Over a year ago, Jesse decided to start helping out the Kiva Foundation as it works to fight poverty by offering microloans to budding entrepreneurs in third-world countries when banks are unwilling to. This can help create an emerging middle class in the third world.

Jesse has been proud to support Kiva, but was disturbed by recent news articles that have put microfinancing in a bad light. He brought me into his office to discuss the situation and decide if we still wanted to support Kiva. Over the course of the next few hours, we went through all of the available information about the microfinancing controversy.

What we discovered was that certain people not associated with Kiva were taking advantage of the microfinancing trend. They were going into villages and offering small loans at huge interest rates without doing any background checks at all. Then, if people had trouble paying the money back, they would send in thugs to intimidate people, sometimes physically, into giving them as much money as they could.

People who had received loans often had to flee their villages in shame or have their extended family bankrupt themselves to pay the loans back. Loan sharks had invaded the microfinancing industry.

This has led to people – including the government of India – to suggest that microfinancing should be banned.

But what Jesse and I also noticed was that Kiva has never been accused of any of these types of wrongdoings. In fact, they screen their entrepreneurs to ensure they are not taking on too much debt, and that they can afford to pay back their loans with the profits from their businesses.  That’s why they have a 98 percent repayment rate – and would never resort to thuggery.

So, by the end of the day we decided that we wanted to continue to support Kiva. Just because some criminals have tried to use the concept of microfinancing to enrich themselves at the expense of others does not mean Kiva is not continuing to do good works.

That’s why the next day, Jesse donated another $3,000 to Kiva in order to help seven budding entrepreneurs. He will continue to donate money to Kiva and help as many people as possible break the shackles of institutionalized poverty.

It’s the ethical thing to do.

HPGary then hired Aaron Barr to infiltrate the group. Taking that job may have been the biggest mistake of his life. Barr apparently managed to get some information about the group, which he planned to sell to the FBI. But, Anonymous was one step ahead of him. Before he had the chance to do it, they hacked his computer.

First they put 50,000 of his confidential emails on the Internet. Then, they hacked his Twitter account and used it to post his Social Security Number and other private information that could be used by identity theft specialists. Finally, they remotely wiped his laptop computer and iPad. I think it’s safe to say Barr won’t be selling anything to the FBI – or messing around with Anonymous again.

But, what are the ethical implications of Anonymous? The group clearly sees itself as Internet vigilantes fighting for truth and democracy. That’s why their most famous coup was in temporarily taking down Visa, MasterCard and PayPal.

In that case they did so in support of Wikileaks, which was disseminating confidential diplomatic and military documents.  In the past, the three companies had processed donations to Wikileaks. When they stopped doing so, Anonymous took them out.

In that case, one can argue “fair play.” These companies should have stayed independent, not given into government pressured and kept doing business with Wikileaks until there is proof that they broke the law. One could even argue that it was MasterCard and Visa that were behaving unethically. But, this case is different. Now, it’s personal.

Barr wasn’t really doing anything that Anonymous doesn’t do themselves: They collect confidential data and then use it to hack into sites or embarrass people they disagree with. That’s exactly what he was trying to do to Anonymous, so they have no reason to complain about his ethics. Instead, they should be wondering how he was able to get so close to them before they figured out what he was doing.

Some larger companies, it seems, don’t agree with me and would  like the odds completely stacked in their favor, even if it ends up giving consumers less choice and damaging small and mid sized companies.

For over a year now they’ve been pressuring the FCC to eliminate net neutrality. Net neutrality is the concept that right now you can access any site on the web you want to no matter who your Internet service provider is and all sites load up at the same rate of speed. That’s good for consumers and business owners alike.

But, many Internet service providers want to kill net neutrality. They want to be able to block any site they want from their customers and they want the ability to ensure that some sites load more quickly than others.

Why do they want this? The answer is money. If net neutrality goes away then large companies can pay them to make sure that their competitors sites are either completely blocked or load so slowly as to be useless.

