Build your own Website

Times are changing. Gone are the days when we have to find a professional website developer and handover hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars to have a good simple website presence. It is time for self-empowerment and that includes being empowered and in control of your business exposure. Website designers do a fabulous job - you’re likely to need them for anything more than a basic website. There’s a whole science behind the design of an information system that is user-friendly but if you’re a small business with a requirement for a few online pages then you can do it yourself.

I’ll soon be adding my thoughts and experiences on getting your business cards, newsletters and online advertising up and running so watch this space and leave a comment on what it is that would be helpful for you to know..

Take our website, Life Academy Online - yes I have an IT background but my website development experience is self-taught. It just requires time, patience, persistence and the ability to work through some logical steps. Ignoring the vast amount of time required to design the site just as we wanted, the actual money handed-over was $20 upfront and then about $10 per month hosting. There have been fees for images used but this is an optional extra.

I feel a little hesitant sharing with you what I know, only because I don’t want you to get ‘in a pickle’ and then I’m not around to help you out. However, it’s worth giving it a go and if you come unstuck then you haven’t lost a huge amount of money, perhaps a little bit of time and you just might need to book some chillout-time to get over the frustration. I’m also going to share with you my formula using the products and services that I know and work for me. This is not the only way, it may not be the best way, but it’s my way. If you are happy to work independently, happy to ’suss’ things out for yourself and feel at ease at the thought of learning as you go along then you might just do it! 

1. Get yourself a Website address (optional - please read)

So - the first thing is your domain name. This is the website address you will use for your website. Choosing the best name can be a lengthy discussion in itself but bear in mind what you want people to search on, and are then matched to your address. You’ll need to decide whether your website address is the name of your company or a description of the services you offer. For example: I could set up a website called yourpurposeconsulting.co.nz which is the name of my company or I could call it spiritedbusiness.co.nz which describes what I do. What are people most likely to search on? It all depends on how you will market yourself and how you want to be considered. I once set up a website with theemergingpath.com - I liked the name of it but who thought to search on that when looking for coaching services? With The Life Academy of New Zealand we knew we wanted our website address to represent our company name in some way and people do search on ‘life academy’ now that the word is out.

One very useful tool to help you decide is Google’s Keyword Selector Tool. You can type in a word or phrase and you will be told how many people have searched on that term and what the competition is. The more people that search on a term, the greater you’ll find the amount of website results being returned. https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal 

Another thing to do is to google the words you are thinking of using in your address and see what else is being returned. It’s an interesting exercise as these are the websites you’ll be planning on joining if you use these search terms. The bottom line is go for what makes you feel good, what sounds good and you’ll be proud of shouting about! I also do a numerology check on the phrase to see if it vibrates the intent that is behind our business. I’ll hopefully get some notes on how to do that, up soon, and link from here.

Another thing is deciding whether you go for a .com or .co.nz extension. This will depend on whether your business is primarily international or New Zealand based. So once you’ve got some ideas you’ll need to see if it is available and purchase it. Google ‘register domain’ and you’ll be given plenty of choice. I’ve used freeparking.co.nz for NZ addresses and domain.com for international ones. I’m a creature of habit. Once something works for me, I don’t change if I’m happy with the service I’m getting. I purchase the straight address with no hosting add-ons or extras and pay about $20.

Alternatively, your hosting provider can obtain your new website address for you at the same time as setting up your hosting. This will remove steps 3 & 4. I tend to keep things separate so I retain full control - there’s probably not a great deal of extra benefit but I since I purchase more than one domain name and only have one hosting account this is why I do it separately.

2. Get yourself some Hosting.

So you’ve got a website address! The next thing you need is a home for your website. This is called hosting. Hosting is basically the equivalent of having your website stored on someone else’s computer that can be seen on the Internet and is secure. Now - there will be loads of options on this. Hosts generally provide a range of services including unlimited email addresses based on your new website address, automated website builders and all sorts of things to help you manage your own site. Website design companies usually provide hosting as part of the design package deal and may provide you with direct access to your site for modification or may not. Since we are doing the D-I-Y thing you’ll need to set-up your own.

