This was done in 2009 but I think it still true.

The TOP Businesses:

No. 1: Accounting Services

No. 2: Legal Services

No. 3: Dental Services

No. 4: Specialized Design Services

No. 5: “Other” Health Practitioners

No. 6: Outpatient Care Centers

No. 7: Insurance Brokers

No. 8: Physicians’ Offices

No. 9: Medical And Diagnostic Labs

No. 10: Depository Credit Intermediation

For the full article:

http://www.forbes.com/2008/01/18/citigroup-sageworks-nyu-ent-fin-cx_mf_0118mostprofitable.html

One of the services EVERY business needs is someone who will give them legal advice. Not their business friend, not their brother-in-law, and not after you need it – but before. If you’re wondering whether a lawyer is worth the cost, the answer is yes.  In my businesses, I need to review contracts, have liability issues, real estate issues, taxes concerns, and sometimes need guidance on what I should do.  For me, anytime I picked up the phone or met with one of my attorneys, I was likely to get a significant bill. Some of concerns I felt were minor so I ever addressed them because of the cost.  But it doesn’t need to be costly!

Instead of costing me $100’s of dollars an hour – I pay one monthly fee for great service and advice any time I need it.

There are some obvious times when you’ll need a lawyer — setting up a corporate entity, filing a lawsuit against someone, setting up an estate or going over complex contracts. Best – you should consider bringing a lawyer on board to review items from the very beginning. A lawyer can advise you on the most appropriate structure for your business, review critical business correspondence and contracts, review company terms and conditions, write collection notices, and help you as your business grows.

A few years ago while working at one of my high tech startups, the company offered a legal service plan to its employees. Instead of paying when an employee might need the service they would pay a monthly fee and have access to an attorney any time you needed one. The company would pay part of the fee and the employee would get a small amount deducted from their paycheck every period and the whole family was covered.  But when I no longer worked for the company, the services could not be continued.

Well a year ago, my friend Alan told me I could get the same thing for my small business from a company called LegalShield, I was excited to hear what he had to say. The attorneys I was using at the time where not inexpensive and charged me a lot of money even for minor questions – in 15 minute intervals.

To contact Alan –  Phone him at (831) 824-4210 or email him at  asmith@legalshield.com

I started out slow, thinking that they were only going to be good at the minor business concerns but they quickly exceeded my expectations.  They were just as good at answering and helping me navigate removing myself from a Board of a Non Profit that was having conflict of interest issues to reviewing complex contracts for a 401K investment for a self-directed IRA. We have used them for real-estate transactions, contract reviews, intellectual property and copy write concerns, corporate document development, and many other business matters.

One of the other benefits of using LegalShield services is that I no longer need a rolodex of attorneys to call for different issues. With LegalShield, I call one number and they find the best attorney in their database to help answer and solve my issues.

In today’s highly litigious society, business experts agree that when it comes to protecting your business, an ounce of prevention is worth much more than a pound of cure — it may be worth your entire business.

One small drawback – they can’t represent a non-profit.  But the leaders of the non-profit business can enroll in a family plan which will help them in a limited way and very importantly give them the trial defense benefit, should they be sued. For example some board of directors members are using this in addition to their D&O insurance.

Here are some ways I used their services and reasons why you might need an attorney -

Contracts

Many startups, small businesses, or home-based businesses operate on little more than blind acceptance, trust, or a handshake agreement. That might be fine in some cases, however, your lawyer can help you identify those times when a written contract is preferred and can help you make sure that the contract protects your interests.

Intellectual Property Protection / Copy Write

When writing books and creating Intellectual property, it is important to own and control the rights.  When do you need to apply for patents or copyrights for a book, or a product? How can you then sell the right to use it (licensing it) to others while you retain ownership? It would be wise to have a lawyer with experience in intellectual property law review your contracts. This is especially true when you hiring independent contractors to help create the intellectual property on a “work for hire” basis (meaning that you own whatever they create for you).

Buying a Franchise, MLM, or Home Based Business

If you’re considering buying a franchise or an independent business or you’re selling or franchising your own business, you also need legal advice. Have a lawyer review all of the contracts and paperwork to ensure that the terms and the fees are reasonable and that you’re protecting yourself both legally and financially. For example a lawyer can let you know if you the company you are partnering with has insurance that might cover you.

