Sara is an expert in Leadership Development Management Consulting. She holds a BA
in Psychology from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a Masterʼs Degree in the
Science of Management from Cardinal Stritch University. She is a natural born leader
with a magnetic, inspiring, motivational energy. She came from humble beginnings,
growing up in rural Wisconsin on a produce farm. Her unstoppable work ethic and
passion for nature stem from picking zucchini on hot summer days and selling her
familyʼs produce at local Farmerʼs Markets. Sara made her way through college by
bartending and waiting tables full time, while also juggling a full academic schedule.
Working in the hospitality and service industry has taught her superior communication
skills, team work, and time management. Her hospitality career in Dallas has helped her
build relationships with many leading restaurants, chefs, and hotels.

Her experience in the restaurant industry has made her a self proclaimed foodie, creating a passion around experiencing amazing food and wine. Additionally, Sara has been blessed with the opportunity to have been able to job shadow and assist on IT projects at Harley Davidson, while completing course work for graduate school. Sara also wrote and designed a long term business plan and marketing strategy for Arizona Hot Air Balloon Company, to rebrand the company as a Corporate Advertising Campaign. She landed in Dallas by selling everything she owned and driving to Texas with only the clothes that would fit in her car. She has a big dream to save the environment and better humanity.  She has a compassion, understanding, and deep loving concern for others. There is not a mountain too high or wall too thick to stop her from getting the truth she seeks.
Consulting through Adbongo is her dream job, and she looks forward to helping local companies gain the marketing edge of zero waste.

Imagine a red ocean filled with blood and trash.   Now, mentally tag our current free market economy with that picture.  It played its part, but now we know that an economy based on debt and competition is not sustainable.   

The authors of Blue Ocean Strategy suggest that entrepreneurs should swim in an uncontested market space (a blue ocean) where the competition is irrelevant instead of building your business for the shark-infested waters of the red ocean.

“In a book that challenges everything you thought you knew about the requirements for strategic success, W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne contend that while most companies compete within such red oceans, this strategy is increasingly unlikely to create profitable growth in the future.”  -www.blueoceanstrategy.com

If you get it, today is your lucky day.   After five years of research and development in the trenches of economic development, we have acquired some insight that can help you avoid the pitfalls of design for a failing debt-based economy.

8 Tips for Designing for Blue Oceans of Uncontested Market Space

1. Set the goal of zero waste.   It creates jobs, increases efficiency, gives you a marketing edge and automatically places you in the “resource economy” (blue ocean).

2. Commit to Collaboration rather than Competition.  Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.   Try to avoid scarcity mentality and don’t rip the limbs off your only resources.

3. De-centralize as much as possible.  A good book about this is called “The Spider and the Starfish”.  Think of a circle rather than a pyramid.

4. Learn about and start to measure the triple bottom line:  People, Planet, Profit

5. Become a certified Benefit Corporation (blue ocean), a new kind of corporation that uses the power of business to save the world.

6. Mimic nature and apply permaculture principles and ethics to growing your business.

7. Adopt a cause, and hire an agency to put together a cause marketing plan with another corporation that shares your cause.

8. Ready, AIM, Fire!  Design a comprehensive business plan.  In the marketing section, make sure you have:

1. Uncontested Market Space

2. A marketing edge

3. A team to execute

Setting the goal of zero waste does this for you, right off the bat.  You will not get there faster by skipping the basics.  We have noticed many small business firing without aiming.

What other methods, strategies, or pointers do you have about business design for the new resource economy?

International experienced, multi-lingual Business Development and Relationship Management Executive. Trained in Belgium as an accountant and also studied computer programming, IT and statistics. Many years of experience in Systems Management and Services. Specialized in Alliances and Partner/Channel Management. ITIL Certified and Security Sales Certified TOPGUN.

Expert in creating trusted relationships that lead to win/win alliances and bridge language and cultural gaps within diverse business communities across the globe.

Passionate about helping people with varied backgrounds find the resources they need to create opportunities to benefit their community.

