Writing Samples

Stormie’s Story: A Former Easter Bunny’s Tale

By Beth Williams

She stared out of the tiny plastic window, watching people get into and out of their cars, driving to and from what had been her prison for months, maybe even years. Her spine, crippled with arthritis and worsened by the thin metal wire she sat on without reprieve 24 hours a day, made her justifiably cranky. But, no one knew of her suffering. No one knew that she grunted and lunged because she hurt.

All they saw was the sign: “Attack Rabbit: Do Not Touch.” So, no one touched or talked to her.

She wasn’t alone. Three rows of homeless rabbits – a white, almost hairless pinked-eyed bunny, her body pox marked with what looked like cigarette burns; an injured black and white Dutch, the bone in her leg sticking out, making it impossible for her to move; a forlorn cocoa-colored lop – sat in tiny cages with barely enough room to turn around, eating rotten vegetables, drinking murky water, and having nothing to occupy their hours alone. The pellets of poop filled the trays beneath the wire flooring, almost creating a cushion for feet blistered with sores.

The shelter provided little more than a reprieve from the cold rain and harsh snow of a New England winter. Even on the coast of Connecticut, where snowfall wasn’t as common as in the inland, the cold stung and the heat blistered. While the dogs and cats remained warm inside the shelter, the rabbits lived outdoors in their tiny cages, protected only by a thin green tarp littered with tears that let the bitter cold in.

A stocky man with silver wire-rimmed glasses and plump cheeks ran the “rabbit house,” as he proudly called it. Always wearing his Army-green animal control officer’s uniform, he boasted about his keen ability to cut a rabbit’s teeth down without anesthesia, about the rabbits he kept in the same tiny cages and under the same green tarp in his own backyard, and the proper way to stun a rabbit before feeding him to a snake, enough to raise both my eyebrows and my concerns.

Stormie – as she would later become – didn’t look like an attack rabbit: A black Silver Marten with a pure white belly, she always looked dainty, even on the uncomfortable wire, with her two front paws pressed gently together as she shifted her weight onto the front half of her body. Her large brown eyes looked almost black because they were so dull. She sat staring out of her window and I could almost see her dreaming of where she had been and where she wanted to go. I, too, wondered who had left her here and why.

A little boy, who incessantly talked of being a vet when he grew up crowned her Duchess, but even he wouldn’t touch her. I opened her tiny cage door, determined to win her trust, starting by giving her fresh greens, a box to hide in, and toys to play with. She looked at me, grunted and lunged, aiming to bite my gloved hand.

I spoke to her softly, telling her I knew how she felt. I’d never been stuck in a cage, I told her, but I had spent many years wistfully staring out of my bedroom window, wishing I was somewhere else without a way to get there. She listened, her breathing slowing to normal, but still would not allow me to touch her.

I leaned my head into her cage, talking to her every day, hoping she would learn to trust me. You will come home with me, away from this horrible place, I promised her. Just wait.

Unlike the other rabbits at the shelter, many of whom craved and welcomed the affection of a hug and time to run around, Stormie struggled, grunted, growled, and lunged. Her dainty paws grasped onto the wire. Her body tensed. She fought.

*                      *                      *

When I gently let her out of the darkness of the box, she looked around – her brown eyes wide, the blue and white Christmas lights, strewn along the living room wall, twinkling in them. She, Thumper, and Midnight – plucked from the coldness of the shelter, out of their tiny wire prisons for the final time – stared at their new home, in an awe reminiscent of a child on Christmas morning.

They knew. Some people say that animals are stupid, but my three knew they were home, that their time in prison had ended. Stormie, who would eventually spend her days running free in the house, cautiously investigated her new home, a large dog pen with a soft blanket to lie on, fresh green hay, and clear water. After a thorough investigation, she flopped onto her side – a sure sign of bunny happiness.

Stormie took charge within weeks, spending her days lying next to me, the dullness of her eyes giving way to a brightness, as if they were always reflecting the Christmas lights. Her grunting and growling – symptoms of the pain from arthritis that ripped at her spine and not being spayed – subsided with pain medication and a much-needed spay. An elder bunny, Stormie was lucky. Many unspayed female rabbits suffer from uterine cancer, often a long, painful death sentence.

Gone was the angry, untrusting rabbit stuck in a tiny wire cage. Life was on her terms now: She allowed me to pet her when she wanted pet. She sat next to me as long as she wanted, and I could hold her but only for a few minutes at a time before she squirmed to get down. And, she became my driving companion on Saturday afternoon errands, sitting in the front passenger seat, looking out the window, excited about where we would go next.

*          *          *

Stormie fell in love with Noel almost immediately. He was just a baby – a pink-eyed Himalayan dwarf with a brown nose – and reminded me of a little koala bear. I fostered him for a rescue soon after I adopted Stormie, but as soon as he came home, I knew he would remain part of the family.

Stormie and Noel spent their days nose-to-nose, lying together, running around together, and chasing me for their daily carrot and greens. They were inseparable, even after I felt the first bump under the skin in his belly.

The first tumor came off during surgery, the vet confident that Noel would make a full recovery, that the cancer hadn’t spread. But, it had spread, as we would learn five months later. A huge tumor covered his heart, leaving us with no choice but to wait for him to let us know when he was ready to go.

Stormie was there to say goodbye – before the vet injected the medicine into Noel’s veins and after his heart had stopped. She changed subtly, and the brightness in her eyes began to dull. The medicine that she once ran for and lapped up like an eager puppy no longer interested her. She bonded with Riley and Midnight, bossing them around, but her energy began to wane as she slept more in the sun and slowly began to pull away from us.

*          *          *

Connecticut was far from memory on that balmy August morning in South Jersey in 2005, only a week before Hurricane Katrina and not even a year after Noel’s death. I awoke early – before seven, virtually the middle of the night for someone who barely made it to bed by four – to see Stormie, stretched out, her head hanging over her water bowl as if she was thirsty but didn’t have the energy to drink. The shine in her eyes had dulled even more. I knew Stormie. Something was wrong.

We arrived at the vet’s office as soon as the receptionist unlocked the front door. Stormie sat quietly in my arms after her X-rays as the vet pronounced her healthy: No gas in her stomach. No blockage. No G.I. stasis – the illness that often quietly strikes its victims, shutting down their gastrointestinal tract and killing them, many times before their families knew anything was even wrong. G.I. stasis had killed our Puddles, so I was always on guard and temporarily breathed a sigh of relief.

But, that morning when I woke up, as much as I didn’t want to admit it, I knew deep down that it was Stormie’s final day.

*          *          *

Stormie’s death brought peace to someone else. Her name was Julie. She remembered Stormie, having seen the “Attack Rabbit” sign on her cage nine months before I adopted her. At the time, Julie had adopted a bunny, Millie, separating Millie from her sister and bond mate, a mistake Julie would lament until Stormie’s death four years later.

She didn’t know at the time, she wrote to me the day after Stormie’s death, that it was wrong to break apart bonded rabbits. She described Millie’s sister. Her sister was Cocoa, the forlorn cocoa-colored lop rabbit I hugged every day. I had good news for Julie: Cocoa had been adopted, going to a loving family.

