How to get the best profits out of a crowd-fundraise project.

You want to raise money for a good cause... but how?! There are many ways - and what I'm telling you here is my personal experience! The other day I thought about the different ways we've raised money with the Internet... over 70,000euro! If you missed out, you can still donate to www.tjeko.info :)

Some big campaigns - some small.
Some we reached - others we just changed the goal a bit (who tries to raise 200,000euro for his/her first project?! We agreed to be 'satisfied' when we reached 28,000euro instead!

To those of you that are looking to start a fund-raiser yourself, here are my random advises!

1. Determine your goal!
What is it you want to reach? Why do you want to reach THAT? What are you willing to 'sacrifice' to reach that goal (because it is going to take some kind of sacrifice for you!)
I told you already that I had some ambitious goals before that I had to 'fine tune' a bit - but in general you need to really be honest AND ambitious. Don't assume all your friends are going to support you, simply because they are your friends...Seriously, how many 'requests' have you ignored lately. Those friends probably thought out of all people YOU would support them - and you didn't. Surprise, surprise: this is about to happen to you too! Don't take it personal - you'll find that help might come from others ways you didn't expect!

2. Investigate your options.
There are many great platforms that can help you reach your goal - so find one that fits your needs. There won't be a single one that's going to cater to ALL your needs - but one might be more suitable that the other. Know that all of them are going to take some of the money-that's just a given. But realize there are fundamental differences between them!
Some that come to my mind:

• www.kickstarter.com
• www.indigogo.com
• www.fundrazr.com
• www.onepercentclub.com/

These are just a few of the choices you have. What I found as a European, you;ll be limited to a service that includes a payment system that is catered to the standard of your country. For example, in Holland hardly anybody has a credit card... so we had to include I-deal in our options. That's really really limiting - so we ended up manually updating our achievements.
One other thing to realize: there are some fundraisers that will only sent you the money if you REACH YOUR GOAL!! That's a great and safe way for people to join - but it also can leave you with no cash at all after working very hard to get there...

3. Include visuals and rewards to your project.
Again, see how others are doing it - and learn from them. What triggers you (especially helpful if you want 'strangers' to become supporters!). Pictures? Video? GREAT REWARDS!?
What is the 'WIN' for your supporters - how is it going to help them!?
This is as simple as really making them feel they did something GREAT by supporting you. I tried to make an effort to THANK everybody within 48 hours of their support.

4. Get some initial backers before you go public!
Nobody likes to support something that doesn't have any believers yet. So first target your intimate friends. The ones you would call if you were bleeding to dead on the sidewalk...OK maybe the ones that you know are going to support you period. Tell them personally about your project, and converse you hope they can help you before they ask others. Once you have about 25% of your needed goal, go public. You'll see that it will attract a lot of small givers! They love the idea they can be part of your project - it seems it's going to work!

5. Invest your time - and then some!
Online fundraising or crowd fundraising is not an easy task. It will require lots of time. Before you start you need to have a clear project description, perks and momentum. You'll have to spent at least 30 minutes EVERY DAY to do good follow-up, updates and promotional activities.
Ask others to help you - ask others to share (they won't probably do it if you don't show them the possibilities!

I love the power of including your whole social-network in achieving your social-profit, non-profit or charity goal. It's an amazing feeling when your friends actually start helping you reach your goal!

Shoot for the stars - there is more for you to explore!
And tell me if you have other tips!

Why you should (self-)publish your first book

Receiving that box in our mail from Create Space (an Amazon company) was an amazing feeling! After having worked on the project for so long, it was a great feeling to have real and beautiful results in our hands! Real books. Written by us (I like to call everything my wife does 'us', one of the beauties of being married!)

If you never thought about producing a book, you should take a minute and think... Why haven't you? I am not saying that everybody should write books (Google estimated in August 2010 that there should be around 130 million books!) but I meet so many people that really should!

What about you? Ask yourself the following questions and seriously ask yourself if you should write a book. Or a manual, a comic, a poetry book, a picture journey, a 101 on a subject that has your interest...

Ask yourself; 

Do i have an interest in any particular matter? 

Whenever a conversation hits a certain topic, do I get instantly involved in the discussion?

Do I get excited about a hobby, a cause or a certain holiday destination?

Do I like to express myself through art? Paining? Dancing? Drama? Photography?

Do I keep a journal?

If you answer 'yes' on even only one of these questions you should consider if you should write about it! Tell others you're thinking about sharing your passion (don't mention you're thinking of writing this book - too many people that never produced anything for themselves will tell you why it's a dumb idea...but they are wrong! Seriously!)

You know something about something that others don't. At least not in the way you see it! (self-)publishing a book is great for...

• others: we want to know what you think and how you see things. your art, insight, passion, conviction, know-how can really help us! 
• you: writing a book is a great journey in which you learn much more about the subject you already know so much about! It can also help you to become an authority, or at least a voice, in a certain area. don't ever do it for the money - at least not if you don't already have a great following. you only get little money per book, and the idea that you would already find a publisher that's going to pay you for your amazing manuscript is very small (and that seems an understatement). 

I am aware that I might have lost some of you along the way. But for those of you that are still reading, I would love to ask you this: if you were to write a book, what would it be about?!

Fine tuning the blog

As I'm in my 60days0min challenge (30 minutes of dedicated social media time for 30 minutes max), I realize my personal blog-voice needs to be fine-tuned a bit.

After I wrote the posts on 'how to keep your wife  (part 1 and 2)', I realized that, in order for this blog to find it's niche, I want to fine-tune the blog a bit.

I want to focus this blog more on those that are running start-ups, social businesses and NGO's that are not afraid to partner with 'for-profit' organisations. It's a journey that I am traveling myself as well - so it should be not too hard to write relevant articles. So, as I wrote my innitial 'topics to post on', I want to focus more on the first 3 subjects...

