Do More. Be More. Agenda, Be.

Have you ever wanted to make a difference?  Do more?  Be more?  Adam Benton, founder of Agenda, Be has made it his mission to make a difference and inspire good in the lives of those around him.  He quit his job to embark on a 90-day cross-country bike tour to find the greatest charities in the United States and share their stories.  Adam hopes to provide a stage for which the voice of amazing charities can be heard.  This movement is known as Agenda, Be. 

The “Inspire Good” tour kicked off earlier this month in Los Angles California.  Right now, Adam and his Agenda, Be crew are pedaling their way from city to city looking for people who are making a difference in the world.  Along the way, the team is filming the stories of the great charities they encounter.  And one of Agenda, Be’s many stops is the one and only, Kansas City, Missouri! 

Watch Agenda Be’s mini-episodes on the Agenda, Be website or follow along on Facebook and Twitter.  The “Inspire Good” tour could be the spark that ignites a gigantic movement.     

To find out more about Agenda, Be and the "Inspire Good" Tour take a look at this video:

Written By Laura Goede

@LauraGThinkBig

DealBug - Good Ideas Can Be Made Even Better and Consumers Can Save Big Money While Doing Good For Their Community!

Don't you love saving money? What if you could save money and give back to your community at the same time?

By now, most people are very familiar with the company Groupon. For the uninitiated, Groupon started in November of 2008 and is a collaborative buying idea that allows consumers to buy popular things at a huge discount - but only if enough people sign up to buy the product or service before the daily midnight expiration. In other words, consumers can create their own tipping point by getting together enough of their friends and drive a product's price down to unbeatable levels, achieving huge savings.

A great idea for both the consumer and companies...how can this be made better, you ask?

What if you could save money AND give back a portion of the proceeds to local charities in your own backyard?

A local Kansas City company has done exactly that. Dealbug (www.dealbug.com) , officially launched at midnight August 1st, 2010, has taken Groupon's business model to the next level by putting the charitable component into their business equation. Schools, churches, non-profits - nearly any not for profit entity, can become a beneficiary of this idea. Dealbug's first deal offers a 77% discount at a local children's "theme" park, and allows the consumer to pick from over 20 charities to help out too. For more information on Paradise Park, go to www.paradise-park.com/.

Often times, good ideas can be made even better by simply making changing a few things about them to better suit a marketplace. Certainly Groupon has done very well. With over 12 million members and adding over 2 million more very month, the company was profitable in less than 8 months from launch and has swollen to over 1000 employees.

But with all that success, a small company, DealBug, has taken this idea to the next level.

Never underestimate your ability to take a good idea and make it better. Think Coke vs Pepsi. McDonald's vs Burger King. AT&T vs Sprint or Verizon.

Simply focus on core needs in a marketplace, and maybe you will see a new idea out of an existing one, and take it to the next level.