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| Shel Horowitz’s Clean and Green Marketing Tip, March 2017 |
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| Listen to the Best Interview I’ve Ever Done |
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| Kymm Nelsen of the Conscious Leadership Podcast managed to pull more from me than anyone else has ever done. In 51 minutes, we covered so much that I list 17 separate points on my interviews page —and that was not a complete list. It’s one of three shows I’ve added to that page. Visit the page to scan the list and note what to listen for—and of course to click over and read it.
And watch this space for links to interviews by Internet marketer Willie Crawford, PR queen Annie Jennings’ Elite Wire, Lisa Faulkner of Game Changers, Ali Salman of Escape the 9 to 5 Grind, and Karina Cooke of the Business Code Podcast.
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| This Month’s Tip: How to Tell Good Advice from Bad Advice |
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My grandfather used to read all seven of NYC’s daily newspapers (most of which have since gone out of business) in order to triangulate a picture of what was *really* going on.
- Listen to multiple sources. If you hear the same thing over and over from sources with divergent viewpoints, there’s probably merit in it—but do some due diligence and verify (at least take a quick trip to Snopes.com).
- Do your own research. Read some books and articles but recognize that the situation may not be comparable.
- Post specific questions *with as much detail as you can* on discussion lists–but recognize that the advice you get will be a mix of useful and useless. Study the groups before posting questions so you get a sense of whose answers are worthwhile. The more carefully and completely you phrase your question, the better your answers. And learn how to parse it.
- Listen to your gut. You can even develop the skill of asking your subconscious directly and listening to the answer (which may emerge as a movement of the body).
- Don’t be afraid to go out of the box, if it seems to be the right move–even if others are telling you it’s too risky. But make sure it really is the right move.
Finally, be prepared when good advice takes you in a different direction, and understand when that makes sense. I’ll tell you a success and a failure.
Back in 2003 as I was preparing my sixth book for publication (my 10th, Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World, came out in April), I asked a discussion list about subtitles that would go well with my main title, Win-Win Marketing. This was a list where I’d been active for quite a few years, and I had a pretty good sense of the “players.” I heard very strongly from some of the most respected people on the list that my main title was a problem (for reasons I still don’t really relate to)—that the phrase “win-win” had enormous negative baggage for some people.
It took two months of brainstorming to come up with a title: Principled Profit: Marketing that Puts People First. Oddly enough, knowing none of this history, the Mexican publisher (which had originally called it Marketing Based in the People) changed the title on their second print run to Marketing Based in Win-Win (Mercadotechnia basada en ganar-ganar).
Fast-forward to last fall. Someone I’ve known for many years and respect enormously got very excited about the way I am combining a Board of Advisors, Mastermind group and online discussion into a single entity for my new “Transformpreneurial Brain Trust.” She gave me a long and well-thought-out brainstorm about how to commission brand new software that would do everything I wanted. The only problem was that she lost sight of my wider goal, which is to work with the business community on profitable ways to turn hunger and poverty into sufficiency, war into peace, and catastrophic climate change into planetary balance. I realized instantly that this would distract me from my real work and cost me much time and many thousands of dollars. Even though the advice came from a trusted source, it was bad advice for me at that moment. I chose to run with an off-the-shelf platform and to stay focused on my real mission.
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| Ethical Corporation’s Responsible Business Summit, NYC, March 27-28. I will be moderating a keynote/fireside chat by Franz Paasche of Paypal and a panel with execs from Pirelli, Actiam, and Coca-Cola, both on Monday. I’ll also be attending Tuesday, without any moderation duties. I believe you can still save $200 with the code MP200, when you register at https://events.ethicalcorp.com/rbs-usa/register.php
How Social Entrepreneurs Can Thrive in the New Political Climate: webinar put on by Green America (my fourth for them), Thursday, April 29, 1 pm ET/10 am PT.
