Today we celebrate blog action day with 15,500 other blogs. The focus—our environment.

Many businesses say that they’d love to follow practices that are better for our environment and local community… but they say that those ideas simply cost too much. I doubt that. Most environmentally aware companies actually make MORE money through their efforts.

The immediate expenses would be higher during your implementation, sure. But in the long run? I bet your business would benefit even more. The same goes for any huge purchase like equipment and training courses. Bigger initial cost, better long-term results.

A lot of small town businesses aren’t going to make these changes on their own. You, the consumer, have to urge them. I have made it a habit to speak to managers and owners of local businesses. I tell them my concern and ask if it’s something that they’re addressing or planning on doing something about. Local produce? Locally-made foods? Recycling? Pesticide-free products? Programs that give back to the community’s development and sustainability?

Most employees just shrug me off. Mangers listen (or at least seem to pretend to!). If you keep going home miserable, complaining to yourself, nothing will change. If you start speaking out, things can start to change.

After years of Styrofoam at every function, my local church has quit purchasing Styrofoam. We spoke up. Today shouldn’t just be a day to post about the environment. Blog Action Day means we ought to be taking action, don’t you think?

The SBA (U.S. Government’s Small Business Association) even offers two environmental loan programs to (1) help engineer, manufacture, market, install, or service energy conservation measures or (2) allow the ability to plan, design, and install a pollution controlling facility. So what’s the excuse?

And how about all those local businesses that keep handing out Styrofoam…

While this is not exactly about a coffee shop business at all, having high densities is one tactic that Starbucks used while building their vast empire. They were able to capture more traffic and customers, even if the second shop would cannibalize the other’s sales.

The reason that I bring this up is because of a site that ebay owns. It essentially does the same thing as Craigslist, of which they own a 25% stake in. The only differences are that kijiji is pretty, and Craigslist has users. I suppose that Craigslist also has the advantage of being pronounceable.

eBay New Ventures Launches Kijiji Classifieds Sites …Mobile.de, a car classifieds site in Germany; and Rent.com, classifieds site in the apartment and rental housing industry in the U.S.

eBay also acquired Marktplaats.nl, reportedly the most popular classifieds Web site in the Netherlands, in November 2004. Marktplaats owns classifieds sites in Germany, Canada, Spain and Turkey.

One Starbucks location can’t penetrate the market 100%, and if ebay is correct, neither can one Craigslist.

Hate looking for a job? Chances are that you’re looking for work the hard way, which means you’re going to have to keep looking a whole lot longer.

The worst ways to look for a job are:

1. going to employment agencies
2. answering local newspaper ads
3. mailing resumes to random employers
4. applying by internet

Notice that these options also happen to be the easiest. You just have to hit print and address envelopes—no interaction with real people. You can stay home in your pajamas! The problem is that a lot of people are out there in their pajamas, but a few people aren’t. The people without pajamas are probably finding more jobs.

Many employees seem to hunt for jobs in the total opposite way than employers. Future employers aren’t interested in pajamas. It takes a lot of guts to get out there. But a successful job is worth it.

Four ways you can better your odds of finding a job are:
1. ask your family, friends, and community for leads—the school where you graduated can be a big booster
2. start knocking on doors of interesting companies, regardless of whether they’re advertising for jobs
3. pick up the phonebook and start calling businesses you’d consider working at and ask if they’re hiring for the type of thing you do well.
4. Establish a mentor and learn how to network

A while back, I wrote a related article called 4 Things College Grads Need to Know.

Now I’m a shy person, but as I prepared to search for a new job in a few months, I’m realizing that I can’t be reserved if I want to get a good job, so I needed to write and to share this information with you.

Anyone can serve as an employment contact—from barbers to dental receptionists. My friend made business cards that she’d hand out to everyone she met. She didn’t let shyness factor in; she got out there. Now she’s got a huge network and a great job.

Ever notice that being productive doesn’t always correlate to when you actually think you are going to be productive? When there are small almost trivial tasks they always seem to want to get in the way. For example I have only been writing this article for less than three sentences and I have had the urge to check my email already.

You can listen to a podcast, write a report, instant message people, and drive to work at the same time and barely remember much of it at all. Or you can focus your energy on a project and get closer to your goal. That end result is what really matters for the particular task, and if you produce results that are lacking it will always show.

Have you ever fooled yourself into thinking that you are getting work done when you are actually distracted by so many tasks? Not so long ago, Katie wrote about getting rid of the nagging tasks, and this is doing just that. You have three options.

• Do them.
• Put them off until later.
• Drop them.

Of course which one you choose is ultimately up to you and the results will reflect you personally. What is the importance of each task? Will it be there tomorrow? Are you going to hurt or help your brand by neglecting or doing this task immediately?

So, are you ready to get some work done today?

Do you need more help learning how to invest like Warren Buffet? Most people do, with the exception of perhaps only one. Of course that person is Warren Buffet himself!

I ran into this article from the Motley Fool a little while ago called “Buffett’s Words of Wisdom.” It gives out a bit of advice that Warren seems to follow, as well as tips and hints on becoming a better investor yourself.

“I am a better investor because I am a businessman and a better businessman because I am an investor.”

All in all it is a pretty good read, check it out.

Just over a year ago, we wrote a controversial post about personal finance bloggers. Since many of you may not have been reading Aridni then, we thought we’d share this classic blog post with you below. Be sure to check out the comments that arose in response, and let us know your thoughts on the issue.

Confession: I go crazy whenever I discover another finance blog updating the world on that person’s net worth. All of the pie charts, ratios and data comparisons, and growing bars indicated dollars held—AHH!

Instead of counting the fluctuating pennies in our Coca Cola stocks, we should, as financial bloggers, be looking for a way to make investments toward the future. The greatest investments cannot be calculated TODAY—owning a successful and growing business, owning a home that’s in an under-valued market, buying stock in an undiscovered beast like WalMart in 1995, etc. But when you cash in on those investments in forty years at retirement, prepare for the specific $ sign in your net worth to leap upward. Some of that money exists TODAY, yet you cannot show it on a net worth statement. Well I guess you could spend $400 to get your property reappraised every month. Think that’s silly? Not if you’re counting your net worth to the penny—might as well be accurate.

We should be finding ways to establish money-generating avenues that can multiple for the future, not necessarily for today.

And yes, I do make a monthly net worth update that is nowhere near accurate because most of my money goes toward future expectations. I like to chart spending in our personal lives and investments to make sure we’re keeping on track . If you truly aim to be a successful $$ man, I don’t see how you can know your exact worth.

I think that showing the world my net worth updates every month online and throwing a virtual party when I’m up $500 is off the track. Yeah it all sounds cool… yet shouldn’t we be aiming for financial freedom not X dollars in the bank?