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RIP Newspapers

By Ugur Akinci on

I started writing when I was 8. From that point until the beginning of my freshman year of college, my goal was to work for a newspaper. For ten years I had big dreams of working my way up the food chain and a big city paper. I wanted to see my work in print.

Even when I began to dislike and mistrust The Toledo Blade (a publication that is not even fit to line the bottom of my bird cages), I still loved the idea of working in print media. I worked on the newspaper in high school.

I even went to the special “Eastern Echo” recruiting session at Eastern Michigan University. I was so excited that the article I wrote in that workshop was going to be in the “Welcome Back” edition of the paper. I had every intention of working at the paper all four years I attended there.

Luckily, fate intervened. I went through the steps to work for the paper at the beginning of the term. I got my blue card and headed over the Echo office. I looked at the available stories a couple of times, but I never found anything I liked. Soon I was having other concerns. I began to read nasty articles about the Marching Band, and as a band geek I was mildly offended.

Still, I looked forward to having the time to work on articles after the season was over. Then they crossed the line. They wrote a horribly insensitive article after one of our saxophone players died in an accident on his way to the homecoming game. I was furious at the author and even more appalled that the editors let it go to print. At that point I was done.

The Eastern Echo was now only used to line the bathroom floor on my monthly hair dye day. I walked away from newspapers and found comfort in electronic media.

I am so glad my temper and naïve notions sent me walking. Now, the business I had big dreams of being a part of is on the endangered species list. Papers are declaring bankruptcy. Other papers are “shutting down the presses.”

My campus (the one I work for) used to get complimentary copies of the Indianapolis Star for our students. Those days are now gone. The print and the margins are getting smaller, the papers are getting thinner, and jobs are being cut.

Newspapers are a dying breed. This is unfortunate for those who make the paper, but it also has an impact on the readers. What will happen to the newspaper readers once their paper goes under? Actually, we are already seeing the future. More people are turning to television and the internet. The plasma TV’s in our building lobbies are on CNN 24/7. Television is a huge part of our culture already. The internet gives us access to world, national and local news.

In some cases news can be reported as it happens. Between traditional media online, bloggers, and other “citizen” reporters, people have many choices and options. Not to mention mobile web adds a whole new dimension to this. I have Pocket Express on my Blackberry. That application allows me to download top news stories to my phone at any time. I don’t even need to be at my computer.

It does make me sad to see newspapers fade away. Things fall out of style. Technology becomes outdated. However, I never imagined my childhood dream would not even be a possibility for the next generation.

Dry Cleaning Doesn’t Have to Be Toxic

By Sarah Tohler on

It’s been years since I’ve taken anything to the dry cleaners. When I realized how toxic dry cleaning chemicals are, I promptly began checking any and every tag of each item of clothing I bought. It was machine or hand wash for me or nothing.

But recently, I began working my first business casual job and shopping for clothes has become a pain. All of the clothes I try on that happen to fit are “dry clean only.” Ugh. So, surely, I thought, by now there MUST be some green / healthier dry cleaning options.

A simple Google search led me to Green Earth, not a particular dry cleaning establishment, but a type of dry cleaning that “uses environmentally friendly, odor-free liquid silicone as a dry cleaning solvent. From the recyclable plastic covers to the cardboard hangers made from recycled materials, just about everything at Sparks Cleaners is Earth-conscious.”

Hey, I could get on board with that. And if I don’t have to wash, dry, fold, put away, etc. my weekly Mount St. Helen of clothing, I’m happy to pay a few extra bucks for the service.

But as it turns out, and not surprisingly, not every dry cleaner in Dallas is going to offer Green Earth. Startup costs for the equipment and supplies are expensive – 25 to 30 percent higher than that of regular equipment and supplies. And with our current state of recession, customers are cutting back on extra, unnecessary services like dry cleaning, so establishments are trying harder now than ever to keep prices down.

While I’m happy to spare some recession-era change for green options, I understand that not everyone is willing to do the same. However, there may come a time when there’s no longer an option… in the dry cleaning industry anyway.