I use Dot5Hosting www.dot5hosting.com in the US. I’m all for using New Zealand based services where I can but I know my way around dot5hosting and at about $5.00 USD a month hosting fee it works for me. Please note that I have no incentive to recommend any service to you. Sometimes the support offered by dot5hosting is excellent, sometimes it’s not. On the whole, I’m a happy customer.

Whatever hosting company you use, you will need to make sure they provide support for installing/using ‘Wordpress’ as part of the package. We’ll talk about Wordpress later but basically this is the website platform you will be using for free. Google ‘website hosting’ and take a look to see what’s on offer.

3. Point your website address to your hosting account

If you bought your website address separately to your hosting, you’ve got a website address and somewhere to ‘house’ your website. You’ll need to let your website domain provider who has the authority for your domain name. This is called updating the Domain Name Servers (DNS). Log-in to your domain account you purchased your address through e.g. freeparking and go to the part of the account where you manage your domain. Find the area for updating the ‘Domain Name Servers’. Your hosting account will tell you what the domain name servers (DNS) need to be changed to - if you can’t find out, ask the support team for your hosting account. For dot5hosting you change DNS 1 to : ns1.dot5hosting.com and DNS 2 to : ns2.dot5hosting.com This basically gives the authority to dot5hosting for your domain name.

4. Add your Domain name to your Hosting account

In your hosting account, you’ll need to add your domain name. Depending on which hosting provider you use, you may be asked your domain name when setting up or they might offer to  In dot5hosting this is ‘Add Registered Domain to Account’. You’ll just need to type your website address in. In Domain Pointing Manager your website domain address should be pointing to your Home Directory. Your Home Directory is the home/public_html folder. In file manager you’ll see a filing structure - your wordpress will be installed to the public_html folder.

5. Choose a Wordpress Template

This step could be done later and it might also be a good idea to do this before step number 1 so you can decide whether you like Wordpress. Wordpress is an open source (freely available) blogging platform. Blog is short for Web Log - meaning a number of journal entries (posts) that are regularly updated on the internet - a bit like an online journal. Blogs usually include:

• A main content area with articles listed chronologically, newest on top. Often, the articles are organised into categories
• An archive of older articles
• A way for people to leave comments about the articles
• A list of links to other related sites, sometimes called a “blogroll”.

Wordpress is a blogging platform that enables you to create more permanent pages of information such as details about your services, your contact information etc and a series of blogs (posts) where you can regularly update your website with interesting and relevant information. There will be inbuilt functionality that will enable your visitors to interact with you by leaving comments to your posts.

Visit www.wordpress.org and read up about having a wordpress website. Go to Extend > Themes Directory and choose a template that you would like for your website. Once you have selected a site, download it to your computer by pressing on download.

Wordpress is free because it is open source. This means that people have developed the wordpress technology and made it available for public distribution. You have no exclusive rights over the template you use (as others can choose it also) and have no authority if you find an error. However most developers are so keen to keep improving their work that they are always improving and fixing faults. Having said that, Wordpress sites are tested and approved before going live and I have never had a problem.

5. Install the Wordpress platform

Hopefully you have got a hosting account that enables automatic install of wordpress. In dot5hosting you’ll find it under Scripting & Add-ons > Install Central > Blogs > Wordpress. If not then you’ll need to read up on how to manually install Wordpress on the wordpress.org site - Good Luck - that’s unknown territory for me!

You’ll be asked to give your Blog a name, create a username and password that you will use to log-in to your wordpress website and choose the domain name that the wordpress will install to - you’ll only have one option which is your website address. Leave the installation sub directory field blank and tick the box ‘yes install to this directory’. By leaving this field blank wordpress will install at the highest level of your home directory (public_html). Select ‘create a database automatically’.

Note: If you completed anything in this installation directory field you would be entering the name of a subfolder i.e. public_html/nameofsubfolder. I tend to install to a subfolder because I have more than one website in my home directory (public_html).

