As a follow up to my post, stay positive, don’t buy into the collective fear I wanted to continue the discussion on how one engages in marketing practices amidst the presence of negative influences like worry and scarcity thinking.

As I mentioned, I started asking businesses (some local, some national) the same question; “How is business and how are you feeling about the economy?” The answers varied, however, those who were fear-based were not doing so well and those focused on staying positive and flexible in changing times were doing much better, with sales on the rise.

I wanted to go a bit deeper, curious about the state of marketing practices among businesses and how that is changing. For me personally, I’ve always followed my intuition in all areas of my life including my business practices. Not that I haven’t made mistakes, but, when a path is shown to me, I’ll get very quiet, go within and when I trust my gut, I’m always successful.

I wondered, however, if was important to just stick with one’s intuitive business sense, remaining authentic and following an organic path and/or also listen to an outside authority (like a Marketing Consultant) who might provide some useful information on a future course of action.

I called my friend and marketing expert Cindy Aggson of Carpe Viam Group who, in her opinion and experience has found that not all professionals in the field of marketing have the correct answers and it actually depends on how the consultant aligns him/herself with the client’s vision. For example, Cindy likes to collaborate with businesses (and individuals) who are passionate and stay true to themselves despite the obstacles. She gets deeper into her clients’ psyches by asking more about their vision and where they see themselves in the future. She then uses that information to support and guide her clients in the appropriate direction.

I find that type of collaboration to be very powerful; bringing in intuition as a major piece in positioning oneself in the marketplace. I’m not the only one who thinks so. Here’s what Lara Merriken, the founder of LÄRABAR had to say on the subject:

Listening to my intuition has been a tremendous personal asset. It emanates from such a pure, true, reliable place— unlike logic or emotion, which are governed by the brain and thus subjected to all manner of contrary thoughts, feelings of uncertainty, and even fear.

Intuition, on the other hand, is the ability to know what’s right without reasoning. When I first decided to launch LÄRABAR, more than a few naysayers looked at the saturated energy-bar category and logically advised me not to move forward. My intuition, however, told me that the simple, pure, and delicious attributes of LÄRABAR actually made it unique in the marketplace, which was swiftly confirmed by our #1 ranking in natural foods.

The key thing is to trust your intuition, which can be difficult if your brain keeps getting in the way. But once you begin to temper the logical you, the sky is the limit for the intuitive you.

There are many others out there like Lara who have followed their intuition (despite the advice of some of the smartest consultants out there) and have found success. For example, Katrina Markoff, founder of Vosges Haut Chocolates, talks about following her intuition (prior to reaching success) by opening a store in New York City (for 20K a month in rent) against the advice of her accountant who thought she was crazy. She had to take loans to do it and admits that it was one of the best decisions she made and was what was was needed to put VHC on the map.

Interesting? I think so. Let’s keep our intuition and positive thoughts flowing, and the dialog open.

In planning my own wedding this year, I was astounded at the amount of money generated by the wedding industry and the average amount of waste produced for that special day.

In looking for ways to green my own wedding (without breaking my bank), I was astounded yet again by the lack of information that was available to brides searching for ways to reduce their impact on the environment.

And so, in an effort to ensure that no bride need be frustrated again by the lack of environmentally friendly wedding advice available to her, The Green Bride - a resource for green wedding tips, information on trailblazing local companies, designers and wedding service providers that are committed to reducing waste - was born.

The Green Bride will debut right here on Planet Pink n’ Green. Check back frequently for sustainable wedding tips and resources all in one place. It doesn’t matter what stage you are at in planning for your big day. Whether your wedding is seven months or seven days away, I’m here to help you be an earth conscious bride. Tips will include things like where to purchase recycled paper invitations, where to buy carbon offsets (and what it means) when arranging for wedding travel and/or your honeymoon, vendor contact info and real life inspiring stories that will support you on your wedding journey.

I encourage you to leave comments here, share your own personal story (to support other green brides) and ask lots of questions.

To get you started, I have listed below some simple, affordable (and often free) tips on how to reduce wedding cake waste.

Congratulations and happy wedding planning adventures!

For gorgeous cakes with no waste try ‘Edible Flowers’:

Before you run out to pick those flowers however, please be aware of the following:

1. When using edible flowers, use only flowers that have been organically grown, un-sprayed and not grown by a roadside.
2. If you can’t pick the flowers the day of the wedding, store them (except for chicory) on plates in your fridge with a bit of water.
3. Be sure to research any allergens or risks associated with using any edible plant as well as which parts of the plant are edible before using in any dish.

Some types of edible flowers:

1. Chicory- These pale lavender-blue daisy-like flowers have very fragile petals and grow almost directly off of the main stems. You can pick entire stems a day in advance if needed, and store them in water. Pick them off the main stem carefully just before placing on the cake. They open around noon. Spicy bitter taste.

1. Lavender: Even if the lavender blooms aren’t opened, the un-bloomed bud clusters look like purple-blue braid, making an attractive edging or accent. Perfumed taste.

1. Nasturtium: These come in all warm colors from cream to burgundy, the most common being orange and yellow. Peppery taste.

1. Oregano: Clusters of tiny pink flowers clusters on burgundy stems.

1. Marjoram: is the same, only less pink. Spicy taste.

1. Pansy: has a wide range of colors, from purple and yellow; to pink, darkrose and purple; to midnight blue. Fragile petals, so don’t pick them and dump them in a bag, or they’ll get crushed. Semi-sweet taste.

1. Rose: Wide range of colors, mostly in the warm spectrum; use buds for a traditional look, and watch for aphids. Mildly sweet taste.

To view a complete chart of edible flowers and for information on how to use them in different dishes, visit: homecooking.about.com/library/weekly/blflowers.htm.