The chemical usually used by dry cleaners, called perchloroethylene, is classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as a pollution hazard, and the used solutions are even required to be handled as hazardous waste. Our most progressive state, California, was the first state to outlaw the chemical, but the law won’t be enacted until 2023. Fingers crossed we’ll be out of recession land by then.

In the meantime, you can do the green thing because you want to, not because you have to. Check out these DFW locations for safer dry cleaning:

Dallas:
Swiss Cleaners 
3030 Mockingbird Lane 
214-987-0665

Fort Worth:
Centre Cleaners 
4620 Bryant Irvin Rd. #502 
817-370-6258

McKinney:
Executive Cleaners 
1720 El Dorado Pkwy., #108 972-548-2900

Esurance Sets the Bar for Eco-Minded Insurance Companies

By Sarah Tohler on

I remember the first time I saw an Esurance ad on television. The ad didn’t stick out to me because of killer branding or intense concept, though. It stuck out simply because I thought, “Big whoop.” An insurance company branded totally on the fact that you can take care of everything online? I’ve been with Geico since I could drive a car and have never once made a phone call or filled out a piece of paper.

I don’t think Esurance has crossed my mind once since that day I first saw their ad until today. As I was flipping through my new favorite mag, Ready Made, I came across an Esurance print ad. “You care about the planet,” it touted. “So do we.” The message successfully reeled me in and as I continued to read the rest of the full page spread, I began to give Esurance a second thought.

As it turns out, Esurance is one of the first insurance companies to talk about the environment in their advertising campaigns. Visit the Esurance site and you can even watch videos of their manga-esque spokes model and “Special Agent” Erin as she takes on environmental bullies and teaches consumers how to save trees.

So, is there substance behind the hype? Esurance claims: “We do virtually all of our business online. We make policy documents available to our policyholders online, store documents electronically and communicate with our policyholders via email. We estimate that our paperless customer experience and electronic document storage saved approximately 2,748 trees since 2000. That’s in addition to the 69,725 trees we’ve planted to date!”

But any insurance company offers a paperless option, so that’s really not enough to give Esurance a green award just yet. Luckily for them, they seem to be aware of that. File a claim and your agent will buzz out to the scene in a hybrid vehicle. Equipping their entire fleet with hybrids reduces smog causing emissions by 90% and carbon dioxide emissions by half. Pay your insurance bill (online of course) and some of that money will go toward purchasing renewable energy credits from Carbonfund.org.  Esurance buys enough credits to offset 100% of the electricity used in their offices nationwide.

And you should throw ‘em a few extra points if you’re from the South:  they buy their renewable energy credits from the Indian Mesa Wind Farm in Uptown, Texas, and offset the carbon emissions from their hybrid fleet through reforestation projects in Louisiana.

There’s definitely a place for environmental responsibility in the insurance industry. Special CultureFeast hat tip to Esurance for getting those wheels in motion.

You Try Working from Home

By Jenni Hammitt on
work from home

In today’s economy, it isn’t uncommon for people to have multiple jobs. Many people juggle two and three jobs just make ends meet. I am no different, except in that two of my jobs let me work from home. For some reason, people don’t understand that concept.

If I was working at Starbucks, people wouldn’t call me and after I said I was at work and keep jabbering on for over half an hour. Working from home takes a certain level of discipline, and it is made harder by friends and family who just don’t get it.

I know that traditionally you “go” to work. Yes, you actually leave your home and travel to another location. You have a pretty standard work day, and then you drive/ride home. When you work from home, you do all the things you would do if you had an actual office, but you do them from the comforts of your own home.

That offers a certain amount of flexibility. You can adapt your schedule to be so much more than a typical 9-5.

However, you still have deadlines and expectations to meet. I think that is the part people just don’t get. If I have three articles and a blog with deadlines at midnight, and I have given myself five hours to get it all done, I don’t really have time to do anything else. I know it might just seem like I am at home hanging out, but I am really quite busy.