Follow the onscreen instructions and wordpress will install. You’ll be told that your wordpress installation was successful and the name of the URL. If you go to this URL you will see the default wordpress theme installed. Note that at this stage, the www. is missing from the URL.

If you go back to vdeck > Scripting & Add-ons > Wordpress you’ll be given the URL address of the admin screen to start making changes to your site. It will be your URL (minus the www.) with /wp-login.php at the end.

For info: take a look in your file structure in the public_html folder and you’ll see the wordpress install files there.

6. Add the www. 

Two important things to share. Login with your username and password (the ones you gave when you installed wordpress) and go to Settings. In the Blog address (URL) field add the www. to the name of the URL.Update. This means that you can now type the full URL including the www. and get to your website.

7. Very important - Prevent Spam

The next thing you should do it Activate the Akismet plugin which protects your website from Spam. Since your website enables comments, there are many people out there automatically spreading rubbish and linking to inappropropriate websites. If you don’t activate your Spam filter you’ll wake up with 20 comments you won’t want to display and might get banned by google. Protect yourself.

Go to Plugins and follow the instructions for activating Akismet. This basically requires you to create a free account at wordpress.com and obtain a key (passcode) from your account details. You enter this key when you activate Akismet.

8. Upload your chosen theme

You can use the file upload on file manager to upload your theme folder inside the wp-content/themes. You’ll need to unzip the downloaded theme folder or at least open it and copy the contents to a new location. If you upload the whole zip folder you’ll find it won’t open. It’s best to download some free FTP (file transfer protocol) software which allows you to quickly transfer files from your computer into your hosting account. Google ‘free FTP software’. Once you’ve got some software then in your hosting account you’ll need to create an FTP account or use one already created. This provides you with a username and password to enter into your FTP software to create the secure connection to your hosting account. It’s worth taking the time to do this so you can quickly transfer images and other files across in future.

7. Control User Registrations

Another basic thing I do is go to Settings > General and make sure the following box is not ticked ‘anyone can register’. If this is ticked, people can create their own accounts and publish blogs on your site. I retain control of this and for the Academy, we invite people to blog and we create accounts for invited guests.

8. Display your new theme

Log-in to your wordpress account, go to find the Themes section - if you’ve uploaded the complete theme folder inside ‘themes’ then you’ll see it there and all you have to do is click on it.

9. Have a Browse

Take a look around your wordpress admin and get to know what is there to play with. Full suppport documentation is available on www.wordpress.org

Final Words

Without my explanation, if you get yourself a good hosting account that uses Wordpress www.wordpress.org then the documentation and support will help you get there by yourself! I hope I have shown that it is do-able. Once you’ve done it once, you’ll be able to do it again and help all of your friends!

The Radical Change in Business

Masami’s own story might help you answer that question.

Discovering the missing connection
As a child growing up in Japan, Masami found herself unexpressed within the conservative Japanese culture. Whilst

Masami makes connection around the world

she talks fondly of her cultural heritage and the beauty of the Japanese people, her own experience of ‘disconnect’ at school and within her family environment left her with a desire to discover her own sense of independence and individuality. Masami longed to find the deeper sense of connection and joy in life that she had been missing.
At the age of twenty, with Japanese as her only language, Masami left Japan for Canada. Despite the language barriers she encountered, she continued to travel across the world, spending time in developing and developed countries, connecting and communicating with all whom she met on her path. 

Over the years, Masami transformed from someone void of self-expression and connection into a highly successful social entrepreneur with a deep sense of purpose and passion. She seems to naturally empower, influence and lead and she does that now with ease both one-on-one and when addressing audiences of 3000 people.

Giving creates more
As she speaks to me during our interview, her words express humility and gratitude for life and her enthusiasm naturally emanates with a heart-felt message of connection through creating community. I was eager to find out what Masami had learnt from travelling so extensively and what it was that led her to discover the joy that resulted in the creation of the global giving movement known as Buy1GIVE1™. She expressed it this way:

“I realised that having a sense of connection was everything in life. For me, it is more important to care for the people in my life than anything else. As soon as I realised this, my life started to fill with joy and happiness. Amazingly, I started to attract more opportunities in life as well. I wanted to share this with other people and in particular, how important it is to give to other people beyond our direct family, seeing us as one big global family where we give and receive with each other.