Equipment and Real Estate

Will you be buying, using credit, or taking on a lease of equipment for vehicles, construction equipment, computers, food preparation equipment, or real estate? You’ll want to consult your lawyer to ensure that the agreements have enough flexibility and protection for you and your business.

Shared Office Space / Home Usage

Lawyers can also help you sort through complications of your business space. If you’re starting a business and are sharing the space, renting out portions, or starting out of your home, they can outline your rights and responsibilities and help you avoid potential conflicts.

Tax Planning and Issues

A tax  law specialist who can work with your CPA will help you structure your business to figure out the right entity for your business while you’re minimizing your costs and taxes.

One of the great things with LegalShield is that they will also represent you in a tax audit if you were with them when you did your taxes. With the IRS looking for money, this is becoming a big issue for Schedule C filers.

If you are behind in taxes, a lawyer can explain what your rights are and possibly help negotiate with them to come to a reasonable settlement.

Collections and Bankruptcy

Does a major client owe you a lot of money? You might turn it over to a collection agency, which will take a percentage of any money they collect, or you might use the persuasive power of your attorney to help collect what you’re owed.  Have your lawyer write a letter!

You may also face the situation where one of your customers declares bankruptcy, leaving you in a sea of creditors who are all looking to recoup as much of their money as possible. A lawyer can help you maximize the amount of money you receive when the customer’s assets are divided up.

In a worst-case scenario, you may be facing bankruptcy yourself. A lawyer might succeed in keeping you out of bankruptcy court by negotiating with your creditors. If you do file for bankruptcy, a legal specialist can help you keep as many assets as possible.

Liabilities

If you are selling a product or a service, what are your possible liabilities and how can you protect yourself from them? Do you need to have insurance coverage, a limited liability clause signed, or do you need a certain type of business entity to protect you?

Insurance

Business insurance is also a necessity for all business owners.  A lawyer can review your policies and let you know of any additional concerns!

Estate Planning

Creating a will is critical anytime you own a business. Will your business survive you, perhaps being taken on by a spouse, son, or daughter after you retire or pass away? If the business has value beyond your own involvement in it, you’ll want to consult a lawyer to help organize the transition. You may also want to consider the possibility of marriage breakdown and make plans for the business in case that happens.

All this if a reasonable monthly fee!

Want more information? Feel free to leave a comment!

www.TechSoup.org

One-stop resource for nonprofits to find technology assistance, including software, hardware, and technology planning.  Once qualified with TechSoup, organizations can access almost 450 products and services, including high-quality refurbished hardware and software at a substantially reduced cost from 45 donor partners like Microsoft, Adobe, Intuit, and Symantec.

Transparent Reporting and Research

http://www2.guidestar.org

Guidestar gathers and publicizes information about nonprofit organizations. They encourage nonprofits to share information about their organizations     openly and completely.  Nonprofits in their database report information about its mission, programs, leaders, goals, accomplishments, finances, and needs.

Volunteers

http://www.volunteermatch.org

VolunteerMatch attracts thousands of interested volunteers every day utilizing the power of the Internet to help find volunteer opportunities nationwide.

www.volunteersofamerica.org

Volunteers of America is a non-profit human service organization that helps more than 2 million people in over 400 communities in 46 states.

www2.ucsc.edu/svc

UCSC Student Volunteer Center – volunteer@ucsc.edu

http://www.scvolunteercenter.com

The Volunteer Center is a source for the latest non profit news, information, and tools in Santa Cruz County.

Board of Directors Resources

http://www.boardsource.org

BoardSource provides valuable information on the roles and responsibilities of a nonprofit board in its Q & A section. This section includes sample job descriptions for a board Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer. BoardSource is dedicated to advancing the public good by building exceptional nonprofit boards and inspiring board service.

www.bridgestar.org

Bridgestar provides a nonprofit management job board, content, and tools designed to help nonprofit organizations build strong leadership teams and individuals pursue career paths as nonprofit leaders.

http://www.compasspoint.org/board-cafe

Compasspoint  influence the dialogue about policies, emerging practices, and the resources needed for nonprofits. This includes a section with answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) on the subject of  Board Development.