Currently:

• Resource Efficiency Consultant for AdBongo

• CERT volunteer (Community Emergency Response Team)

• Touchstone Essentials Independent Distributor

• Boy Scouts Volunteer 30 plus years.  A recipient of The President’s Volunteer Service Award.

• Writer and poet

Photo from india.nydailynews.com
Young Indian women dressed in traditional Rajasthani clothing

I enjoy all species of Burning Man theme camps, from Bacchanalian to buttoned-down. In 2005, my favorite theme camp was everything Burning Man is reputed not to be: relaxing, peaceful and nourishing. With spiritual statuary and curtains and cushions in rich hues of blue, magenta, orange and green, the place looked like an Indian meditation palace. Mountains of fruit – free for the taking – balanced precariously on an eight foot long table. Yoga and meditation teachers and massage therapists gifted their services to theme camp residents and visitors.

After spending a day at the camp, I noticed that the two recliners –each equipped with a chunky set of headphones – were never occupied. I asked a camp member about it. His face lit up. “I’ll show you,” he said, in his beautiful Brazilian accent. He escorted my friend, Nikki, and I to the chairs. “Just relax.” He put headphones on each of us, directing us to lie down and close our eyes. “Now, this will take some time, but it’s worth it. It’ll help balance the hemispheres of your brain.”

Photo from th03.deviantart.net
“Headphones” by Henry Morgan

With that, he walked away. I waited for something, anything, to happen. After ten minutes of silence, I concluded the brain training frequencies must be so low or so high that I couldn’t hear them. I decided to relax and trust the process.
At the end of the hour, the Brazilian came back to check on us. “When did you unplug the cord?” he asked, pointing at my headphones.

Oh.

Though my brain hemispheres remained woefully unbalanced that day, the hour wasn’t wasted. When I returned home from Burning Man, I decided to learn more about the brain hemispheres and why they need balancing.

What are the differences in left and right brain hemispheres?

We’ve all heard people say the left brain is associated with logic while the right is associated with creativity and intuition. According to respected psychiatrist and author, Dr. Iain McGilchrist, these claims are inaccurate.

One side isn’t solely responsible for reason and logic and the other for emotion and imagination; we need both hemispheres for all of these functions.

Still, they are totally different in the way they process information. The left hemisphere serves as our filter. It divides and separates, chopping the world into distinct, digestible bits of information. It allows us to focus our attention on particular things, and it’s more closely associated with rational thought.

Once our left brain chooses a world view to believe in, it filters out information which negates that belief system. When our left brains are overly dominant, we tend to be close-minded to others’ ideas. Its tendency to categorize, divide and judge leads to problems like racism, sexism and ageism.

Worries about the past and future are left brain activities.

The right hemisphere, on the other hand, gives us the broad, holistic picture and is more closely associated with intuition. The right hemisphere views everything as interconnected. It doesn’t “see” separations. It takes everything as it comes, in the present moment.

McGilchrist gives an example that clarified the matter for me. A bird uses its left hemisphere to look for particular things it already knows it needs, like bird seed or worms. It uses the right hemisphere to look at the whole world in an open, broad way. It takes in the scene. If a friend or enemy approaches, the right hemisphere takes in that information while the left remains narrowly focused on the quest for food.

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor offers an amazing description of the brain hemispheres. She’s a neuroanatomist (brain scientist) who suffered from a massive stroke which essentially disabled her left hemisphere. It’s astonishing to learn what her life was like when her right brain was dominant.

Is the left brain the bad guy?

We need the left brain just as much as we need the right brain. Without the left brain, we wouldn’t have cars, houses, language or clothes. We wouldn’t have made it to the top of the food chain, either. The left brain allows us to manipulate and interact with our environment. It empowers us to pay attention to details.

The left brain is not the bad guy. However, as McGilchrist points out, modern society is over-reliant on it.

Why is it important?

What drives suffering? When we don’t get what we’re looking for, when we’re stuck on the past or worry too much about the future, and when we see ourselves as divided from others (all associated with the left hemisphere), suffering results. If the left hemisphere didn’t play such a prominent role in comparison to the right, might we be happier? I believe the answer is yes.

Photo from managethyself.com
By Punkshits

How do we engage the right brain?