Maybe, Julie wrote in her next email, letting her know that Millie’s sister was okay, assuaging her guilt, was Stormie’s first act as an angel.

*          *          *

Eight years have passed since I adopted Stormie. Her urn sits on a shelf in the living room, still part of the family. We laugh as I tell stories about her – the way she chased our budgie, Bailey, from the litter box; how, when she wanted the pellet bowl all to herself, she would nip Riley and Midnight in the butt; and the excitement turned to annoyance when we spent two hours driving around lost in South Jersey, in search of a store that was right around the corner.

Midnight and Thumper are the last of the Connecticut bunnies in the family. Midnight’s spunk still remains as Thumper begins a battle against cancer. Connecticut has not been home for years, yet it will forever remain a part of who we are and why we are together: Before then, I had little idea that rabbits could be and were treated so poorly by so many. I didn’t know they could suffer from depression like humans. And, I was clueless to the fact that so many were simply dumped in shelters, left in the wild to die, or neglected in backyard hutches.

Stormie taught me that with a little love, attention, and time, even the angriest, most frightened animals can transform into loving companions. But, perhaps even more, she taught me to fight against the injustice so many house rabbits are forced to endure, a fight I started in Connecticut and continue today, in memory of Stormie, my own bunnies, and those bunnies who never knew the love of a family or the comfort of their own home.

For generations of Pittsburghers, Duquesne has become synonymous with the long carefree days of summer, piping hot boardwalk fries drenched in ketchup and mustard, and plunges down the Log Jammer at Kennywood. But, less than a mile from the screams of delight and temporarily forgotten worries, in the sweltering July heat last summer, three unaltered house rabbits, dumped by their owner, began the struggle to survive in an environment for which they are not made.

Burrowed under a construction trailer in an otherwise empty parking lot, the three frightened house rabbits periodically ventured into a nearby field, where they grazed on grass and were forced to duck predators – cats, birds of prey, cars, and humans with less than honorable intentions – at every turn.  By November, the three house rabbits became nine. More litters had likely been born and had died, unable to survive the predators, the hunger, and the rapidly changing Western Pennsylvania weather.

Mary Cvetan, the co-founder of the House Rabbit Club in Pittsburgh, after receiving word of the quickly escalating problem, sent out an urgent email to volunteers.  For the next nine days, 15 volunteers worked in shifts, trying to catch the frightened and starving rabbits.

“It was freezing, windy [with] sleet and driving rain,” says House Rabbit Club volunteer Louise McCrerey of Pittsburgh. “But we were determined to get as many of the bunnies as we could to warmth and safety.  People showed up at 5 a.m. People showed up at 5 p.m.  I think at least one group did a middle of the night stint.”

The plight of the unwanted Duquesne rabbits is not unique.

While no concrete figures currently exist on how many house rabbits are surrendered to animal shelters and independent rabbit rescues annually, The Humane Society of the United States asserts that rabbits are the third most surrendered pet in the country while The House Rabbit Society approximates that it and its chapters accept more than 35,000 surrenders each year.

Not all house rabbits are lucky to enough to be rescued by The House Rabbit Society or a no-kill shelter, resulting in an estimated 40,000 house rabbits, many of whom are young and healthy, being euthanized in shelters every year, according to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah.

The numbers belie the true story: Countless house rabbits, like the Duquesne rabbits, are dumped in the wild annually – often left to die from starvation or predators – or are left to linger and die alone in backyard hutches without the proper nutrition and care.

Cvetan believes that many people let their rabbits loose, not necessarily out of malice, but because they don’t understand that house rabbits cannot survive for long outdoors like their wild counterparts.  In fact, an indoor house rabbit can live for as many as 12 or more years while the life expectancy of an outdoor house rabbit, such as those relegated to life in a backyard hutch, is only five years.

“I think what a lot of people fear is that we’re going to catch these sweet pet bunnies, and we’re going to do what most people do: shove them in the basement or in a hutch and forget about them,” she says.

Unlike in many cities, house rabbits are accepted as surrenders into each of the three Pittsburgh animal shelters – Animal Friends, The Humane Society, and The Animal Rescue League – and it’s generally to one of those shelters or into foster homes that the rabbits rescued by the House Rabbit Club go until they find a permanent home.

But, until July 2005, when Cvetan and The Humane Society founded the House Rabbit Club of Pittsburgh, the house rabbits in Western Pennsylvania had few volunteers in the shelters and few advocates to help educate the general public about their basic needs.

Proponents of Education

Cvetan was like a lot of novice rabbit owners when she adopted her first rabbit – Zsa Zsa – from a friend eight years ago. She knew little about house rabbits or how to properly care for one.

“I work at home and Zsa Zsa was with me all of the time, hanging out in the office. I would talk to her constantly. She started to respond to certain words. I was very surprised,” Cvetan says. “The more I interacted with her, the more I taught her, the more she showed me she was intelligent.”

Zsa Zsa inspired Cvetan to educate herself – and others – about house rabbits. She started by writing an op-ed piece for the Post-Gazette to discourage uneducated readers from purchasing a rabbit at Easter. By the following Easter, Cvetan had teamed with the Humane Society in the North Side to start an awareness campaign ahead of the Easter rush, which eventually resulted in the founding of the House Rabbit Club.

Because Easter has become synonymous with rabbits, many people rush to purchase bunnies at pet stores or to adopt from animal shelters for their children. Within months of Easter, generally August through October, the novelty wears off and the reality of how much work and how much money is involved in caring for a house rabbit sets in.

While often cute and cuddly, most house rabbits do not like being held, although they are sociable and crave human attention, albeit on their own terms. Because they are prey animals, house rabbits will hide their illnesses, often until it is too late. The required specialized veterinary care also equates to higher vet bills than with a dog or cat.

Still, there are plenty of positives to having a house rabbit, as McCrerey has learned as both a house rabbit owner and a volunteer and a fosterer with The Humane Society and Animal Friends.

“It is a privilege to share [our] lives with a rabbit, but with that privilege comes responsibility. Rabbits are intelligent, live well indoors, can be litter trained, and are excellent companions for older children and grown ups,” she says. “I think a lot of people who don’t treat rabbits properly simply don’t understand the potential of rabbits to share their lives as ‘full-fledged pets,’” she says.

As a result of failing to do research before adopting a rabbit, owners inundate local animal shelters with unwanted rabbits in the months following Easter, and The House Rabbit Club begins to receive more calls about abandoned rabbits.

One of the main goals of The House Rabbit Club of Pittsburgh, whose members volunteer in all three shelters in the city, is to encourage public awareness of the problem of neglected and unwanted rabbits in Western Pennsylvania. Each month the group holds educational seminars at one of the three Pittsburgh shelters. Seminars cover topics – such as basic care for a house rabbit and caring for older rabbits – important to both novice and veteran house rabbit owners and are often led by local veterinarians.