As parents we give to our children – acknowledgement, love, care, and attention. When we start giving those things freely, including to our wider sense of family and community, we experience more joy. The real sense of joy and happiness actually comes from giving, caring and contributing not from getting things. We do so many things in life in order to get something, however, what follows after getting the thing we want is often the feeling of emptiness or desire to have more.

Giving more is the secret of having more and experiencing more. It actually creates more abundance, more fulfilment in our life ”.

During Masami’s travels, she worked as a chef. This enabled her to nurture her passion for creating a sense of community and connection through the enjoyment of food. This passion led to her creating a national frozen gourmet food production company in Australia which was founded with one of her current Buy1GIVE1 business partners, David Anttony.

“We wanted to create a business model that contributed back to society and be in touch with people’s lives every day. We realised that even though we had this big vision, as an independent business it would take many years if we continued working on our own. With our food company, we realised we could give from every single transaction by feeding a child every time a meal was bought. At the moment we decided to share this concept with others around the world, Buy1GIVE1™ was born.

Transaction-based giving – Buy1GIVE1™

So Buy1GIVE1 is a giving programme that is creating a new giving movement around the world, converting every single transaction into Buy1GIVE1 based giving. Every time somebody buys something, something positive happens around the world. For example, imagine that every time we went to a restaurant and had a meal we fed a child, every time we bought a book we planted a tree, or every time we went to see a doctor a child receives healthcare. This is Buy1GIVE1.

 

 

 

Buy1GIVE1 is about making a difference. The only way to making dramatic change in the world economy or environment is for us all to give more everyday. And because consumerism is everywhere the easiest way to tie that together is to make every transaction about giving action. Whether you are a business owner, a worthy cause, or a consumer, there is a way for you to connect with Buy1GIVE1”.

Transforming the world through joy of giving
Masami has relocated to Singapore to operate Buy1GIVE1 with her business partners David Anttony and Paul Dunn; a high successful multiple-time business entrepreneur and mentor. After just 18 months in operation, Buy1GIVE1 has spread t 12 countries around the world. Now that Buy1GIVE1 is established, I asked Masami what her personal mission is today.

“What is really behind Buy1GIVE1 is about creating joy. We seem to want more and more in our life yet we are missing something inside whether that is a sense of purpose, a sense of connection, or sense of contribution. Buy1GIVE1 brings in that sense of connection in every single activity as opportunity for us to be grateful for what we have in the world. Buy1GIVE1 can create joy in everyone’s lives. It’s about making a change, and it’s about making that change within ourselves

Our mission is sharing this way of doing business with many others to see the world where every activity of our life gives back. I would like to see every business on the planet to become a giving business working together with its customers and team members to make a difference together every day”.

Masami’s journey is one of finding joy through the release of the old, of finding gratitude in everything we do and everything we have. Her story reminds us that whilst we are called to connect with a sense of vision and purpose that leads us in business, we are not to become so focussed on creating change in the future that we miss out on the joy that we are experiencing today. As Masami said to me “the world is going to change anyway. But we can only choose to experience the joy of life now”.  Visit Buy1GIVE1™ online at www.b1g1.com and start to share in the joy of giving.

“The real change happens from simple joy of giving and caring” Masami Sato, the founder of Buy1GIVE1™

Our First Kash or Kind Business Sponsor

We are delighted to introduce you to our very first Kash or Kind Sponsor. Kash or Kind is a concept founded by The Life Academy of New Zealand. It allows you to choose how you wish to pay for any of the classes held at The Life Academy. Kash? Or Kind?

You are your greatest resource. Paying in kindness has multiple benefits. First, you get to connect with something meaningful by ‘giving back’ to one of our Kash or Kind Worthy Causes. Are you feeling a sense of disconnect? Are you wanting to bring a more natural flow of abundance in your life? It all starts with service and contribution. The universe works in miraculous ways - in giving, you shall receive. One of the things you will receive, is a class at The Life Academy of New Zealand.

