One day I hope to have a business that makes real products. There’s something extremely alluring about designing and selling something tangible. Even though it may seem like every new company is operating entirely online, there actually has never been a better time to build physical products. Not only is it easier than ever to connect with manufacturers, but prototyping has been revolutionized with 3D printing. There’s still a barrier to entry in that it’s expensive and time consuming to get into 3D printing, and that’s why you can go to a studio like FATHOM in Oakland, CA which uses its “expertise in 3D printing and additive manufacturing to help customers innovate faster and more efficiently.”
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Living in a city can be hard when you love nature and the outdoors, but there’s usually a way to get a fix. Here in Chicago we have Lake Michigan and Forest Preserves. The forest preserves are run by the county government and they exist “to acquire, restore and manage lands for the purpose of protecting and preserving public open space.” In Cook County that amounts to more than 68,000 acres (11% of the county’s land mass) that get about 40 million visits every year. Friends of the Forest Preserves is a Chicago, IL based non-profit that was started when a group of people saw the forest preserves being mismanaged and organized “to rescue these treasured lands, knowing that to maintain their vast rewards and ensure they’re here for all of us to enjoy, we’d have to work just as hard as the visionary citizens who protected them more than a century ago.”
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Over the past year I’ve started to get really interested in upland bird hunting. It’s a sport with amazing tradition, but it’s an old man’s sport. It’s hard for a young guy to get started. That’s why I’m heading to Pheasant Fest in Milwaukee today. It’s the national convention of Pheasants Forever, a St. Paul, MN based non-profit that is “dedicated to the conservation of pheasants, quail and other wildlife through habitat improvements, public awareness, education and land management policies and programs.”
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Chocolate and Valentine’s Day are the perfect couple. Whether you’re looking for a gift for your sweetheart or a way to stop feeling lonely, chocolate is the answer. And if we’re talking about chocolate and romance, it’s hard to think of a more romantic chocolatier than Godiva–I mean their logo is a naked lady on a horse. While the company originated in Belgium nearly 90 years ago, it is now headquartered in New York, NY and does all of its U.S. production in Reading, PA. They’ve also opened close to 300 retail locations across the country.
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I am an outdoorsman. I fish, I hunt, and try to spend as much time in the wilderness as I can. Ok, that’s not completely true. I tend to stay in hotels/motels on my fishing trips, but I know a lot of people prefer to camp on those kinds of trips. It always seemed to me like a lot of work and equipment for a little more time outdoors; however, for many camping is the main event. In my mind that means sleeping in a tent, but I guess it can also mean sleeping in an RV. The people who prefer the latter definition are likely customers of Camping World. The Bowling Green, KY based company is “the camping and recreational vehicle enthusiast’s one-stop-shop for everything they need to enjoy living in and traveling in their RV.” Camping may be in the name, but it seems to be all about the RV lifestyle.
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Every once in a while I go back and watch cartoons that I watched when I was a kid. I’m not talking about G.I. Joe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles–I mean the the random video tapes with cartoons from the 1920s and 1930s. It’s amazing how effectively stories can be told with simple animations, so you would think they can be told even better with not-so-simple animations. That’s what Laika does. They are a Hillsboro and Portland, OR based “animation company specializing in feature films, commercials and short films.” They’ve been nominated for an Oscar, which tells you how exceptional their ability to “handcraft and transform everyday materials into living creatures infused with dimension and soul” is.
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While having the baby boomers leave the workforce should be a good thing for our generation in terms of employment outcomes, the mass retirement will likely bring new challenges. As people age they not only head more healthcare, but they also need more care in general. Sometimes that can be provided by families, but sometimes it needs to be done by professionals. Relias Learning is a Cary, NC based company that educates those professionals by offering “online training to senior care, health and human services, corrections, and intellectual and developmental disabilities organizations.”
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There are generally two ways to market to people. You can build your own audience, or you can rent somebody else’s audience. That’s why a lot of companies are built around building audiences to rent to other businesses. FierceMarkets is a perfect example. They are a Washington, DC based company that specializes in business-to-business media, publications, and marketing. The end goal is to “connect companies with the right audience and ensure each campaign generates the highest possible return on investment.”