It could also be an advantage to the ISPs themselves. Imagine if an Internet service provider created a map application site to compete with Google Maps. Now, imagine if they charged money for their site, while Google remains free of charge. Wouldn’t it be in that ISPs best interest to block Google maps from their customers? You bet it would. But it wouldn’t be the ethical thing to do and it would not be good for regular people.

This week some members of the FCC have proposed a compromise measure where net neutrality will continue for fixed based computers – the ones you use at work and home – but be eliminated for mobile devices.

That’s a bad deal – because more and more people are doing their web searching from their mobile devices. In fact as tablets like the Apple iPad become more popular it’s possible to see a time when nearly all web surfing will be done over mobile devices.In other words, this is not a fair or ethical compromise at all. It’s simply an attempt for big companies to make more money off the Internet while giving consumers fewer choices.

That, in my opinion, is indefensible.

On my blogs I spend a lot of time trying to encourage people to find ways to give back to their community and help make the world a better place for everyone. I also spend a lot of space writing about worthwhile charities that I support including Samaritan’s Purse and the Breast Cancer Research Fund. Or, I talk about my volunteer work for The Mustard Seed or Habitat For Humanity.I do so in order to inspire others to follow my example. But, I often hear back from people that they simply don’t have enough free time or money to support nonprofit organizations even if they want to.

I can understand that attitude. It did take me a fair amount of time to set up my volunteer work and many people are not in a financial situation where they can write checks just because it’s the right thing to do.

That’s why I wanted to take some time today to point out that you don’t have to do something dramatic, time consuming or expensive to help people. When it comes down to it, little things can mean a lot. For example, the next time it snows, I’m going to set my alarm clock to wake me up an hour or two earlier than usual. Then, I’m going to drive around my neighborhood and look for senior citizens who are trying to shovel the snow out of their driveways and walkways. In Edmonton, they have something called “snow busters” which is doing the neighborly thing to help clear walkways for senior citizens. This is something I am aiming to become a part of this winter.

These sort of charitable acts cost me nothing. It won’t even take time out of my busy work day, because I will have gotten up early to do it. The most important thing is that I’ll have made someone’s day a little bit easier and let them know that people care about them. I’m demonstrating that people can be good and help our neighbors when we are motivated to do so.

So, think about that as you go about your busy day. Look around and try to find opportunities where you can help people. If you see someone struggling to get a heavy package into the trunk of her car, go up and offer to help. If someone is trying to navigate a stroller and a toddler into a store, hold the door open for them. Should you see someone at the grocery store who only has one or two items and is clearly in a rush, let them step in front of you.

All of these things are easy to do and won’t eat into your time or cost you a dime. But, if we all acted like this, it would make our community a much better place to live.

Remember, little things always add up and mean a lot!

I mentioned last week that I have become involved in helping out The Mustard Seed food bank in Edmonton. You’ll remember that The Mustard Seed provides hot meals six nights a week to inner city people in need.

It also offers them clean clothes, personal hygiene items, household items and work items in an attempt to provide them with a sense of purpose and dignity. The Mustard Seed was started by a local Baptist church, but today it is supported by most major local faiths.

Anyway, last night my employees and I went down to The Mustard Seed to volunteer our time. I spent almost four hours, and I am very glad I did so.

When I arrived, they put me on potato washing duty. Then, when it was time for the meal to begin, I helped serve salad to the roughly 300 people who had come to The Mustard Seed to eat.

Later, I stayed and helped everyone clean up. I have to say I can’t believe how hard the people at The Mustard Seed work to help out the people who come to them for food and other kinds of help. And, I was also touched by also how much the people they serve appreciate their efforts.

I learned that many of the people who come to them suffer from mental illness or addictions. But, I also discovered that nearly half the people who show up for dinner are members of the working poor. In other words, we’ve reached a point in our society where people can get up every day and go do a hard day’s work and still not have enough money left over after paying their bills to feed themselves. I think that’s a shame and should not happen in our society. These people are our friends and neighbours and part of our community, and they deserve our community’s support.