Social Business: a voice i just discovered.

This week I got to discover a new 'voice' in the world. Little did I know that this voice has been around for years already, not in the background but very known and even recognized.
I discovered the work of professor Yunus, founder of the first micro-credit bank, winner of Nobel peace price.

His philosophy on Social Business seem very much connected to the Social Profit model that Tjeko is developing for its fun parks. I bought his book Building Social Profit and want to know more about this 72 year old entrepreneur that seemingly has influenced the world of empowering poor people around the world, starting with his own country, Bangladesh. His work is based on 7 principles, an approached that deserves our attention as well. 

I love people with inspiring quotes like:

... When tiny, tiny things start happening  a million times, it becomes a large thing. It lays down the foundation of a strong economic base. With women participating in building this economic base, it becomes the foundation for better social and economic future ...

So I'm really looking forward to read his book and learn.

Who is new in your realm of influence? What are you learning from them? Because the truth is: if you're not learning, you're dying :/

Feel free to leave your opinion on this blog! I love to know what you think.

How to keep your wife! or: 5 things to keep a healty marriage [Part 2]

This post has been moved our family blog!

How to keep your wife! or: 5 things to keep a healty marriage [Part 1]

When we look around us these days, it seems as if marriage is a thing people try once or twice... As if the glue that keeps people together is of a bad kind. Because it's not keeping people really together!

On the other hand, I see great couples that have kept the 'vibe' between them! The once that are married for about 40 years - and still have the other person make them laugh. Or still make the other person hold their hands! I love being a witness of those moments! Love is a beautiful thing.

Having been married for almost 9 years makes me no expert by any measure ... yet I can tell you honestly that I've never been more in love with my wife than before. And truth be told, she has never been more attracted to me (of course!)

Here are 5 things I keep in front of me that keep my marriage strong. And these might chance trough time - but for now they work GREAT!

1. Keep dating!
For some people this is completely normal - but for too many couples it seems that dating was something of the past. But it shouldn't. Because if dating is something of the past - one day you'll wake up and wonder: what happened to you?!! You never noticed the changes that took place in your partner!
Dating to me is setting aside time to spend with my wife. Not just to go shopping together, or watch a movie on the coach. No, I want to make sure it's time to really talk. Like the time we first started hanging out!
When you 'date' like this, you allow yourself to really see where your spouse is going. Some people I know that divorced told me: when I look back it just seemed our ways had grown apart. When you date, you keep noticing that when it happens...not when it is to late. When you notice it, you can stir on it.

2. Ask her what time she needs you home
This one might seem a little absurd. But do you know what time of day your wife needs you most? Is she an evening person, or more a morning star? Is there a moment in the day your household seem to explode? Are there days in the week your wife is walking on her toes to make things happen?
For us that means that in this period of our lives I make a commitment to BE home by 5pm. That's about the time Tatiana has heard enough toddler arguments and is tired of keeping the house from falling apart. Its also a brief window of time I get to physically invest in the lives of my two (soon to be three) little heroes.

Find her love language, and then speak it
There is a great book called: the five love languages. This book explains in very plain English how different people feel loved in different ways. And if you speak the wrong language to the right person - it simply won't work! It's like going to the south of French and trying to speak English - they might give you the impression they understand you - but they don't! I discovered that to show Tatiana I really care for here - I need to spent quality time with her! That means that when we are together, she really needs me to be there. Not answering my mail when she is telling me about her day. Not watching a movie 'together' while I'm reading a book - because the movie is just not that interesting. Chick-flicks are a great test of love...sitting trough one of those with your wife helps our marriage to stay strong. Not because of great advise - but because we're laughing at the same stupid stuff...and have something to refer to when funny things happen!

 I have two more that are worth reading - they will follow soon. First you might check if you can use any of these - and maybe they got you to think about ideas for yourself! Share them - so we all can be better husbands!

Experiment: 60 days 30 minutes Social Media - Week 1

Social Media for your business, private blog or good cause is very important.
It's one week into our experiment with '30 minutes of Social Media', and I have to say it's been very revealing. It might sound like an easy challenge, but I have to say, after a full week I've learned lots of do's an  don'ts. I can tell you I've discovered a need for a plan!

Last week I started in these three area's:

• Personal Blog: That's what you're reading right now.
• Business: The company I work for: www.kaarskoffie.nl 
• Good Cause: The Social Profit NGO my wife and I started,  www.tjeko.info 

Each area's has is own personal needs. Each catagory has its own challenges, chances and interesting way of approach. All I'm doing in this post is sharing some of my challenges. I'm in the experiment myself - I'm learning, not teaching. So don't expect me to give you a clear cut plan! Yet!

Personal Blog: I found that writing blog posts in a small part of the 30 minutes I'm given is actually challenging for me! Even right now I feel I just get warmed up. But if I want to do other things, I should stop this post and do other things, to guarantee my precense on the web today. Result is a half finished post in my blogger - while i'm typing this time sensitive blog now first!
One of the successes of this week is allowing many more people to know I am using Twitter. In return I got 14 new followers! That's a 10% increase!
Having a good cause that had an exciting week also helped! It gave me things to blog about - as I am personally very involved in the cause, and really want my friends and followers to know the things that happen there.

Business: Time is everything. First challenge in my current position: Having 30 minutes of un-interupted time for the Social Media activities of the company. In preperations of the Social Media 30 minute challenge, I decided to do the Kaars Koffie activities at night, at home. WRONG. After 9pm I just don't have the creativity to really make too much sense. So this week I'm telling my boss: Don't bother me for 30 minutes - I'm in the zone!
Our newly launched Facebook account went from 37 likes to 41. We're preparing a big campaign (as we didn't have any Facebook activities until 3 weeks ago!). Be expecting to read more about this in the future.