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I don’t go to the theater very often, but when I do I usually enjoy it. There’s something pretty cool about seeing someone become a completely different character right before your eyes. As we spend more and more time looking at screens of all sizes, it’s important to remember our “theatrical traditions.” That’s what American Conservatory Theater is all about. They are a San Francisco, CA based non-profit that “embraces its responsibility to conserve, renew, and reinvent the rich theatrical traditions that are our collective legacy, while exploring new artistic forms and new communities.”
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We can all agree… that we can all agree on some things sometimes–even when it comes to politics. I tend to like when the disagreement between the two parties locks things up because it means that the government won’t be able to break anything else; however, I understand that occasionally we need our government to actually accomplish something. The Bipartisan Policy Center is a Washington, DC based non-profit that encourages the two parties to work together on important issues where ideological differences can be worked through. The organization was “founded in 2007 by former Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole and George Mitchell,” so it truly is a bipartisan effort.
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A few years ago I got a lot of free stuff from Bonobos and Gilt Groupe by referring people. It was certainly out of self interest, but it’s hard not to refer a product or service that you love when they’re giving both referrers and referees free stuff. Referral marketing is tremendously effective, but it can be hard to implement a system that works. Extole is a San Francisco, CA based company that specializes in helping “brands acquire new customers at scale by rewarding existing customers.” Why build out your own software to reward customer referrals when you can use Extole’s platform instead?
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When I was a little kid, I’d visit construction sites with my dad, the architect. I absolutely loved it, but at some point I lost interest in the construction industry. For me building things online seemed more interesting than building homes and offices. If you disagree, you might want to check out Hanley Wood. They are based in Washington, DC, and they are “the premier media, event, information and strategic marketing services company serving the residential and commercial design and construction industries.” For nearly 40 years they have been the go to source for “builders, remodelers, residential and commercial architects, multifamily and public-works executives, and materials dealers and distributors.”
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We all have at least one friend who has a brilliant idea for an app or website, but no way of building it. They think that if they can just find some geek to develop it for “equity,” they’ll be instant millionaires. Building a digital business isn’t even close to that easy, and marketing/business talent is just as important as tech talent. Most people who want to start a company on the web need to either figure out how to do it themselves or pay a lot of money (not equity) to get someone to build it for them. Even then, most agencies are designed to help clients later in the game. That’s not true with Digital Intent. They’re a Chicago, IL based business that helps “clients identify products customers will pay for, design compelling user experiences to make customers happy, and rapidly build high performance products that scale.”
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Last night was a disappointment for everybody except diehard Seahawks fans. I went to a friend’s house where the food and company were excellent, but we couldn’t get excited about the game, and the commercials were totally underwhelming. It seems that most of the big brands avoided funny and outrageous and went for emotional. Those types of ads don’t usually resonate with me, but the Budweiser ad with the puppy and Clydesdales really got me–and pretty much everyone else who saw it. The agency behind the ad is Anomaly. They’re based in New York, NY, and they blur “the borders between providing traditional marketing services and working as a business development partner.”
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I’m a bit upset that the Super Bowl is overshadowing Punxsutawney Phil’s big day, but that varmint says we’re having six more weeks of winter, so let’s talk about somebody who actually deserves attention: Peyton Manning. I’m pretty sure that I could be the guy in a foot race, yet he’s dominating one of the most athletic sports leagues in the world. He also gives a lot back through his non-profit, the Peyback Foundation. It’s an Indianapolis, IN based organization that aims “to promote the future success of disadvantaged youth by assisting programs that provide leadership and growth opportunities for children at risk.” The Peyback Foundation doesn’t have a Careers page, but I checked on LinkedIn, and they do have employees and interns. What’s the point? Tons of football players (here’s a list) and other pro athletes have foundations and charities. They may be long shots, but some will have career opportunities. Find the ones that interest you and reach out to see if you might be able to work with them.
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Every company and organization in the world is looking for better talent. The problem is that the quest for talent is typically a zero-sum game for employers. The world’s most talent people are typically employed, so the only way to hire them is to steal them from someone else; however, there are some exceptions. The Center for Talent Innovation is a non-profit think tank that focuses on these exceptions. They’re based in New York, NY and have a two-fold mission: “to drive ground-breaking research that leverages talent across the divides of gender, generation, geography and culture; and to create a community of senior executives united by an understanding that full utilization of the global talent pool is at the heart of competitive success.”