I know people who work from home full-time, and they experience this on a much bigger scale. They may be able to take shorter days here and there. In many cases, they don’t have to be up at the crack of dawn.

However, there are days where they work long hours to generate sales, meet deadlines, and complete their respective tasks. People just assume that working from home is a lot of veggingaround the house, but many times it is time consuming hard work. In my case, I work four jobs, so I have to manage my time wisely. I have to set aside time to work on writing projects and for Cha Cha and stick to those timelines.

Otherwise, I would always be behind. As my writing business keeps picking up, I am going to need to focus on this more and more. It isn’t “free” time and I can’t just drop everything to accommodate others.

So the next time you call a friend who works from home and they tell you they are busy with work, tell them you will call back later. The next time they say they can’t hang out because they are working, just say “Okay” and let them get back to it. Just because they are at home and not at an “office” does not mean they are not working diligently to complete their tasks.

$700 Billion Bailout: Pro and Con Open Thread

By Daniel Dessinger on · Follow: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

Okay, it needs to be discussed, but I am far from the economic expert. The House of Representatives will vote today on the revised version of the proposed $700 billion bailout. At best, I can discuss this from a theoretical / logical perspective, and then I’ll leave it up to you to toss out your opinions and concerns.

Capitalism Presumes Risk

The very nature of free enterprise presumes risk. You are free to do your darnedest to create and build a successful company. You willingly assume the risks and rewards that come from such an endeavor. That’s how it works. That’s the only way it works.

Along the way, your company may grow to employ hundreds or thousands of people. You have then supplied hundreds or thousands of jobs. Good for you. Families are fed as a result of your entrepreneurial vision. But what about when your business fails?

Hundreds or thousands of people lose their jobs. Investments in your company are lost. Why doesn’t someone bail you out? Maybe because it’s your company. Maybe because no one owes you anything.

But think of all the people who will be affected by the losses! Yes, think of them. But think of them when you are in the process of building the business. Think of how every action and decision you make affects the lives of other people. Think about how you can bless or curse your city by the way you handle your business. And realize that the responsibility of these effects lie squarely upon your shoulders.

But the entire country will suffer if this business fails! Yes, it could and very possibly would. That is the price of success – influence. You grow, you influence. These aren’t new principles. And if the country is leaning too heavily upon unsound businesses, the country deserves every bit of trouble it receives when those businesses fail. Make no mistake about it, there is a consequence for every action. Consequences are not to be feared. They are the great equalizer and stabilizer. No, don’t fear consequences. Rather, fear ignorance. Fear foolishness. Avoid them at all cost. Take more time to evaluate the companies you invest in. Ask more questions. Do more research. Evaluate each business from a moral and ethical standpoint.

Bottom Line: Know what you are getting into. If you make a mistake, accept your lumps and move on. This is the natural course of things.

The United States government has no business in business. They set rules and regulations. They do not rescue poor business models. To do so is to cross a line that will have terrible effects years down the road. The short and easy route to bailout does not seem logically sound. It is the reaping consequences of actions sown that affords us the insight, understanding, and motivation to live differently.

If you want a government that controls the fates of businesses, take a look at communism. I hear it’s really successful and awesome.

Bring Your Dog to Work

By Jeff McCord on

According to a CNN/Money poll in 2006, 75% of all dog owners would work longer hours if they could bring their dog to work.  In this day of employers trying to create “work-life harmony” and adding more value to their employee’s’ benefits, bringing a dog to work sounds like a fantastic idea.  I’m here to tell you, it is!

As a recruiter for an advertising agency here in Dallas, I get to bring my dog, Deco, to work with me every single day.  I adopted Deco from the Animal Rescue of Texas back in June 2007 when he was just 3 months old. One of the important factors for me in getting a dog was the fact my employer allowed me to bring him to work. The last thing I personally wanted to do was leave a 3 month old puppy in a crate by itself in my apartment.  

