Author Archive
Toxicants, Kids and Parenting
As a parent when it comes to going green, being eco-friendly and being natural and non-toxic, it is confusing. Most parents have a ton of questions. Some common questions are:
Where do I start?
What if I don’t have these products or eco-friendly options locally?
What is the most important thing to focus on when it comes to the safety of my children?
Who do I trust, the marketing is confusing?
We agree. But we have an option for you. Two parents that went through the same thing when trying to find healthier, safer products for their children opened an online store called Better Baby Bums. Jen and Corina get what your saying and feeling and wthey ant to connect with moms online to answer questions and educate parents about eco-friendly, non-toxic options and alternatives. They know that education is the start.
Join Jen and Corina of Better Baby Bums on March 10, 2010 for another fabulous #ecowed party at 10 pm Eastern. We’ll talk safer baby care product options. They will answer your burning questions. We’ll also talk compostable disposable diaper options with mom bloggers that have reviewed their products and can speak from experience.
Visit the details from our last #ecowed party with Better Baby Bums for some more great information, links and discussion on compostable diapers and alternative options!
Also, check out a few of our mom blog reviews – they’ve got some great giveaways and information about Better Baby Bums:
March 10, 2010 and RSVP for Prizes
We can’t wait to hang out with you again this week for another educational #ecowed party! To be eligible to win prizes, please be sure to leave a comment below identifying a product you would like to try from the Better Baby Bums’ website:
>> Two $25.oo Gift Card Prizes
>> One $50.oo Gift Card Grand Prize
How to Attend the Twitter Party – It’s FREE!!!
1. Join our discussion by using the #ecowed hashtag in each of your tweets so we can all follow the conversation during the party.
2.
Follow http://www.twitter.com/3greenangels, http://twitter.com/betterbabymom, and http://www.twitter.com/CorinaKuban so you can respond to the discussion and ask us questions.
3. Use this Tweet Grid link created for this specific party to make following the conversation easier.
4. RSVP to win a prize leaving your Twitter URL in a comment below.
As a reminder, please visit our disclaimer and information on Twitter parties. The hosts of our parties are sponsors – which means that they pay us – but all our parties are about eco-friendly education. 3 Green Angels recognizes many shades of green exist. We aim to align ourselves with companies that a) we trust b) we respect c) are trying to do the right thing and be eco-friendly d) that we would buy from or tell our friends about.
Be a Fly on The Wall: Ghost Blogging is the Topic
Jennifer, Alicia and I talk on the phone all the time! We talk social media, business, parenting, our frustrations and we often call each other and ask about product ingredients, plastics, toxins and the list goes on! Wouldn’t you LOVE to be a fly on the wall and listen to what we have to say? Sometimes you’ll hear all three of us, two of us or maybe a guest or two? What we always promise you is that you’ll get “us” and hear our voices, opinions and thoughts without scripts or edits! It will almost be like you’re eavesdropping but we’re inviting you!
To begin our first off the cuff, Fly on the Wall conversation, Alicia and I are talking ghost writing, social media and transparency. We are specifically chatting about Andy Wibbels blog post on ghost writing being a fraud and here is what we have to say…
10 Social Media Lessons Learned From Blissdom
I have used this description several times throughout Blissdom but last year someone (not trying to steal I just cannot remember which blog it was that I read – if it is you please tell me) but they said BlogHer 2009 was like a theme park. It was something you did not want to miss so you rode all the rides, ate all of the food and just soaked up the thrill, excitement and adventure. So true, I did not want to miss a second of BlogHer 2009 (or 2010 coming up) but if that was indeed BlogHer, Blissdom was like a spa. It was relaxing, invigorating like a good exfoliation and all the knots of who am I and why do I blog seem to have been massaged right out! I attended every session possible, had amazing conversations without losing my voice and best of all I was able to observe.
When it comes to marketing and social media I have some anecdotal notes:
1. Less is more. No swag is better then junk swag. If you give me swag make it memorable and something I will use with a lasting impression (i.e. Lands End Canvas Bag, food, jewelry, etc.).
2. Brands Need to Get Creative. Throwing stuff at me is old school now; I want to be impressed and won over. Hosting a lunch with your product and having your branding on the menu, allowing us to sample the differences in what you offer and using your product for decor; fabulous. Great job Arnold Food, Conagra Foods and Hunts!
3. Preplan! Get creative and introduce yourself before I arrive and leaving stuff for my family was a huge plus! I learned more about your companies before I arrived and felt more inclined to thank you and introduce myself. Bravo to Hallmark and Orville!
4. Twitter = Brand Exposure. At Blissdom everyone was tweeting and if you don’t believe me visit the Social Studies report and you’ll see the waves being made online and if you’re brand got exposure – good for you!