Good Cause: Using 30 minutes a day for our good cause has been very rewarding. Using the momentum that was created around Tjeko for our own good has resulted in much conversation about Tjeko. It seems that Social Media is very good to give extra attention (read: extra value) to events that are already happening. You might organize ANY event (church, ngo, school or sport club) - with 30 minutes of social media attention to your event the impact dramaticly improves.

I am going to experiment today with writing some specific goals and approaches for each area - it seems I need some more focus on some areas.

If you have any tips or tricks on how you use your Social Media - please let me know, and leave me your thoughts in a comment!

Tips for reliable affiliate links in a blog

There is a trend going - and it has been going for years now. Producers, resellers, software developers and even charities are willing to pay you! They would love to pay you! If you get to sell their products, they want to pay you for it! Depending on the service, the product and the channel, referrals can actually be a nice way to support your blogging efforts.

On my blog I've used several affiliate referrals on many different topics. Even the pictures I use from www.123rf.com  (referral link) I try to include a referral link.

First of all: Sharing a good product you use or love gives great satisfaction. At least to me! Second, I can use a little extra pocket money - even if it's just to pay for the different web-based memberships!

Truth to be told. It is not a milk cow. Not at all - at least not for me. Partly because I am very specific on referral links that I integrate. I will also not add general advertisements - those just side-track visitors from your website!

So here is my promise.
All referral link on this blog are 100% genuine. They are products or services that I honestly like. I am not going to promote anything I haven't used or experienced myself.
If I'm referring a book, I do so because I really believe it's a good book
If I'm referring a service, I do so because I enjoy the benefits of using it (or having used it) myself.
I can't promise YOU will like it - but I promise I did!


In a blog post about referrals, it only makes sense to give you my most liked products of the moment:

• Livedrive online storage. After crashing my hard disk and having to pay over 1200euro ($1500), this service really seemed to make sense to me!
• HootSuite - the best dashboard I've ever used to keep some order in all the social media streams!
• Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World - my absolute guide to blogging etc! Michael Hyatt really inspires many people around the world - including me!

An experiment: 60 days 30 minutes for Social Media

Because I'm working on 3 big projects at the moment, and I feel the danger that I'm going to work on the wrong things ... loosing too much time in things that are important - but have the potential to take over...

What am I talking about? The time you should spent on Social Media. It's a fact: it's not going away... It's a fact: it helps businesses, individuals and good causes to connect with their followers. Their tribes.
But it's also a fact that it is very time consuming. It seems proven that it's only effective when you are consistent. It's proven that people get annoyed when you make simple mistakes (like posting private tweets on your business twitter account!!!) But I'm a living proof that Social Media can also take away valuable time. If I let the Social Media monster do his thing, I find myself checking all my channels ALL the time. As if I'm missing something when I don't... I feel captivated. But often times with a feeling of failure... What am I doing with my time. Every time I take my phone to do a 'quick' scan, I find myself lost in endless lists of little facts that are not too important...

• John Simple has invited you to play Farm Ville. 
• Jacky Joe wants to add your birthday to 'my calendar'. S
• haniqua TheQueen; ilmao! u 2 cute!!!!
• bla bla bla!

And all I wanted to 'know' is how many people responded to MY messages... 

Anyway! I decided I was going to take myself and  2 other projects I work on an experiment.

For the next 60 days I will channelize my Social Media time to one period a day. That period will be 30 minutes. Not longer. And no more. (the hardest part will be breaking the habit of watching 'the responses')

My goal: 

• Great content
• Bigger Networks
• Greater dialog with my tribes (thanks Seth Godin for giving that word new meaning!)
• Seeing if this will work.

How will I show that it's 30 minutes?  I will film everyday, and do a promise:

I will only use Social Media 30 minutes a day!
I feel I might have to add a small apology: If I CAN'T resist the temptation to see if anybody started responding to anything I do in those 30 minutes - I will only LOOK - and not do anything else.

If I DO, I will confess publicly! And maybe in a few days I will have to adjust my experiment. That's why they call it an experiment.

OK - I have 13 minutes left to go and connect!

After finding the picture - I have 4 minutes left today! 

How sharing your great idea might not be so great.

My wife often tells me I shouldn't share my ideas with the world - at least not before they are somewhat developed. And I can see the point in that.
But don't you ever walk around with a great idea, and you feel you just have to share it with somebody?
That feeling that if you keep the idea any longer to yourself you'll just burst!? (I guess some of you will answer 'no' to this question. Like my wife. So you can actually stop reading. But if you do - this post will help you 'canalize' the idea and the feelings keep you up at night!)

Image via 123rf.com

Sharing an idea before it's time has a few negative outcomes to it. It's like you make a decisions to say 'well - I'm pregnant now for 5 months - enough already, let's have this baby! You can't. It's not good for the baby.
Maybe you feel that if you don't share your idea, they won't ever come to pass. You, like me, have seen so many people sit on very good ideas -and some even take them with them to their grave - or see their ideas simply go out-dated...

Fact is, when you share a good idea before it's time, you'll expose yourself to the following dangers:

Somebody will steal your idea can hear you think right away: most people say an idea doesn't belong to you - so you have to share it. And that's true... eventually . But if your idea as answering a need that others are not yet answering - or you answer it better, you'll be shooting yourself in the foot if you tell anybody and their mother about your great idea! Somebody with more money than you will simply STEAL it! Yes! There are many people that believe you better steal a good idea, than to come-up with a bad one yourself...

Too many people will shoot it down
There is a very wise and true saying about wisdom in gray hair. Yet there is also the reality that lots of gray haired people never got to build anything great themselves...and why should you let them pie on your parade?! Seriously! Your idea can be shot down by people that shoot down anything! Be careful who you share your dream with!