The message is getting through – at least to some potential rabbit owners. Lucille Jenkins, a Monroeville native and parent to Dutch rabbits Harmony and Baxter, did plenty of research before deciding that a rabbit was indeed right for her and her husband. In addition to researching breeds, she methodically read the Web sites for The House Rabbit Society, The Humane Society, and The House Rabbit Club before attending one of the Humane Society’s Bunny Romps.

Held every Saturday at the Humane Society, the Bunny Romps allow adoptable rabbits to run around and interact with visitors in a large room. It was there that Jenkins met Harmony, an affectionate rabbit who would hop over to her, leave, and return. Neither Jenkins nor her husband, Jim, had been prepared to adopt a rabbit that day.

Still, Harmony won them over, and by the end of the romp, the Jenkins had a new member of the family. Soon afterward, they took home Baxter, a former classroom bunny who struggled with obesity after being fed only human food and receiving little daily exercise.

Jenkins’ experiences with Harmony and a slimmed down Baxter, who now eats a proper diet of hay, pellets, and plenty of fresh vegetables, have inspired her. Today, she encourages others who are considering adopting a rabbit to do their research first, for both their own sake and for the sake of the rabbit.
“If you don’t do the research and bring this animal home and she doesn’t litter box train like you think she should or like your cat did, where’s that rabbit going to go? She’s going to be dumped into the woods or into a shelter,” Jenkins says. “Research saves a person the frustration and the animal frustration and possible abuse.”

The Duquesne Rabbits – A Year Later

A year after rescuing the Duquesne house rabbits, all but one have been adopted. Yet, the cycle continues. Cvetan and another team of volunteers are again on a mission to save 14 house rabbits, the result of two dumped by their owner in Moon Township.

“If she had just decided she didn’t want them and had taken them to shelter, there would be two placed,” Cvetan says. Instead the original two being in permanent, loving homes, the rabbits continue to multiply faster than Cvetan and volunteers can catch them.

But, for every phone call informing Cvetan of another abandoned or abused rabbit in need of help, there is a happy ending for another house rabbit due, in large part, to the efforts of The House Rabbit Club. Those happy endings are what keep Cvetan going in what can often be an emotional minefield.

Marcy and Lena are one such example of a happy ending. After lingering at the shelter at the Humane Society since November 2007, when they were surrendered as part of a litter of ten babies, the duo finally found their forever home in late 2009.

“They are large and grumpy and bonded. That’s three strikes against them,” Cvetan says. “Most people want one tiny, super-hyper, friendly rabbit, and Marcy and Lena just sat there until a family decided to foster them.”

The foster home recently became Marcy and Lena’s permanent home, a victory celebrated by all of the close knit volunteers at the House Rabbit Club. Cvetan and her fellow volunteers have created a strong support system, which allows them to celebrate victories together, mourn unhappy endings, and seek counsel when they’re not sure how to solve a problem, like how much medication to give a sick rabbit.

It also helps to keep things in perspective when dealing with the emotional aspects of rescue, according to McCrerey.

“I try and focus on individual rabbits. I can’t save them all.  Someone asked Mother Teresa how she thought she could save all the poor of Calcutta, and she responded, ‘I can only save one at a time.’”

Sweet Binks Rabbit Rescue: Transforming hearts and minds

Maggots poured from his emaciated, tailless body; his eyes dull and lifeless, the result of a life of neglect. Pamela Hood gently picked the maggots – one by one – from the rabbit’s malnourished body. If he can make it through the night, she reminded herself, he has a good shot of surviving.

That first night was critical.

Hood has been there for many of those critical first nights with the rabbits who have come into her private rabbit shelter, their bodies and spirits broken from neglect, abuse, and sometimes pure ignorance. Not all make it to morning.

But, this little rabbit – who resembles a possum more than a house rabbit, earning him the moniker Possum – would become one of Hood’s many success stories. By morning, a tiny sparkle had erased some of the dullness from his eyes. Rabbits like Possum, the ones who arrive broken then blossom with love and attention, keep Hood going.

Hood, the founder of Sweet Binks Rabbit Rescue in Foster, Rhode Island, didn’t plan on becoming a rabbit rescuer. In fact, more than eight years ago, when she bought her first rabbit, Bun-Bun, little did she know that her work would transform the state of Rhode Island for house rabbits.

Back then, she was like many novice house rabbit owners: She knew very little and did everything wrong.

“I did everything I’m opposed to now. I bought a bunny at a store at Easter,” she says. “Then I got online to learn more about rabbits and realized how many rabbits are in shelters and how many rabbits are euthanized every year.”

While no concrete figures exist on how many house rabbits are surrendered and euthanized annually, The House Rabbit Society estimates that it and its chapters accept more than 35,000 surrenders while Best Friends Animal Society approximates the number of house rabbits put to sleep each year stands at around 40,000. That doesn’t take into account all of the house rabbits who die after being dumped in the wild or who are left to perish alone in backyard hutches.

The problem of homeless rabbits was particularly bad in Rhode Island where no rabbit rescues existed. Hood began doing private rescue, gaining the reputation of the “bunny lady,” the woman to whom many turned when they found a stray rabbit or wanted to surrender their rabbit.

“I just remember one day saying I have to take this to another level,” she says, “I started Sweet Binks.”

Licensed by the state of Rhode Island, Hood transformed the barn in her backyard into a haven for homeless rabbits, complete with heat, air conditioning, plenty of toys, room to run and to play, and fresh vegetables from the large garden Hood grows.

For most of the rabbits, of which there are generally between 50 and 60 at a time, the shelter is simply a temporary stop, a place where they can heal from their emotional or physical problems, can regain their strength, and can begin to learn to trust people again until they find their “forever homes.”

But, for some rabbits, Sweet Binks becomes a permanent home, a safe place to live out the remainder of their lives. The lifers, as Hood fondly refers to them, often have trouble finding homes because of chronic health conditions, such as problems with their teeth, or because they are antisocial. Still, some rabbit people will only adopt special needs bunnies, giving those lifers a second chance at life.

A Mission From the Heart

Like most rescues, Hood depends on volunteers to help her run the shelter and to help educate those in the community about the very real plight of house rabbits. But, unlike many rescues, Hood doesn’t use foster families to care for shelter rabbits, except in rare instances where a rabbit has already been adopted and needs socializing before going to his new home. All of the shelter’s rabbits live in the shelter, and Hood cares for them herself: Cleaning litter boxes, feeding them, and taking regular trips to the veterinarian.

“You have to be passionate about what you do. You have to genuinely want to get up in the morning and do this 365 days a year,” she says.

Running a rescue can also be financially challenging. Hood, who doesn’t draw a salary, works full-time for the rescue, which costs approximately $25,000 to $30,000 to run annually. The majority of the funds to run Sweet Binks comes from fundraising efforts and adoption fees.

“Because it’s a private shelter, I don’t like a lot of traffic here,” Hood says. “I’m very particular about how the shelter is run (in terms of) the cleanliness and standards.”