It’s official; we ‘ve got a new guest blogger on PPnG and it’s exciting!

We’d like to introduce you to Thalia Plummer of Premiere Events Portland; an Events Management firm located in Portland, Oregon. Thalia plans and designs parties, galas and meetings for corporations, individuals and non profits looking to incorporate sustainable practices into their events.

Thalia most recently launched The Green Bride (debuting here on PPnG) - a collaboration of blog posts, real life stories and free resource searches designed to help all brides plan beautiful and environmentally friendly weddings.

Thalia is passionate about green living, writing, volunteering, and living her life in a way that has a positive impact on the world around her. Read about how she left her corporate day job to pursue her dream.

For more on Thalia, visit her website and check back frequently for her latests posts on The Green Bride. Photo taken by Amy Mcmullen: www.amymcmullen.com.

Last year when I was working as a Color and Design Consultant,  I referred all my clients (looking for earth friendly paints) to Portland’s Powell Paint Center, owned by third generation brothers Bob and Jim Stephens.

Throughout the years of consulting for clients on color, and purchasing paint at many of the different locations around town and before that in Los Angeles, CA, I had never experienced such a positive, passionate and knowledgeable group of people as the employees at PPC.  More details on the Resource Hotlist page.

Brent Eggleston, Director of Marketing, was the one who educated me on the difference between low and no vocs (vocs are volatile organic compounds that cause harm to humans and the environment) and its increased values when adding pigment.

One day Brent took me into the back area where paints were mixed and showed me how it all worked.  At the time, I was using Yolo Paints a local paint company, with fabulous color choices and marketed as having no vocs.

I often used Yolo’s color palette and in educating my clients I mistakenly informed them that the product had no vocs. I later learned that the product itself on the shelf contained no vocs, but once pigment was added to make a darker color, the voc count increased, ending up at a low voc count that averaged around 150. That’s better than times past when voc counts got into the 700’s or higher, yet I felt upset that Yolo and (others like them) were misleading the public by not exposing the truth about the voc count. I appreciated the honesty and integrity of PPC in helping me to understand the subject.

I also learned that the lowest voc paint line on the market was Benjamin Moore’s Aura line. That was until recently when BM came out with no voc brand interior paint line Natura, (shown at left) which is perfect for those sensitive to even the slightest chemical. According to Brent, “Aura has its own earth based formula and regardless of the color (even black), it maxes out at 50 vocs.” That’s extremely low. I’ve used it and it outperforms any other brand, imho. I also happen to be in love with the colors. I have yet to use Natura which will be my next paint purchase. Brent shared that even if the color is dark, the paint will still remain at zero vocs. That means right now it is the most earth-friendly paint on the market (even among the darker colors). So far, I’ve heard very good things and I’m excited to try it out.

I am forever grateful to my friends at Powell Paint Center for educating me on such things like vocs and keeping me up-to-date on what’s new and sustainable. For example, Krud Kutter, a sustainable brand of cleaning agents like paint and stain remover and eco-friendly paint thinner, Green Envy by Sunnyside Quality Products are also available at PPC.

By the way, if you have a color question you can ask me here or visit Powell Paint Center in person on a Saturday (at their 5205 SE Powell location) from 11:00am to 2:00pm where one of 60 rotating professional Color Consultants will help you make the best color choices for absolutely no charge. That means free. So bring your fabrics and pictures. Call (503)775-3642 or click here to reserve your complimentary session.

So we all know about what’s happening in the economy right now like the U.S. deficit exceeding numbers never seen before, the housing market slowing down and some businesses closing. What we must NOT do is to succumb to fear which leads to spiraling into catastrophic thinking. It’s not healthy and does nothing to improve our situation.

I live in Portland Oregon where the majority of people I meet are creative entrepreneurs - take an idea and transform it into a business. I’ve seen a few businesses close over the past several months but I’ve also seen many more succeed. And the successful businesses all have three things in common - they stay positive, believe in what they are doing and offer their clients value.

A few days ago I got an urgent message in my inbox from Ladies Who Launch-one of the most successful women’s networking groups in the nation where some of its members have been noted in Forbes Magazine’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women—explaining how some of the organization’s investors were pulling out and the company was experiencing a temporary squeeze.  I stayed positive to the best of my ability. In our current economic climate where fear spreads faster than wildfire and more people are afraid of failing, I felt compelled to comment on how this is not the case for all of us and as long as we continue to take care of ourselves, our surroundings and move ahead with value in ourselves and our businesses, we’ll be just fine, thank-you.

Over the past week I noticed some interesting interactions in my meetings with business creatives, new individuals and even with my eye doctor. The differences in opinions on the economy and the level of fear present were vast.

For example, as my eye doctor dilated my eyes for an exam, she spoke of people’s anger and then went on to list the many negative things about the current state of affairs. I let is wash over me not allowing it to penetrate my psyche. I could see her fear translate into creating drama around a very improbable glaucoma diagnosis and advised me to purchase a $125 exam for further investigation. Sounded fishy to me and not worth any value. I think I’ll get a second opinion. (And by the way, I’m not worried.) I could also see her taking that negativity into her personal life.

On the flip side, other businesses that I met with like interior design and fair trade rugs (and yes they are expensive) were seeing an upswing in sales. The individuals I spoke with chose to remain positive, flexible in a changing environment and open to new ways to meet their clients’ needs.

Every day I research new ideas and meet with entrepreneurs who make a positive difference with their businesses. My committment is to continue to explore the possibilities and provide you with inspiring true stories. If you think you are one of those people committed to change and are passionate about what you do, let me know. I’d like to hear from you. And to you, my readers, thank-you for continuing to check in. We always appreciate your comments and feedback. Help us continue to keep it positive.