• Meditation. As I learned about the differences between right and left hemispheres, I realized meditation helps us “find” our right brain. Meditation quiets the judge and takes us to a place of broad focus.
• Brain training. I can’t find scientific evidence that backs the kind of “hemisphere-balancing” frequencies the Brazilian tried to play for me at Burning Man. Even so, I think it’s worth a try. After Burning Man, I bought brain-training CDs. Did the sounds projected by these CDs actually synchronize my left and right brainwaves, and is that meaningful anyway? I don’t know. However, in my experience, the brain training technology silenced the ceaseless chatter of my left brain, helping me to achieve deep relaxation. I found them to be an excellent meditation tool.
• Arts and music. When we are fully engaged in the creative process to the point where we’re wrapped up in the present moment, the right brain is dominant. All of the arts help take us to that place.
• Conscious sex. I believe conscious sex involves right brain dominance. Conscious sex is a meditative practice that increases our sense of connectedness and locks us into the present moment.
• Yoga and martial arts. Again, these are practices that silence left brain noise, take us away from past and future, and broaden our focus and awareness.

Are you left or right brain dominant? Please share your stories in the comments section below!

(Originally posted on Ignite.me)

Photo from mashable.com/2013/03/31/week-in-photos-2/
Image via Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Have you heard of Mexican artist Pedro Reyes? He inspires me. On a mission to make this world a better place, Reyes creates art with a message. His work brings a message of peace to a land ravaged by gun violence.

In 2008, Reyes created the project Palas por Pistolas. He melted 1527 revolvers, shotguns and machine guns and constructed 1527 shovels from the metal. 1527 trees were planted with these weapon shovels.

The Mexican government heard about Palas por Pistolas. In 2012, they called Reyes and asked if he could create something out of 6700 confiscated weapons which were scheduled for public destruction. (Usually, the metal from destroyed weapons is simply buried.) The weapons were cut into pieces and sent to Reyes, but he had a different project idea this time.

Photo from blog.pedroreyes.net
Photo by David Franco

He transformed the weapons into an orchestra of 50 instruments. These instruments can be automated or played live by an individual operator using a laptop computer.

Reyes describes this project, called Imagine, on his blog: “Over the course of two weeks, I worked with six musicians, shoulder-to-shoulder, turning these agents of death into instruments of life. It’s difficult to explain but the transformation was more than physical. It’s important to consider that many lives were taken with these weapons; as if a sort of exorcism was taking place the music expelled the demons they held, as well as being a requiem for lives lost.”

There are multiple reasons why I love Reyes’ work.

1. He’s transforming weapons of fear into instruments of peace and harmony.
2. By reusing old parts to create new goods, he’s showing imaginative ways to make a wasteful system irrelevant.
3. His projects honor the nearly 80,000 Mexicans who’ve lost their lives by gun-shot over the past six years.
4. The instruments look cool.

Photo from blog.pedroreyes.net
Photo by David Franco

Reyes’ work provokes me to ask what we can do in our own communities to inspire unity.

So many of us work on Burning Man art or regionals projects all year, revealing our mind-blowing creativity, ingenuity and dedication. What if we could imagine that our neighborhoods were like the playa, a blank canvas where participation is a must? What if we took the proactive role of “creator” within our local communities?

What are the most pressing issues on your streets, and what can you do to address them? Tell me what you’re up to, and maybe I’ll write about your project next!

Please share your ideas in the comments section below!

(Original post from Ignite.me)

We would like to introduce one of the most versatile, and requested personalities in Dallas, Texas, MC Medina from Conscious Minds Ent®. “The charismatic Hispanic from another
planet” produces a variety of different events with countless numbers of musicians, promoters,and zero waste event coordinators.

On the microphone, MC Medina provides music with a message and keeps an edge on the
competition with his goal-oriented, outgoing and ambitious personality. Higher conscious lyricism is what sets Medina apart from the mundane competition, in addition to the sustainable resources he can provide to your event.

Zero Waste Event/venue marketing is included, upon request through our partnership with Adbongo.  MC Medina offers a high level of energy, business development resources, creativity, and a talent for motivating crowds, which is essential to making your dream event a reality!

