There was very little response to the former carrotmob question. So, I thought I would simply phrase it a little bit differently to see if I could get some interesting feedback. I think a carrotmob would do a lot of small businesses a great deal of good - especially in these financially challenging times.

Lamar Morgan
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Reg,

If your business is in the dark, doing a carrotmob should put some sunshine in your day. If your business is seeing red, doing a carrotmob should help put you back in the black.

This is not hype, but historical fact. You can see for yourself. I encourage you NOT to simply take my word for this. Do your own due diligence. Visit Carrotmob. Play the animation. Watch the video documentary. Then, come back to this thread and share what you have learned.

Understand in advance, this is not some kind of get-rich-quick scheme. This is an orchestrated event that actually takes two months just to set up. It involves at least five businesses that must compete against each other to be the recipient of the Carrotmob. There can only be one winner of a Carrotmob opportunity - not five. Therefore, just getting in a Carrotmob competition does not mean you get to be the recipient of a Carrotmob. Each business winning the right to have a Carrotmob MUST beat four other businesses to be so privileged.

Lamar Morgan
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Lindy,

What's in it for us? That is an excellent question. Did you watch the animation and the video documentary? If you did, you should know the answer to that question without my having to tell you. The whole idea here is not simply to rely on my comments, but to do a little of your own due diligence. Visit the website and see what it has to say for itself. Turns out, the site says a great deal.

It's not easy to put a Carrotmob together. It's a lot of work. At least two months worth of work. Every person who competes in the competition runs the risk of losing. Five businesses compete to be the recipient of a Carrotmob. Only one business can win. That could turn off a lot of potential businesses. Nevertheless, there are Carrotmobs taking place around the world.

I have a lot of questions about a Carrotmob event. For example, how do you put a Carrotmob together for a competition between five restaurants? How often should a Carrotmob take place in the same community? Is there any kind of follow-up procedure following a Carrotmob event? I have other questions, but I just wanted to give you a taste of my skepticism, even though I feel this event is a good idea.

Lamar Morgan
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Scott,

Why should a person spend time in the effort to do a Carrotmob event? Answer - Two reasons:

1)You want live in a "green" eco-friendly environment.

2) You want to profit from living in a green eco-friendly environment.

The whole idea behind the Carrotmob mentality is that businesses will do whatever brings them to most profit. The whole idea is to make being "green" financially rewarding. If the business community sees for itself there is a profit motive behind being green, more businesses will want to become green. The "carrot" here is actually money. However, the biggest beneficiary may indeed be Planet Earth.

Lamar Morgan
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Reg,

How did the Carrotmob site help you determine it would cost you $27,000 to go solar and only save you $73/month? Where did you got those figures?

Lamar Morgan
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Scott,

If Lindy would watch both the animation and the video she might get a little better educated regarding what a Carrotmob does. She wants to know what a Carrotmob can do. Of course, just telling her outright does not carry the credibility of seeing for herself in live video what actually happens.

In the video documentary what do you have but a little retail store that on a good day might bring in $1,000.00 in retail sales. But, when the Carrotmob gets involved, in just three hours time, that same store brings in $9,000.00. Plus, the store has become eco-friendly to boot.

Does that even matter? Maybe not to you. But, it obviously matters to both the store and its customer base. And, isn't that what matters most in this situation?

Lamar Morgan
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Lindy,

You wanted more information about a Carrotmob. Well, I am here to help. Here we go:

Carrotmob is a form of consumer activism where a community buys a lot of goods from one company in a small time period to reward a business's commitment to making a socially responsible change to their operations. Often the changes are of an environmental nature, such as energy efficient upgrades.

The name Carrotmob is derived from carrot and stick. This is an idiom that refers to a policy of offering a combination of rewards (carrots) and punishment (sticks) to induce behavior. Carrotmobs are often explained as a reverse boycott and are thus known as "buycotts."

Carrotmob is a project of Virgance, a start-up founded by Brent Schulkin, who also manages 1BOG.

The first Carrotmob took place in March 2008 in San Francisco. Carrotmobs are currently active in eight countries in North America and Europe.

Now, why do you suppose a Carrotmob requires competition between businesses? After all, that means only one business can win and have its own Carrotmob.

Here's the answer: The folks who started this believe that in an ideal Carrotmob campaign, several businesses will compete, but only one will win. This isn't a rigid rule, but the originators think it's ideal for several reasons. First, competition is good because it results in stronger commitments from the businesses, and results in a bigger overall impact for the campaign. It also helps those who planned it understand what sorts of changes are practical for different types of businesses. Competition also makes the process more democratic by providing an opportunity to let the mob vote on which of the businesses should win.