How is this possible? Through our Kash or Kind Business Sponsors. One of our business sponsors will cover the cost of your class. It’s as simple as that. The only thing you need to do is turn-up, and give. We’ll arrange the rest. There are no conditions on who can participate in Kash or Kind - you choose how you wish to pay and choose one of the worthy cause activities. When you sign-up for a course, you can tell us how you’ll be paying.

Interview with Jude Randell

Owner of the Bethelehem Health & Tea Shop

Bethelehem Health & Tea Shop is an independently owned health store serving local people in Tauranga and all over New Zealand. In fact, parcels are even sent overseas to people who have found the store on the net and are drawn to what Jude has to offer.

We asked Jude about how her business came into being and what drives her to be a business with a difference, through making a difference. This is what she had to tell us:

Bethlehem Health & Tea Shop, Tauranga

“It was my childhood dream to be a nurse. As a child, I grew up thinking that is all I would do. At 17 I went nursing and spent many hours within a hospital as a part of my training. I just loved it.

I knew I would see and experience things I would never forget. I remember this poor old lady with diabetes, whose amputated leg had become gangrenous. Spending time with this lady and dressing her putrid amputation is an experience I shall never forget. At 17 I was very sensitive and at nights I didn’t sleep for what seemed like ages. But I learnt how to deal with it and carried on with my training.

Life changed and I moved away from nursing. I loved the patients, however ‘office politics’ and working with a very strong group of young women didn’t appeal so much. In hindsight, perhaps growing up in the country meant I hadn’t developed the social skills required to deal with certain tensions and team ‘dynamics’.

So, I moved on, married and raised a family. Like many people have and still do, I left my childhood dreams unfulfilled and thought that I might return to them at a later stage in life. Since that time I’ve been very blessed to have had some wonderful jobs. I once worked as a dental assistant/technician which I absolutely loved. Whilst I was raising my children I got a job at the local secondary school as a teacher-aid and Laboratory Assistant. Science was my thing. I worked with students and prepared science experiments so in roundabout way I hadn’t completely left my path. I also got my heavy truck license and was able to bus the kids on school trips. Over the eleven years I spent at a small secondary school I ended up working in the office as the Principal’s Secretary and Executive Officer.

At home, I was keen to do whatever I could to give my children as natural a diet as possible. It was something that was just really important to me. Whether it was coming from a farming background or just in my nature, who knows? So meals were always cooked from scratch.

Having travelled to various places around the world, I think New Zealand does a pretty good job at living back to basics. We still bake, and know how to cook with fresh ingredients. Unfortunately, there does seem to be an increase in the availability of convenience foods. I hope that we manage to make a comeback, before we’ve lost the art of basic cooking. And yes, I’d like to think I can be part of that.

It wasn’t until I was around age 47 that my path seemed to return to my original passion. I’d always got a lot of satisfaction from making a difference to people. My passion found me. I was looking through the local paper and saw an ad “business with a difference”. I knew straight away it was for me. A few months later I was opening the doors of The Bethlehem Health & Tea Shop. I have never looked back.

I’ve learnt heaps over the last five years. The training courses on so many aspects of natural health, and information shared to independent people like me is outstanding. And of course I learn so much from my team who are qualified and experienced in their own passions. I’ve become even more passionate about health and helping people to restore and maintain their natural health. I believe being healthy and happy is everyone’s natural right. More and more people are now increasing their knowledge of how to build a healthy level of nutrition into their lives.

I get huge satisfaction from seeing positive changes in people’s lives – of restoring our body’s natural function to heal. To run a business that uses all of the skills I have learnt over the years is extremely fulfilling. I could not have done this when I was younger, so life has given me the tools I need to be able to live my passion. I know medical practices and modern medicine does have its place in our lives but so does our natural ability to heal. I like to show that nutrition and natural therapies can restore us to our natural balance.

Why is Jude a Kash or Kind Business Sponsor?