Hood’s high standards ensure that the rabbits find safe, loving homes. Not just anyone can adopt from Sweet Binks. All potential adopters go through a thorough vetting and education process to ensure they can provide a suitable home for a rabbit.

The Perfect Match

The process works for both Hood and her adopters, including Joanne Sousa, who adopted two rabbits from Sweet Binks. First came Junebuns, a Flemish-giant mix, seized, Sousa believes, from an abuse situation.

Junebuns was a solo bun for a few years before he began getting into mischief, a sign to Sousa that he needed a friend.  Junebuns, Sousa, and her boyfriend returned to Sweet Binks where they met Gabriella, who had recently been returned to the rescue.

After three days at home, Junebuns and Gabriella were inseparable and in charge – with full run of the house.

“Junebuns doesn’t really like to be picked up but you could spend hours on the floor just petting and nuzzling him.  Gaby on the other hand doesn’t mind the occasional pick up (on her terms),” Sousa says. “I know that I could never live without a bun in my house.  When people put them in a hutch and just feed and water them, they don’t get to see their personalities and how much love they can bring to a home.”

Making a Difference

Eight years ago, the homeless, abused, and neglected house rabbits in Rhode Island didn’t have an advocate to give a voice to their plight. But, Hood and Sweet Binks Rabbit Rescue have spearheaded a movement that has resulted in noticeable change in the state.

When Hood first began Sweet Binks, she took in between 180 and 200 rabbits annually. Those numbers have decreased in recent years and only 50 rabbits have been taken in by Sweet Binks so far in 2009.

The drop in numbers can largely be attributed to Hood and her team of volunteers’ efforts to educate the public, pet stores, and local animal shelters about the realities of living with and caring for house rabbits and advocating adoption over purchasing a rabbit from a store or a breeder. In addition to volunteers manning booths at local pet expos, Sweet Binks runs television and radio ads across the state annually and participates in various local events.

“We have definitely increased awareness of adoption. Even the pet stores have become a little more aware that selling rabbits just isn’t a good thing to do,” Hood says. “I definitely think it (education and rescue) goes hand-in-hand.”

Such education has paid off in big ways. Sweet Binks used to take 180 rabbits a year from the SPCA. Today, Hood only accepts SPCA rabbits who have lingered at the shelter for a considerable time. That’s because the SPCA, like many of the larger shelters in Rhode Island, have become more rabbit savvy and have implemented stricter adoption requirements, including indoor living and spaying and neutering.

However, abuse remains a problem in Rhode Island. But, as Hood points out, even law enforcement in Rhode Island has begun to recognize the serious problem of abuse of animals beyond dogs and cats.

Hood recently testified in an animal cruelty case against a local psychiatrist who had neglected animals on his property. By the time law enforcement got involved, only a rabbit and a turkey hen had survived.

“It was the first time I went to testify on the cruelty conditions. We were awarded custody of the rabbit and $1,000,” she says. “I took that as a huge win.”

Heartbreak and Triumph

As a rescuer, Hood has dealt with her fair share of heartache, witnessing abuse and neglect that most people never see. Not all rabbits have happy endings like Possum, and that can take a toll.

“Compassion fatigue creeps up on you,” Hood says. “Having a balance in your life is important. I’m an avid bowler. I bowl three times a week when I don’t think about bunnies and cruelty and neglect.”

But, Hood couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

“It’s great on adoption days when I see these little guys – the ones I’ve gone out and trapped or caught myself – come into Sweet Binks in terrible shape then get adopted and go into a great home. That’s what it’s all about it for me.”

Entrepreneurialism on the Rise:

Is it Financially Feasible to Start a Business in Today’s Economy?

As America wallows in a recession, with no end clearly in sight, most people naturally shy away from taking financial risks. After all, the media bombards Americans with the latest financial crisis on a daily basis, a less than reassuring message about the country’s financial future.

The numbers don’t lie. Foreclosures have steadily increased, up 18 percent from August 2008 to August 2009, according to the U.S. Foreclosure Market Report issued by RealtyTrac, with one out of 357 homeowners in the United States receiving foreclosure notices that same month.

Personal bankruptcies have hit a four-year high with 1,046,449 Americans filing for bankruptcy in the first nine months of 2009 alone. Experts at the American Bankruptcy Institute, who announced the increase in bankruptcies in early October, predict the number of consumer bankruptcies will continue to rise through 2011 before leveling off.

With the national unemployment rate expected to hover around 9.5 percent through the end of 2010 – the highest in 30 years – the overall economic picture in the United States looks rather bleak.  Still, a recession doesn’t spell doom and gloom for all Americans.  A sluggish economy, combined with many Americans’ innate ability to turn a bad situation into opportunity, has resulted in an interesting trend: Growth in the small business sector.

Challenger, Gray & Christmas, in their Job Market Index publication, found that approximately one in 10 unemployed Americans started their own businesses in the second quarter of 2009 – an increase of 2.3 percent from the first quarter. That number has more than doubled since 2008.

Approximately 530,000 new businesses, or 320 out of every 100,000 Americans, launched each month in 2008, according to a study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

While entrepreneurialism is on the rise even with the country deep in a recession, the high risk of small business failure remains.  Even in a strong economic climate, half of all new businesses fail in their first five years, according to the Small Business Administration (SBA).

The numbers can be daunting at first glance.

Still, despite the financial risks involved with starting a new business, a recession can provide ideal conditions for those entrepreneurs with a marketable product or service and the fortitude to endure the ups and downs of financial uncertainty.

“Any time is a good time to start a business, if it’s the right kind of business and you have a good idea,” says Louis Lebeck, a small business counselor at SCORE and the former owner of an auto parts business. “It doesn’t make any difference if there’s a recession.”

In fact, some of the most successful companies in the world – including Disney, McDonald’s, Hewlett-Packard, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, and Microsoft – got their start during a recession.

SCORE, a non-profit organization that educates and assists entrepreneurs with their businesses through counseling with former business owners, revealed that in 2008, 627,200 new businesses launched; 595,600 businesses shut their doors, and 43,646 were forced to file for bankruptcy.

Financial Considerations of Starting a New Business During a Recession

Taking the plunge into entrepreneurialism requires more than just a marketable product or service. Failure to carefully assess the financial aspects of starting a new business can and has resulted in some entrepreneurs losing their businesses, their homes, and their life savings. Business experts recommend that prospective entrepreneurs evaluate their personal financial situation before sinking their money into a business idea.

Identify startup costs

Lebeck advises prospective business owners to first estimate the startup costs involved with launching their desired business. Startup costs, which vary widely depending on the type of business, can range anywhere from hundreds of thousands of dollars to start a restaurant to several thousand dollars or less to launch an online business.

Startup costs consist of one-time, fixed, and variable costs. One-time costs generally include obtaining the necessary equipment, such as a computer or a fax machine, to run the business. Typical fixed costs, according to the SBA, include utilities and rent while inventory and shipping are common variable costs.