Now, some people ask why all of the businesses can't win? If five businesses all offer to do good, why not just mob all five businesses? Well, first of all, that undermines the whole idea of the competition. Secondly, it IS a meaningful thing for a consumer to decide to support ONE particular business. It is NOT a meaningful thing for a consumer to decide to support ANY of several competing businesses. Thirdly, and most importantly, it needs to be understood what the "carrot" really is. There are two parts to the carrot - cash and reputation. Some businesses will be more interested in winning because they will make a lot of cash on one specific day. But many businesses will be more interested in winning because they will get a good reputation that will give them a big boost in profits over the long-term. Nearly every business will benefit from this reputation boost because it gives them a competitive advantage over their competition. The reason they will decide to participate is to win this very valuable carrot. But, if you allow all of their competitors a chance to win as well, then the value of the reputation boost goes to zero. You have not given this business much of a carrot if you give the same thing to their competition. You must not dilute the carrot.

Some people worry that if everyone in a town starts shopping at the one responsible grocery store then the other three stores might go out of business and hurt the local economy. That would be an extreme situation, and maybe Carrotmob could be rather destructive in a situation like that. But the way things work is that some businesses succeed and other businesses fail. This has always been true. Historically, the businesses who succeed have been those who are most talented at the art of business, whether or not they care about saving the world. What the folks behind Carrotmob want to do is to change the market so that a business' success or failure is connected to how socially responsible they choose to be.

Now, would a Carrotmob work in Australia? I bet it would. In fact, I bet it would work better in a major metropolitan Australian city than it would in Middletown, CA. What do you think? Need a little more insight? Watch the Carrotmob animation. It's short, clever and makes what I believe to be a valid point about our society and its sense of priorities.

Lamar Morgan
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Lindy,

You asked me a specific question - "How does Carrotmob, or how could Carrotmob, be of an advantage to you in your business?" (Keep in mind my specific answer applies to me and my business - not you and your business.)

Being involved in marketing, there are numerous ways I could benefit from helping to put together a Carrotmob event. For one thing, I am affiliated with a professional video production company. I might be able to get them involved in documenting the event for use on TV and the Web. If you went to the Carrotmob web site you would see that many of these events are documented on video. And, in watching the videos it is pretty obvious those videos were not shot with webcams or cell phones. In many cases (not all) professional equipment was used.

Since I am a columnist for the San Francisco Examiner and my column focuses on small business, any Carrotmob event is worthy of my column's attention. Therefore, a Carrotmob event - whether successful or a flop - is a source of revenue for me.

Now, why should Lindy Asimus be involved with a Carrotmob event right down there in Australia? Because even if you are not one of the five businesses competing, you can become an activist for the event's success and draw positive press for your business in the process. There has to be a reason why people set aside two months of their free time to make these events a success. This is not some kind of "happy accident." This is a precisely designed and orchestrated activity that has long-term benefits for those who choose to get on-board in the early stages.

The Carrotmob idea focuses on the fact that it is better to reward small and large business concerns with something of benefit to both them and their community than it is to punish them for doing something harmful. This is not rocket science. This is not even a "new idea." Road races do this all the time. Only one person can win Atlanta's famous Peachtree Road Race every year on July 4th. Question: If only one person can win the race, and thousands of people want to run the race, how can you possibly be fair at the starting line? Answer: The race is not about how you start out. The race is about how you finish. Every person who "goes the distance of the race and crosses the finish line gets a t-shirt. The race is not about who is first to cross the finish line as it is about who goes the distance.

The Peachtree Road Race is about "lifting people up." Likewise, a Carrotmob event is about lifting a business up. Like road race fans on the sidelines of the Peachtree Road Race who stand and cheer the those running, Carrotmob activists in the local community garner support for a specific business for three hours on a specific day. They help to help to improve the financial profit of that business. They help make it more eco-friendly to the environment.

Would an administrator for a Ning network make a good Carrotmob activist? I think it's possible. What do you think? Watch this - Enticed by the Carrot.

Lamar Morgan
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Lindy,

No one person can pull off a Carrotmob event. It takes a group of people - just like a parade. Remember, there are five businesses that have to compete and only one earns the right to have a Carrotmob event.

Would I like to be involved in a Carrotmob event? Absolutely! Do I think that is going to happen here anytime soon? No. Why? Because it takes so incredibly long to convince the folks in this area to do just about anything. It took 28 years just to get a town hall up and running. You should do a Google search on "Lake County, CA" and read the Economic Development Executive Summary. What this county says about itself is depressing...but unfortunately accurate.