The Mustard Seed itself can also use your help. They are doing the best they can with the funding and volunteers they have, but they could always use more. For example, many hungry people can’t make it to The Mustard Seed itself due to various reasons including physical disability. The staff tries to help them by providing food hampers. But each hamper only has enough food to feed someone for two days – and currently they can only offer one food hamper a month per person.

This is one of the many reasons that I urge people who care about our community to donate their time, money and energy to The Mustard Seed. You’ll be doing your part to make Edmonton a better community.

Jesse Willms

That’s why I’ve decided to dedicate my time to going out and helping worthwhile charitable organizations in my home town of Edmonton. I started out by buying a bunch of toys for Santas Anonymous and then by volunteering for The Mustard Seed.

This November, I’m going to head out with some of my coworkers and help Habitat For Humanity Edmonton build homes for local residents who need them. You see, what Habitat For Humanity understands is that one of the things that keeps people in the cycle of poverty is that they have to spend a disproportionate amount of their paychecks on rent.

That’s money they worked hard for but will never see again. It makes it impossible for them to save money for their future or their children’s education. In essence, they end up working for their landlord and seeing nothing in return.

Habitat For Humanity addresses this problem. They get volunteers to build homes for families who then make mortgage payments that are usually significantly lower than the rent they are currently paying. The families also help build their own home, in which Habitat calls this “sweat equity.”

The difference is that their money is no longer going up in smoke. It’s building equity in their new home. Basically, their home becomes a valuable long-term savings account. That’s how you help people out of poverty and into the middle class.

Beyond that, having a home gives you the pride of ownership. It makes you feel good that when you go into work every day you are working to build a better future for yourself and your family. As your financial siutation improves, a families dependence on social services decreases. A better community leads to better families, particularly in health, education and emotional well being. Long term gains for the community include attracting economic investment and ensuring good schools and community organizations.

Habitat For Humanity has been helping people across the globe this way since 1976. Habitat For Humanity Canada was started in 1985. Our local chapter, Habitat For Humanity Edmonton was started in 1991 and since then has built more than 130 homes for local families.

So, I’m proud to go out with my team in the morning, pick up a set of tools and start building homes for people who need it.I think it’s the ethical thing to do. We are all part of the Edmonton community and we all have an ethical obligation to do what we can to help our neighbours. I hope that more people will be inspired to do the same. One day out of your life can help provide an entire lifetime of housing stability for a local family.

Thank you,
Jesse Willms

I’ve also been working to help the global community by sponsoring children through World Vision and aspiring small business owners through Kiva. Now, I’ve decided to help out the local Edmonton community. I started out this effort by working with Santas Anonymous to provide hundreds of Christmas presents this December to children who are part of low-income families.

My next initiative is more direct. My staff and I have decided to become volunteers for The Mustard Seed – a local food bank. On November 4 we are going to go down and cook and serve a healthy warm meal to people living in poverty in our inner city.

The Mustard Seed has been helping feed and clothe the poor and homeless in Edmonton since 1988. Initially they were founded by a local Baptist church, but now they are a non-denominational faith-based organization dedicated to providing food and dignity to less fortunate people in our inner cities. Six nights a week their volunteers serve food to the homeless and other people facing hard times. They also create and distribute food hampers to people who cannot get to their food bank. Finally, they provide clean clothes, personal items, household items and items for work to people who cannot afford them.

All of this provides a real service to the Edmonton community. And, I’m happy to support The Mustard Seed in any way I can. For me, I’m looking forward to actually talking to the people we are going to be helping that evening. I want to hear their stories and discover what else we can do to help them with their problems.

Perhaps most importantly, I want them to know that they are a part of our community and that we respect them as fellow human beings. I don’t want any member of the Edmonton community to ever feel like he or she has been left behind. I’m also going to do what I can to spread the word about The Mustard Seed in hopes that other people will come forward and help as well.

Thank you,
Jesse Willms

However, I disagree. Nothing in life is free, and most potential customers know that. In fact, most people don’t want free products. It makes them feel cheap. Instead, they want to buy something they consider valuable that they can show off.

