For those who celebrate Thanksgiving in the U.S. this week, I hope you enjoy a very happy holiday and some extra time off.

Last Tuesday’s Washington Post reported that the percentage of people in the U.S. who are hungry has reached its highest level since the data tracking began. And of course, there are millions more people around the world suffering. Those of us able to choose veg/raw/local/organic diets indeed have much to be thankful for this holiday season.

What are you grateful for this year? Here are some things that I’m especially thankful for regarding Inspired Raw Design:

Design Tools
I remember when I started with Boston Consulting Group after college as an analyst. When I developed a line chart a presentation, the graphics team created the image using tape with solid and dashed lines! I’ve written about not having followed my interest in design from when I was young, but sometimes I feel lucky that I waited until we had the amazing software that’s available now. Or can you imagine producing (e)books with a typewriter?
Continue reading Being Thankful – Food, Technology & You

Beatrice Johnston of Raw Pathways spoke with me this week as part of her series of interviews for Vegetarian Awareness month.

Check out the interview on my vegetarian / raw path, not only to learn a little more about me, but also to get ideas for your own business. You’ll find out:

• Where I was when I began to go veg and what animal played a key role… then think about whether you have a fun story that’s engaging your potential clients.
• What was the big mistake I made trying to go raw. Are your clients falling into the same trap?
• Which action Beatrice took after the interview. Is it something that would help you or your clients save time and enjoy food more?

Making Inspired Choices for Your Blog

This interview series was an inspired choice for Beatrice and I hope it will spark some creative ideas for your blog. It’s a great fit because Raw Pathways reaches out to people wherever they are on the dietary spectrum and encourages them to move forward with more healthy choices. By presenting a series of interviews, she showed that veg eaters are in a variety of places and got where they are in different ways. The series reflects her philosophy and approach that there’s not one “right” answer.

Bringing in other voices makes Beatrice’s message on the benefits of healthy eating more compelling, because it provides additional validation from others who’ve enjoyed the results. For anyone who may think veg or raw is difficult for all but experienced pros like Beatrice, the different speakers show that lots of people make these changes and that they do it in ways that work for them.

So what can you make work for your business from this example?

1. Consider how your blog content reflects what’s special about your business. Is your “Popular Plus” or point of distinction coming through… or does your blog read just like many others?
2. Can you bring in other voices to reinforce what you’re doing? Are there interviews and articles that would support your message, but with an additional perspective that would help people?
3. How about interviewing some of your clients? What a great chance to learn more about how they chose you and what they’ve gotten out of it. You’ll not only discover important ideas for your business but sharing these stories could bring some exciting new clients your way.

And while you’re at my interview at The Raw Routine blog, be sure to check out the site. Beatrice is a design pro and you’ll definitely get some helpful ideas from the great job she’s done.

Thanks to Beatrice for the invitation to be part of this wonderful series. Enjoy the audio and let me know if it inspires new ideas for your blog!