I feel I am extremely fortunate to have found someone interested in building Wi-Fi hot spots. I will soon have a second Wi-Fi hot spot up and running. That means there is one here in Hidden Valley Lake and soon one in Kelseyville. Obviously, every restaurant can benefit in some fashion from becoming a Wi-Fi hot spot. But, unless the restaurant can see a benefit to itself, it likely will not even pursue that avenue.

I can tell folks here that a Carrotmob is a wonderful idea until I am blue in the face and folks will not pursue it. Why? Because I am not from around here. I am from Atlanta, GA - a big, bad city boy. I could not possibly know what is good for the folks out here in this rural area.

Lamar Morgan
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Lindy,

I meant what I said, "Obviously, every restaurant can benefit in some fashion from becoming a Wi-Fi hot spot." I did not say every person. I said "every restaurant...in some fashion..."

Ting's Thai Kitchen initially installed the Wi-Fi simply to have a cost-effective way to community with the Thailand mainland on a daily basis. But, guess what? But, with cell phone service bad due to the low population and lack of cell phone towers, having FREE Wi-Fi suddenly becomes a valued resource. You do not understand what is happening in this community. You do not live here. I do. The Board of Supervisors which governs this area has even commissioned a study with the University of California at Chico to draw a map showing coverage of broadband access in the county and its signal strength. I assume this is a first step in improving broadband access in the county. It is pretty pathetic. Since Dec. 9th the county's only cable service has been converting over to AT&T servers. This has caused tremendous problems with regard to email. Messages sent out bounce back undelivered. Messages are bounced back you to email mailboxes that were never sent by them. It really pretty crazy out here right now.

There is nothing wrong with listening to what people have to say. But, what do you do if nobody cares to speak up? Do you simply remain silent because no one speaks up?

When people demonstrate a level of clueless or carelessness by their own actions, I think education is the answer to a more productive change in behavior. A community is strong when it pulls together. Wi-Fi helps a community pull together. I strengthens the local tax base. Wi-Fi draws people into restaurants to eat, use Wi-Fi and spend money. Want proof? Click here. If you have never checked in at a restaurant, perhaps it is time you gave that a try and see for yourself what happens. Nothing beats a personal testimony.

Lamar Morgan
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Scott,

It does not matter if you are a coffee shop, book store or a fine restaurant, you can benefit from Wi-Fi. Do you decide to leave your cell phone at home just because you are going to a fine restaurant rather than a fast food joint? Perhaps some people do. But, I believe most people who are mobile in business are going to want to take their cell phone with them wherever they go. Why do you think it is that mobile phones have allowed for Skype software that is free to be installed on them? It is because the public wants the cost-saving alternative. Even the maker of the cell phone realizes that having Skype on the phone helps to sell more phones. When I purchased my Nokia N810, guess what I discovered? Skype was pre-installed. I did not have to put the software on the phone. Nokia put it there for me.

In addition, a smart restaurant owner - and I assume New York City has a lot of smart restaurant owners - can do more with Wi-Fi than simply allow for VOIP calls in the restaurant. A smart restaurant owner can showcase his own food network via a Wi-Fi digital photo frame in the restaurant. This includes not only video and slides, but a scrolling RSS news feed. In fact, numerous Wi-Fi digital frames can be remotely programmed for free using The Frame Channel.

If the fine restaurant happens to have a large dining room that works as a conference room, a large HDTV can easily convert to video monitor and be used to show slides, video or do a video conference via Skype.

Yes, Wi-Fi works for any restaurant - large or small. Wi-Fi can be viral and provide a mutual uplift. If there is any city on this planet that is filled with FREE Wi-Fi restaurants, it should be New York City. If I am mistaken, then New York City is "the land of opportunity" for Wi-Fi entrepreneurs.

Lamar Morgan
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Lindy,

Welcome to the world of the Carrotmob. It's nice to be on the same page of music with you.

Lamar Morgan
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Scott,

I told you it takes at least two months to set up this Carrotmob event. And, before there is a Carrotmob event, there are five businesses competing to be chosen for the Carrotmob. Who wins this competition? The business willing to make the most changes percentage-wise regarding itsw compliance with eco-friendly living.

So far as I know, the organizer of a Carrotmob event does not receive any financial benefit for helping a Carrotmob event be successful. Instead, the financial benefit goes to the business that receives the Carrotmob. On the Carrotmob site there is a video documentary of an actual Carrotmob event in San Francisco. The little grocery store retailer in the site's video documentary normally makes $1,000 on a good day. Due to the Carrotmob event, that same store took in $9,000.00 in just three hours. Not a bad return for just three hours of work.