Grants and Fund Raising

http://www.change.org/

http://www.ca.gov/Grants.html

http://www.google.com/nonprofits/

http://grants.gov

www.govloans.gov

www.fbo.gov

www.elavon.com/acquiring/payment/gift.aspx

Gift cards help attract new customers, increase revenue, and generate repeat business. And with over $80 billion in gift card sales expected this year, no business should be without them. Elavon offers the complete EGC solution along with a top-rated payment processing network, powerful multi-site and franchise reporting capabilities, direct settlement service, and many choices of compatible point-of-sale solutions.

If you have been given a domain because you registered as a distributor, instead of the long domain given to you by [COMPANY NAME]. Try to find something you can easily tell someone that they will remember like – [MyChocoalte.com]. Once you have found a domain name, register it and go to the service at 1and1 and forward it to your long [COMPANY] web domain. (The domain is only an option)

For information on how to forward a domain, either call 1and1 customer service at 1-877-461-2631 or by logging into your account, choosing the administration tab in the main menu, choose the domain you want to forward from by clicking on it,  and then choose the “Destination” option. There you can type in the long domain you would like it to forward to.

What is a domain name?

What is a domain name?  A domain name is a unique name followed by either a .com, .org, or other extensions that identifies a site on the Internet.

A great domain name can help your customers rememeber you, boost your traffic, and increase your sales.

Here are some things to consider when choosing a domain name. But don’t worry too much, the cost of a domain is rather inexpensive cost under $10 – the cost of  few cups of coffee.

It is always a good thought to purchase your name as well such as firstnamelastname.com.

You can reserve all of them if you want to, in order to save your domain from other people using it. If you have www.companyname.com you might want to also get www.companyname.net, www.companyname.org, so that somebody else does not use a dot net and try to steal your traffic. We suggest you consider .com as your priority and .tv if you are branding yourself. You never know if you will need them.

Special Note : Every time you hear of a new social network or new platform that looks like it will have significant growth, you should consider also registering your domain name, company name, and or personal name there as well. Example would be twitter.com/avanvaler

Long or Short?
The domain name that you choose should be short, and less than seven characters if at all possible. There are some very long domain names that work, but the key is to have a short descriptive domain name that’s easy for people to remember and type into their Internet browser.

Your domain name should have a sense of who you are if you are branding yourself as an expert or what your product or service is about.  It should be descriptive and relevant.

Does it Pass the Phone Test?
Does your domain name pass the phone test?  When you have a domain name, if you were to say your domain name over the phone, the person on the other end should be able to type it in and say it or repeat it without you having to repeat it to them more than one time. If it does, then great! Your domain name has passed the phone test.

If you have a very complicated domain name and you have to repeat it over and over, try to look for a  domain name that’s easier to remember and easier to spell. Besides, we want them to remember it so they can recall it later.

Keywords in your Domain Name
It also helps to have your keywords in your domain name as well if you know what they are going to be. For example, in the book, Myth’s and Truth’s, myths was one of the big keywords.

Another thing is extension. Dot com is always the most common extension when you’re using domain names. You can also use dot net or even a dot org. Originally, dot net was reserved for technical web organizations, but again, anybody can get one. But, always try for the dot com version first.

To Hyphen or Not
There is also some question on using hyphens. Hyphens are okay, but if you can get away with not usinghyphens, don’t use them because they tend not to pass the phone test. If you absolutely have no choice and have to use a hyphen to get the domain name you want, then use them sparingly.

Beware of Double Letters
You will also need to watch out for double letters. For example, Personal Liability. As you can see, there are two “Ls” in there. People may be confused if there is one “L” or if there are two “Ls”. That is something that you have to spell every time. It would be very easy to mistype this domain name.

Special Note : This is a strategy that is used by many sophisticated nternet marketers to drive traffic to their sites. One example is naturessunshine.com. Some registered naturesunshine.com for the same purpose and gets many orders from consumers.

Catchy vs. Practical
There are some websites that might not pass the phone test, but when you see it in print, it works. For instance, the words “out of” may be spelled “outta” and even though you’d have to spell your domain name over the phone, when seen in print, it works because it’s catchy.

No matter what name you choose, make sure it’s easy to say and read, relevant to your products or services, descriptive and uses keywords when possible. In the long term, a great domain name can help make your business a success.

LinkedIn – Professional networking
www.LinkedIn.com

Social Networking Explained
http://www.youtube.com

One of the fast growing segments on the Internet is the community-building sites where like-minded people can network, communicate one-to-many, and share ideas. Look at Facebook, Linkedin, Selfhelp, etc. They are all groups of people linking together with people they like, are interested in, and trust! Understanding what the difference is of each and how to use them is critical. Would you go to a summer family picnic passing out business cards or to a business trade-show sharing your latest ski vacation with everyone you met? Probably not.

