Big news! We  just got word that we’ve been invited onto the new Kiva blogger team, to support their mission to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. An honor beyond measure, indeed.

In case you haven’t heard of them, Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend to unique entrepreneurs around the globe.

Basically, you can lend as little as $25 to a resourceful mother, entrepreneurial collective, budding leader, and/or talented artisan and they turn that modest amount into ventures that bolster their communities, feed their children, and foster better, brighter futures, all thanks to your loan.

And YES, it’s a LOAN. You get your money back. In fact, Kiva loans boast a repayment rate of more than 98%.

Since it was co-founded by spousal-preneurs - Matt Flannery and Jessica Jackley - and since we’ve been invested in the like-minded MicroCredit-NH for four years, you can imagine how well we jibe with Kiva’s vibe. And yes, that rhyme was too good to resist.

But there’s bigger news to be shared. Kiva made it to the $1 million round in the Chase Community Giving challenge, along with 99 other deserving non-profit organizations. Now, if it were any other organization, $1 million would do $1 million worth of work. For Kiva, and the entrepreneurs they support, $1 million will go much, MUCH further. From the Kiva Blog:

Winning the Chase Community Giving challenge would enable Kiva to make critical investments in staff to strengthen and expand Kiva’s Field Partner network while building and improving the Kiva website to better educate, connect, and serve Kiva lenders. By investing in Kiva’s unique model, we can generate about $10 in loans from the internet community for every $1 of award money we spend building and improving the platform.

You read it right - $10 million in loans to lift hard-working, business-minded people in third-world countries out of abject poverty. They can do it…with your vote. But you only have until Friday January 22nd to help. Here’s all you have to do:

1. Go to Facebook and add the Chase Community Giving application. (If you’re not a big fan of adding apps, don’t worry - you can always remove the app after it’s all over.)

2. Once the app is added, you’ll see a prompt asking you to become a Fan of the Chase Community Giving Fan Page in order to be eligible to vote.

3. Finally, go to the “Leaderboard” (everything on the site is prominently marked), and find “Kiva Microfunds” in the list. Currently, they’re #14 with a bullet. Click on their link, and you’ll be brought to their page.

4. Vote for ‘em!

5. Take Chase up on the convenient offer to post a note to your profile that you voted for Kiva, so you can spread the word far and wide through your network. Think Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, your blog, YouTube — all those social channels, there for you to make the world a better place with a few quick shout outs to your Friends, Fans, Followers, Subscribers, and Connections.

Easy peasy. That’s how a few clicks turns into a cool $10 million!

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 at 6:09 pm and is filed under Agents of Karma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

It’s always great to get an email that says, “You two rock!” It’s even better to get it roughly six minutes after the end of a free teleclass you’ve just delivered.

That’s exactly what happened this past Wednesday, when we held the “6-Step Social Media Kick Start” call (you can access the call replay here). Hilary Niles of Niles Media dropped us a line with some very kind words, just as Lani and I had gotten a couple glasses of water and sat down to breathe post-call.

She also generously said “Yes” to our request to be allowed to share her full-blown thoughts and impressions with you (thank you, Hilary!):

I’d say first and foremost I just love how clear it is that you two operate as a team.  Picking up each others’ thoughts, complementing each others’ styles, spreading the focus of your message between the two of you.  That’s what I heard, anyway, and I loved it.

I also appreciate that you make the whole realm of social media feel accessible.  You position yourselves as the experts, but not by divination or some secretive method.  By trial and error, you have amassed an enormous amount of knowledge, and it appears that you continue to do so.  I suppose it just boils down to being human, being happy to admit it, and making that a measure of success rather than excuses.

Another great comment that cannot be overstated—although nothing could be more simple or obvious—is that learning these social media tools is a matter of simply investing in one’s own professional development.  And that development, for the serious professional, is ongoing.

Finally, I’m left with the impression that you both are really just being yourselves.  Lani said something to the effect of encouraging everyone else to do the same—to find your core and stand firmly in your talents, passions and expertise.  I love that, and again it’s a message that is so fundamental and obvious, yet often gets overlooked.

And this was the second email she sent to us, after we asked if she’d elaborate on what resonated with her from the call.

Thank you, Hilary. Honestly, I don’t think we could have been gifted a better testimonial even if we had written it ourselves. 