Lamar Morgan
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Scott,

What motivates people to train for the Peachtree Road Race every year in Atlanta on the Fourth of July? People don't get paid to run the race. In fact, they have to pay to enter. It's the exact same race every year. It does not change. The only thing anyone gets is a T-shirt for going the distance of the race. Why do you suppose some folks even fly into Atlanta just to run that race on what is often one of the hottest days of the year? People have actually died running that race. Why is it even allowed to continue? Every year you see ambulance units and paramedics along Peachtree Street(the course route) parked and prepared to assist runners who may collapse from the intense heat.

Why do people WANT to run this race? The short simplistic answer is that people CARE about the race. People want this race. For many, it has become a family tradition. People not only come out to run the race, they come out to watch the folks who chose to run it. They pass out cups of water to the runners. They squirt them with a garden hose as they pass by. It is an amazing bonding experience. It is a great money-maker for the Atlanta Track Club. But, I dare say profit is not their only driving motivation.

And, so it is with a Carrotmob event. Financial gain is NOT the only motivation here. There are other factors at work that entice people to freely give of their time. Making the business community more "green" (environmentally friendly) happens to be a big motivator out here in California. I think you actually said it was BIG in New York City as well.

Should you get involved with a Carrotmob event? I don't know that you have the time. However, there might be a way that you could incorporate some of the activities to which you are already committed into connecting in some fashion with a Carrotmob event that someone else is putting together. It's a lot easier to endorse someone else's parade than to put one on yourself.

Lamar Morgan
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Scott,

How long will it take to undertake a successful Carrotmob effort? I am told it will take two months - from start to finish. But, how long will it take to even get started? You have to put together the businesses that actually want to do what is required. I have no idea how long it will take to find five businesses that both qualify and want to do this. It took Central Florida only seven years to transform a swamp to the Vacation Kingdom of the World. On the flip side, it has taken the community of Middletown 28 years to just get a town hall started.

So much of life is about CARING and knowing HOW to CARE. Some folks CARE. Others...don't...or are hung up on the "How To" part.

Lamar Morgan
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Lindy,

I am in total agreement with you. When people run a road race they do it for a reason. But, not everybody does it for the same reason. Is that a problem? No, not for the one who runs the race.

And, so it is with a Carrotmob. Not everyone engages in the activity with the same motives. Some folks are involved with it because they have a part to play in telling the competing businesses what environmentally friendly changes they must make to their business. Somewhere in that Carrotmob process someone is being paid to make environmentally friendly changes to a business. Meanwhile, you have an antivist or numerous activists, who are stirring up a crowd of folks to participate at some point in a Carrotmob event.

I could be mistaken, but I believe there is a huge voluntary involvement with any Carrotmob event.

Lamar Morgan
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Scott,

A Carrotmob is not something one person can do by himself. It takes a group of people. No matter how much I like the idea, I could not make it happen by myself. It takes a group of people to pull this thing off. It takes a group of people just to get the process started. I do not even have a group of people interested, yet. This is going to take some time. But, just because I do not have the people gathered together to push forward the Carrotmob idea does not mean I cannot like the idea. Considering the speed at which local ideas get implemented out here I would say it would be a minor miracle if we did a single Carrotmob event in Lake County in 2010.

Lamar Morgan
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Scott,

I suppose a high school class could help with a Carrotmob. They would certainly need a lot of guidance and direction by adults. But yes, to raise the needed funds for the senior trip to Washington, DC I think a Carrotmob would be ideal. Of course, during a year, you might need more than one Carrotmob to raise enough money for that senior trip. Back in 1968, I sold magazine subscriptions, candy bars, made and delivered pizza, all to raise funds for that one trip. I don't know that a Carrotmob would be easier. It would no doubt be different - especially when it comes to benefiting the environment.

Lamar Morgan
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Scott,

You would not believe what an upheaval is happening in the State of California right now. People are leaving California for states like Montana and Texas. I have a standing offer to do another letter-writing campaign with young people in February or March of next year to help Gov. Schwarzenegger with his Second Small Business & Entrepreneurship Conference. But, right now, California has yet to approve its budget for 2009...and the year is almost gone. So, I do not even know if there is going to be a conference.

What's more, I heard from a former high school counselor who lost his job that the two states with the biggest mass exodus of citizenry since this economic crisis hit are (No. 1) California and (No. 2) New York. Now, I have not been able to confirm any of this. But, do you have any insight here since you live in New York? What do you see? Are people leaving the Big Apple in droves?

Lamar Morgan
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Some of you may be interested in what Manhattan is doing to promote Carrotmobs. This is indeed serious money being raised to benefit both the local tax base and the environment, simultaneously. Check it out at Manhattan Carrotmob.

Could this sort of thing work where you live? I would like to think it would work where I live, but I still need to learn more about the process.

Lamar Morgan
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