We tend to believe information we hear from other people, much more so than traditional advertising. The public has a strong level of distrust for slogans and campaigns. They want and value information, but are asking for a problem to be solved, not to be sold. They want to be informed so they can evaluate and decide. This points to the importance of word-of-mouth as a critical component of any communications effort. The market and public are moving towards this mode of communication and away from traditional marketing. Pay and pray is no longer working.

Some people are jumping right in to social networking and yet many people have been slow to jump on board with the whole social marketing trend. So what is social networking and how do you use it?

Let go over the how to setup the two most popular and the how to manage them.

LinkedIn

Linkedin is a professional network where BUSINESS people connect, one where you would place your PROFESSIONAL and business details and  history. This is where most people go to find out what you have done in your professional life and connect and attract like minded business people. When in this network you would be business conscientious as if you were at a business mixer, business meeting or presentation.

Networking here is for new business partnerships jobs, and long-term professional relationships.

Presentation in this network is business like. Most pictures are in business suits or business casual. Appropriate actions would be placing your business in your profile, describing what you are doing professionally and networking with peers.

Inappropriate actions in this network would be posting what you are doing outside of business, over hyping your product or continually selling your product or service, complaining or using the network to join other people’s networks because of their influence for your gain without being of service.

Depending on your goals and personality, this network is typically closely guarded with only hand shakable contacts in it – people you know and trust.

How to Create A Public Profile On LinkedIn

• Create a LinkedIn account and profile by entering your personal and professional information and pressing the “Join Now” button or open your existing LinkedIn account.

• Go to your home page and locate the site map, a rectangular box that is made up of several categories.

• Find the “My Profile” category within the site map and click on the “Edit My Public Profile” link. Make it Public

• Create your public profile via the “Edit My Public Profile link.

• Keep the current URL designated to you or choose your own.

• Customize your URL by entering 5 to 30 alphabet letters, numbers or a mix of both. Only follow this step if you did not pick to keep the designated URL.

• Click on the “Set Address” button to personalize your URL address.

• Pick a “Basic View” or a “Full View” of your public profile by selecting one of the radio. You may also opt for the “None” radio button, which turns your profile off from public view.

• Choose the “Basic View” for a default public profile. The “Full View” profile is recommended to maximize your exposure on the LinkedIn network. Be sure to include links to YOUR business and websites.

• Check all the categories you wish to include in your “Full View” public profile by clicking boxes within the check box.

• Press the “Save Changes” button to successfully update your public profile

• Click on the “View My Profile as Others See It” link to review your public profile.

Facebook

Facebook is a more relaxed network where people you have many different types of contacts find out what you are doing socially and professionally. But mostly it is socially.  This is where people go to find out what you are doing today to stay connected – family, friends and people you feel comfortable inviting to a party or social event.

Networking here is all social, what are your kids doing, what vacations did you go on, did you learn anything of interest  that you might want to share, and many things that you would talk about at a social event.  Be careful what you post here if you are running a business!

When in this network you would be socially conscientious as if you were at picnic, party, or at a social event.

Appropriate actions would be describing what you are doing in general, tips for others, links to great articles you just read, posting jokes, talking about your business product or services on occasion, and communicating with your friends and contacts all at one time.

Inappropriate actions in this network usually are continually selling your product or service to your network or using your connections to write on their walls about your product or service. This is the quickest way to get removed from someone’s network.

Depending on your goals and personality, this network is typically less guarded and people who are met during other social events might be added.

How to Create A Public Profile On Facebook

• Start at the homepage. When you go to Facebook.com, you see a screen that asks you to login or sign up for a free account. Click on “Sign Up,” which takes you to a Web form.

• Fill out the form that asks for your full name, your current status, email address, a password and your birthday. You’ll also have to type in a series of letters and numbers for a security check as well as check a box saying that you understand and agree to the terms of use and privacy policy. Click the “Sign up now!” button when you have completed the form.

• Wait for your confirmation email. Facebook sends this email to confirm your registration. When you get the email, click on the link in the email to confirm that you did in fact register for a Facebook account. You will then be logged into Facebook.