I feel I’d like to give and make a difference beyond what I can do in my store. I know that emotional well being and leading  a happy and fulfilling life is a major factor in restoring our natural balance. It’s well known now that health and happiness go hand in hand. I’m so content running my health shop, it’s great to find other ways to help people. Being a Kash or Kind Business Sponsor with The Life Academy of New Zealand gives me the satisfaction that not only am I supporting someone to find their passion and purpose in life, this person will also be giving of themselves to a local worthy cause in return. How cool is that?”

Jude Randell
Bethlehem Health & Tea Shop
State Highway 2
Bethlehem
Tauranga 3110
Ph: 07 576 9442
Fax: 07 576 9445
Web: www.bethlehemhealth.co.nz

Are you a Business with a Difference?

Join the Life Academy of New Zealand as a Kash or Kind Business Sponsor and reap the benefits that giving to others will bring. Contact Us and ask for some more information.

Building value from the Inside

The Importance of Building Foundations

According to Saint Augustine “the higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation”. If value is the core foundation of every successful business, Buy1Give1 along with its partners is building foundations where children on rooftops will be conversing with stars.

In this article, we will take an inside look at how two businesses have joined forces with Buy1Give1, and how from building value from the inside they are experiencing the transformative power of giving.
But first, let’s look at the whole process of giving in business.

The Concept of Giving in Business

The concept of giving in order to receive is not a new one. This practice of giving is increasing within the world of business. The paradox of this very idea is designed to challenge us. And it does. In a business environment, where our key reason for “being” is to generate and maximise a return on our investment, we couldn’t be faulted for finding reproach in the idea of “giving away”. Or perhaps, we might leave it for consideration tomorrow.

Creating, building and sustaining a business is hard enough. And we work hard to protect our assets. So to actually believe that giving first results in receiving becomes challenging. We’re led to consider the possibility that something “in addition to” is required of us.

Yet whilst this third way of doing business—integrating capitalism with philanthropy—is increasing in momentum, it is not a new phenomenon. Andrew Carnegie, who used his wealth from the provision of iron and steel for building railways, enabled the less fortunate to better themselves through education. Carnegie refers to the passing of wealth as a “potent force for the elevation of our race” in his 1889 essay, The Gospel of Wealth.

A Simple Way of Giving through Buy1GIVE1

Buy1GIVE1 could easily be described as a “potent force”. It’s a business where giving is central to, as opposed to simply part of what the business does. By joining as a Buy1GIVE1 Business Member, businesses enter the realm of business transformation through the power of giving. I spoke with two Buy1GIVE1 founding business partners who have done just that.

A Company that Enables People to Achieve Their Dreams

“The true essence of giving is not about what you might expect to get in return”, Marcus Edwards, Director and founder of Sunsplash Homes would tell you. “Giving is about having gratitude.” In fact, Marcus is so grateful for who he is, and the contribution he is able to make through his business, he probably wouldn’t be able to put a monetary figure against the value he has received in return for his investment.

Sunsplash Homes, based in London UK, was founded by Marcus two years ago and his growing success is attributed to having embraced a philosophy of giving. His company is a client-focussed property investment company; although Marcus will tell you that what he does is not about property at all. Sunsplash is “a company that enables

Marcus Edward - Sunsplash Homes

people to achieve their dreams”. They connect their clients with the best finance companies, property developers, lawyers and anyone else necessary to guide their project through the entire process—as well as making a difference.

And it is this “making a difference”, that according to Marcus, really does make the difference for Sunsplash. Listening to him talk passionately about his business, his relationships and his vision for the future, it becomes evident that you can’t have a company that has created value from the core of their business activity, that honours the right of every individual to realise their dreams, without there being some tangible, physical evidence of this people-centred, giving-based philosophy. And this is where Buy1Give1 comes in.

A Simple Truth and a Win:Win:Win

Last October, in 2007, Marcus attended Roger Hamilton’s Entrepreneur Business School (EBS) where he was introduced to Masami Sato. Marcus immediately connected with the message of being active and transformational through the simple act of giving. A simple truth resonated with him; giving was not just about making a difference to the world, but also about connecting to something more meaningful and as a result, making a difference to your own world as well.

