When the financial market is unstable worldwide, the first reaction of most people is to hold on to what they have and also cut costs. They also presume that practically everyone is doing the same thing, as that is the impression that newspapers create.
Everyone ISN`T responding in that manner. There are many people and many ventures that flourish, whether the economy is down or not. And if you are wondering why it is so, the solution is available there where it is often likely to be overlooked. It will be a good idea to search for the answer together.
When a 'down' current comes, no matter what it is, the most effective solution is to rise above it. When we go with the down current we sink with the tide and have to wait, suffocating, until the tide changes.
The reality is that when we learn how to be in control and in our power, we can stay above everything that is happening no matter what happens around us. Let's take a look at how.
'Go-getters' or 'Go-contributors'
Consider a situation where we want much more - fatter profit, a salary boost, lengthier holidays, better freedom, and better prospects.
When we yearn for a thing, our response is to try to get it. By that yardstick everybody is a 'Go-getter'. And a 'go-getter' is understood as a dynamic, enterprising person with leadership qualities. Such an attitude is a prime requirement for succeeding in life as we understand it. Nevertheless, there is an innate conundrum. When these approaches are put into practice, there are certain unanticipated, though unavoidable upshots.
The crux of the problem is that after 'getting' and 'owning' a thing, what eventually happens is 'dropping' it. We either actually throw it away or become indifferent to it.
Then our interest swings to something else. This continuous swaying of interest is the biggest issue; the widening interests becoming a never-ending circle of desires so that we are never satisfied with what we have. It becomes a sort of junk food dependency!
But what if we turned our 'getting' into giving?
You might be conscious that the act of contributing produces a unique pleasure. This arises from gratification and not from alarm or self-indulgence. One can go on contributing and get so much in return like a most rewarding expedition.
Our generous and giving attitude creates generous and giving customers and team members while our price consciousness and 'getting attitude' attracts precisely those types of customers and team members. And they're the very ones we don't want!
Inspiring capitalism
Many businesses see this now. They are now starting to give more and more in various ways. There's a veritable 'sea-change' going on as more people 'get' the role that giving can play in their business. Bill Gates is a class example. In a July 2008 lead article in TIME Magazine he referred to it as 'Creative Capitalism'.
He opined that the idea of providing for others could become a crucial factor in encouraging people to buy one product rather than another.
The gist of what Bill Gates is saying is that when an enterprise is associated with the idea of providing in any manner, that enterprise and its products become more appealing to clients. It carves out a niche for itself far above that of others.
Creative Capitalism is about rising above what we reluctantly settle for to reach what we truly aspire to. When we can capitalise on our ideas and imagination in a way that benefits and nurtures the wider community and network; we stop wasting our resources, efforts and talents in trying to temporarily win. We start creating the real win for ourselves and for the sustainability of our global economy.
The charm of effective giving
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the phrase that's often used to describe giving back at a corporate level. It's becoming almost a required part of corporate business practice. Yet when it's done out of a sense of obligation or with the intent to just make ourselves look good, people eventually get what it is. It still is a temporary strategy.
However, 'giving' people and businesses always attract more. The passions and beliefs behind what they do are shared with the people with whom they connect. They attract something beyond what the slick PR or marketing campaign provides.
So, what happens if we allocate some of the marketing budget to go toward giving?
Giving creates something bigger than who we are. Giving creates inspiration. Inspiration can only be created when it resonates with the people whom we want to inspire. And we get inspired when we are involved in the experience. It is not just about hearing the nice stories of others. It's actually participating in those stories. After all, we all want to feel good in life by making a contribution-to our family and friends, to our company and to our community.
Transaction-based giving makes it inevitable
A far better atmosphere for donating has become possible because of an idea (or we can call it a 'phenomenon') by the name Buy1GIVE1 (Buy One Give One). Buy1GIVE1 is the abode of transaction-based giving. Transaction-based giving overhauls everything. Let us put to use our resourcefulness and decide why.
How wonderful is the situation where every time someone buys an ice cream, a child somewhere in an underprivileged country gets a cup of milk?
Equally exemplary would be the situation where whenever someone subscribes to a magazine, a tree would instantly get planted in a barren patch in another continent? Or, if every time one eats a hamburger another would instantly get at least a handful of rice?
