By Karen Axelton

This week at my son’s school was Red Ribbon Week—dedicated to teaching kids to “Say No” to drugs. Every day, there’s a contest or challenge tied to the theme. Today’s Red Ribbon challenge was “Wear as many red items of clothing or accessories as you possibly can.” The class with the largest total of red items wins a prize.

My son’s class has won this contest every year since kindergarten (they’re in fourth grade now), so they were all fully primed for the challenge. The girls had painted their fingernails red. The boys had painted their fingernails red. Kids were wearing red underwear. The class parents brought pins, buttons, ribbons and other red accessories and passed them out to the kids before school. One boy was wearing three shirts, four jackets, two hats and a scarf. The topper was a girl in the class who showed up wearing 356 red items (her mom had taken a dress and covered it all over with tiny red ribbons).

But as we arrived at school, my son saw lots of kids walking towards campus not wearing any red at all. He was shocked. “Mommy, what’s wrong with them?” he asked. “Don’t they know it’s Wear Red Day?”

I said, “Sweetie, most people in this world don’t read directions, pay attention, or make one bit of extra effort. If you do even ONE of those things, you’re going to be way ahead.”

My partners and I always talk about the concept of “being an A student,” and how it applies to business. If you’re an A student, you go above and beyond without even thinking about it, because it doesn’t occur to you there’s any other way.

The thing is, most people are C students. So if you’re even a B student (you answer the phone, reply to the e-mail, meet the deadline, deliver what you promise) you’re ahead of 90 percent of the pack. Be an A student (pick up the phone, send the e-mail, beat the deadline, deliver more than you promised) and there’s no limit to what your business can achieve.

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By Rieva Lesonsky

Move over cupcakes, artisanal bacon and absinthe: Is going vegan the next hot food trend? A recent article by the Baltimore Sun looks at how the vegan lifestyle—featuring a diet free of animal products, including dairy and eggs—is growing.

I’ll never be a vegan, but according to a 2008 Harris Poll, there are about 1 million Americans who identify themselves as vegans, and businesses are catering to them with gourmet vegan cookbooks, vegan restaurants and recipes, and vegan blogs.

High-profile vegan bakeries like BabyCakes in New York City have given vegan an air of glamour and helped it become more widely known. Vegan celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres, Ginnifer Goodwin, Alicia Silverstone and Emily Deschanel have helped make vegan hip.

But what’s really key to the rise of vegan is the increased interest in eating healthy, local and organic foods. “As recently as five years ago, a vegan diet was considered alternative and radical,” the article quotes Mary Lawrence, whose Well On Wheels, a Connecticut personal-chef service, provides vegan meals and teaches vegan cooking classes. “Now, with the new emphasis on healthy lifestyles, people are more open and interested.”

Vegan options are sold at mainstream stores like Whole Foods; more restaurants are adding vegan dishes to the menu; and Publishers Weekly notes an increase in vegetarian and vegan titles.

Niche industries are always great places for entrepreneurs to thrive. While vegan will probably never go mainstream, vegans are passionate about their way of life, making them devoted customers for businesses who get it right.

Want to learn more about vegan? Today’s the last day of Vegan Month of Food, when more than 300 vegan bloggers worldwide post daily updates about what they ate. Find all participating blogs at snipurl.com/s9fmr.

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By Karen Axelton

Breast Cancer Awareness Month is drawing to a close. Did your business participate by selling any “pink-ribbon” products that raise proceeds for cancer research?

As a regular reader of lots of women’s magazines and fashion magazines, I’ve noticed that in the past few years, the number of pink-ribbon products touted in their pages each October seems to have gotten a little out of hand. Is this a good thing (more options for donating to a worthwhile cause) or does it seem a little, well, self-serving for the companies involved? Apparently, plenty of breast cancer survivors think the latter, and a backlash of sorts is brewing.

Some women think that the onslaught of pink-ribbon products—everything from T-shirts to lipstick to scarves to water bottles–is trivializing the disease. Others question the amount truly being devoted to charity, like the woman quoted on Alternet.org who said: “The contribution percentage is negligible compared to markup on the product. How dare they use women in this battle to line their pockets?” Still others point out that, ironically, some of the very products being used in this manner contain possible carcinogens as ingredients.

An organization called Think Before You Pink is urging consumers to ask tough questions before buying products that claim to donate to this cause. So if your company is selling products tied in to breast cancer awareness, be sure you know:

• What percentage of the proceeds actually goes to charity?
• What specific charity does the money go to?
• What is the charity’s record for efficiency and results?
• Does your company match the customer’s donation?

Finally, experts advise, don’t give lip service to breast cancer research by putting pink products on your shelves one month of the year. This type of cause marketing works best when it’s tied in with a cause that you support all year long. If women are an organic part of how your business shows social responsibility, then by all means, sell the pink products. But if not, carrying pink-ribbon items could leave you red in the face.

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By Maria Valdez Haubrich

As a fledgling entrepreneur, it’s all too easy to fall into the woe-is-me attitude, especially with the state of the economy, the constant stress of starting a business, the bootstrapping…well, you get it. Then along comes a business that slaps me back to the reality of how little some people have and the many (many) things I take for granted.

The business is SHE (Sustainable Health Enterprises) and it’s more than a trendy do-gooder business idea—it’s a movement meant to change the health and lives of women in underdeveloped nations. According to the Web site (http://www.sheinnovates.com/), millions of girls and women in developing nations miss up to 50 days of school or work per year because they don’t have access to affordable (and hygienic) sanitary pads when they menstruate. Brand name options are too expensive and many turn to unsanitary alternatives that could (and do) make them sick.

Elizabeth Scharpfs, the entrepreneur behind SHE, not only came up with the smart solution of supplying sanitary pads to these women by using local materials, but she has franchised the concept so local women can start their own businesses to manufacture and distribute the products. By doing so, SHE not only meets a consumer need, but helps build a future for many women who may not have had much of a life otherwise. SHE even helps finance the venture and trains the women to operate their own businesses. The first franchise went to Rwanda, where by partnering with existing local women’s networks they can start spreading good physical (and fiscal) health to millions of women.

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By Karen Axelton

The National Retail Federation predicts holiday spending will decrease by 1 percent (to $437.6 billion) this year compared to last. A survey from the NRF/BIG Research found the average shopper plans to spend $682.74 on holiday-related purchases this year–3.2 percent below last year’s $705.01.

However, consumers surveyed plan to spend more on food and candy this year, up about $10 to $90.26. Phil Rist, EVP of Strategic Initiatives For BIG Research, says, “Homemade food gifts are a way to reduce the budget and show that personal touch, as opposed to simply buying someone a cheaper gift. You know that gift is going to be used.” While gift card sales in general are expected to decline this holiday season, sales of food-related gift cards are projected to rise: “They’re seen as very practical.”

The most common way people are responding to economic pressures is by cutting their holiday budget (84.2 percent). Respondents also said they will be shopping for sales more often (55.0 percent), using more coupons (41.7 percent), buying more practical gifts (36.0 percent), buying a joint gift for kids or parents (17.3 percent), and making more of their gifts (16.7 percent).

Some 65 percent of respondents said the economy will affect their holiday plans. Price is the most important factor to 43 percent of survey respondents when it comes to holiday purchases. In fact, one in 10 holiday shoppers (11.4 percent) said they plan to buy gifts or other holiday-related merchandise at thrift stores or resale shops.

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