Minimize startup costs

Minimizing startup costs can help ensure that starting a business is financially feasible, especially for cash-strapped entrepreneurs. Lebeck notes there are several simple yet effective ways to minimize startup costs:

• Work at home.  If a business can be run out of the home at first, Lebeck advises working from home rather than incurring the extra expense of a monthly rental fee.  Once the business begins growing and making a profit, the entrepreneur can then consider leasing office space.

• Use freelancers. Small business owners often incur steep expenses when hiring employees. An alternative to having to pay employee benefits and unemployment taxes, for example, is to contract freelancers. Freelancers work when they are needed, pay their own taxes, and provide their own equipment, saving small business owners considerable money.

• Buy used. Rather than purchasing new equipment and office furniture, unless they can be found at deeply discounted prices, entrepreneurs can save money by buying used items.

• Go online. Online businesses, because of their relatively low startup and running costs, are an increasingly popular option for entrepreneurs, especially during a recession. Online businesses may offer services – such as writing, graphic design, or consulting – or products. Many entrepreneurs opt to sell products as a dropshipper, which allows them to take orders then have the manufacturer send the products to the customers.

Do the math

Once startup costs have been estimated, prospective small business owners must determine whether starting the business is financially feasible for their personal circumstances.

“You have to find out if you will have enough money to run the business and to keep your personal affairs in order,” Tom Price, a business consultant and tax professional, says. “First, figure out your monthly cost to run the business. Then figure out the monthly cost of your personal living expenses. Add those two numbers together, and make sure you will have enough money to cover those costs until the business makes a profit.”

Some small businesses may not see a profit for a month or two while it may take a year or more for other businesses to make money.  Many new business owners do not realize this and cannot afford to wait that long. This oversight, according to Lebeck, is one of the main reasons for new small business failures.

“That’s where a lot of people run into a problem.  They weren’t prepared for the time it’s going to take to build that business to the point where they’re going to make a profit,” he says.

Some entrepreneurs who still have jobs opt to keep them until their businesses begin making a profit. Ideally, those entrepreneurs who have the luxury of not having to tend to their business during normal business hours should save at least six months worth of personal and business expenses before quitting their jobs to concentrate on their businesses full-time, according to Price. That way, if the business runs into tough financial times, they will still have the funds to stay afloat.

Identify potential funding sources

Prospective small business owners must also consider how they are going to fund their startup. While dipping into personal savings has commonly been a popular option, with the high unemployment rate and many struggling during the recession, prospective business owners often must find other financing alternatives, including:

• Small business loans. The SBA provides several small business loan options, including the micro-loan. The micro-loan is designed to assist startups as well as established businesses. With a maximum loan amount of $35,000, the average micro-loan is currently $13,000 with interest rates ranging between eight and 13 percent, according to the SBA.However, the SBA only acts as a guarantor of the loan and does not actually issue  the funds. Those small business owners approved for a loan guaranteed by the SBA must then find a bank to issue the funds.Banks also offer small business loans. According to a survey by the Federal Reserve and published by Business Week, interest rates on bank-issued loans under $100,000 hover between seven and eight percent.

While securing small business loans may prove more difficult during a recession, help may be on the way for small business owners. The Treasury Department announced in late September that it will soon be launching a program that will make it easier for small business owners to obtain loans.

• Credit cards. Credit cards provide entrepreneurs with quick funding. However, credit cards pose their own financial risks. In addition to having to pay back the debt, many consumers and entrepreneurs are discovering the high cost of using credit.
• A new law that stipulates credit card companies must give cardholders 45 days notice before raising their interest rates is set to go into effect in February 2010. However, many credit card companies – including Wells Fargo, which recently upped its interest rate by as much as three percent – are hiking their interest rates ahead of the new law, leaving many consumers with steep monthly payments.

• Family and friends. Family and friends can provide a quick source of funding as long as guidelines – including a repayment schedule and whether the individual(s) will have any say into how the business is run – are clearly established first.

Choose a business entity

Entrepreneurs must also consider how they are going to protect their personal and business assets by deciding what type of business entity – sole proprietorship, partnership, Limited Liability Company (LLC), or corporation – to form.  Each has its own financial consequences. A sole proprietorship, for example, does not legally separate a business owner from his business. As a result, if the business incurs financial expenses, the owner will be held personally liable for those expenses. If the business goes bankrupt, the business owner will go bankrupt.

The corporation, on the other hand, provides the most legal and financial protection to entrepreneurs. With a corporation, the business remains a separate entity from its owner or owners.

“I advise people, if possible, to form a corporation to separate the finances of their business from their personal finances,” Lebeck says. “I have seen so many people who don’t start corporations borrow money or get second mortgages then they lose their homes.”

Opting to form a corporation is particularly important, Lebeck points out, if the business owner plans to sign a rental lease or other complicated contracts. A small business owner working from home, he notes, doesn’t necessarily need to form a corporation. A seasoned business lawyer can best help a prospective business owner decide what type of entity to form.

Financial Benefits of Starting a Small Business During a Recession

A recession may prove challenging for many, but entrepreneurs can actually benefit from the economic downfall. Starting a small business during a recession provides its own unique financial benefits, including:

• Save on the cost of labor. With the high rate of unemployment, people who once commanded premium wages are often willing to work for lower rates.

• Save on products and services. Many vendors, strapped for cash and dealing with slowing business, are willing to negotiate lower prices.

• Find lower rental rates. For those businesses that require office space, rentals can typically be found at discounted rates during a recession. A recession generally means more available rental space, which often provides renters with the power to negotiate better lease terms.

• Win new customers. Consumers want to save money, especially during a recession. Those new businesses that offer a quality product or service at competitive prices have the opportunity to woo customers away from the competition.

• Less competition. A recession often results in businesses closing their doors, which leaves more opportunity for those small businesses just entering the market.

Tips for Success

While starting a small business may be financially feasible for many in today’s economy, entrepreneurs still face hurdles to success. Many small businesses fail because their owners do not adequately plan. A business plan, Lebeck notes, is essential to success. An effective plan outlines the entrepreneur’s goals, how he plans to achieve those goals, and includes financial and marketing strategies. Entrepreneurs unfamiliar with how to write a business plan can find assistance through the SBA or SCORE.

Entrepreneurs must also consistently market their product or service, even when business is brisk. Even those entrepreneurs on a shoestring budget will find that marketing their business, especially online, can be relatively inexpensive and, in some instances, free. Maintaining a professional website, issuing relevant press releases to online and offline media, participating in social networking websites, and offering discounts are all ways for small business owners to build a loyal customer base.

Starting a business, according to both Lebeck and Price, is financially feasible during a recession if entrepreneurs first carefully assess their startup costs and their financial situation and are willing to put in the effort it takes for a business to succeed.

“You have to work long hours and work hard to make it work,” Price says. “The best thing to do is to keep selling and seeking new business.  Some people wait until a contract is over. You always have to go for contracts, every day, no matter how busy you are.  Otherwise, you’re just not going to survive.”

It’s also important to remain realistic, according to Lebeck, and not to expect too much at first.

“Successful people start slow and move on.”