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A few decades ago chicken wings were essentially a throw away. This year Americans will eat 1.25 billion chicken wings… for the Super Bowl. The prices are actually down significantly from last year, but the longterm trend is up and to the right. Chicken wing popularity really seemed to take off when the Buffalo Bills went to four straight Super Bowls and shined a spotlight on the city’s culinary speciality. It continued with the growth of a national restaurant chain centered around the wing. Buffalo Wild Wings was actually founded in 1982 (by a guy who moved away from Buffalo, NY and couldn’t find buffalo wings), but it took a while for the Minneapolis, MN based company to go public and grow to 925 locations. In fact, the company’s growth seems to mirror the growth in popularity of the buffalo wing.
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A few weeks ago in my post about the Doorways to Dreams Fund, I said that state run lotteries are probably one of the worst things that our governments have done to us (and I actually won $2,000 on a scratch off ticket once). Whether I’m right or wrong, people like to play–it brings excitement to their lives. If you’re going to play, you might as well do it right. Shoutz can help you do that. They’re an Austin, TX and Kansas City, KS based “technology company dedicated to making lotteries more convenient, engaging and rewarding.” They can’t put the odds in your favor, but I guess they can help you get more out of every ticket that you buy.
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Last week we talked about brand experiences. They can happen at any scale, but typically bigger brands want to create bigger experiences. The battle for mindshare is only getting fiercer, and that means companies are going all out to get people to pay attention to them. TV, radio, and online are great channels, but it’s hard to beat in person. That’s exactly what Sparks specializes in. They are a Philadelphia, PA based agency that “creates dyanmic brand experiences anywhere in the world a customer engages with your brand.” They’re operating at the highest level and working with the biggest brands–names like Google, LG, the New York Times, Motorola, Dropbox, and HP.
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I’ve always thought that it was weird that big companies use one agency for advertising on tv, another for PR, another for interactive, and probably three more for other types of marketing. We’re seeing more and more “integrated” agencies, but what that means depends on the agency. Tierney is a Philadelphia, PA based agency that does advertising, PR, media, interactive, crisis management, and branding. Their tagline is “Divisions, yes. Divided, no.” They’ve been doing it this way for a long time, so it’s not like they slapped a bunch of independent pieces together and called it integrated.
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About two months ago an organization that I’m a member of organized a letter writing campaign to prevent permits from being issued to allow fracking in an environmentally sensitive and recreationally (and economically) important area. The group is fly fishing focused, so it’s not the most tech savvy bunch. But we were able to spread the word quickly enough to get what we were asking for. Social media makes action like this much easier, but it can be hard to organize. Amicus is a New York, NY based company that turns a “nonprofit’s supporters into fundraisers and advocates.” They claim they can triple the effectiveness of outreach and fundraising efforts.
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While it has become increasingly apparent that graduating college isn’t close to enough to get you a job these days, we also know that not having gone to or graduated college makes finding a good job so much harder. If young people are going to succeed in life, they need to start with success in high school and college. Bottom Line is a Boston, MA, Worcester, MA and New York, NY based non-profit (they also are working in Chicago) that “has helped thousands of low-income and first-generation students stay in college and earn their degrees.” The organization was founded in 1997 and now reaches more than 3,000 students every year.
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Last year I got married at the Chicago Botanic Garden. I’ve never been much of a plant person, but it was truly a perfect setting. I’m just amazed that they can grow such a diverse array of beautiful plants in this climate–especially with the winter we’re having this year. If I was opening such a garden, I’d want to do so in a more moderate climate like San Francisco’s. John McLaren was the landscape gardener who was Golden Gate Park’s superintendent for 56 years. He picked a place for a future botanical garden that had “a variety of soil and exposure, sloping, dry and sunny hillsides, sheltered spots and rich, low or marshy land.” The San Francisco Botanical Garden finally got the necessary funding in 1926, and in 1954 the Strybing Arboretum Society was founded to support the garden and its programs. Today the organization is known as the San Francisco Botanical Garden Society, and it supports “55 acres of both landscaped gardens and open spaces, showcasing over 8,000 different kinds of plants from around the world.”
