Today, more than ever, our purchasing dollars have the power to change the world for the betterment of mankind. Whether you realize it or not, every purchase you make…or don’t make, sends a message to the company that you agree or disagree with their mission.

Every day, more purpose driven companies are popping up in all niches because, we the people, have proven with our purchasing powers, that we want to support companies that are aligned with our beliefs. Companies like Tom’s or Ben and Jerry’s have been purpose driven for years and today, it’s not hard to find a company or a product to support that aligns with your your ideals. For me personally, this is a win-win situation. I’m getting a product that I love while contributing to a cause I believe in.

From something as small as a special edition lip balm from Burt’s Bees, to sustainable furniture from Urban Woods, just about anything you purchase can have a giving back component. With a tiny bit of Goooogling, you can find out if the products you purchase right now, align with your personal beliefs.

The same goes for purchases I make for my business. There are a lot of great learning tools and ways for me to improve my skills, but I also like to support entrepreneurs that have the “giving back” gene. After all, I want my dollars to go as far as they can.

Since I’m always looking for new tools to keep my skills at the top of my game, I’d like to share this with you from Lurn Insider. Anik Singal, founder of Lurn, who offers fantastic, in-depth training in internet marketing is offering his 21 day certification training in exchange for a $5 contribution to a foundation that speaks to his heart. Your contribution goes towards helping pull an entire village in East Africa out of poverty through an organization called “Village Enterprise”.

Not only does this course help me grow my business, it helps fund at least 50 micro businesses in East Africa that teaches them how to become entrepreneurs! I get to learn some new marketing skills and be a part of adopting a village. Having traveled to other parts of Africa, this is so near and dear to my heart. I get to learn something of value and give something of value! That will probably be the best $5 I’ll ever spend!

If you want to know more about the 21day certification program, click here.

If you’re interested in turning your business into a purpose driven one, let’s talk. I’d like to help you do that.

Best,

Angela

www.angelagiglia.com

At some point, all of us will face or have faced moving loved ones from the family home. Making the difficult choice of what to take with you, what to give to family and what to donate will fall on you and your adult children regardless of their age. As you can image, this can be a very stressful time for all parties involved. Emotions run high as you have to decide whether you want to keep or get rid of the bedroom set you’ve had since you were 10!

Moving and Stress

Relax, breathe and know that Roni is here to take you through the process. Her practical approach to downsizing will put you at ease, knowing that your loved one will be surrounded with the things they love once they are moved into their new place. Rest assured, she will do everything in her power to make the transition as painless as possible.

While moving is listed as one of the top life changing experience that causes stress, Roni’s approach is filled with love and compassion and I can only imagine that this combination will make your loved one’s transition into their new home as seamless as possible.

Why Crowdfund with SmashFund?

So grab a cup of coffee and join us as we talk with Roni about what she does and why she’s crowdfunding on SmashFund. Listen here.

Tips on Downsizing

After our chat, Roni gave us a few pointers for us to start thinking about and what we would want to keep if we needed to downsize.

• Take a look at your bookshelf. What items on that shelf bring you joy? Now what if you could only keep two of those items?
• Head over to your closet. What items haven’t you worn in the last year? Donate those articles of clothing for someone else to enjoy.

You get the idea. For me, my garage gives me a little anxiety just thinking about it! And if the thought of getting rid of anything is too stressful for you, you can keep it all and just let your kids deal with it later.

If you’d like to make a donation to Roni’s project, please click here.

If you’d like to be our guest on SmashFund & Coffee with Carol & Angela, please email me at ismashfund@gmail.com. If you have something that you are passionate about and would like to crowdfund on SmashFund, please use this link. http://smashfund.com/signup/via/8554063

New Non-Profit wants to fill millions of jobs that already exist in manufacturing.

Vicki Barnes is many things but her new Non-Profit, The Margherita Henning Institue, or MHI, goes right to the core of who she is, a compassionate and big hearted person. It speaks to her desire to help those in need, especially veterans and displaced workers. Vicki’s aha moment came when she was speaking with a friend, a software manufacturing developer, who brought to her attention the number of jobs left unfilled or shipped overseas because the US did not have a program to train our own citizens. That’s when the lightbulb went off and she created her non-profit.