A lot of people ask me why my company allows me to bring Deco to work.  If you think about it, from a company’s perspective, it allows an employee to be more productive and it keeps the employee in the office.  It’s definitely to their advantage to add this option to a benefits package.  My employer created some basic guidelines for those of us who bring our dogs to work:

(1) All dogs must have current vaccination shots, rabies shots, etc.

(2) If you dog leaves your cube/office, the dog must be on a leash at all times.

(3) There is a fenced-in area outside where all dog owners take their dogs to use the restroom.  Doggie bags are at every entrance in our building.  All employees are responsible for keeping the environment clean.

I’ve been recruiting for over nine years. I can’t think of a more unique way to sell my company to potential employees. Even our clients love seeing our four-legged friends roaming the halls or sitting in a conference room. 

Now before you think there is no way your company would allow this, consider these points.  Did you know some of the top Fortune 500 companies have adopted the “bring your dog to work” policy?  Google and Amazon allow their employees to bring their dogs to work. 

There are at least 3 local employers here in Dallas that have given this benefit to their employees as well.  If you’re interested in finding a company that has a “Bring Your Dog To Work” policy, check out www.simplyhired.com/a/special-searches/dog-friendly.

Finally, did you know Friday, June 20th is Take Your Dog To Work Day?  If you’re serious about having your employer consider this policy, I would suggest getting a group of co-workers to approach your company’s HR or leadership and discuss with them the added benefits and reasons why you should bring your best friend to work. 

Start off small and ask your company to adopt June 20th as Take Your Dog To Work Day.

Blogging and Social Media Reshaped My Work

By Rachel Hines on
social media icons on a phone

If you were to have told me, about a year ago, that I would be using social media on a regular basis, I would have thought you were insane. To me, social media was nothing more than Facebook and MySpace, nothing more, nothing less.

I thought that blogging was just for nerds and people with just too much time on their hands. However, after one of my PR courses (Strategies and Issues), I found myself slowly getting used to using, and understanding exactly what social media and blogging were.

The course was very social media heavy; understanding the use of blogs and social media sites, how to effectively use social media today, and about half way through the course, each student had to create his and her own blog.

At first, I could not be bothered, and my friend Dara and I would just roll our eyes with sheer boredom. As she became less and less interested in the class, I became more fixated on blogging and the Internet. I was one of the very few students who updated their blogs more than once a week because I was genuinely interested in what I was writing about (Public Relations and Popular Culture).

As my program was winding down, past graduates and PR professionals were invited to the college for a Professional Development Day, that included seminars on compiling a portfolio, resume writing, a mock job interview and a an open Q&A. the woman leading the Q&A group was Zoe Siskos who works for Social Media Group in Dundas, Ontario.

She is like a social media guru, and her company works alongside many very well known companies, establishing them in the realm of the Internet and becoming more social media savvy. Zoe began talking about how awesome and important social media was in today’s world, and she name-dropped a site called Twitter.

“That’s an interesting name for a social media site,” I thought to myself. Zoe explained the concept of it to us and described it as micro-blogging. I took down the website address, and forgot about it for about a month.

When the class ended, so did everyone else’s blogs (with the exception of a few). I decided that since I had grown to love blogging and social media so much, that I was going to continue updating. I also remembered that Zoe mentioned Twitter, so I signed up for an account and was on my way.

Fast forward a few months, I am working full time now. Many of the projects I have been working on, and have been assigned have had a very youth oriented and social media feel. It is now my job and responsibility to create fan pages on Facebook and MySpace, establish a YouTube account, and the biggest, and most important task I am responsible for (and it really is my baby), is the photo blog created to help promote an upcoming event at my work. 

I definitely do not mean this in a harsh way, but many of the people I work with and around, have no idea what is going on in the world of social media, or what it really means. During my job interview, I mentioned my online activity and the Special Events Manager and HR Associate looked at me bewildered and asked me to explain further, what exactly a “Twitter” was.

The pair were amazed that I was blogging for a website thousands of kilometres away in Texas, while I sit and write from my home in Ontario. While my co-workers are busy planning the events, I am busy promoting them online.