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Think about one of your favorite brands. Your fond memories are most likely based on experiences. Maybe it’s a time when you used the company’s product or the feeling when you walk into one of their stores. Advertising can make you think about those experiences, but it can’t recreate them. Experiential marketing is a field that is all about getting you to experience the brand instead of getting you to think about the brand. That’s what Escalate is all about. They’re a New York, NY based experiential and word of mouth marketing agency that escalates “customer relationships to the point of brand advocacy, with measurable results.”
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Have you ever sat around and waited for a phone call? It sucks. Believe it or not, there are a lot of businesses in which you sit around and wait for customers to call you. A plumber is a great example, but there are much more sophisticated businesses that have the same problem. They can invest in marketing that drives more calls, but why do that when you can invest online and track every step of the conversion/sales process? Because people who pick up the phone are often much better leads than people who inquire online. That’s why Invoca is bringing online analytics to phone calls. They are based in Santa Barbara, CA, and their “inbound call marketing tools empower you to generate better leads, higher conversions, smarter spends and greater revenue.”
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The health and wellness industry is massive, and it just seems to keep growing. There are a lot of really smart business people who are playing a big part in the growth, but there are also a ton of people in the industry who would rather not concern themselves with businessy stuff. The kind of people who open yoga studios, salons, and spas usually aren’t in it for the money–they just want to make a living pursuing their passions. Unfortunately, running a business usually requires… running a business. MINDBODY is a San Luis Obispo, CA based company that believes that “small business owners deserve the time to do what they love.” Pursuing that belief has made them “the largest cloud-based software provider in the health, wellness and beauty industries.”
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Job searching comes with a lot of repetitive tasks. Imagine if you had the technical skills to automate the most annoying ones. You could focus on doing stuff that makes you more employable instead of wasting hours on mindless repetition. There are certainly some smart engineering types who build their own systems to automate their lives, but what about the rest of us? We can use IFTTT (If This Then That). They’re a San Francisco, CA based company that lets you “put the Internet to work for you.” The service plugs in to all of your favorite sites, so it’s not like you’re starting a new workflow from scratch.
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Getting a dog is one of the best things that I’ve ever done. Seriously, how could you not love this guy? I’ve been taking his training very seriously, and it has been a really rewarding process. Working with animals often brings out the best in people. That’s why the Prison Pet Partnership is such a good idea. It’s a Gig Harbor, WA based non-profit that “gives inmates the opportunity to learn valuable pet industry-related vocational skills to use in finding employment when they resume their lives outside of prison.” They take dogs from animal rescues and train them to be service dogs. Since most dogs aren’t cut out for the service life, the rest are rehomed as “Paroled Pets.”
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Our federal, state, and local governments do a lot of things that are bad for their constituents, but one of the worst has to be state-run lotteries. They are great at generating income for things like schools, but they are a massive regressive tax that disproportionately harms lower-income individuals. It’s almost as if people see lotteries as a savings account instead of a long shot bet. For a long time I’ve had an idea that state lotteries should be transitioned into an investment vehicle. Imagine how much better off people would be if a one dollar scratch off ticket contributed 50 cents to savings account, 40 cents to prizes, and 10 cents to education or something similar. You could even engineer it so that people win “prizes” out of their own savings accounts. To my surprise I recently learned about a non-profit that is working on similar ideas. It’s called Doorways to Dreams Fund, and they’re based in Allston, MA. They work “with the financial services industry, government agencies, national non-profit groups, grassroots community agencies, and public policy organizations to generate promising ideas, pilot test financial products and services, build awareness of the needs and potential of low-income communities, and advocate inclusive social and economic policies.”
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When I think about my personal impact on the environment, I think about driving, flying, heating my home, what I eat, and other similar things. Clothing doesn’t typically come to mind, but the production and transportation of clothing can have significant negative impacts on the environment. Reformation is trying to reduce the impact. They’re a Los Angeles, CA based “environmentally sustainable fashion brand that repurposes vintage and surplus
materials to create a chic, limited edition collection.” The way that they operate is completely different from most other fashion brands, but it’s working.
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