In September of last year I made a small loan to a lady in Columbia. Although I don’t know Yaneris Canate Rios personally, she made an application for $1,125 through Kiva.org. In Yaneris’ tiny community of El Milagro the ladies still all washed their clothes by hand. She wanted to purchase 5 washing machines to rent to her neighbors. I provided the last $50 to complete her loan. Each month I would see tiny payments come on – averaging about $3.84 as a repayment on that loan.
Archive - November, 2011
Start Something that Matters
Blake Mycoskie knows that many of us are juggling these three questions:
- Should I just focus on earning a living?
- Should I pursue my passion and find work that I love?
- Should I devote myself to a worthy cause that inspires me?
Fortunately for us, in his new book Start Something that Matters, Blake tells us we don’t have to choose. As he
shares the story of how he started TOMS, one of the fastest-growing shoe companies in the world, he says we don’t have to choose. And furthermore, we’ll have more success if we don’t settle for less than combining all three elements.
$.25 each – three for a dollar!
All the Cyber Monday specials today reminded me of this story:
A grocer put up a sign that read “Eggplants, 25¢ ea.–three for a dollar.” All day long, customers came in exclaiming: “Don’t be ridiculous! I should get four for a dollar!”
Meekly the grocer capitulated and packaged four eggplants.
The tailor next door had been watching these antics and finally asked the grocer, “Aren’t you going to fix the mistake on your sign?”
“What mistake?” the grocer asked. “Before I put up that sign no one ever bought more than one eggplant.”
Give Thanks For What?
I know that with downsizing, reorganizations, mergers, acquisitions, dried up venture capital, the “recession,” political upheaval, Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, etc. it may appear to be a bleak holiday season. In a recent workshop, a lady shared that she had been on the receiving end of a “cost containment exercise.” Another related that she had been given the “grace of interruption” in her work life. Whoa! – great sounding terms for unexpected change.