5. Interact. A product is great but when I can talk to an educated representative that makes the sparks fly! If I have questions I can get them while I’m at the conference verses remembering to email or connect later.
6. Sponsorship with Integrity. Blissdom encouraged sponsorship but gave a guide for bloggers and let companies be noticed with a sponsorship page. Great tactic and throughout the entire event I was only handed one thing that was spammy – a plus and guess what I left it behind and the brands represented in a cheap white bag weren’t remembered!
7. Creative Sponsorship. The brands that sponsored and believed in the bloggers were represented well. Hosting dinners for groups they wanted to interact and connect with, buying business cards with coupon codes and holding dinner focus groups to maximize the knowledge and potential.
8. Social Media Footprint. If you are a blogger what is your impact? What do you do for brands and what can you do for them? Do you have metrics and proof that you are what you say you are?
9. Case Studies. Barbara reminded me that a case study doesn’t have to be complex. One page but it shows a result and how you achieved this result. Get busy Bloggers!
10. Transparency and Passion. If you’re a blogger be yourself but think of who you are and who will want to invest in you. If your raw and rough around the edges be that but don’t expect a soft and fluffy brand to sponsor you! My Blissdom spa experience was truly wonderful! Those that were greenies like me could be who they are or let their hair down and drink out of a plastic cup and be okay – I’m still alive! The ego’s were checked at the door and for that I am so appreciative! If you still don’t believe in mixing with this space of mom bloggers you are missing out!
Big Brands and Social Media Verses Small Business
My local chamber of commerce is amazing and recently I had a great cup of coffee from the Grand Traverse Pie Company and we talked social media and technology for small business. It was a great conversation but it left me thinking about some of what I said. You know when you say something that you must be feeling or thinking and it comes out for the first time into words and then you have to ponder what you said to see if you meant it? Well, that’s how I felt after making this statement:
“Most small businesses want me to give them the information for free on how to do something or get started but brands are starting to pay.”
Okay, reread this a few times.
Yes, even after I read it I’m not sure I mean it or if it means what I think it means OR if I like what it says.
The reason I said this was because of my recent experience with some new start ups that want all of this time from me through email and phone conversations – then they tell me I am not in their budget. I’ve had consultations where I literally feel raped, used and left with nothing. I’ve had social media strategies and proposals ripped off and used with no credit to me – even awards won and again no credit.
I’ve yet to have this happen from a “brand” and when I say brand, I mean a company that has actually branded themselves and have a reputation. I know, I might have been stupid a few times, overly excited and passionate verses business savvy, so I do take some of the blame. But it’s also partially why I feel that bloggers and people like myself are leaning towards brands that have contracts with PR companies – we’re less likely to be taken advantage of.
Is the Light Bulb On Yet?
If you still don’t get it, let me spell it out for you – small business and start ups need to not just want everything for free but really begin to recognize that there are free resources, guides, webinars and services out there – but it is necessary to budget for social media and digital marketing.
Here is what I hear often:
“Oh, I have a cousin who does web design – he went to college for it and he did my site and will keep it up to date.”
“My neighbor’s son is really into Facebook, he’ll set up my pages and get Twitter ready for me with followers, etc.”
Here is what I see:
A website made with a free template on a WordPress platform and things are all messed up with the business owner not knowing how to make things better; they’re left with no knowledge on how to handle the backend and be self sufficient.
A Facebook personal page instead of a business Fan Page, or a group with promotions or activity that is not allowable by Facebook. The teen knows Facebook for them but not for business.
The Fat Lady Sings
I’m not really fat but I’m singing. If you’re a small business or start up here is what I am singing: Bloggers and small fish that do consulting we do want to work with you and help you. It is up to you to find the right fit for your company but don’t take advantage and be sure to budget accordingly; you get what you pay for.
Wake Up with #ecowed and Healthy Child
For most parents, a wailing baby is our daily wake-up call. Parenthood is a never-ending procession of realizations, do-overs, and wake up calls. We learn something new everyday, and often times our children act as our most powerful teachers.
Over the past 17 years, Healthy Child Healthy World has witnessed the “light-bulb moment” of millions of parents when they learn that their homes, their environments, and their own bodies have been unknowingly contaminated by toxic chemicals. It’s unthinkable that the government hasn’t been protecting our families and that industry has greedily swept aside concern for public health in the face of profit. Parents soon feel betrayed, they feel vulnerable, they feel alone.
That’s where Healthy Child comes in. Healthy Child is there to help parents understand this new reality, to teach them how to minimize risk, and to provide the tools so they can do something about it.