MC Medina offers a great value, possesses unequivocal professionalism and provides superior customer service. Not only that, when you book an event with us, you get an experienced Emcee with a traditional
musical background.

MC Medina is also an original vinyl turn-tablist who mixes music utilizing beat matching, fading, and other creative mixing skills; he doesn’t just push play on a CD player. Medina has produced and remixed
several Top 40, Pop, and Hip-Hop/R&B artists.

EVENT EXPERIENCE: Clubs, Bars, Lounges, Music/Art festivals, fashion shows, weddings, mitzvahs, quinceaneras, sweet 16s, holiday parties, birthdays, anniversaries, class reunions, graduations and high school dances, private parties, corporate events, and commercial services.

Log on every Monday morning to DeepEllumOnAir.com.
Listen to the Uptown in the Morning show to hear all the NEW Exclusive
music before anyone else!

Booking MC Medina:
Mobile: 214. 815. 8555
E-mail: EmceeMedina@Gmail.com
Facebook.com/iEmcee
Twitter.com/EmceeMedina
Soundcloud.com/EmceeMedina
Dubset.com/EmceeMedina

Recent Bookings:
Studios in Las Colinas
Trophy Room- Austin + Dallas -Resident
Lemon Bar-Dallas
Teddy’s Room- Dallas
Conscious Minds & Unified Arts OFFICIAL DJ/MC
Recently performed for hundreds  @ SXSW in Austin, Deep Ellum Arts
Festival, & EarthDay Dallas 2012!

Creating peace through the LOVE of entertainment since 2002 A.D.

www.AdBongo.com
“The organic Zero-Waste business accelerator planting the impossible
garden one seed at a time!”

www.RockstarFitcamps.com
“The only camp that brings out the Rockstar in you, w/ a LIVE DJ!”

www.DeepEllumOnAir.com
“The Uptown in the morning show is splashing you in the face with a
fresh taste of brand spanking NEW music!”

•MC MEDINA LIVE•

Every Wednesday evening @ Trophy Room in Uptown Dallas!
Enjoy healthy entertainment in a professional atmosphere!
2714 McKinney Ave Dallas 75204

On the evening of Wednesday, February 13th, the residents of the City of Dallas and the surrounding Metroplex are invited to the first Dallas Zero Waste meet & greet. The event will introduce the idea of ‘zero waste’ to the local public and will create a Public Taskforce to complement the initial Zero Waste efforts by the municipal government.

The goals of the Public Taskforce are:

• To make sure local job creation is a primary consideration in the way the City of Dallas implements its Zero Waste plan;

• To keep the City of Dallas on track and moving forward in a timely fashion, since no timetables were included in last August’s Zero Waste plan.

“What is ‘zero waste’? A few knowledgeable individuals will be sharing their views and experiences:

• Zac Trahan, Program Director of the Texas Campaign for the Environment, one of the organizations that worked toward the City of Dallas’ adoption of Zero Waste goals.

• Lydia Varela, event organizer, marketing professional and entrepreneur. She is working on establishing a new business concept called ‘Renew Not Retail’.

• John Bush, of Adbongo, Inc., a zero waste business accelerator which designs cutting edge sustainable businesses.. Adbongo is the first B Corporation (for-benefit corporation) in Texas.

“Zero waste is the next level in sustainability; it is beyond ‘green’.”             —John Bush, Adbongo, Inc.

The Zero Waste Public Taskforce event begins at 7 p.m. in The Green Elephant (5627 Dyer Street, Dallas, TX 75206), sponsored and coordinated by GreenDrinks Dallas. After the meeting (9 pm), the Elephant Bar hosts an African drumming session.

The Taskforce will continue to meet once a month at this location.