As a result of hearing Masami’s message, Marcus created “Buy a home, Give a home”, a concept specifically for real estate. A portion of the commission fee would be passed on, enabling clients to relieve families from homelessness.
 “I’m a great believer in attraction,” Marcus recounts. “The day we committed to outwardly demonstrating our philosophy of giving, which actually was whilst Masami was still giving her talk at the EBS, our business just went straight-up. After making a formal commitment to working with Buy1Give1, the enquiries just started coming in as a result of telling people we met, about what we did. And it just became easy. As soon as a client got in touch with us, it was like it was already a done deal. It was amazing. And it was all because they had heard about the difference we were committed to making.”

Tapping into the Forces of Human Nature

The opportunity to give through a conduit such a Buy1GIVE meets so many needs at so many levels. Bill Gates emphatically states that “there are two great forces of human nature: self-interest and caring for others”. And

Consumers Building & Fulfilling Dreams

Sunsplash is clearly harnessing that power through giving their clients an opportunity to do something for others, whilst at the same time, doing something for themselves—at no extra cost. Sunsplash’s B1G1 Worthy Cause Partner, Habitat for Humanity in India, is simply connected through Buy1GIVE1. The partnership of these two businesses creates an easy and beneficial choice for the consumer.

Sunsplash has already passed on £5,500 to Habitat for Humanity and will soon be able to tell their clients where every pound was spent—a “direct benefit of working with a Worthy Cause partner through Buy1Give1. It’s the stories that make all the difference. Our clients will get to find out exactly how their money has made a difference to a family in need of shelter, and this is really important.”

And when I asked Marcus about the biggest difference in “getting involved”, he put it this way, “I feel good because I’m in my flow. On top of that, within the XL Network, we have become very well known because of what we do, not because there is anything particularly special about us.” I happen to think that’s exactly what makes them special.

Taking You Beyond What You Thought is Possible

You might be mistaken in thinking that businesses like Sunsplash Homes are rare and precious gems—precious perhaps; but not rare. “Taking you beyond what you thought is possible”, is the mantra of Ark Total Wealth, which is repeated every second, every day, in every way, like Buy1GIVE1’s mantra “The Joy of Giving”. When you commit to working with The Ark Group, you commit to creating a wealth strategy through shifting your thinking about money by leveraging its power to make a significant difference.

I spoke with Mark Falzon, CEO of The Ark Group and Ark Total Wealth. Immediately it is clear that this is a company that takes its business very seriously. It’s a company that realises the potential of connecting with something meaningful, purposeful and of value, with something that is tangible and measurable. Ark can take you beyond what you thought is possible. And they do this outwardly through their concept of Buy1BUILD1. They believe that the concept of building a foundation and having a place to call home, is the centre-point of family and belonging—a place where contribution begins.

Understanding our Needs for Truth

Mark has discovered that the driver behind their success is understanding the needs of their clients. Having consulted with many people he knows that they want “freedom, choice, happiness and abundance. Yet those who are financially abundant are not necessarily emotionally abundant. When you look at the needs driving their happiness, it comes down to a few things, one of them being service and contribution.” And this is when we come back to the something “in addition to” in embracing the philosophy of giving in order to receive. In Mark’s own words, he tells me, “It’s like it is some mysterious truth that they all know, but can’t articulate. When they hear it, they say, ‘Yes, that’s it!’”.

Two years ago, Mark and his partner, Maurice Goldberg, were looking for an outlet to channel the giving-based value that had become core to their business. Mark was introduced to Masami and Buy1GIVE1 at a Roger Hamilton program, and from there the Buy1BUILD1 initiative was born. It was a clear response to Ark’s need to do something that reflected their particular business interest. The idea just came to him in a moment of inspiration:
“One day I was driving along and this idea just popped into my head. I thought, wouldn’t it be amazing if every time we sold a house to somebody in our community to help them create freedom, wealth and abundance in their life we could build a house in a developing world for free, for another family—to help them to create freedom and abundance in their lives?”