Once you actually get to execute your idea, your inner circle has lost all it's momentum
I've published some idea's even in the last two years that up to today have not seen daylight yet! In the book Great by Choice from Jim Collins talks how it's always better to under-promise and then over-deliver. How true. Many of my friends have lost any kind of interest, when I told them my great idea finally came to pass.... Just hold on to your great ideas - only share them with a few.

Of course you shouldn't share your ideas with NOBODY. There are also dangers in that.
Let me give you 3 tips that really help me to 'bite my tongue' when I want to share some thoughts:

#1: Write your great ideas out on paper. This is the first amazing process that will take place. You will actually start seeing some angles that will help you shape your idea - before people can start shooting it down.

#2: Ask you partner - or your best friend that knows how to confront you - to listen FIRST. They are often able to hear trough your excitement - and give you some HONEST feedback!

#3: Just give it some time. This one is an other 'gut-feeling-indicator'. Guess you just have to keep telling yourself you won't share your great thought - until you just know the time is ready! Remember - Timing is EVERYTHING!

Ever had to 'bite your tongue' on sharing a great idea? How do you manage? Or how don't you?!

What I learned on the roof of a Brooklyn building on 9-11

picture taken by Tatiana from our office building

3 things I'll never forget because of September 11, 2001 - standing on the roof of our office building in Brooklyn, New York.

1. Nothing in life is to be taken for granted. Every day can hold bizarre, unexpected events. Live your life knowing that things won't always be the way they are...

2. Inside these situations, there are always few people climbing up the stairs, trying to rescue others - while most people are running down the stairs, trying to safe themselves.

3. There is nothing in life that brings people together faster than... disaster. I am sorry to say that this is true... I've never felt more connected to people living in my neighborhood than during the days following that crazy event... Never the less - let's do our very best to ALWAYS be availible for those around us ... no matter the circumstances.
_________________________________

Today my prayers are also for those that have lost loved ones during this dark day in 2001. I know some wounds never seem to heal... Abby's family, we're still praying for you.

Nope - not going to excuse my passion :)

Nope - Not gonna do it!... I make a public statement! I will not excuse my passion!

And neither should you! When you have a passion for something it is inevitable you will be misunderstood. People might hear you get excited about something - and out of nothing they confront you head on.

picture from 123rf.com

"When I hear you talk like this - it sounds to me you have an hidden agenda!"
"I'm not sure - but you seem so convinced - I feel trapped"
"You know you always come back to that - that's not reality"

Let me encourage you - great passion needs great resistance. When you realize resistance comes when you stand for something - you actually will be motivated by the resistance. You can take whatever is being said into consideration - weight it against what you are passionate about, and realize check if you really ARE passionate about what you thought you were. If you are - your passion just grew a little stronger!

Don't excuse your passion. Nurture it!

Finally, redeem your commute time!

Picture taken from 123rf.com

I think most of us commute. Some long ways on smooth roads, others in subways crossing town, yet others short distances in huge traffic jams. Or few like me; on a bike - in my case 20 minutes both ways.
What do you do in this valuable time? To be honest, I always used to just listen to the radio. It's so easy. That button is right there, and there is always some kind of radio station for the mood I'm in. Or the mood I want to be in! But yet it always dictates what I'm listening too. In between the great songs or great interviews there is tons of 'junk' from the radio station itself, or worst yet, commercials! You are not in charge...

These days you can redeem your traffic time much better. Imagine redeeming your commute time to grow academically. Imagine redeeming your commute time to become an expert in an area you really enjoy. Imagine redeeming your commute time learning a new skill, a new language or... a new profession! Seriously, with the  constant development of the web - we have choices!

Here are three amazing tools available for EVERY ONE that wants to redeem his/her commute time! And with all of them; you can start today!

1. Subscribe to some good podcasts
One of my current favorites is to listen to Pod-casts. I personally don't use Apple's I-tunes for this, but I simply subscribe to pod-casts  using Google Reader. In this reader I've made one folder called 'Listen' and gives me direct inside into all the new episodes of the programs I like to listen too. Without commercials! Or without me having to wait until a certain time to listen! I even have one stream of the national News Broadcasting Service, allowing me to always choice the lasts radio episode of the news. And all this is for free! If you pay for Internet on your phone, just make sure you download the episode when you're still in a place that has wireless Internet. And if your Internet usage is part of your phone plan (like mine is) you do whatever you want to do!

2. Listen to an audio-book
I just started doing this - and I absolutely LOVE it! I always get so jealous when I hear people that read one or two books a month! (People that read more than that  I can't even acknowledge!) I think: where do you find the time to do all this?! But recently I discovered a thing that has been around for a LONGGG time: Audiobooks! To be honest, I thought it was always a bit...dull. Listening to somebody reading a book to you. And I found it expensive too. But after receiving constant offers from Audible I just wanted to give it a try! At this point I've listened to 5 audio books cover to cover within 2 months, and I love it!
Tip: you can put the reading speed faster! Of course you need to be able to 'process' all you hear - but I find that 1,25x the speed works great for me!

3. Other great tools!
There are many other great ways of taking charge of what you listen to, and how you redeem your commute time. For example, I've put a whole French MP3 course on my phone! Truth is, I'm still no good at it, so I thought I shouldn't really make it 'point number 3' on the list...
Yet an other great way to redeem my commute time is listening to YouVison. It's an amazing library of bibles, many of which have audio Bibles available as well! They are all free - but you can't download them ahead of time - so you do need Internet connection for the audio versions. Of course this does not have your interest if you're not a Christian, but hey - I thought I share it here anyway! Sure there must be other faith-related books available - I just don't know about them!

What am I missing? What do you do to redeem you commute time?!