For more information: Eduardo Hope, (214) 282-9881, eduardohopejr@yahoo.com

Links to articles on Zero Waste in Dallas

• Waste & Recycling News: http://www.wasterecyclingnews.com/article/20120823/NEWS01/120829953/dallas-aims-for-zero-waste-in-new-solid-waste-management-plan
• Dallas Morning News: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/dallas/headlines/20120822-dallas-trash-plan-approved-but-gutted-of-timelines.ece
• The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/us/dallas-looking-at-ways-to-reduce-its-trash.html?_r=0

Mark Neace is a native Texan who has enjoyed living in many parts of the United States and traveling around the world. Mark has been involved in film and video production since 1990, has a passion for environmental and social causes, and now operates his production company with a Triple P Bottom Line :

People, Planet, Profit.

KEYimage Media Solutions specializes in helping businesses grow through the use of Social Video, offering Strategy, Production and Training Services.

A graduate of the University of Toledo with a B.A. in both Environmental Studies and Geography & Planning, Neale was drawn from Ohio to Austin because of the sustainability mindset of the city and for the resource efficiency opportunities he is now pursuing. He is on the planning committee for Cleanweavers, Austin’s Zero Waste Public Task Force, and he is actively involved with Net Impact Austin ,a business sustainability organization, and Green Drinks, an environmental networking group.

As a Resource Efficiency Consultant, Neale draws knowledge from his time working for Campus Climate Solutions where he helped universities and colleges attain efficiency through his role as a Carbon Calculation Consultant. In this role, he participated in the University of Toledo’s first carbon measuring project which analyzed the emissions and carbon offsets from the school and recommended ways to maximize efficiency. Neale also worked as an Analyst for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. In addition to his work experience in all four economic sectors (government, non-profit, for-profit and for-benefit), he has volunteered with the U.S. Green Business Council. Today, Neale is cultivating his private Zero Waste Consulting practice with the help of the resources he is receiving at Adbongo.

As a Resource Efficiency Consultant, he gives clients a marketing edge while helping them positively impact the community and the planet by providing Blue Ocean strategies and resources that increase profits and efficiency while lower marketing costs. He is part of an ecosystem catalyzed by Adbongo, the world’s first for-benefit business accelerator, a new kind of corporation that uses the power of business to solve environmental and economic problems.

Outside of work, Neale enjoys scuba diving, ultimate frisbee, and sustainable business networking.

Please contact him at nmahon@adbongo.com if you would like a free resource efficiency audit or if you have a small business that would like to participate in a local ecosystem that reuses the waste stream to
create jobs and a sustainable future.

In order to help you maximize efficiency and minimize cost, we provide a team of vetted consultants with the various proficiencies they need to accelerate your business.

Most Resource Efficiency Consultants specialize in waste minimization and operational efficiency.  We have consultants in our ecosystem that perform these tasks, but we bring additional value with the efficiency and effectiveness of our marketing, advertising, PR, and sales capabilities.
We specialize in business development and use the Zero Waste marketing edge as strategy to promote the good you are doing for the world through our value chain of consultants, clients, partners, and communities.

Our average consultant’s rate is 1/10 oz of gold an hour but varies based on experience.  Some of our consultants are just learning, and some are well known elders.

Resource efficiency covers the whole spectrum of sustainability. Maximizing your use of resources is not only about good business performance; it is truly about the triple bottom line (people, planet, profit). To maximize efficiency with your company, you must positively affect the People who are your employees and customers, the Planet on which you live, and your company’s Profit. Resource efficiency is about sustainability on every level of your business.

We are happy to provide our services to governments for the purpose of maximizing local job creation and to assist with the economic development piece of municipal Zero Waste plans.   How can a government create Zero Waste jobs without knowledge from the inside?  That is what we provide:  reuse market development and ecosystem design for municipalities needing innovative formulas proven to work in the front lines of clean economic development.

Cities that are going zero waste require waste companies to meet job creation requirements in order to win contracts. How would you like an extra arm on your organization that works to find and source the niches you need to be able to process resources locally rather than ship them off on a train to some other city or country without your community seeing the benefit from added jobs or tax base?  We can find source, develop, and brand startups, rampups or even the waste company (preferable).  We also fulfill the 15% minority requirement for government contracting in Texas, and we can give you the right language to make them weep with joy at the highest levels of economic development offices.

Waste Companies Only

Free Resource Efficiency  Audit