As world leaders gather in Pittsburgh for the G-20 Summit next week, Save Darfur, in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Emergency Darfur Coalition and STAND, hope to spur world leaders into taking action to stop the genocide in Darfur.

“Our message is if you can hear what people are saying, you can save lives in Sudan,” says Emily Diamond-Falk, the Media Relations Manager at Save Darfur. “It’s that simple.”

Members of the three genocide awareness organizations, which have a full schedule of events planned prior to and during the G-20 Summit September 24 and 25, will greet President Barack Obama and other world leaders as they arrive at Pittsburgh International Airport with signs reading, “If you can read this, you can save lives in Sudan” in several languages, a message that will be repeated throughout the two-day event.

“We’re really trying to make sure that President Obama and members of the G-20 hear our message and know that we are speaking for the people of Sudan since they are unable to be here and to speak for themselves,” Diamond-Falk says.

Prior to his arrival in Pittsburgh, President Obama will be presented with a petition with more than 40,000 signatures, asking him to include a section on the Darfur Genocide in his speech before the General Assembly at the G-20 Summit.

Since it began almost six years ago, the Darfur Genocide has claimed an estimated 300,000 lives and has displaced approximately 2.7 million Darfurians.

To illustrate the loss of human life, the Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition, with Save Darfur, will place 600 signs, each with the name of a village that has been burned since 2004, in 25 rows over 10,000 square feet on Flagstaff Hill in Oakland, directly across from Phipps Conservatory where delegates will meet on Thursday evening. The signs will remain in place from September 22 through September 25.

“We are alerting people that Darfur is still happening and attention must still be paid to the area,” Diamond-Falk says.

The organizations are also sponsoring billboards, to be placed inside of the security zone within view of the delegates, and television ads, which are currently slated to run on both local affiliate stations in Pittsburgh as well as on major networks including CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, and Fox News beginning on Wednesday ahead of the arrival of President Obama and other world leaders.

Street teams, dedicated to increasing visibility of the genocide, will be dispersed to various locations throughout the city, including a human rights gathering at the Steelworkers Building on Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and the Rally for Clean Energy Jobs at Point State Park. Gates to the rally, which features a concert with acts such as Kathy Mattea, open at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

In addition to putting the genocide back on the forefront of the world stage, activists are hoping that world leaders will consider their message when Sudan requests debt relief. The G-20 nations hold much of Sudan’s debt and are among the country’s largest trade partners.

The question of debt relief, and what should be done before the G-20 nations offer it to Sudan, will be one of topics of discussion at a press conference hosted by Save Darfur at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

George Wedemeyer has been instrumental in helping those with HIV and AIDS. One of his most notable accomplishments was when he and Tom Ziebolt founded the first Alcohol and Drug Clinic in Washington, D.C. in 1975, which at first operated out of Lamda Rising Book Store on Monday nights. The clinic eventually merged with the Whitman Walker Health Clinic to become a multi-million dollar operation.

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Herbs are an important component of Traditional Chinese Medicine and are sometimes used as a complimentary treatment, in conjunction with traditional medications and therapy, for those living with HIV and AIDS. While the benefits of herbal treatments, such as helping to boost the immune system, are espoused by proponents of TCM, traditional medical professionals often do not back their use.

As a result, herbal treatment is overlooked in treating HIV, AIDS, and other illnesses and diseases that could ultimately benefit from its use. Those HIV and AIDS patients who do use herbs must either find an acupuncturist who is also an herbalist or find an independent herbalist to prescribe them treatment and to give them the herbs. But, there is currently a lack of regulation when prescribing herbs, although the Chinese government and the National Institutes of Health have begun the long process of standardizing regulations for herbs and herb formulas.

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George Wedemeyer was handed a death sentence 25 years ago. AIDS. A new disease that the medical community, indeed the world, knew very little about. Treatment was limited to AZT, a harsh drug that often ravaged the body with unbearable side effects. Ignorance ran rampant. Doctors often told their patients to go home and prepare to die. Many did.

Not Wedemeyer.

People were crying. Why me, they asked, a rhetorical question with no real answer. Wedemeyer looked around. Others at the support group seemed, in some respects, to accept their fate, albeit angrily. It was understandable, of course, but Wedemeyer felt he just didn’t belong there.

He had few symptoms. Sure, he felt tired from time to time, but overall, nothing had really changed physically, except he now had to decide how he would cope with the fate dealt to him. His choice seemed natural.

“I’m going to live as long as I can and live as best as I can with it with what time I have,” Wedemeyer says. “I’m going to find some sort of quality of life, whatever it is.”

His mind made up, that’s exactly what he set out to do. Research revealed that there were alternative treatments – since the only medication available to HIV/AIDS patients at the time was AZT – such as Traditional Chinese Medicine, most commonly associated with acupuncture and herbal supplements.

Today, more and more HIV and AIDS patients are turning to alternative treatments – such as acupuncture – to complement traditional medical care. Traditional Chinese Medicine, commonly referred to as TCM, dates back thousands of years and is rooted in the belief that “health is a balance or harmony of forces and properties in the body, and ill health a disharmony,” according to (Eleanor Webber of) Acufinder Magazine.

The cause of that disharmony can either be external, including snow and wind, or internal, such as an emotion. TCM, such as acupuncture, is used to disquiet the disharmony and bring balance back to the body and is particularly useful for those with HIV and AIDS.

“Acupuncture sees your body as a whole,” says Tetsuhiro Ueno, an acupuncturist specializing in patients with HIV and AIDS at the Advanced Health Center in Arlington, Virginia, “so when you speak about acupuncture you need to know the basic concept of Oriental Medicine,” like the disharmony that occurs within the body when a person is sick.

TCM often helps to curb the side effects traditionally associated with HIV/AIDS medications and can often significantly reduce symptoms of the disease. Many people diagnosed with HIV often choose to start their treatment with TCM, rather than jumping right into traditional medications, because they may not exhibit symptoms at first and their T-cell count may not drop for up to a few years following diagnosis.

While there are several acupuncture methods, the one that is most commonly used and studied, according to the National Institute of Health, is the process whereby the acupuncturist inserts “thin, solid, metallic needles that are manipulated by the hands or by electrical stimulation” into the skin.

The needles are inserted into what are called acupuncture points. The actual process of acupuncture works to stimulate the central nervous system, which helps to release chemicals into a patient’s brain, spinal cord, and muscles. The released chemicals often help reduce pain and, in the case of HIV and AIDS patients, aid in boosting the immune system. Essentially, acupuncture allows the body to heal itself naturally.

“This medicine (TCM)  tries to find out the imbalance or weakness (root cause) of the body from symptoms they may have, and treatment will be based on this diagnosis (or patterns),” says Ueno, who advocates acupuncture as a main treatment for HIV and AIDS.

Wedemeyer is a vocal proponent of treatment such as acupuncture. In fact, when he was first diagnosed, he shunned traditional AZT treatment, because there was still so little known about it, instead opting strictly for alternative care.