How a 'Win-Win' situation can easily turn into a 'win-win-win' situation!

I am a firm believer of the Win-Win model. The basic thought behind this mind-set is: make sure that whomever you work, live or play with benefits from your 'what-ever-the-heck' you are doing (or am i over-simplifying things now?!)

'this picture is royalty free from www.123rf.com 

The root of the thought is, that if both people seek to understand the other persons perspective in any given situation, and both people have the intend to make the situation successful for both (or all) people involved, things can only turn out 'win-win'. The bible, a book full of practical advise (and lots of things that puzzle the mind too...) describes this basic thought as follows: Do unto others what you want do to you!

If you can't seem to understand the beauty of this principle, it's better if you stop reading this post.
But if you can believe that if we ALL had this simple mindset, the idea that in every situation there should be a win-win, I'd like to show you the simple ways of turning a Win-Win into a Win-win-win!

I actually think that in social-profit businesses we are all about the win-win-win. Anybody can seek for ways to accomplish this. Maybe not in EVERY situation, but I'm convinced in MANY!

Win-win-win happens in a moment when two 'parties' decide to do business together, both pause for a moment and think: Who else could benefit from our win-win situation? Let me give you an example from a company I worked for. At a certain time this company wanted to boost it's name recognition in a certain geographical area. There was little money to do so, and advertising even in local newspapers seemed an expensive alternative. Yet, there was a local festival that was looking for new sponsors. This local festival had several ways of finding free publicity, one of which was the local newspaper! Instead of paying the newspaper money, why not investing it in sponsoring the local festival! A clear WIN-WIN! The festival had enough ways of getting publicity, but needed sponsors. The company needed publicity, and now had a way to DOUBLE the investment! We were both mentioned with logo's all over the event AND we made it to the local newspaper. But that was not all! We thought it would benefit our company and the organizers of the festival greatly if we could present our product during the festival!
Giving out stuff for free is not often the best way to get noticed. The product we offered as a company could bring added value to the experiment of the people visiting the festival - and here we found our 3rd WIN! Instead of giving our product away for free - we offered a local NGO to sell our stuff for a very attractive price to the visitors of the festival, and let the NGO keep the profit! A successful 3rd win!

When looking for a win-win-win, keep these 3 things in mind:

1: Could a 3rd party benefit from the win-win I just reached with a partner?

2. Would adding the 3rd party possibly increase the win-win I already reached with my partner?
this is important, because if it doesn't, it's no longer a win-win-win anymore!

3. How could I maximize the win-win-win situation we just created by telling others about it?
The joined network of 3 parties is MUCH bigger than 1+1. It's even bigger than 1+1+1.
A tripple win draws often attention too it by nature. Use it for your benefit!

Don't just think win-win. Think win-win-win!

Are there other benefits I'm not even mentioning? Or am I missing a DOWN-side of win-win-win? I would love to hear it!

How to make sure your files, photos and video are safe

It hurts me to even admit this... but I should have NEVER had to pay for crashing a SECOND harddisk - with NO BACK-UP! Last time Ferdinand got to safe my life ... but this time I was out of luck...
Of course, all the advise you get after you something totally stupid is all well-meant... but never the less... TO LATE!

So - here are three ways you can make sure you'll never have to pay 1500 euro to get your files in a SAFE place - - - far from stupid little mistakes!

3 Tips on keeping your super important files safe from a crash!

1: Mirror your hard disk every week manually
You can find some good programs on this blog
I've always wanted to do this... but just never find the PATIENTS to do it on an ongoing basis. But maybe it will work for you!

2. Put your most important files in Dropbox
I have used Dropbox for almost two years now, and it works AMAZING!
Only problem is - even after having ALL your friends join Dropbox, you still only get 16gb of space. More than enough for most files you have - but I am reaching total Full-house on this one.

3. Clone your hard drive in the Cloud
This service has my preference... simply because it happens when you're not even paying attention to it.
You select the disks you want to have synced with a cloud, and the rest goes by itself.
I am using Livedrive after my friend Nathan introduced me to it. It just made sense reading what they do for you. And it was affortable. Starting at $7 per month - my plan is the Livedrive-pro-suite version for $19(ish) per month, because now I can sync all our computers together! We'll see how it works for the long-term. At least they have a good 'money-back' policy.

Extra advantages to cloning in the cloud:

• Access to your files from ANYWHERE! As long as you have internet access... and a device that's has LiveDrive installed or access too the web.
• Back-ups of the HISTORY of your files. Not sure if you saved the right version of the document? Just go back in time! Up to 30 changes to the document!
• Your files seem to be safe until eternity! 

What are other ways of protecting your data for that fatal crash (that crash that would cost you too much)?

Wording explained: Poignant

Poignant
To make an intense - lasting impression

Are we living with an intension to make a long-lasting impression? There are certainly days I go to bed and feel wasted - not feeling like I've made my mark on my world...But it's a choice!

The truth is, being poignant is a choice! A mindset even. What do you want to offer the world? Just a passing by? Or is there more you can do? Can you be...poignant?
And please - when you are  make sure you are a PLEASANT one.
Because I can also call out some intense -lasting impressions that were horrible.

One for One model - my personal few

As more companies like www.toms.com and www.oneforone.nl  start becoming successful, it's amazing to see how WILLING people are to help others -by buying certain products!
The concept is simple: Buy one for you - and you also give the same or simular product to somebody in an development country. Love this concept - and love the impact it has on the people involved!

I remember trying this concept myself in a similar way. By selling CD's in Brooklyn, NY.
The idea was simple. At that time I was starting www.1moreChild.org, together with Bosco Mukiibi. A simple charity - raising money for school fees for orphaned children in Uganda.
At the time I was member of this CD club that did crazy offers. Buy one get 3 free (not 3 for a child in Uganda by the way! 3 free for me!)
I would ask friends and co-workers if they were interested to buy CD's "for a very low price", promissing that HALF the money would go support the orphaned children in Uganda!
Every semester I was able to sell enough CD's to support about 16 children. It worked!

