We Can Do Better Than Economic Slavery

Economic slavery is thriving in agriculture, and we can do something about it. The same exploitive economic principles used in the USA in the 18^th and 19^th century with slavery are still being used in the 21^st century by many companies. Companies commoditize agriculture to provide consumers with cheaper prices and to enrich themselves. Unfortunately, these “cost savings” come at a high human cost by enslaving people in the cycle of poverty, limiting education for children, and disconnecting us from our food and the people who grow it (arguably a leading cause of the USA obesity epidemic).

I would like to highlight coffee since it is something most of us purchase every day. The truth is the coffee business is a dirty business that has made a few people very rich by economically enslaving many others. I want to share with you three of the most egregious practices that go into your cup of morning Joe.

1a. What is Wrong?  Plantations (Bad for People and the Environment)

The same economic principles used on cotton plantations in the 18^th and 19^th century are being used today on most coffee plantations.  While plantation workers are not in physical chains, they are subjected to inhumane conditions and in many cases are only paid about $1 a day.

The other issue of plantations is their negative impact on the environment. Clear-cutting rainforests to make room for a coffee plantation is a real problem for the ecosystem, the animals, and makes for bad tasting coffee.

1b. How we can do better.

Ask your favorite coffee shop if they buy from plantations? If they do, ask if you can have the name of the plantation and Google it to see their labor practices. Not all plantations engage in unethical labor practices, but most do, so if you are going to buy plantation coffee (which I hope you don’t care for environmental reasons) be sure they are not engaged in economic slavery.  

Bonus: Ask if their coffee is organic?

2a.  What is Wrong?  Brokers

Farmers call brokers, “coyotes” because they are scavengers who feed off the plight of others. Brokers are part of the corporate coffee system that breaks the connection between the consumer and farmer. Many times, brokers work like a “payday loan” place prepaying for a coffee harvest in advance at a fraction of the true value.  

2b.  How we can do better.

Ask your favorite coffee shop who supplies their beans? They may locally roast, but obviously, the bean is not locally grown, so ask where they got them? Are they a direct importer or do they use a broker? If they use a broker, ask which one? If they won’t tell you, find a coffee shop that has a transparent supply chain and support them.

3a.  What is Wrong:  Blends

Unfiltered truth: Blends like Breakfast Blend, Holiday Blend, and fortunate blend are used by corporations to comedies coffee and disconnect the consumer from the farmer. These blends are a mixture of cheap beans blended and marketed in a way to raise the retail price on the low end and most likely unethically source coffee beans.

3b.  How we can do better.

Only drink single origin coffee that you can track back to the farm. It is easier than you think. Next time you are at your local coffee shop ask your barista, “What farm and region is the coffee from?” If they don’t know, ask if they can find out? If not, ask if there is a local coffee shop that does server ethically sourced single origin coffee and go there. 

I would like to invite you to learn more on January 11th at the Labor Trafficking Food Chains Forum

https://www.facebook.com/events/164014124327409/

3 More Reasons Lousy Students Make Great Entrepreneurs

A sequel to "Three Reasons Why Lousy Students Make Great Entrepreneurs"

Lousy Students Learn How to Fail
In order to become a great entrepreneur, you need to know how to fail. Why? Because entrepreneurship is mostly about failing forward. You try, you fail, and then you try again until you break through (or fail again).

Many entrepreneurs first learn this critical entrepreneurship skill in school. As a lousy student, you get used to failure: you fail tests, homework, classes, and even whole grades. As a lousy student, if you don't get comfortable with failing, you'll probably drop out and start a business or something.

Lousy Students Learn How to Ask for Help
Lousy students who want to pass, learn how to ask for help. Fortunately, this is an entrepreneurship skill that is more important than the class the entrepreneur is trying to pass. Great companies and organizations are built one ask at a time. Entrepreneurs are constantly seeking and asking for help: help from investors, help from talent and help from their network.

Lousy Students Learn How to Pivot

The last thing failing teaches entrepreneurs is if you don't want to fail again, you need to try it a different way. Every idea, before it has its breakthrough will go through several iterations or pivots. Many companies started as something else: Avon was started by a door to door book salesman who gave away little bottles of perfume, Nokia started as a pulp mill, and Wrigley's was originally a baking powder and soap company. Failing forward and getting up to do it another way is at the heart and soul of entrepreneurship.

Who is your favorite flunky entrepreneur? 

FSU's Parking Problem Solved (A Free Idea for an Ent)

Here is a simple idea on how to help solve the parking problem at FSU. 

I am freely giving this idea to anyone who wants to run with it. 

The Problem: Very difficult to find parking on campus.

The Solution: Create an app call CARma that rewards people who are leaving with a parking spot to alert parking lot seekers that you are leaving. 

How it Works: 

• A person walking toward their car is alerted by the app to see if they are leaving.  

• If they are leaving and select "yes" they are given two CARma points from the CARma bank.
• The app then updates the app's parking map to show that a spot is coming available. 
• A seeker can claim an available spot which moves two CARma points from the seeker into an escrow account that will reward the user offering the spot when the seeker parks.
• This will incentivize the person leaving to make sure the person who claimed the spot 
• There can also be tipping
• Once the seeker claims an available spot both parties can track and message each other.

Revenue Model: I have thought of several different ways to monetize this app, but I'll leave it up to you.

BTW: I did a quick check on the Play Store and did not see any app like this or any app called CARma. 

The cool thing is this is scalable to anywhere there are parking issues. 

Three Reasons Why Lousy Students Make Great Entrepreneurs

I was asked by a local leadership group to speak to an assembly of high schoolers who are interested in entrepreneurship. When I asked them about what aspect of entrepreneurship they would like me to speak about, they said, “whatever you think would interest high schoolers.”

Honestly, I was a lousy high school student and always struggled with traditional education. Then it hit me! Most the entrepreneurs I know were lousy students, and it got me to thinking, “Why?” Well, I came up with three behaviors that may infuriate teachers and result in scholastic failure, but turbo charge entrepreneurship and thrill investors.

Teacher says, “Student doesn’t follow directions.” In entrepreneurship this is called “disruptive,” and it is the common trait of all successful entrepreneurs. Disruption is at the core of all entrepreneurship, in fact, this is what an entrepreneur does—disrupts the status quo. An entrepreneur looks at what is and says, “I can make it better/cheaper/faster!” As a result, disrupts the market.

Teacher says, “Student takes shortcuts” In entrepreneurship, this is called, “a hack” and it is essential to creating an MVP (minimal viable product). Most entrepreneurs do not have the time or the money to make a perfect product, so they use hacks to save time and money. The cool thing is many times these hacks lead to innovation and can make the product even better/faster/cheaper.

Teacher says, “Student needs to pay attention in class” In entrepreneurship, daydreaming is called, “ideation.” “Visionary” entrepreneurs are paying attention, just not necessarily to what everyone else is paying attention. For entrepreneurs, the present is boring and they compensate by spending their mind time actively envisioning a more exciting future.

Many teachers are frustrated by disruptive, shortcut taking, dreamers who are not paying attention to their carefully prepared lesson. I get that, but perhaps traditional education is not the best education for everyone. Perhaps education is ready for an entrepreneur to disrupt the status quo and create a better/faster/cheaper way to inspire individual learning.

Have anything to add? I would love to read your comments.