch at a thyme (haha lame joke). But seriously. How much cilantro can you use in a week? I absolutely love the idea behind In.gredients, a zero-packaging grocery store to open in Texas. Not only is it awesome that you can buy as much or as little as you need, you get to eliminate all the waste you would usually create from a grocery shopping trip.

In an ideal world, this would become the norm and we reverse our wasteful ways. In the real world, I wonder how many people would be skeeved out by unpackaged goods. Let's hope In.gredients is a sucess.

 

I apologize for slacking on the new posts, but I've been busy working on the epic personal data collection project. I logged all kinds of data about myself every single day of August 2010. Using Excel, Tableau Public, and Photoshop, I created my first infographic. As I've mentioned before, I'm design-challenged,  so I hope its content makes up for its presentation.

While I don't suggest everyone should log this much information about themselves everyday, it has been extremely useful is learning about what I actually do as opposed to what I think I do. We're living in a world that's more and more data-driven, and I think it can be applied to personal development too. Trying to lose weight? Log what you eat. Not sure where your after work hours go? Log what you do for a couple of weeks and find out.

While many findings were expected, a few things surprised me:

• I can't complain that I don't have a social life because I spend way more time on it than I should
• My energy levels aren't really affected by factors other than sleep, e.g. who I'm with, temperature, etc.
• I don't eat as healthily as I claim I do
• I don't get as much reading done as I think I do

Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

 

I came across Bettie's Cakes while wandering around downtown Saratoga Springs, NY this summer. While not usually a cupcake kind of girl, I was drawn in by the pastel pinks and blues, and 1950's decor. Right away, I knew this was not your average local cupcakery. Bettie's co-owner & co-founder Lorraine Murphy may look like Gwen Stefani if she were from the 50s, but the owners are definitely smart 21st century entrepreneurs.

They are doing all the right things online that a physical location based business should do -- Twitter, Facebook, and claiming their Google Maps page with photos and info. Surprisingly I see a bunch of negative reviews on the page, but I'm sure their 2,500+ Facebook Fans would disagree with them.

The most awesome thing about Bettie's Cakes? They also sell their cakes in the only mobile double decker bus cafe in the USA! Take that, NYC food trucks. What's smart about the double decker bus and it's little sister single decker bus (aside from being awesome), is that they can reach so many more people. You can't build a huge business with one store in a city with a population of 26,000. Fortunately, Saratoga Springs is a destination city, especially for people of New York State. They can leverage the relationships they built with past visitors online and sell them some cupcakes in their own town.

What can we learn from Bettie's Cakes?

• Get your brick-and-mortar on all the location networks - Get listed on Google Maps, Yelp, Citysearch, Foursquare, etc. If you're business is already listed, claim it so you can have control and make sure the correct info is on your page. People use these platforms to decide where to eat, shop, and play. If you don't have a presence, you're irrelevant.


• Stand out from the crowd - There are a helluva lot of cupcake shops out there. Bettie's Cakes doesn't just bake some cupcakes and call it a day; they work on their business identity and create a unique experience for customers with their retro soda fountain, creative cupcake flavors...and their double decker bus! I'm not over it, the bus is so full of win. (See? It pays off to stand out.)


• Expansion isn't always about opening a new store - I'm not telling every brick-and-mortar to go out and buy a double decker bus, but do consider your options for expansion. If you're not ready for a new physical location or haven't found the right place, what else can you do to expand your business and reach more people? How about delivery, mobile stores, pop up shops, street fairs, partnerships and collaborations with other companies, or corporate packages? There's so much you can do. Don't settle for a mediocre new location.


• Offer products for customers who don't want "the whole thing" - At my first dancewear vending event, I only had two products -- a top and a bottom, and they weren't cheap. I realized I was losing so many opportunities to sell to leads I already brought in that wanted to buy something but just wasn't quite up for "the whole thing". You've been there. You want to get something but you want it a little less in size, price, or calories than what's for sale. Bettie's Cakes offers mini cupcakes in the different flavors. If it didn't, I would not have been a customer and this case study would not exist!

Bettie's Cakes shows that you don't have to be a huge corporation to do good, smart business. What I would like to see from Bettie's Cakes? An "About" page on the website. Fans/customers find it easier to relate to someone or something they know about and has a story. This would help them engage their fans and bring in more loyal followers.

Oh, and did I ever mention their cupcakes are pretty damn delicious too?