Buy One - Get one Free for an other is a great proposition for any business wanting to make a Social Profit!

Well - maybe not every business. I think you need to keep the flowing things in mind:

If you want to run a success full 'One for One program, you need to:

1. Have a great PRODUCT to sell! Duh! You can't just assume that people are going to buy your product, simply because it also supports 'an other person'.

2. Make a 'connection' that makes sense! I admit - my 'CD' example is not even a great 'one for one' example  because I was not giving away 'cd's' in Uganda. But I was able to pretty much keep the 'one for one' model. Every ONE cd allowed ONE child to go to school for about ONE month.
But a much better fit could be:
- buy this pen, and a child in the dessert of Ethiopia will be given a pen as well.
- buy this bike, and a bike will be given to a young entrepreneur in Kenya who can now reach all his customers
- buy this set of POTS AND PANS, and a widowed mother in Russia will receive a set to help feed her hungry children.

3. Go beyond the expectation. I think that some examples are actually weak...
How come you can only give ONE to a person? They money you are making on your product... could it possibly buy TWO people the same item? What if you didn't just have the item given for free - but have the person make a small contribution? Could you then give TWO the item?
That's what we've done with our childrensbook 'the Birthday party'. For every book sold, we're able to give TWO birthday books to children that never had their birthdays celebrated - en especially never have been given THEIR OWN BOOK!

4. Make it very visual and share-able!  I find that many people LOVE to tell./show their friends they did something nice to somebody - especially if they also enjoy the fact you just sold them a GREAT product.  So make sure you really encourage your buyers to 'share' their experience with you! It's worth every time you ask somebody!

 5. Show pictures after the fact has taken place. I love www.charitywater.org - because you can really see where you money has gone. You can follow the process of their projects here.
People want to be able to SEE if they did the right thing when they trusted you. Did you really give the other gift to the person you said you would! I can do much better at this by the way!

So when looking to create a One for One project - keep these 5 things in mind! I know you might be very surprised about the amazing results you can get!

Is there any link between your product and a product you help somebody else with? Could you make it work? How? Tell us!

Priorities, birthdays and a 100 good reasons...

I love work. I love acomplising things. I love creative ideas that take lots of time - and make me have to stay up late. Don't know why - just love the process.(as long as we're really making something - long nights of useless discussions drain me!) So the other day, as we were preparing our Tjeko Fun Fair days in Jinja, I got really excited about the opportunities of celebrating birthdays of thousands of kids that never get to celebrate their birthdays! The whole year we'de been planning these days already - writing and illustrating our first ever Tjeko Book with Guillaume Girault - raising money to organize 9 new fun fairs - and spreading the manifesto of Tjeko to more schools and NGO's in Uganda.

My son. Ok, few days AFTER this story, but I  love the pic.

One of the staff was telling me about the arrangements that were made in Kampala, and it would take us a whole day to get things done - but the sooner the better.
"Well, let's go tomorrow!" I said in excitement, "I know there are other things that need to be done - but to get this birthday book printed is more important. We shouldn't let that wait..."
Everybody was getting excited too - and we made the arrangements and schedule changes that were needed to make our trip to the 'printer' of our 4200 books a reality. We planned to leave Jinja at 6am - to make sure we wouldn't loose any time in traffic.Everybody happy.
As we were closing off the meeting - one of our Tjeko staff prayed a quick prayer over the where-abouts, when it dawned on me...Tomorrow. Tomorrow is... Tomorrow is my sons BIRTHDAY! Oh crab!
In my excitement of the preps of celebrating the birthdays of so many other kids... I had forgotten my sons!

It's in these kind of moments I realize one thing. In time of crisis you always fall back on your core values. It's the core of your being that takes over when you only have few seconds to make up your mind. In the 'blink' of an eye you have to decide: "What am i going to say, ones this quick prayer is over...".
Or in other situations:

• What am I going to ask my child when he comes home...
• What will I tell this casiere about the mistake he made in giving my change
• What do I need to do, now everybody is looking at me for an opinion...

Even though the birthday celebration of my 3-year old son would only take 10 minutes in the morning - I knew I couldn't do it if I had to go to Kampala. But I know I could never do all the things we had just decided upon a minute ago if I would stay to celebrate those 10 minutes once my son would wake up...at 8am...

That day I fell back one my core value: the poor will always be with us - but the childhood of my son is only coming by once...

I had to tell these guys that all our plans had to be switched again. I had to stay home that next morning - no matter what...

And you know the funny thing? Even though I thought for a moment that everybody would be very annoyed?  Nobody was! Once they all understood why plans had to be changed - they respected the reason - and they all helped change the whole schedule again. And they always will. 

Core values that make sense - more often than not are accepted. Just make sure you have the right ones.

Do me a favor. Make sure that you know you fall back on good core values. You are the only author of those values... so make sure you have the right ones...

More on core values? The 7 habits of Highly Effective People made me realize more about them.

Love to hear your experience on your core values!

Wording explained: Profitable

Profit-able.

Something that is able to make a profit. 

I love this word - it has always hold my imagination. I have never been about making lots of money - but I've always been about trying to find a profit in anything I get my hands on. Leverage what you are doing - so you can make something profit-able.

In today's time it seems to be more possible to make something you love doing profitable. Well - that's what every other 'self-publish'-guru tells us. But don't be deceived! Not EVERYTHING you do is profitable. If you love watching re-runs of reality shows, I've yet to discover how you could make that profitable. The trick is to find something you are/love doing - and then find elements in it that could benefit others.