• Search for friends and coworkers. When you first set up a Facebook account, you have the opportunity to search your email address book for possible friends and contacts. Type in your email address and password to do a search, or try searching by school or company.

• Use the same information that you used in setting up your Linkedin profile.

Having any questions?

Feel free to ask me question in my Linkedin Profile at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/avanvaler

SEO is becoming a very complex and complicated process for many small businesses.  For larger business, hiring a professional SEO makes sense. For a smaller business, on a tight budget, here are some things you can do yourself.

If you have tips of your own for ranking in local results, let us know in the comments below!

First understand WHO your customers are. Do competitive research on listing services of high ranking site for your key words that will attract the right types of customers and put them in place. You want to look  make sure there is enough search volume to attract customers but not so much that you will be in high competition (unless you have the money).  Your key words should be relevant to your business and having pages focusing on those key words will help a lot. Using Google’s Adwords to find good keywords is a great start.

Make sure your website is easily accessible, setup properly, and internet search ready. Having setup Google Analytics can help give you great insight.

Make sure your content is of high quality and value

Design quality into your site with a great user interface(UI). People need simple and to the point.  Use tools like fuesecondtest whohelps you fine tune your landing pages and calls to action by analyzing the most prominent elements of your design.

Setup Social Networking Accounts both professionally and a business page on services like linkedin,  facbeook, or selfgrowth

Making quality connections makes all the difference in the world. On the internet it is called – Link Building.  You want other websites to list YOUR website within theirs. These are called backlinks. The more quality ones you have, the more value Google values your site. You can get them by asking to be listed:

• By business contacts or partners (partners page, about, resources, links pages)
• Relevant shopping portals like amazon or ebay
• By producing content that is used and distributed on the internet with you web address in it.
• Being listed on quality resource lists – Better Business Bureau,  Non Profit donors
• News media and blogs

First understand WHO your customers are. Do competitive research on listing services of high ranking sites for your key words that will attract the right types of customers and put them in place.

google trends

google keyword tool

Make sure you have a website and your website is setup properly, easily accessible, and internet search ready. Having setup Google Analytics can help give you great insight.

Register your business with the major search engines so customers and clients can find you easily – Major Listing Directory

Claim your business with the major internet directories and local portals, again so customers and clients can find you easily. Places like – yelp, city search, urban space, trip advisor

Get listed on KEY local sites – local newspapers, local tv and news shows, regional portals

BE SURE to be consistent when entering your information on all of the above.

Setup Google Alerts so you can monitor any posting on you, your business, your market, or completive products.

Get feedback and audit your site weekly.

Estimated time – 15-30 minutes
Cost- Free
Benefit – Get your website info found on the first page of Google in your local area for Free.

Example of final result:

Step by Step Instructions:

1. Visit Google Places.

2. If you already have a Google Account, sign in with your email and password. If you don’t have a Google Account, click Sign up for an account now, or go straight to the sign-up page. Google Places accounts are not transferable, so if you are planning to share this account with other users, create a Google account that you would not mind sharing with others.

3. On Google Places homepage, click Add new business.

4. On the “Find your business” tab, search for your business by phone number to see if Google already has information about your business.

• Select the country of your business location from the drop-down.
• Enter the phone number of your business listing.
• Click Find business information.

5. Review the search results, if any, to see if one of them describes your business.

• If none of the results are related to your business, you will be prompted to add business information on the Edit Details page.
• If none of the results is your business, click Add a new listing. You’ll be prompted to add more information on the next page.

6. Fill out the basic information about your business. This includes:

• Company/Organization: This is the official/registered name of your business.
• Address (required): The address should look exactly the way you’d write it on a standard mailing envelope. If you are a service-area business, you’ll be able to hide your address in a few steps.
• Phone Number (required): Be sure to include the area code with your phone number.
• Website: Your website URL can be a maximum of 255 characters.

7. Click Next.You’ll now have the opportunity to provide the following information about your business:

• Categories: Enter several categories to describe your business, to make it easier for others to find when they search Google. Google will automatically suggest categories as you type. Make sure you choose one Google-suggested category before adding customizable categories. You can enter up to 5 categories for your business.
• Hours of operation: Select your hours of operation using the dropdown menus. If would prefer not to specify your hours of operation, keep the radio button selected next to “I prefer not to specify operating hours.”
• Payment options: Select the checkboxes next to the payment methods that your business accepts.
• Photos: Use the photo uploader to add a photo from your computer, or specify a URL to add a photo from the web. You can add up to 10 photos to your listing. Photos will appear in order of greatest size and quality. To learn more about adding photos, check out the User Guide.
• Video: To add a video, upload it to YouTube and copy and paste the URL to your Places listing. You can add up to 5 videos to your listing. For help with uploading your video to YouTube, read the article on how to upload a video in the YouTube Help Center.
• Additional details: Use this section to add custom information fields to your listing. For example, parking availability, or whether your business allows pets. Learn more about useful custom attributes to add to your listing.