Think of it this way – people perceive things based on their expectations. When someone pays $150 a ticket to see a famous band in concert, they almost always have a good time, because they expect to. After all, if the tickets are expensive and hard to get, then the band must be really good.

But, give them free tickets to a show by an equally talented band and they will either not show up, or when they do they’ll spend most of their time at the bar talking to their friends and not even paying attention to the show. After all, they figure, if this band was any good they would have had to pay to see them.

That’s just the way the world works. Whether you are talking about clothes, jewelry, electronic items or shoes, the more money people pay for something, the more valuable they think it is.

Therefore, as soon as you start giving products away people start assuming your products are nearly worthless. After all, if they were any good they’d have to pay a lot more money for them, wouldn’t they? Sure, using the word “free” will get you some initial orders. But, we all know that the real way to success is to generate repeat business from your customers and create customer loyalty. When you start off by giving your products away, people won’t want to make an additional purchase – no matter how great your product is.

By giving away a sample of your product for free, you’ve made people expect it not to be worth much. And who wants to spend their hard earned money on something that isn’t worth much?

That’s just my two cents.

Sincerely,

Jesse Willms

Today I wanted to talk about another one of my ideals in business – always try to provide full disclosure on prices and products.

Now, when it comes to products I know that full disclosure can be a tricky business. After all, we don’t always know everything about the products we sell, so it’s possible to accidentally overhype a product. Just think of Apple, one of the most honest companies in the world and what happened to them last month. They launched their iPhone 4 saying it was going to be the best iPhone yet, only to find out that when it was used in the real world there were major problems with it receiving signals.

So, yeah, it’s possible to fail at full product disclosure. But, what you can do is what Apple did – they apologized for the problem and then sent people kits to fix it. Now that was great customer service!

That’s what I mean about product disclosure. Be as honest about your products as you can when you are making your ads. Let people know if there are any challenges or issues involving the product. Then, if a surprise problem emerges, address the concern as quickly as possible.

When it comes to full price disclosure, the process is much less murky: Always let people know what the products or services you are selling them are going to cost. Not doing so is not only dishonest; it’s counter productive. If people end up finding out that they paid more money than they expected, they’ll either bug you for a refund or go to their credit card company and request a charge back. That isn’t good for anyone involved, and it ensures that the customer will never do business with you again.

Therefore, what I suggest is that you always put the full price of the product or service on the front page of your website. Then, on your order page print the price again and make people check off a box saying they have read and understood the price. Don’t make it seem like something is less expensive than it really is.

Trust me, people will notice when they get their credit card statement.

So, that’s my message for the day. Be honest with people about the pros and cons of your product, and always be upfront about your pricing.

Over time you’ll find that this will help you grow your business and make it easier for you to sleep at night.

Jesse Willms

But, today I want to write about something different – about giving back to the community and supporting worthy charitable organizations.

It’s long been an adage that philanthropy is part of being an ethical businessperson. You shouldn’t use your company to simply make money for yourself; you should also use your company to try to make the world a better place.

I’ve spent a lot of time building up my company to make a fair amount of money but, lately I’ve spent even more time researching and supporting meaningful charitable institutions. While I didn’t come from an overly privileged family I had a much more fortunate situation than many in the developing world. And I think that’s the case for most of us who are able to read this online. We were born with a lot of advantages that people living in poverty around the world simply don’t have, and have never known.

I believe that every man, woman and child has the right to be able to better themselves and live a safe and comfortable life. That’s why I consider it my duty to do what I can to help non-profit groups that are trying to eliminate poverty and create a middle class in developing nations.

Of course, my profits help me afford a good life; but now they are also helping to build a good life for other people on all four corners of the globe. It really doesn’t take much to make a difference. For example, the World Vision charity will allow you to sponsor a child for only $35 a month. With the Kiva Foundation, you can provide microloans to third world entrepreneurs to help them earn their way out of poverty for a couple hundred bucks.

Along the way you’ll be doing the right thing and making the world a better place. What could be more ethical than that? So, do what you can to help give back to the community. It’s the most ethical thing you could possibly do.

Thanks,
Jesse Willms