SOPA, PIPA and Why They Matter

Archive for the ‘Community Efforts’ Category

SOPA, PIPA and Why They Matter

Jan
2012

Yes, we’re participating in this today. People may arrive here or on our website and wonder what was going on. Well, imagine that being the case every day, or worse, imagine a trusted site you’ve come to know and frequent being shut down forever, due to no fault of their own. Imagine if that site was yours.

SOPA and PIPA are two pieces of legislation are being considered. SOPA is the Stop Online Piracy Act of the House, and PIPA, or Protect IP Act, is its Senate companion bill. At first blush, and without review, these sound like, well, sound bills, but even though the intentions are noble, the overall impact amounts to censorship of the Internet, and more, closure of sites. The real intent (warning: very boiled down explanation) is to protect works of those that produce it and to punish those that benefit from those works without compensating the creator. That’s called “stealing”, “plagiarism” or “piracy” and it stinks. Now, if the bills were designed to catch and punish only those ne’er-do-wells, all would be great, and only thieves would be complaining. However, that’s not how these bills are written: instead, they are sweeping legislation that essentially allow the government’s dragnet to be cast far and wide to snare those committing these kinds of crimes, while at the same time, ensnaring innocent business owners in the melee. Oh, and all without due process. These are your neighbors, other business owners, maybe even YOU, caught in a net for no reason other than having your site on the Internet. Scary stuff.

Small Business Saturday: Tools for Every Day Use

Nov
2011

Big props go out to an unlikely source: the Big Fellas at American Express. While we look at them as a deep-pocketed corporation, we prefer to give credit where credit is due: their push for Small Business Saturday is pretty cool and extremely well-organized and thought out. This year, it seems better than ever; take for example the Small Business Saturday Checklist. Don’t you think this thing can be used for marketing efforts all year long? We sure do.

Visit their dedicated website and Facebook Fan Page. We think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at all the tips and ideas they’ve assembled for small business owners. Oh and make sure to “Like” the idea by pledging to shop locally.

Economic Gardening (No Shovel Required)

Oct
2011

What is Economic Gardening?

Before you can know why you should care about economic gardening, you probably need to know what it is. The core idea of economic gardening is that local entrepreneurs and businesses are the biggest contributors when it comes to creating new jobs. The philosophy basically says that the most local economic growth happens when local entrepreneurship is emphasized, as opposed to trying to attract businesses from outside the community (known as “economic hunting”). The whole concept dates back around 20 years. In 1989, Littleton, CO (pop. 41,000) lost their biggest source of employment due to relocation. Rather than crumple up and scream “No fair!”, they decided to leverage their local businesses in an effort to sustain their economy… and thus economic gardening was developed. Since then, over 15,000 jobs have been created in Littleton since then.

Why “Buy Local” Matters

Nov
2010

buy local by marketingjava.com It’s something we don’t always think about, but people throughout our cities and towns own and operate shops, businesses and restaurants all around us. They provide not only goods and services that we love to buy and consume; they employ people, and their sales add revenue to the local tax base. Know what else they provide? A sense of connectedness, pride, and yes, ownership. Let that last one sink in a bit…

These are the businesses that support fundraising activities at the local elementary school; they provide gift certificates for the raffle to help benefit a local shelter; they sponsor youth and adult sports teams. They are part of the fiber of our communities.

The Ugliness That Is Local-Washing

Aug
2010

It seems innocent enough: go head to head against your competitors by mimicking their campaigns, saying similar things and trying to evoke the same kind of sentiment from the unsuspecting consumer. But no, it’s not so innocent, and it’s happening right now, in small towns and cities across the country, even my own Boulder, Colorado. This sneaky assault is happening right under the very nose of each and every purchaser, shopper and diner nationwide. It’s called “local-washing”, and it basically means corporations dress and talk the language of “we’re doing it local”, but in essence, it’s just a ploy. You can read more about it here in an article by Stacy Mitchell in Indy.com, where she discusses how national corporations are co-opting the idea of “local” in an attempt to have consumers believe they are local in everything they do. Right. Sure they are. Tell that to the small businesses across America who have shuttered their windows when the Big Box chain rolled into town or the tiny downtown business districts that report record vacancies because their tenants couldn’t hang on during the worst recession of our generation.

The truth is when you spend your money in these establishments, some of that purchase will support workers there, but the profits go into the corporate coffers somewhere else, usually far away from your own community.