Or supposing you are undergoing some training. How wonderful it would be if another eager student far away is also getting the necessary training as a corollary (believe it or not, the training does not cost the training institute more than 60 cents a day).
Where a motivational speaker at a conference is connected with a charity, part of his income might go to helping kids who have speech problems due to facial defects. It will be a matter of great satisfaction for the participants at the conference to know that their very participation is helping a deserving cause.
Consider whether you will be able to use transaction-based giving in your own exclusive way to go with your services or products to make your customers and other team-mates part of the saga of contributing. This is how you can do it.
The economy where all benefits
Business ventures, on a global basis, have already internalized the efficacy of this transaction-based giving. A case in point is TESCO, one of the foremost supermarket chains of UK. The company's programme ensures that a Kenyan child gets a school uniform when someone buys a pair of school trousers from them.
Volvic is a Mineral Water Company that launched its scheme of transaction-based giving program last year. They help the cause of making wells in Africa. They call the scheme Buy1 GIVE 10 as it helps in generating a flow of 10 litres of water in the well, by every single litre of water they sell.
Small to medium sized companies are now starting to take leadership in expanding this global giving movement through Creative Capitalism. Buy1GIVE1 (www.b1g1.com), a Singapore-based Social Enterprise came up with a mechanism that has turned this transaction-based giving into something every one of us can be involved in.
Buy1GIVE1 is the heart of a most powerfully persuasive transaction-based giving globally, correlating business ventures of all sizes to any noble cause anywhere. It is weaving a universal society of business givers and for SME`s, Buy1GIVE1 links up businesses, their clients AND charity requirements in a most passionate and mutually satisfactory manner. The whole thing is completely automated.
You can become a citizen of this global giving movement by simply getting a Buy1GIVE1 `VISA` directly off the Buy1GIVE1 site at www.b1g1.com. And if you own a business you can become a B1G1 Business through a simple online application and select your cause for your main product or service to kick-start you're giving. Buy1GIVE1 forwards 100% of the contributions to their international Worthy Cause Partners (there are now over 528 projects you can select) making the giving even more effective.
Do you know?
* Half the population of the globe -about three billion people-is forced to survive on less than two dollars a day.
* Even when the new millennium dawned there were still almost a billion people who were illiterate.
* Poverty and malnutrition robs the lives of 20 children every minute, 30,000 every day, and 210,000 children every week, as per UNICEF records.
* Just 12% of the people worldwide utilize 85% of the water available for human consumption. And this 12% does not belong to any of the underdeveloped countries.
* Medical aid is not available for one billion people of the world population.
* Every year about 63,000 square miles of rainforests get decimated.
* Instruction to Instruction (www.kipmcgrath.com.au)
* Medical treatment helping in medical aid (www.primanora.com)
* Phone card to communication (www.ultimatecomms.com)
* Mind Expansion to curing (www.meditate.com.au)
* Weight loss to kids' meals (www.bodychain.com)
* Blind installation to lighting up schools (www.blindscouture.com.au)
* Socks for comfort to feet free of frostbite (www.socksforhappypeople.com)
* Learning to educating social organizers (www.b1g1forcoaches.com)
* And for an overall look, simply go to www.b1g1.com.
Unearthing what we are looking for-Nature's eternal secret
So let's begin again from where we had set off-financial instability and succeeding in having what we need. The requirements are in reality quite clear-cut. It is just a triumvirate starting with the letter C - correlation, cooperation and community.
When we can collaborate instead of isolate and when we can create an effective way to add to each other instead of taking away from each other, we discover there is so much abundance and resource already available in our world. And when we connect, not just with each other but with our true selves, we discover something really interesting-that we're all ONE. Then we understand how easy it is to create a global community from something as simple as giving.
The secret was always alive in nature
In nature, bees and butterflies pollinate flowers and create sustainable flower gardens for many generations to thrive on. It's been in front of us all along!
Failures are said to be stepping stones to success. In the same way we can turn setbacks into advantages. In reality we should be thankful for the current situation that is helping us to move ahead.
And when you choose to start giving today, you will feel so much better despite the economic challenges. And when you feel better you will discover a renewal of hope and you will remember all tides change and the down will soon be up. Giving today is the one thing that you can do to change everything.
Author Resource:
Discover more about how Buy1GIVE1 (BOGO ) can transform your business using Cause Marketing .
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