“I had a friend on AZT, and it was killing him faster than the virus,” Wedemeyer says. ” I just started looking around and came across acupuncture and herbs. I found that it relaxed me and put me in a better space.”

That relaxed feeling and more positive mental outlook can reap huge benefits for HIV and AIDS patients, who often suffer from depression. Ueno actively promotes acupuncture, both as a complimentary and as a main treatment, for his patients with HIV and AIDS, in part because of the impact it can have with medications’ side effects.

Those who are on traditional medications and who are dealing with their side effects – commonly including anemia, diarrhea, digestive problems, and fatigue – often find that acupuncture makes them feel better which, in turn, makes them more likely to continue their medications.

When he was first diagnosed in 1985, Wedemeyer was advised by his doctors to cut back on working out, so he could conserve his energy. It was then Wedemeyer realized that, although it is important to take into account his doctor’s advice, he also had to start thinking for himself.

“You have to think for yourself sometimes and see how you feel,” he says. “Different things work for different people.”

To maximize the chances of success with TCM, patients must also often develop a healthier lifestyle as Wedemeyer did upon his diagnosis. In addition to continuing to work out, despite his doctor’s advice that he do otherwise, Wedemeyer, adopted a healthier diet and began practicing tai chi and qigong, both of which helped him to relax his mind and his body. That, in turn, helped his body to heal itself.

But, Wedemeyer is quick to point out that treatment isn’t always an indicator of survival rate. Some HIV and AIDS patients, due to hereditary factors, will respond better to treatment than others. Some quickly succumb to the virus while others, like Wedemeyer, live normal lives for decades.

Unfortunately, there is still relatively little acceptance of acupuncture, and other TCM, by medical professionals in the United States, a viewpoint that Wedemeyer is hoping will change as researchers begin to look at TCM in a scientific manner. He was recently appointed by the Speaker of the California State Assembly, Karen Bass, to the California Board of Acupuncture, a position that will allow him to work further toward the goal of bridging the gap between traditional and alternative treatments for HIV and AIDS.

“We hope to change the way acupuncture is taught and practiced in the U.S. and other western countries.  We are establishing a physiologically based medicine.  In so doing, we can than conduct evidenced based  research. We have also established the first doctoral program for acupuncture in the U.S.,” Wedemeyer says.

Wedemeyer is now 67 and learning how to deal with the effects of aging. Most are common and would likely occur even without AIDS: The body slows and stiffens; prostate issues crop up; and the blood pressure often rises. Still, Wedemeyer has had to make some minor adjustments to effectively treat his AIDS as he ages. Doctors have adjusted his medications to combat high cholesterol and he’s had to take it easier with his tai chi and qigong.

Despite the small adjustments, Wedemeyer remains an active advocate for those with HIV and AIDS. He has tallied an impressive list of accomplishments, including serving as the Chairman of The National Oriental Medicine Accreditation Agency (NOMAA) for several years, has taught qigong classes to thousands of patients over the years, and was instrumental in ensuring that all San Francisco city employees’ health insurance cover both acupuncture and herbal treatments.

Homeless children with asthma in New York City are not receiving the medical care they need, despite citywide efforts to educate the public about the dangers associated with the disease, a recent study has found.

The study, conducted by The Children’s Health Fund Childhood Asthma Initiative from 1999 through 2002 and subsequently published in the American Journal of Public Health, is an extension of an earlier study designed to determine the prevalence of childhood asthma in children in the homeless shelter system in New York City.

Approximately 1,636 children, the majority of whom are eligible for Medicaid, were screened by a pediatrician or a pediatric nurse practitioner in the follow-up study. The median age of children screened was 76 months. African-American children made up 66 percent of study participants; 30 percent were Latino, and four percent had an unknown or other ethnic background.

“Compared with the initial report, asthma prevalence for homeless children in the New York City shelter system declined but nonetheless remained higher [33 percent] than for any other documented pediatric population,” according to the study’s authors.

However, the number of homeless children with asthma might still be considerably higher. Children were only considered to have asthma if they were previously diagnosed by a physician or if they exhibited moderate or severe symptoms consistent with persistent asthma. Sixteen percent of the children who had asthma symptoms that were moderate to severe had not been previously diagnosed with asthma, a three percent increase from the initial study.

In addition, the questionnaire used to initially screen the children only asked whether they were currently taking medication to control their asthma. As a result, there may have been children who had been prescribed medication but who were not taking the medication due to a lack of proper medical care.

Like New York City, Washington, D.C. also has a significant problem with asthma among its disadvantaged children. In 2003, the rate of asthma in Washington, D.C. children was approximately 11.8 percent, three percent higher than the national average, according to the American Lung Association.

One reason disadvantaged children in Washington, D.C. are not getting the proper asthma treatment is a lack of information.

“In theory, as long as the parents are willing to fill out the paperwork, no child should be without health insurance in D.C.,” says Kyle Czeh, Asthma Programs Manager of The American Lung Association in Washington, D.C. “But, many people are not aware that the help is there.”

To ensure disadvantaged children receive medical care, The American Lung Association has implemented several educational programs, including a program working with schoolchildren in Wards 7 and 8. Under the program, “Our own consultants and pediatricians meet with the children four times and parents once to promote asthma education and to develop an asthma action plan,” Czeh says.

New York City is also making a concerted effort to educate the public about asthma due, in part, to a class action lawsuit that was brought against the city because of the findings of The Children’s Health Fund Childhood Asthma Initiative’s initial study.

One of the goals of the latest study is to provide a baseline by which the quality of asthma diagnosis and management can be assessed.

Groundswell: winning in a world transformed by social technologies
Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff
Harvard Business Press, 2008

You know everything there is to know about social media: You’ve built a page for your business on Facebook, started a blog, and introduced a community forum. Yet, you’re still not seeing the results you expected. In fact, your attempts have been met with a deafening silence.

Or, maybe you have a vague idea about social media and its importance to your business, but you just don’t know how to get started.

Regardless of how much you know about social media, Groundswell: winning in a world transformed by social technologies will show you why conquering the groundswell is important to your business’s success and how you can harness the power of the groundswell.

Knowing about social media is a good first step to embracing the groundswell, but you have to really understand how the groundswell works if you want to successfully and effectively use it. Harnessing the power of the groundswell goes far beyond simply deciding to start a blog, for example. The fact is the very core of the groundswell is about building relationships with your customers.

“In the groundswell, relationships are everything. The way people connect with each other—the community that is created—determines how the power shifts,” according to Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, authors of Groundswell and both vice-presidents and principal analysts at Forrester Research, a global marketing and research company. (To hear more from Li about embracing the groundswell, check out this podcast.)

You can harness the power of the groundswell and use it to your advantage by working with your customers. Or, you can ignore your customers, and they will find a company that will listen. The groundswell is about relationships, although having knowledge of the current technology is important, and Li and Bernoff work hard to illustrate just how important those relationships are to success.

As Andrea Hill notes, in a blog post about Groundswell, technology rapidly changes, which could result in Groundswell becoming quickly outdated if today’s technology was the focus of the book. Instead, Li and Bernoff focus on how companies can build relationships with their customers. Regardless of whether the technology changes, the relevancy of Groundswell will remain because the importance of a collaboration between companies and their customers will never diminish.