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This entry was posted on Friday, July 17th, 2009 at 9:42 am and is filed under Agents of Karma, Social Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

We’re just coming off a great teleconference with Steve Boucher, whose official title is “Communications and Legislative Director” for the NH Division of Economic Development, which includes the NH Business Resource Center and is the agency behind NHEconomy.com.

That straight-laced description belies a creative mind. Steve’s main focus is to show savvy business owners the powerful reasons why NH is the best place to produce and profit. Limos, motorcycle sidecars, Segways (and even a failed attempt to use roller-derby girls in an ad campaign for BusinessNH Magazine) are just a few of Steve’s outside-the-box strategies to grab the attention of his Ideal Audience.

It’s a thrill and a joy to find someone like Steve working within a government agency (he’s been with them for nine years now). And to the agency’s credit, Steve says his bosses have been very supportive of his unconventional media visibility tactics.

After our conversation today - which covered a lot of ground in time that seemed to fly way too fast - Steve graced us with this:

“I’m sick as a dog, but this is the best meeting I’ve had all month.”

We feel the same way, Steve! (Except not the “sick as a dog” part. We’re as healthy as Tom Cruise on Oprah’s couch, knock on wood.) So we put this together with AhaBizVideo.com for you…

As we learn more and more about what’s available — and possible! —  in this small-but-spunky state, we’re blown away by the biz boosting resources waiting to be discovered and put to work for innovative biz owners. Not the least of which are the great people in these state buildings, working their butts off to pump up the economy and enhance the lives of its residents and business owners.

As Steve says, “This isn’t your grandma’s state government agency.” Thank goodness for that.

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This entry was posted on Friday, January 30th, 2009 at 2:17 pm and is filed under "A-Ha!" NH, "A-Ha!" TV, Agents of Karma, Microenterprises R Us. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

We just got the sweetest email from Marirose Walker, a Natural Health Consultant based in Warner, NH. Marirose tuned into our 3-part teleseminar series on “How to Recession-Proof Your Biz” last month, and was kind enough to share her thoughts…

All I can say right now is that you two are awesome and life-savers (a/k/a business-savers). Your “Recession-Proof” program came at the perfect time for me.  I have just a little start-up and still need to finish my doctoral studies but need also to submit a biz plan quite soon to my backers.

With the economy in shambles, I had gotten quite the case of the blues and entropy.  From now on, when I feel that way I’m going to think, “What would Lani and Allen do???” 

Love you both and thanks for your great work and practical but fun-loving natures!
Marirose Walker
Healing Wise Services
“Gentle Wisdom for Today”
Warner, NH 
 

Marirose is an extraordinary woman in her own right. Not only does she educate, empower, and advocate for those living with chronic illnesses, but she’s also a certified herbalist and Reiki practitioner. As if that’s not enough, she’s also a doctoral candidate in Traditional Naturopathy…and the proud mother of two adult daughters. (Wow. We’re tired just thinking about being that smart and talented. )

Thanks for letting us know you liked our “Recession-Proof” teleseminar series, Marirose!

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This entry was posted on Sunday, November 2nd, 2008 at 10:41 pm and is filed under Agents of Karma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

NH business owner, programmer, and certified bookkeeper Richie OBrien of Mirror Lake Media took time out of her busy day to add her two cents about our recent “How to Recession-Proof Your Business” teleseminar series:

Lani & Allen,

I took your Tuesday teleseminars and really enjoyed them. I always consider these types of things a failure unless I can walk away with several new ways of viewing a challenge, or with several new concrete ways of handling tasks and I did both in all three seminars.

As a new small business owner with years in manufacturing the processes and accounting for a small business are not my challenges but marketing is.  I appreciated that in the last seminar Lani stated several times that all of ideas and solutions you offered don’t have to be done now.  Working at them over the course of the next year is fine as long as you have a plan in place.  This was great to hear because I always feel like everything should be done now.

Thanks for interesting and thought provoking seminars,

Richie OBrien

Mirror Lake Media

www.mirrorlakemedia.com

Mirror Lake Media has been providing broad-based web and print-design services — as well as a variety of custom programming and management services — for 14+ years. From doing simple site updates for clients to building shopping carts from scratch to installing, training, and supporting “Point of Sale” systems, Mirror Lake Media strives to meet and exceed client expectations.

Thank you, Richie, for sharing your compliments with us!!! We value your perspective.