Connecting with Tabitha Cambodia

Mark has travelled to Cambodia a number of times, once taking his daughter, Ruby who was four at the time, to connect with their mission and to participate hands-on. The “spectacular and beautiful landscape, and the incredible hearts of its people, despite the atrocities that have happened in that land for so many years” confirmed for Mark that this was worth being involved in. Through seeing with his own eyes, how relatively small amounts can make a significant difference to so many people, he became totally inspired to take action.

It was in Cambodia that Mark discovered Tabitha Cambodia, a group that builds houses for about AUD$1,000 per dwelling, which enables people to come from a fairly impoverished state and eventually save enough money to enable them to buy a house of their own. Once Ark had partnered with Buy1GIVE1, Tabitha linked in as a Worthy Cause so that other businesses could join their cause through the B1G1 movement.

A Cambodian Family Awaits a New Home - Image Courtesy of Mark Falzon

Creating Profit through Connecting with Meaningful Contribution

Mark clearly understands that business is a profit-making activity but also believes that out of those profits “collectively, we have a responsibility to make a contribution”. He tells me that he wonders about the future of his children, and when he reflects back on his own life, and asks “Did I do enough? Did I create enough? Did I give enough? Did I use the opportunities I had?” he can say that he did his best, and that his contribution was heart-felt.

You would not find Ark overtly shouting about the contribution they make, and like Sunsplash Homes, this is because they are a company that resonates and builds value from the core of its being which is deeper than a marketing strategy. This resonance of something with truth naturally attracts clients who are interested in building, and sharing wealth.

Close to the end of our interview I asked Mark what he considered to be the benefit of combining meaningful contribution and business activity.

“The integration of these sorts of activities into your business has an impact on so many different levels. They impact the motivation of the leaders, they impact the staff’s motivation, your suppliers and broader networks, they impact your clients and as intangible as it is, brings us all together in commonality; a similar cause, a similar vision, a similar purpose which holds and binds it all together in a symbiotic way. It’s kind of magic. I think that you can’t underestimate the value that it brings to your business at a very practical business level and you can’t underestimate the difference that makes back into the world.”

It’s Not Just About Social Responsibility

So what have I learnt about Buy1BUILD1? Giving isn’t just about social responsibility—it’s about connecting with what you value and building this into your business, and allowing it to naturally emanate outward. Giving is about showing gratitude for our freedom to trade, employ and use money for goods and services in response to a demand. And when we give, it’s about leverage—not about doing more, but doing something amazing with what we already have.

A family pleased to have a new home - Image Courtesy of Mark Falzon

How purpose can be expressed through the sock Business

I had the great pleasure of speaking with Tom Minter, Founder of Socks For Happy People based in the UK. Having spent just over half an hour with Tom, it is evident that this is a business that has the potential to effect positive transformation on a global scale.

Being a business on purpose is about naturally expressing who you are and what you value through a vehicle which can be used to create massive change. Socks For Happy People is a shining example of a business that resonates with truth, integrity and authenticity. They have chosen Socks as the medium in which this truth can be shared with the world. Tom reminds us all that it matters not what you do, but why you do it. Read more

Imagine a New World

I invite you to watch this beautiful video. Imagine a new world that you can become involved in creating. This new world is a place where you are giving your natural talents to the world, making a meaningful contribution, bringing joy to others, and receiving a wealth of abundance in return.

As a B1G1 Business Member, and Writer for B1G1, I have had the amazing opportunity to connect with businesses around the world that have a vision and passion for making a difference to the world - just simply through being who they are - inspired, and with purpose. Whether it is selling socks, or real estate, it matters not. And this is because the power of the Divine is found in everything. So - find your passion, connect, express, and share!

Visit the website of Buy1GIVE1

What’s on Your Business Card?

Coming Soon to The Life Academy - Spirited Business Classes

Louise Gilbert, a Life Academy Founder, Project Manager, Life Coach and Numerologist will take you through the weeks of transforming your purpose into a business with a vision, goals and one that makes a difference.