Don't miss your chance to be part of this historic presidential election! You still have plenty of time to exercise your right to vote - early voting continues through this Friday - October 31, 2008. If you can't make it to early voting, vote on Election Day on November 4, 2008! Fulfill your sense of civic duty, exercise an important right, and hey, if the election doesn't go your way... at least you will have earned the right to complain!
Click here for more information about voting in Texas.
Today I learned about an amazing three-year-old non-profit organization called Kiva - I am so excited about it!
Kiva is "the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world," according to its website.
Anyone interested in lending can search through the profiles of entrepreneurs from different regions of the world. After selecting an entrepreneur, one simply uses a PayPal account or credit card to make the loan and then Kiva collects the funds. The funds are passed on to a "Kiva partner" in the area who is responsible for selecting qualified entrepreneurs and distributing the funds. A chosen entrepreneur uses the funds to expand his or her business and repays the loan over time - typically six months to a year. Updates are provided to the lender.
I believe in donating money to charity, but I also love the Kiva concept because, as its website states, it empowers people in developing areas to lift themselves out of poverty. I also love that Kiva is committed to making "the system more transparent" so that people can actually see where there money is going, what their money is doing, and who their money is touching. In addition, many of the loans are small and a lender has the option of funding only part of a small loan.
I am eager to start browsing through the lists of entrepreneurs in need of loans. Becoming involved in Kiva could be a creative, meaningful staff project for small business teams - how incredible to have your small business play a key role in making a small business in a developing nation a success!
It seems like everything these days is about “going green,” and here at Texas Beauty Labs, we too realize the importance of being environmentally responsible. Like any beauty product manufacturer, we have certain byproducts of production – used cardboard boxes, empty plastic jugs and glass bottles, used computer paper – all of which we take the time to package up and take to our local recycling center.
There’s this great website called “Earth 911” that we used to find the best recycling center for our assortment of recyclables. You can search by zip code (and what you want to recycle, if you like) and it will find the center closest to you and tell you exactly what kinds of recyclables they accept.
David Orr, environmental educator and writer, briefly states why we should all take the time to recycle: “When we heal the earth, we heal ourselves.”
As any business person who accepts credit cards as one of their payment options knows, dealing with credit card processors can be a painful, confusing, and expensive experience. We personally used one of the biggest in the business for the past four years. I never fully understood how much we were paying per transaction - there were so many variables that it was nearly impossible to figure out. I just knew it was A LOT. I knew it was time for a change and luckily, Bella Lucce (a fabulous bath and body company) posted a solution that was perfect for me on their blog.
Enter Dharma Merchant Services. They have not only saved me 45% on my merchant fees, they are "doing good" while doing it! They donate "10% of the gross profits (before expenses) received from the credit card processing revenue of its merchants to the charity of their choice." We are choosing Trees For Life. They help plant fruit trees, which provide a low-cost, self renewing resource for food, in developing countries.
If you accept credit cards and are looking to switch merchant account providers, I highly recommend Dharma Merchant Services! Ask for Alexia - she's super helpful and sweet.
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