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This entry was posted on Friday, October 31st, 2008 at 10:43 am and is filed under Agents of Karma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

After the final installment in our “How to Recession-Proof Your Business” teleseminar series, Claudia Needham - currently with the Mt. Washington Valley Arts Association, former Regional Manager with MicroCredit-NH and a B&B co-owner, sent us an email you could live off of for years:

You guys are truly amazing!  What I admire and respect about you both is that you are walking your talk.  You are living and breathing everything that you are teaching and are reaping positive, tangible results as a consequence!  Your energy is infectious and highly inspirational. Your results are what is making me stop and listen to you; to try and absorb as much as I can…

I trust what you are sharing in each of these teleseminars.  Your (collective) depth of knowledge is staggering and your clients, audiences, and listeners probably can’t even begin to appreciate what you know and how you apply and test it. So I not only applaud your courage and tenacity (I remember where you were three years ago around this time), but cherish who you both are as human beings and friends.

When we first changed our business model in 2006, Claudia was one of our guiding lights. She’s that rare combination of someone with down-to-earth, practical business advice and experience, who also understands, repsects, and puts into use the softer “Law of Attraction”-type lessons of life and business. She’s kept us grounded and uplifted our spirits, and we always seem to have new reasons to be grateful for her presence in our lives.

Thank you, Claudia!

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 at 3:01 pm and is filed under Agents of Karma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

On the right there is Anthony Theos. Anthony’s mother Joy is a lifelong friend of Lani’s, and as a couple we’re good friends with Joy and her hubby Tony. The photo is from 2003, not long after Anthony was born.

If you look close (it’s a small photo, after all), you can see the scar on his chest from where doctors at Children’s Hospital Boston had to open his chest up and operate. I’ll spare you the details - suffice it to say, the Theos family spent Anthony’s first months of life at Children’s Hospital Boston, and the odds of Anthony’s survival were not good at all.

Five years later, you look at Anthony and if you didn’t know it, you’d never be able to guess what he went through. [That's him on the right, with his younger brothers Dominic and baby Luca.] He has a perfect boy’s life, and it’s all because of the people at Children’s Hospital Boston, who took such good care of him.

This coming weekend is the annual NSTAR Walk for Children’s Hospital Boston, and Lani and I will be walking with the “Awesome Anthony” team to raise awareness and funds for this incredible institution. In the words of Joy and Tony:

As you know, Children’s Hospital Boston is a very special place to us! Each year as this fundraiser approaches, we reflect upon our time spent there. Living the first couple months of Anthony’s life within the walls of this hospital was unexpected and heartbreaking to say the least. Yet, as we look back on the experience so much more stands out in our minds. We are forever grateful to the brilliant doctors and nurses who saved his life while at the same time managed to support and show compassion to us as parents.

The dedicated people who work there continue to make a difference in our lives as Anthony continues with his treatment. His ongoing good health is due to their care! We are thankful to them every day and fundraise so they will be able to conquer the health challenges that we, along with other families, face.

And, our team is growing with each year! We are honored to walk with two other children, Delaney & Maddy, who have been patients at Children’s Hospital. Our three little angels will be walking (or riding) 7 miles to help other children who face challenges smaller and much, much larger than theirs.

Thank you for your ongoing support!

Help us help them, and Children’s Hospital Boston, with your contribution. Lani and I hope to raise $150 each to the cause. You can contribute under Lani’s name or my name, and please - even it’s just a couple of dollars, every little bit helps. Thank you.

[One more photo for you - that's our son Joe on the left, who'll be doing the Walk with us as well. Anthony's in the middle, Dominic's on the right.]

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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 5th, 2008 at 11:37 am and is filed under Agents of Karma, Mood Boosters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Article marketing is one of the three Power Tools — in addition to blogging and news/press releases — we recommend to small business owners on a tight marketing budget because it’s affordable, effective, easy. (Heck, we recommend it for bigger companies, too, since adding informative, relevant content around your field or industry to the online party is a MUST to your searchablility, visibility, and competitive edge.)

Last week I read a kick-butt blog post from Acorn Creative’s “Chief Nut” Kevin Skarritt and asked him if we could send it out to the world via our preferred article distribution service, www.AhaArticles.com. Being the kind ‘n generous dude he is, he said yes. And yesterday, we were notified by www.EzineArticles.com, one of the most SEO-friendly and popular article libraries, that they liked the article, too.