8. You can preview your listing as it will appear in Maps on the right side of your screen. New information will appear in the preview as you enter it. When you’re satisfied with your listing, click Submit at the bottom of the page.

9. Choose how you would like to verify your listing and click Finish.

Once you’ve submitted your business information, you’ll be asked to verify it before it goes live.

You can see your listing live on Google by signing into your Google Places account and clicking See your listing on Google. This link will take you to your actual Place page, as seen by users.

Tip:  Spend the extra time optimizing your listing with keywords like “Santa Cruz Realestate” “Santa Cruz Medical” “Lice Removal Service” while also mentioning your local area.

For a small business, getting approved to be able to accept credit cards and its own merchant account can be difficult. That’s where Paypal, squareup and intuit fill the gap. I’m hoping Paypal will offer a small device shortly.

With SquareUp and intuit gopayment they not only allow you to bypass having to get a merchant account, but you also get a mini credit card scanner so you can accept credit cards anywhere you go. Additionally, you can integrate your business and organize inventory and set prices all in an effort to help you streamline your efforts. No need for paper receipts as Sqauerup or intuit gopayment will automatically send you your receipt via e-mail. They even have an application that allows for your customers to leave you a tip if they so desire. Talk about easy!
Before we go into the differences, I want to be sure that you check to make sure that your current phone is compatible with both credit card reader devices.You can find more information on their websites about compatible phones.
https://help.squareup.com
http://payments.intuit.com/products/basic-payment-solutions/mobile-credit-card-processing.jsp

They both offer similar services and here are some differences that might help you decide which one is best for you. The costs evaluated are for the low volume, under $1,000 per month of transactions. Intuit offers a little better deal for large volumes.

SquareUp
Pricing
Monthly Service – $0 /month
Swipe Rate – 2.75%
Keyed Rate – 3.5% + 15¢ per transaction.
Transaction Fee – $0.15
Square card reader – Free (Free replacement card readers too)
Monthly Minimum – None
Activation – None
Gateway – None
Early termination – None
Setup Fee – None
American Express – extra charge

Intuit GoPayment

Pricing
Intuit GoPayment Low-Volume Plan
Monthly Service – $0 /month
Swipe Rate – 2.7%
Keyed Rate – 3.7%
Transaction Fee – $0.153
Intuit Credit Card Reader – Free for limited time ($179.95 normally)
Monthly Minimum – None
Activation – None
Gateway – None
Early termination – None
Setup Fee – None
charges extra for processing american express

Overview

• Well the pricing is very close with Intuit being little cheaper in card swiping and squareup being cheaper when you have to punch the card number in.
• Squareup is less complex and a little smaller device.
• They both don’t have any kind of monthly fees.
• They both will send you card readers for free and are very simple to apply.
• Intuit has advanced plan for people who do processing of 1000 or more per month but square up is always the same.

I think it also depends if you are already using Intuits QuickBooks. I would imagine it is easily integrated into their system possibly saving you time. For me, I’ll be suggesting SquareUp if they don’t already have a relationship with Intuit.
For business that already have a merchant accont I would check out RoamPay who requires a merchant account from a ROAM accepted partner.

http://www.roamdata.com/roampay/us

Start by watching the trailer:

http://www.thrivemovement.com

The film illuminates and discusses so many problems we face on the planet and empowers us toward real solutions.  It opens the gateway to solutions to poverty, starvation, financial crises, war, and health problems.   Real solutions.  Simple steps.  Positive change.

So many groups and people are talking about the same issues, Thrive focuses on consolidating the information in one place and getting people to work together for a solution.

There is soooo much pressure on everyone especially kids to learn, study, and conform.  (There is a great TED talk, by the way, on how schools squelch creativity.  You can see it here:  TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson)

 What on earth will it take? …..YOU … Get involved in Life and don’t be passive!