But its time to really shake things up, by waking up every parent in the country.
Join us on Twitter – February 3rd from 10-11 pm EST
- Share your story of what compelled you to wake-up
- Toot your own horn for what you’ve done to help wake-up others
- Help us come up with new ways to wake-up other parents, businesses, and elected officials
- Have a chance to win a prize – we’ll be giving away 3 copies of the Healthy Child Healthy World book, a BornFree Baby Bottle Gift Set, a Klean Kanteen water bottle, the Raising Baby Green book, and a Born Free Microwave Sterilizer!
How to Attend the Twitter Party – It’s FREE!!!
1. Join our discussion by using the #ecowed hashtag in each of your tweets so we can all follow the conversation.
2.
Follow http://www.twitter.com/3greenangels and http://www.twitter.com/healthy_child so you can respond to the discussion and ask us questions.
3. Use Tweet Grid to make following the conversation easier.
4. RSVP to win a prize leaving your Twitter URL but also that you did something to make this message viral and spread the word. We make it easy see below…
A Wake-Up Story from Healthy Child Healthy World on Vimeo.
Please help Healthy Child send a universal wake-up call to inform parents about the dangers of toxic chemicals in our world, and get a movement of parents activated to do something about it in 2010!
Share “A Wake-Up Story!”
- on your blog
-
by forwarding the video to your personal networks
- on Facebook, here are some sample status updates:
“I woke up when…[I became pregnant, my son developed asthma, etc].
Are you awake? http://awakeupstory.org ”
“I’m awake, are you? Watch a Wake-Up Story. ”
“Please answer this wake-up call and join the movement. http://awakeupstory.org”
- on Twitter, here is a sample Tweet:
“Are you awake? Watch this and you will be! http://awakeupstory.healthychild.org/”
- on YouTube (you can comment on our video and share our video on your Playlist)
- on Digg, Stumbleupon, and Posterous
- anywhere else you can think of!
THANK YOU for helping us alert parents to the dangers of exposure to chemicals in everyday products and build the movement to create healthy environments for children.
#ecowed Lead and Handbags the 411
Last October I attended a BlogHer meet up in Washington D.C. for the documentary My Toxic Baby by Min Sook Lee (our green mom blogger portion was cut) and it was the first time I had ever met Jennifer Taggart, The Smart Mama. Alicia from The Soft Landing helped support my way to Washington and now look at the three of us, we’re the 3 Green Angels! Funny how things work out and come full circle, isn’t it?
After a long day and jet lag Jennifer, Jessica of The Green Phone Booth and I decided to do some XRF analyzing of toys and yes my purse. You can watch the video over at Green and Clean Mom and though we had some laughs, great drinks and lots of fun the toxic lead coated purse is not a laughing matter! Diane Sawyer recently did a report on this (guess she should have talked to us last year; we were ahead of the curve) and our pal and green expert, Dr. Greene rings in on the dangers of lead during the interview but now The Smart Mama is flying across country to do what…test handbags for lead!
On the heels of her trip across country (more on this Wednesday) and the importance of learning about the danger of lead our #ecowed party, January 27, 2010 will be focused on what other than: LEAD and HANDBAGS. So mama think about that fancy handbag you just lug over your should or that great knock of you see for $10!
RSVP and by leaving us a comment and you could win a eco-friendly non-toxic purse to replace the not to safe purse you might be toting!
Join Us:
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 from 10p-11p EST
How to Attend the Twitter Party – It’s FREE!!!
1. Join our discussion by using the #ecowed hashtag in each of your tweets so we can all follow the conversation.
2. Follow http://www.twitter.com/3greenangels so you can respond to the discussion and ask us questions.
3. Use Tweet Grid to make following the conversation easier.
Eco-Friendly Virtual Tools for Your Business
A few years ago when I started doing business online I found scanning and faxing documents cumbersome and a waste of time and paper. The papers had to be filed or at least shredded and recycled, there was the time to print the documents out, sign them and then scan and email them to the client or fax the contract. After struggling with this I tried an Efax program but most of the time it did not work (please do not pitch me after this – I am not interested) so I still ended up wasting time and guess what I was still frustrated.
My virtual assistant at the time suggested echosign to save trees and time. I fell in love at first use and I’ve never turned back! The online program lets me download documents, create signature lines or special notes and inserts and then send them off to clients for an e-signature; which is then filed in my echosign account. The company offers a free account for up to five signatures but if you’re doing business or have more than one signature required for a company the paid account at under $20 per month is worth the fee. After over one year of doing business this way I have not had one glitch, complaint or issue with using echosign – which means I can highly recommend going green, saving time and using echosign.