MHI will give scholarships to veterans and displaced workers who want to start a career in manufacturing. The training can take as little as 6 months with starting salaries at around $40,000 depending on your location. Now this isn’t your parent’s manufacturing where you think of factory assembly lines. NO! This is high tech, state of the art, 3D computer technology driven manufacturing.

By donating, our country wins.

Your donations will help provide scholarships for veterans and displaced workers. Vicki has put together a comprehensive plan on how this will be achieved and the importance of pride and commitment on all parties involved. But if you pull back and look at the bigger picture, our communities win too. Manufacturing jobs bring revenue back into the areas in which we live, and once disheartened communities will be revived.

Pour yourself a cup of coffee and join us as Vicki Barnes talks about her passion and why she feels this can help people and the communities in which they live.

If you would like to donate to MHI, please click here. For me, this is a win! win! for the American spirit!

If you’d like to join us for a cup of coffee and discuss your passion on SmashFund, please email me at ismashfund@gmail.com. If you have a passion you’d like to get funded, please join me. http://smashfund.com/signup/via/6270517

Brands and Bloggers Unite!

Our guest today, Katrina Pardon, CEO of Padron Marketing knows a thing or two about why it’s important for brands to build relationships. Through her passion project on SmashFund, Katrina saw a need and she plans to fill it!  Katrina says, “Today’s ever-evolving digital marketplace is much like speed dating. When you’re one amongst tens, hundreds or even thousands of prospective candidates hoping to woo the person of your dreams in an amount of time that seems like nanoseconds, how do you rise above the rest and land enough dates that might lead to something a bit more…permanent?”

SmashFund Your Start-Up

YES TO BETTER is a premiere matchmaking site for influential brands and bloggers. As Katrina tells us, “We know that every brand tells a story, and by shifting that story just a bit differently you will not only stand out, but you will achieve a higher compatibility score with only the most influential bloggers. Why bloggers? Because bloggers are the ultimate “wingmen”. They have loyal followings of their own, built upon authenticity and credibility, and you get to search on those influencers that best fit your budget. It even gets better. As you build your network, you get to measure your success not in fans, but in dollars. Why waste any more time, energy and money? Time to put a ring on it and find your brand’s soul mate now!” If you are an entrepreneur with a new start-up, you will want to keep your eye on this new platform.

Please listen as Katrina fills us in on how YES TO BETTER will work, whom it will benefit and why she’s made the platform so affordable for brands, businesses and non-profits.

If you would like to make a donation to YES TO BETTER, please click here. If you are interested in joining SmashFund, http://smashfund.com/signup/via/6270517 and if you are a member of SmashFund and would like to join us for SmashFund & Coffee with Carol & Angela, please email me at ismashfund@gmail.com. We’d love to turn the spotlight on your passion and hopefully get it funded!

This is why I Love SmashFund!

What perfect timing! Today, SmashFund opens up it’s EXPLORE tab on the same day Carol and I decide to start promoting the projects on SmashFund. While this may seem like a little thing, for me, it’s actually a big thing. Why? Because I have always had the desire to help people. How I was going to do this wasn’t always quite clear, but through the platform of SmashFund & Coffee with Carol & Angela, I get to talk to people every day about their passion and how they, in turn, want to help people. Our little, intimate call, can become the resource that so many people are looking for, providing a vehicle for them to share their passion on social media. SmashFund is the ultimate Pay-It- Forward platform for me!

Education is Key

So let me tell you a little bit about our guest, Leslie Botha and her passion for educating women about their hormones and the links to Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder. Leslie’s book, Understanding Your Mind, Mood, and Hormone Cycle is based on decades of research done while working with at-risk girls and women. It is intended for those who want to understand the sometimes confusing physical and psychological changes they experience each month, and for educators, healthcare and social welfare professionals that support women of all ages who are struggling with physical and behavioral issues caused by hormonal changes.

Hormone Disruptors

Her work focuses on educating women and men about the vital link between the endocrine rhythm and our health. Scientists are beginning to reveal that at least 180 toxins in our environment act as disruptors to the endocrine system resulting in an array of neurological and pathological disorders including autism, autoimmune issues and premenstrual dysphoric disorder and infertility in both men and women.

Personally, I was stunned by her statistics on the amount of toxins found in the umbilical cords of newborn babies! My take away from our conversation was that we need to educate ourselves and our healthcare providers to see beyond the behavior and recognize other triggers, rather than be quick to medicate a behavior with anti depressants and birth control pills, a combination that has it’s own set of issues!