Step 1: What is it you are/love doing most of your time?
Step 2: What is it you are doing that connects to others around you?
Step 3: How can what you are doing benefits others around you? Is there something you know that can bring value to others? Could it be amusing? Would it encourage somebody?
Step 4: Are you willing to invest some time in sharing what you know, so it can benefit others?
Step 5: If you could let somebody pay for the things you offer - how would that look like?

I would love to think along with you - right here on the blog - or privately in an email -

Lets build something profitable together.

5 ways to make your air travel more smoothly (family traveler)

After coming back with my two 'world-travelers' from Uganda the other day, I figured I should share some of the 'tricks' we've been using/trying/enjoying after traveling more than 50,000 miles combined with our kids. One thing is sure: it's a lot different than 'flying solo'!

Emeth and me 'board'ing... not really ... he LOVES flying :)

Before having children myself I always got irritated with people who couldn't keep their kids quiet in a plane. If you don't have kids yourself, it's normal for you to feel like this. But watch it... one day YOU might be the one traveling with kids and I am wishing you ALL the best :) It's not easy :)

But like in everything in live: you'll need a bit of creativity to make things FUN!
So before you travel with your kids - imagine how it will look like for your kids to be on an entertaining trip! One that is not relying on the entertainment-set of the aircraft alone - but has the attention you! Trust me, even when you use some of your imagination - you'll still have the occasional cry. But it will be an OCCASIONAL one!

So here are my hand-full of tips that might help your next flight be more smooth :)
(mind you: my kids are 3 and 5 at the moment of writing this post, you might have some great suggestions for us how to travel with older kids?)

# 1. Prepare your kids for the travel
YouTube gives you PLENTY of video's on airplanes, airports and other (young) passengers traveling. My kids loved watching these video's, knowing that they too would be flying!
Here is a great PLAYLIST with video's for younger flyers!
By the way: I'm always quick to remind my kids that the trip is also VERY LONG AND BORING! Just to lower the expectations a bit.

# 2. One little suprise per hour
This one takes a bit of time before you leave, so you might not want to do this 2 hours before you leave... Wrap little gifts in wrapping paper. Little gifts can be anything: a candy or lolly pop. A small toy. Even a small toy that already belongs to your child, but it wasn't part of the luggage for this trip. An empty postcard to write to grandma. Some beads and a threat to make a necklace. Anything that can get your child excited, and can shift attention from the long flight.

# 3. Request kids meals during pre-boarding
Maybe you were already aware of this, but if you pre-board your flight in advance, you can request for special kids meals! Really - much like a happy-meal, but than healthy :)

Our empty box even had to
come home with  us! Thank you KLM!

An other beauty of kids-meals in an airplane is that they are often served a few minutes before the others. And ofcourse this makes us feel REALLY special!

# 4. Keep the entertainment-set off for as long as you can!
Maybe it's my personal dislike to television - but the longer you can entertain your kids apart of the system - the more exciting it is when you turn it on.

# 5. Ignore irritated faces of fellow travelers
Truth is... anybody that doesn't have kids or has never traveled with them - taking them out of their natural bio-ritem... they just don't get it.
I didn't get it! You probably didn't get it before you ever traveled with them yourself.
Lighten up! Your kid is trying hard. He/She can cry for a bit :)

Question: What kind of tricks would you suggest? Especially when you have bigger kids! Ta and I would love to know!

4 ways to make your air travel more smoothly (solo travler)

I am by no means a professional traveler. I am only have an Ivory Frequent Flyer-level. I am not greeted by name when I enter the plane (a former boss told me he is sometimes).
Yet I find myself constantly trying to travel ... smoother...
I'm realizing that traveling is a great way to get work done - IF you don't get sidetracked too much by all the procedures and distractions that is!

So here are my 4 current travel-smoothers at the moment.

#1: Pre-board at home - print your ticket in advance
I love the current opportunities to pre-board (pre-plan) your air travel these days. Make sure you do your first round of 'pre-boarding' the minute you order your ticket. Fact is: the earlier you do this - the more choices you have. Especially picking your favorite seat!

• Go for that 'emergency-exit-seat', or decide if you want to be by the window or an ail. 
• Close to the bathroom? It's your choice!
• In the middle of 50 empty chairs? You are in charge! (just don't complain if you end-up between 49 high school students going on a trip!)

But it's not only your seat you get to be picky about - there are more and more options  you can pre-arange.

• Any special food-orders
• Extra luggage (often for reduced price!)
• Even extra leg-room! (currently I only know of KLM offering this service - but there might be others!)

#2: Put all your 'stuff' in the pocket of your jacket

I'm one of those unconscious pocket fillers. Any given moment you ask me to empty my pockets I'm  surprised to see what comes out of them.I discovered that this adds lots of time to any security check! Annoying! 

Solution: put all your 'stuff' temporary in your jacket pockets! Including your cell-phone and your change!
Now when you arrive at any security detector - simply take off your jacket and put it trough the scanner! No more fiddling in your jean-pockets, trying to get that last coin from all the way in the bottom of your pockets. And then no more re-grabbing everything from those annoying gray trays once you're trough. Let's be honest - it's already stress full enough you're having to take of your shoes and belt!
This is a guaranteed a 60-seconds WIN at every security check-point

#3: Keep the entertainment-set off for as long as you can resist!

I've found that my travel time in the air is way to valuable to me than to waist it on watching the TV-set in front of me. Of course I'm excited it's being offered - but I found that the longer I can control myself to keep it off, the more productive my travel time becomes! Flying allows you to finally read that book you always wanted to read. It gives you great opportunity to write your journal (or blog posts for that matter!)
Come prepared - make a time-schedule even! Force yourself to make this time use full. Educational even! But come empty-handed and you'll find yourself simply loosing yourself in some mega-entertainment-menu..

