October 15, 2008 is "Blog Action Day", a day when bloggers around the world turn the conversation towards poverty.
Many of you know how important it is for me to support women who are using their business as a tool for personal and professional development. The subtext of that is that many women in the United States who are starting businesses or buying businesses are recent immigrants, speak English as a second language, or are minorities either through culture, religion, or geographic origin. Their business = profits = a better life for themselves and their families and for many women, a way out of poverty and into prosperity.
Woman-owned businesses are on the rise in the United States, and one of the ways to increase and foster entrepreneurship is for all of us to provide more and better access to resources such as information on how to start a business, how to get a license, how to market, how to find and fulfill a consumer need, and how to budget, how to read profit and loss statements, and how to increase cash flow.
To this end, in the next year I'll be integrating some of my experiences, and the experiences of experts, to put together a book on 101 Tips for Minority Women in Business.
In the meantime, what can one person do? What can you do about poverty in your own community? All of us taking one small step translates into great strides to increasing economic freedom for the poor in our midst: here are eight ideas for you to take a step towards ending poverty.
1) Reduce. Go through your closet once a year and take out any item that you haven't worn in the previous 12 months. Donate this wear to charity, such as Wardrobe for Opportunity http://www.wardrobe.org or your local 'Dress for Success' chapter http://www.dressforsuccess.org
2) Become a microlender. Kiva http://www.kiva.org is an excellent microfinance site to assist in financing women entrepreneurs around the globe. For $25, $50, or $100, you can provide a woman-owned business with a low-interest loan that gives her a way to purchase inventory or invest in capital equipment to get over the hurdle of startup costs or to increase operations.
If you'd like to do this as part of a group, I invite you to join my lending team here: http://www.kiva.org/community/viewTeam?team_id=1499
3) Read the label. Are you buying Fair Trade? Are you supporting stores that are mindful about the origin of their clothing, foods, drinks, and products? We can wean ourselves off Big Box mentality and move towards conscious consumption by understanding where all of our "stuff" comes from. Talk to the local shopkeeper and request options that are sourced locally, provide fair wages, or are environmentally friendly. When they change their products, thank them in person and in public.
4) Go meatless for a day. By taking a day off from eating meat, you reduce, by just a little bit, the consumer demand on the cattle industry, which has increased environmental degradation, upped water consumption, and made day-to-day life more of a challenge across the globe.
5) Advocate. Each of us has a voice. Write a letter to your representative, send an e-mail to friends, or talk to your circle of associates about what you are doing to increase economic security for people in your community. Better yet, at your next gathering, instead of requesting hostess or birthday gifts, have a fundraising get-together and contribute to a local soup kitchen, women's organization, or children's group.
6) Educate yourself. Much of the outrageous spending in the United States is from the priorities by people in charge. I visit globalissues.org to understand more of how my actions in my own country directly play into outcomes for other people in other countries. Learn about Causes of Poverty on that site. This goes particularly for this year's election cycle: voting is one way for us to express our desires.
7) Peer pressure (aka social networking). We all are able to accomplish so much more when we act as a group. Tag five friends and send them some links or invite them to be a part of your fundraising team. Set a goal to raise a certain amount for a shelter or nonprofit or clinic in your area, and reach it.
8) Share your knowledge. Many of us have skills that we're not aware of or that we don't know how to share. Many groups need speakers, mentors, and coaches to assist people in developing new talents, and new talents, with the right support, turn into potential ways to earn more income.
Consider volunteering your time as an advisor or as a teacher at a local school, women's group, or business support team. Or consider helping someone navigate through getting paperwork or receiving continuing education. You will have the chance to grow your own knowledge, help others in your community, and increase your own ability to be effective.
Do you have other ideas? Pass them on.
Because I'm inspired, for Blog Action Day I am donating $5 to Kiva.org for every download of my e-book "Fifty-one Ways to Build your Community of Clients Online" before October 31, 2008 at 11:59pm PST.
Buy this great resource of all my tips for generating more sales online and know that $5 of your purchase will go directly to supporting a woman who needs it.
A Successful Woman's Handbook: Fifty-one Ways to Build your Community of Clients Online ($12.99 instant download, 240 pages)
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