Take a listen to our call and hear from Leslie why she’s dedicated this topic as her life’s work and how you can make a few changes, this very minute to repair and support your endocrine system. If you’d like to make a donation to Leslie Botha’s project on SmashFund, please click here.

If you have a passion and would like to get it funded on SmashFund, please join my my crowd. http://smashfund.com/signup/via/6270517.

If you are a member of SmashFund and you’d like to be our guest on SmashFund & Coffee with Carol & Angela, please email me at ismashfund@gmail.com.

Rob talks candidly with us about his passion, gag orders and why he’s ready to be WingSuit Man!

It’s not every day that you get to have a conversation with a true visionary and what makes them tick, but today is our lucky day. Rob Towels joins us for SmashFund and Coffee and opens up about what it’s like to be an introvert who loves people and how that has lead to his success in business.

Get caffeinated and settle in for an interesting conversation with Rob. We hope you get to know this unicorn of a guy, just a little bit better! Click the link to access the interview. https://youtu.be/0umYYt_SB9I

After we completed the interview I asked Rob about the Global Crowdfunding Convention in Las Vegas and he said that SmashFund will have a booth there! If you’d like to go to the event, click this link and enter the promo code SMASHFUND for a 10% discount. http://thegccworld.com/. Rob shared a few more goodies but all I can say is get ready for the week ahead because things are about to get AWESOME!

If you’ve got a passion burning a hole in your soul and you need to set it free, please don’t hesitate to join my crowd. The platform is still free but I have a feeling it won’t be for long! http://smashfund.com/signup/via/6270517.

Have a SmashFundable day!

PS: If you want to check out SmashFund’s WingSuit Man click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi8HRLCiqWE&feature=em-subs_digest

Join Us for a Cup of Coffee and See if it’s Right for You Too!

We all yearn to be able to do more and have more. Who wouldn’t love a fabulous career doing what we love, earn more income, have more free time and the freedom to help others wherever and whenever we can. That, is the definition of Independence. But sometimes life can take a different road than the one we thought we were on. Unexpected bills pop up or we lose our job, the kids move back home after college and we feel like we are constant treading water or running in place. We need to slow down but if we stop, we might never catch up. It’s like quicksand!

A Better Way With SmashFund

But we’re optimists, and there is always a better way. When SmashFund came along, both of us saw this as an opportunity to help so many people regain their independence. From being able to do what we are passionate about and make a career out of it, to having the funds available to finance our next big idea, to having money for the next emergency because sometimes, there are a lot of rainy days.

While crowdfunding might be a new concept for you, once you wrap your brain around it and your creative juices start to flow, from helping out your kids school fundraisers, to resurrecting a dream you’ve had since you were a kid, SmashFund and crowdfunding might just be the solution to your independence.

If you have an idea, a need or a passion that you would like to crowdfund, please join my crowd. http://smashfund.com/signup/via/6270517

Listen in at https://youtu.be/8BvVjRJHr7U

If you’d like to join us for SmashFund and Coffee to get your passion out to the world, send an email to ismashfund @gmail.com. We’d love to get together for a little chat.

This weeks’ guest, Leslie Fox talks about a bigger vision for you!

Crowdfunding is Better with Friends

It’s soooo hot! But not so hot that I couldn’t join a couple of my good friends for a cup of coffee and talk SmashFund. Joining Carol and me this week is our good friend and partner in mastermind, who got us involved with SmashFund, Leslie Fox. When I first heard her talk about SmashFund and how she saw this one slight change in the public consciousness shift just a little bit, it changed the entire vision for my future. When Leslie talks about SmashFund, I get goosebumps!

SmashFund Dares you to Dream Bigger

Please listen in as Leslie describes her vision and how SmashFund can help just about everyone she knows. Then think about the question that’s posed at the end of the conversation, “What brings you joy?” This is the space where you dare yourself to dream. For me, at first these dreams were little, but as the opportunity grew so did the size of my dreams. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io1c1adn5ms

SmashFund and Coffee Anyone?

If you’d like to join Carol and me for a cup of coffee and talk about your SmashFund passion, send me an email with a few sentences about your project and a photo of your coffee mug along with your id# to ismashfund@gmail.com. We’re looking forward to having a cup of coffee with you.

To Join my crowd, click here: http://smashfund.com/signup/via/6270517