#4: Start a conversation with your neighbor when food is being served.

Even though there is not one way of doing this right, I find that connecting with your neighbor can be extremely great - or extremely pain full! You never know if you're sitting next to a person that won't shut-up if you get them started - or if it's a person who is an amazing connection in your network!

So...my advise? Keep a polite distance when you first come in the plane...minding your own business (see point #3). Than when food is being served start a conversation. If you feel it's not going anywhere - just go back to your work after a few polite words. But if it IS the missing connection you'll be forever grateful that you didn't keep to yourself the WHOLE flight!

In a later post I'll put down some points that smooth my time when we travel with our kids - for that's a whole other ball game!

What do you do to make your air travel smoother? Love to learn some new things myself!

Google Reader instead of Television

Having made a conscience choice not to watch television anymore has given me enormous freedom!
Not that we don't have a tv sitting in our livingroom, it's just that we never watch it. The only one watching cable in our house is our babysitter! And I'm very ok with that!
It's not that I am against television, it's just that the amount of garbage is too much. So much input that is uninteresting - it's filling up room in my head!

(picture from: Free Stock Photos at 123RF)

I like to be in charge of what I'm watching and reading. With the amazing development of internet we can now be much more in charge than before! Now I get to decide what to watch, and when. (No, I'm not convinced that interactive television gives me that same kind of freedom. I'm still being directed in what other people want me to watch - and when)

But how do you get 'the right content' to you, without spending hours of searching the web?!
My suggestion: create your own streams of content. Let your greatest websites bring you the items and the news YOU want to receive - not what 'whomever' decides is relevant.

How do you get this great content in one spot?
I use Google Reader. It's a great RSS-feed program that helps you bring the best of anywhere together in one place! Your lap!

How does Google Reader work?

1. Go to www.google.com/reader
If you don't have a google account (think aobut accounts on Gmail, Picassa, Youtube) you have to create one first. I would suggest to make one that uses your full name. It just looks profesional :)

2. Click on the 'Subscribe' button
You create little subscriptions to websites you like most!

3. Copy/paste the web address of pages your like.
Make sure you copy-paste pages that have 'news' on them, or have regularly new items. Pages that never change won't bring you any good articles of course! 

Many pages have a 'RSS feed button', but it's a myth to think that you can only use those pages!
I find the best way to check if the page you like to 'stay in touch with' has RSS-ability is by just trying to copy-paste the address in the subscription part. Google will tell you right away if the link works or not!


4. make folders for quick viewing
You can put all your streams in one big folder (I did this for years) or you can devide them in separte folders. In that way you can pick and choose better 'what kind of content' you want to look into.
Just recently I started doing this. Some of the folders I've made:

• Marketing - any side that gives me great marketing news/ideas
• Friends - all the blogs of friends that have blogs (if you have a blog, let me know, so i can add!)
• Listen - my favorite folder! All great podcasts I like to listen too! I always seem to go to this folder when I have some time to listen to ANYTHING. Like when I'm driving or traveling
• God - all websites that bring great spiritual input
• World - I just put all news-stream in this one
• Great - Some of the great websites that bring POSITIVE news! I tend to read this folder more often than 'world' 

5. start reading! 

Google Reader can be used in many different ways. For example, I  have a Reader installed on my phone. So whenever I spend some time waiting, I go to my Reader, and instantly I get to the articles, programs and podcasts I love best! Google Reader even keeps track of the posts I read - so the content is always 

I realize that you might be using a program like Google Reader that's even better. Or maybe you use the Reader in much more advanced ways. Do you? What am I missing out on?

No excuses - keep on blogging

Why is it that the things you like doing most get sometimes squeezed out of your everyday flow...
For instance - I truely enjoy sharing. In sharing I find that whatever it is that I share - if it helps an other person - I feel better! Really better!
Yet - in everyday life, the times I truely share are ... less and less. Oh yeah, I give out to others a lot (like work, being dad, husband etc.) but the REAL sharing seems to get lost sometimes.

I have decided to go back to blogging. Blogging for me is sharing. Sharing of my life. My experiences. My experience. The good (those things help), the bad (those things help even MORE!) the ugly (those things are just fun to read).

So when I think about 'getting back into blogging', I see myself sharing again!
On this blog I won't share about just any kind of good, bad or ugly. On this blog I will share about my journey as a social entrepreneur. I will share about:

1. My Own experiences.  What I discover about building business and brand around our social-profit-fun-park Tjeko.
I would love to get your feedback on how you see this develop

2. My own learning material. Unlike my wife, I like to share any kind of resource I discover (part of the sharing desire I guess!). Great books, a good website, maybe seminars or podcasts?
I would love to hear from you - if you find anything worth sharing!

3. Inspiring other social-profit businesses or entrepreneurs. There are soo many amazing people out there - doing such amazing work. As I find them - I want to share them!
Are you? Do you know somebody? Do you buy or support anything like this? Share it too!


4. Family. Yeah - if you know me - you know I love working. You know I love God. And you must have noticed I LOVE my family. And that brings a natural friction sometimes. Because having two todlers and a 3rd one coming just brings its own set of oportunities.
If you have tips, good laughs or horrible examples - join the fun :)


5. Faith. The one ingredient that drives me constantly! Faith in God, in people, in anything. I think faith for me describes something on the inside of people that keeps them going. Somehing inside of them makes them believe that what they do matters. And it does.
Got faith?


My commitment to get sharing again! I am going to print it, and put it anywhere I can.
Every morning I will grab this post and tell myself I made a commitment. I share.


 Do you reconize the feeling of not doing something anymore that you know you really should? How do you get back into the routine? (i know there's even some of you that should get back into blogging yourself!)