They sent us the email below. The reason I’m pasting it is because, well, even if this is their standard method of operation, it’s a winning strategy because it makes me feel GOOD. Check it out:

Hello Lani And Allen,

 

Your article, “Inbound Link Mania - 10 Key Content Strategies to Increase Online Visibility” - has been accepted and added to the EzineArticles.com

directory:

http://EzineArticles.com/?id=902941

 

You’ve also earned Expert Author status:

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lani_Voivod

 

Your article will be on our high-traffic home page later today:

http://EzineArticles.com/

 

Your article has also been sent to our exclusive EzineArticles RSS Feed and to our proprietary EzineArticles Email Alert Members.

 

You are welcome to add one of these special buttons on your website to show that your articles have been featured on

EzineArticles.com: http://EzineArticles.com/XXXXXXX [Not the real link, since I don't think it's public]

 

For quality control purposes, your article was reviewed by our Associate Editor #40

 

To Your Article Marketing Success!

http://EzineArticles.com/  

In the realm of small biz marketing, how often do you get to FEEL like something you put “out there” actually made a difference? How often do you get to FEEL like your marketing efforts aren’t in vain? How often do the tools you use actually pat you on the back and let you brag to the world that you’re a recognized EXPERT in the article-writing community?

Of course, this is a GREAT move for EzineArticles.com, too, because they get free marketing. But isn’t that what it’s all about? YOU focus on delivering products, services, and creating a brand with stellar standards and practices that make your ideal audience FEEL SOOOOO GOOD, they willingly and happily brag about you to others in their world?  

So, in 2008 and beyond, go ahead — find little things you can do to make every contact with you and your business, your BRAND, as fun, entertaining, and pleasurable as possible. Take an extra 10 minutes to add personal touches to your marketing touches. Whether it’s your outgoing phone messages, your invoices, your signage, etc., take some chances and make your mark.

It’s not only fun, it spreads good stuff in the world…and it’s GOOD for your bottom line.

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This entry was posted on Friday, January 4th, 2008 at 11:11 am and is filed under Agents of Karma, Fun With Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

THANK YOU to Sue Vachon for saying kind words behind my back to MicroCredit-NH Regional Manager Claudia Needham about the BRAINSTORM + BRAND = BOOM! workshop I did with branding superstar Kevin Skarritt last month. Check it out:

Hi Claudia:

WOW……powerful, excellent and full of energy. Great seminar, very motivating. Opened a lot of questions up for me and my plan. Need to spend a few days digesting the info and then making some decisions. Love the energy Lani has…it’s good really good and contagious too, so that’s even better. Money well spent. The kind of energy I have been looking for, for a while. Thanks!!

Sue

Bella Beads of Meredith,LLC
38 Main St # 2
Meredith, NH 03253
www.bellabeadsnh.com
1-603-279-1211

If you find yourself in picturesque Meredith, NN, pop on into Sue’s gorgeous boutique for some creative inspiration and fun. (And please tell her I said hello,and thanks again!)

Are you a small biz dynamo who’d like to get more creative AND effective with your own marketing efforts? Sign up for our ezine, “The Inciter,” at EpiphaniesInc.com!

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 18th, 2007 at 1:19 pm and is filed under Agents of Karma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Because it’s so very easy sometimes for small business owners to lose track of why we work so hard when others punch in, punch out, and have a life, I’ve vowed to keep track of kind words in our blog as often as possible.

Recently, Mike Lemire, owner of Everything Wired in Winnesquam, NH, sent me this wonderful message after I spent a few hours talking with him about life, business, niche marketing, cell phone plans, the power of blogging, and why he thought my computer was running slower than a hobbled three-toed sloth on valium:

“From the moment you came into my store, it became fully apparent to me how much value you provide, with no apparent expectation of reciprocation. Like I said to you when you left, “I felt it was ME who received the higher value in services rendered.”  I valued all the insights you shot my way, your interactive approach to problem solving, and the very passion in which you do what you do. You really seem to love what you do, and I think you very effectively deliver those solutions!”

Now we just have to reconnect and get him officially started on a powerful plan to make his profits skyrocket in 2007!

(We can do it, Mike. I know we can!)

For FREE articles, tips, and strategies designed to catapult your content and electrify your business (and get YOUR profits over the rainbow), sign up for our ezine, “The Inciter,” at EpiphaniesInc.com!

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 1st, 2007 at 3:43 pm and is filed under Agents of Karma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.