Sure, I would have been able to do the majority of the things I complete at work without the help of that social media class, but just knowing how to create and maintain projects has really helped. Because of that one small step I made, I find myself more and more interested in learning about social media and dipping my toes into the waters of Web 2.0. There is more to life than Facebook and MySpace, and I kind of like it.

Not only that, but because of Zoe and her passing along of information about Twitter, I would not have met so many great and amazing people from around the world, been able to share and exchange ideas with my new friends, and the most important part, I would not be contributing to Culture Feast.

Premium Outlet Mall Coming to South Grand Prairie

By Daniel Dessinger on · Follow: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

NBC’s local Channel 5 News team just announced that a premium outlet shopping mall is headed for south Grand Prairie. Along the Hwy 360 and I-20 corridor, a San Marcos-style outlet mall is planned for the near future. Christmas shopping fanatics like the Wellspring Church women’s group will no longer have to travel hours beyond the DFW metroplex to get the best deals on popular name brand items. 

Only a few short miles from Parks Mall, this new outlet mall will make Interstate 20 the place to go for all your gift shopping needs. Hopefully, the Hwy 161 (George Bush Turnpike) extension will be completed by the time of the outlet mall’s grand opening.

The southbound side of the turnpike currently ends at Airport Freeway in Irving, but construction has been underway for some time to extend the turnpike through Grand Prairie, intersecting with I-30 and eventually I-20 as well. 

In the mid-cities area, Parks Mall, North East Mall, and Southlake Town Square are currently the three best shopping areas between Dallas and Fort Worth.

Planned store names have not yet been released for the new outlet mall. We’ll keep you updated on the construction and other newsworthy items.

Online Self Promotion is the Path to Success

By Daniel Dessinger on · Follow: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

Neil Patel recently stated in his blog post about personal branding that online self promotion is the way to make more money. He claims that in six short months of “personal branding”, he received job offers increased from $100k to $325k.

Interestingly enough, I didn’t notice him mentioning how he arrived at the point of receiving $100k job offers. It’s my guess that there’s a little more than personal branding involved there. And once you have arrived at a certain point, it’s easy to imagine that a little reputation management is all you need to make it to the upper echelons of the business world.

However, I would like to see someone sitting in their living room with a laptop and something to say get busy and manage to build their personal brand in a year, much less six months, to the point of receiving a $325k job offer. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but I’m betting that success involves a combination of luck and genius. Not that I’m calling Patel a genius. I’ll give him credit for making a name for himself.

Ironically, Patel’s post didn’t give any inclination that he was seriously considering any of these job offers. Which brings me back to another point: there are too many people out there writing and commenting on blogs who like to tell everyone how much money they’ve turned down.

They think that by writing these things they will convince us all of their worth and that somehow someone will actually offer them that much money or more. I’m hoping that no one is actually that foolish.

Pegasus News: The Coolest Thing to Hit Local Dallas News

By Daniel Dessinger on · Follow: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

If you haven’t jumped on the Pegasus bandwagon, you’re likely to be one of those poor, pitiful souls who wishes they had. For anyone interested in local news, this is your one-stop shop. But don’t just read! Write!

Pegasus News is the future of local news. It is largely user generated content, which means that you submit the stories, and you can learn from those in the know what is happening near you.

And after reabsorbing EPpy Award winning Texasgigs.com, Pegasus News is now a major player in the local arts and culture scene. And then there’s me, of course! While not an official member of the Pegasus News team, you will start to see more of me around the site with comments, stories, etc. What else could you ask for?

Pegasus News has the potential of becoming THE Dallas / Fort Worth website. It all depends on how they sell it, whether you buy it, and how often you contribute to it. Do you realize that you can become the leading expert on your neighborhood? Or your company? Or you school? Or your coffee shop? You can be the fair and biased voice of reason (like our beloved friend, Mr. Randy Galloway) in your community.

That’s the hook. The influence. The power of influence will draw people every time. Just sell it right, Pegasus News, and they will come. You’ve already built it… now give them a reason to use it.

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