Groundswell is geared toward any business, whether a one-man operation or a worldwide conglomerate, that wants to take advantage of the groundswell. Li and Bernoff discuss social media – including blogging, wikis, and widgets – in-depth and provide readers with numerous relevant case studies, each of which beautifully illustrates how a business effectively implemented an aspect of the groundswell.

For example, you’ll meet Jim, a loyal and vocal customer of ebags.com. After ebags.com listened to his complaint about a laptop case’s zipper, which broke on Jim, and made appropriate changes to rectify the problem with the bag, Jim became their biggest advocate, telling everyone who would listen about ebags’ great products. Ebags.com is an effective and memorable example of a company that uses energizing to harness the groundswell.

Groundswell also includes examples of forays into social media by such internationally recognized companies as General Motors and Memorial Sloan-Kettering. But, Li and Bernoff don’t just rely on groundswell success stories. They also share stories about companies that did not effectively use the groundswell, such as computer icon Dell, and how that impacted their businesses, an important lesson for what not to do and how to rectify such mistakes.

Using the groundswell to your advantage requires you to pinpoint your exact objective. What do you want to achieve through the groundswell? The authors list five objectives, of which you should choose only one: Listening, talking, energizing, supporting, and embracing. Each objective is fully explained and includes detailed case studies, making it easy to begin thinking about which objective is best for your company.

In addition to knowing your objective, you must know your customer base. What type of online users are they? Are they creators who like to start their own blogs or Web sites? Are they critics who prefer to write comments on blogs or post reviews? Or, are they spectators, who prefer to read what others publish?

As Li and Bernoff point out, if your customers are spectators, there’s little point to starting a review site because chances are they aren’t going to join in. Critics, however, will likely relish the opportunity to post their opinions of your products or services.

It is that kind of information that really makes Groundswell stand out as an important resource for businesses of all sizes. Bernoff, in a podcast last year, noted that now, as the world is in the midst of a recession, is an ideal time to take advantage of the groundswell because it is relatively inexpensive to participate in social media, such as blogging and using social bookmarking like Digg.

Groundswell provides readers, even those who are struggling in the current economic climate, with the foundation they need to effectively take advantage of social media and to build successful relationships with their customers.

Li and Bernoff also offer a peek into their own groundswell, engaging readers with their blog and encouraging dialogue on the Groundswell forum.

Ultimately, Groundswell is an inspiring read. As a professional writer and an entrepreneur, I began mulling new business ideas and approaches. For example, how can I as a writer take advantage of the groundswell? How can I use the groundswell to help clients? How can I mesh the two?

Groundswell has provided me with a very important starting point to learning even more. Because I now understand how important it is to identify one main objective, how to classify my audience and the importance of planning to ensure success with social media, I can now put what I have learned into practice.

I agree with Li and Bernoff that the key to success is to build relationships with customers. A business owner or a marketing director might be enamored with a marketing concept, such as a pop-up ad every time a visitor visits the company Web site. If the customers don’t like it, however, a company must listen, especially if the choice is between listening or losing those customers. Listening is, ultimately, a key to success, something that Groundswell reinforced for me as a writer.

The case studies offered by Li and Bernoff bring the groundswell concepts to life because they are memorable and unique, making it easy to see how some companies successfully use the groundswell to their benefit, which I as a reader can then translate into my own business.

In addition, each of the social media mentioned in Groundswell is intricately connected with writing for new media. Blogging requires a different type of writing, for example, than writing for Twitter or on Facebook. Each requires professional writers to understand their audience and to write for that audience. All also require a new, global way of thinking.

If Groundswell accomplishes one thing, it’s hammering home the point that business is all about relationships and the key to a successful relationship is listening. The groundswell will continue to change, probably faster than many can keep up. It’s hard to fathom just what’s coming next – after all, technology is developing at such a rapid pace. Who could have imagined a mere decade ago that business would be so interconnected with the internet? That the internet would give consumers so much power? That businesses could accomplish research goals in mere days instead of months or years?

While we don’t know exactly what new technologies are around the corner, there is one thing for certain: The groundswell is here for the long-term. It will one day become essential, if it hasn’t already, for every company and every individual (writers, for example) to have an understanding of the groundswell and to incorporate it into their marketing plans. Groundswell: winning in a world transformed by social technologies provides an important foundation for those readers who want to understand and to take advantage of the groundswell.

Easter is right around the corner and that means one thing – the plight of thousands upon thousands of innocent rabbits, one-time Easter gifts who become homeless in the weeks after Easter, when the novelty of having a real rabbit wears off and the reality of taking care of a real rabbit sinks in. Those who are lucky will find their way into over-worked, overflowing rabbit rescues and no-kill shelters.

Those who aren’t that lucky will end up terrified on a gurney, their lives about to come to an untimely and an unjust end.

They will never know the security of a happy home.

They will never know the love of a family.

They will never know the life that they deserve.

Before you adopt a rabbit this Easter – whether for yourself or for your child – do your research. Really think about the consequences of your actions.  Here are some quick facts to get you started:

• Rabbits are adorable animals, but the fact is most don’t like to be picked up or cuddled.
• Rabbits are high-maintenance pets who require expensive, specialized veterinary care.
• Rabbits can live as long as 12 years. Some have lived even longer.
• Rabbits should always live indoors. Rabbits who are housed outdoors are subject to illness, disease, injury, and typically have half the lifespan of that of an indoor rabbit.
• Rabbits need plenty of time to run around and socialize with the family. Most house rabbits today don’t live in cages. Instead, they run around the house, just like cats and dogs. But, before you can let your rabbit run free, you have to bunny-proof your home for your bunny’s safety.
• If you cannot allow your rabbit free run of your home, she will need a bare minimum of four hours of run time a day and will need a cage that is spacious.
• Rabbits have very specific needs. Those carrots Bugs Bunny is always eating? All those carrots with a real rabbit could cause gastrointestinal upset, which is very dangerous.
• Rabbit owners must be educated in how to care for their rabbits. Because they are prey animals, rabbits will hide their illnesses, often until it is too late, so you must know your rabbit’s behavior and personality and be able to recognize when she’s not feeling like herself.
• Rabbits are not like dogs. They’ll come to you when they want attention and will probably run away if they’re not interested when you come up to them.
• To learn more about life with a house rabbit, please visit the House Rabbit Society at http://www.rabbit.org.

Rabbits are amazing pets, but the reality is they aren’t for everyone. And, they require you to develop specialized knowledge and to have the time and the patience to care for them for their entire lives. Before you adopt, really know what to expect and be prepared for the commitment, which could last more than a decade.

If you have a child who is begging for a rabbit, teach her responsibility instead. Buy her a chocolate bunny or a stuffed bunny. Make yours chocolate this Easter season.

To learn more about the Make Mine Chocolate campaign and what you can to do help, go to http://www.makeminechocolate.org/.