I missed Book Expo America last year after attending every one since 1997. But it’s back in NYC and my daughter is NOT getting married the following week (as she did in 2016), so I expect to be attending (May 30-June 2). If there’s interest, perhaps we can organize a gathering.
Note: I still have openings on my calendar for live or virtual events around Earth Day (a week on either side of April 22). Drop me a line or call 413-586-2388 if you have a need (or want to earn a commission by finding me a paying gig). |
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| Another Recommended Book—A Wrinkle in Time |
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A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L’Engle
When I usually review books about sustainable business, customer skills, marketing and the like, why am I recommending a classic children’s fantasy novel from the 1950s?
Here are some of the reasons:
- This book has amazingly useful things to say about resistance to totalitarianism, nonconformity, the role of science, and defying expectations—all of which seem particularly relevant on the world stage right now.
- It’s a fun read that might take you only an hour or two, involving a 12-year-old girl and her companions on a classic Joseph Campbell-style Hero’s Journey to rescue her father and save the universe, visiting several planets along the way.
- The discussion of tesseracts—folding space in on itself to shorten interstellar travel from millennia to minutes—should spark some excellent creative thinking on themes like: 1) nothing is impossible, 2) we can solve the biggest problems we can imagine; 3) collaboration makes all the difference.
- I discovered Wrinkle at age 9 and credit it with helping me survive a very difficult time in the first half of my second decade. I gained enormous strength from it and have read it at least a dozen times.
- You might know a kid—or a grownup—who really needs this message right now.
- Last but not least, I read a whole business book this month that I decided wasn’t appropriate for the review column and the next one I started is large and I’m nowhere near done with it.
- I think it might be fun to mix in an appropriate novel every once in a while. The column has only covered nonfiction since I started it in 2003, but so many novels have changed the world. Arts, including literature, have an important role to play in creating our ideal world, and I should honor that once in a while.
I welcome your feedback on this. Oh, and if my review intrigues you, I interviewed Madeline L’Engle for two hours, back in the early 1990s, on the difference between truth and fact (she has since passed on). |
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Recent Interviews & Guest Articles:
Shel’s done 19 podcasts recently, ranging from 5 minutes to a full hour. Click here to see descriptions and replay links.
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About Shel & This Newsletter
As a green and social change business profitability/marketing consultant and copywriter…award-winning author of ten books…international speaker and trainer, blogger, syndicated columnist – Shel Horowitz shows how green, ethical, and socially conscious businesses can actually be *more* profitable than your less-green, less-socially-aware competitors. His award-winning 8th book Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet was a category bestseller for at least 34 months (and is now available exclusively through Shel), his newest book, Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World, has already won two awards and is endorsed by Jack Canfield and Seth Godin. Shel also helps authors/ publishers, small businesses, and organizations to market effectively, and turns unpublished writers into well-published authors.
Shel Horowitz’s consulting firm, Going Beyond Sustainability, is the first business ever to earn Green America’s rigorous Gold Certification as a leading green company. He’s an International Platform Association Certified Speaker and was inducted into the National Environmental Hall of Fame in 2011.He began publishing his monthly newsletter all the way back in 1997, making it one of the oldest marketing e-zines (it’s changed names a few times along the way).
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| “As always, some of the links in this newsletter earn commissions—because I believe in the products and services enough to promote them (I get asked to endorse lots of other programs I don’t share with you, because I don’t find them worthy).” |
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| Privacy Policy: We Respect Your Privacy
We collect your information solely to let our mailing service send you the information you request. We do not share it with any outside party not involved in mailing our information to you. Of course, you may unsubscribe at any time—but we hope you’ll stick around to keep up with cool developments at the intersections of sustainability, social transformation, and keeping the planet in balance. Each issue of Shel Horowitz’s Clean and Green Newsletter has a how-to or thought-leadership article and a review of a recommended book. We’ve been doing an e-newsletter all the way back to 1997, and some of our readers have been with us the whole time. |
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