Entrepreneurship
Driving Innovation and Sustainability in More Traditional Industries

It’s no secret that industrial companies have historically put sustainability on the back burner, but things have changed. Because their operations involve longer product life cycles, complex manufacturing processes, demanding customer requirements, and applications that make implementing sustainability programs more difficult, these hurdles have almost outweighed the incentives to choose a greener path, especially in traditional food industries.
In agworld and agtech, profit margins are small (2-3%) compared to other industries. This means that everyone is competing for 2% of the returns instead of a larger portion that would be worth competing for and splitting amongst the industry. When food companies reduce food waste by 30% to 40%, this impacts everyone and makes innovation imperative rather than optional because the margins have the potential to grow — the product is selling instead of being wasted.
Notably, more companies are becoming “food companies” because returns are larger. This means that there are more financial resources to focus on innovative sustainability efforts. Combined with industry knowledge and a startup mentality, agworld and agtech can properly leverage innovation for the future.
Companies are now taking ESG initiatives seriously because the benefits can be tremendous. For example, companies with high ESG marks are securing valuation premiums quickly. Industrial product manufacturers are seeing modest benefits as well. However, due to low margins in the agworld and agtech industries, traditional food companies can’t just take the shiny idea of ESG and force it into tradition. These companies have to disrupt a little at a time and make incremental improvements to see true innovation and lasting change. Once these companies embrace new technology and improvements in the supply chain, they can fully embrace sustainability and minimize food waste more efficiently.
Midwest Companies That Are Leading the Way in Innovation
While traditional food companies are slow to adopt innovation, there are a few outliers paving the way toward sustainability. Bunge, an agricultural business that connects farmers to consumers, partnered with CoverCress, a Chevron-invested startup that is bringing a renewable oilseed and animal feed crop to market.
The partnership marked a long-term commercial agreement to convert annual field pennycress into the CoverCress crop that has a smaller footprint and can fit into existing corn and soybean rotations. The addition of a new crop onto existing farmland has the potential to provide farmers with additional revenue while also offering the ecological benefits of a cover crop in improving soil health and lowering nitrogen losses.
This somewhat new focus on sustainability has underscored its role in the total value chain. Sustainability is a long-term goal that will eventually yield returns, but stockholders want immediate returns to prove the value of their investment. In this way, sustainability can impact profits and losses. However, in order to truly innovate, industry leaders have to think outside of the normal confines of profit and loss to see ESG’s true impacts.
For example, agricultural-input manufacturers should shift their focus away from how sustainability impacts sales of products and toward how it impacts sales of solutions. For as long as anyone can remember, farming operated under an input-output model — specifically, how fertilizers affected the productivity of a given crop.
The sustainability mindset of farmers is to invest in cleaner tools and farming methods that are ecologically sound but are grounded in proof. Farmers have always prioritized sustainability, but today they can take advantage of the newfound focus on digital tools and new biological products that lead to further innovation and better results.
Sustainability Next Steps for Midwest Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Business Leaders
Because sustainability and traditional food industries haven’t always gone hand-in-hand, it can be intimidating for industry leaders to embrace an innovation shift. However, if leaders can articulate the value of sustainability initiatives, then they are worth time and resources. The key here is to ask, “Should this really be done?” If the initiative would add value and efficiency to your company, then the answer is yes.
Here are a few ways industry leaders in the Midwest can embrace sustainability for years to come:
1. Explore all avenues to reduce waste
The crux of all sustainability efforts is waste reduction. Companies that tout sustainability must consciously work every day to limit resource consumption and waste production. This may require a lot of nuanced work, research, and reflection. However, when companies consistently take small steps to reduce waste and make the most of the resources they have, they improve their operations and build value for their investors, their audience, and the world.
Zooming out, everyone involved in food production should be interested in reducing waste to increase profits. Less waste in fertilizer, electrical processes, and manpower can improve the bottom line down the entire value chain. Specifically, reducing waste provides more material that can be recycled and composted for crops. Also, there is more food to process, less waste in landfills, and more supplies to meet consumer demand. Additionally, investors will likely feel more comfortable investing in companies that prioritize waste reduction.
2. Fortify the supply chain through innovation
The transition to more sustainable operations requires a lot of moving parts — specifically, the manufacturing of commodities that further sustainability. Walmart, for example, is working with its suppliers to cut carbon emissions across the board. Through its Project Gigaton, it has dedicated resources to its suppliers to help reduce 1 gigaton of greenhouse gas emissions from its global value chain. As this example makes clear, sustainability requires the capacity of your suppliers to truly succeed.
Also, the CoverCress partnership to bring a renewable seed and animal feed crop to market fortifies the supply chain by helping to meet the demand for renewable fuels. That’s because CoverCress took a winter weed that has been bred and gene-edited to fit into corn and soybean rotations.
Adding new crops on existing land during winter is not only profitable, but this in particular is better for the soil, provides cover for the ground, and decreases nitrogen losses. Farmers can use this once-weed to grow more crops during the year, which improves supply.
3. Focus on tech innovations
Sustainability efforts would not be achievable without the right technology to put plans in place. Because sustainability really boils down to efficiency, industry leaders must invest in technology to innovate in the food industry. In fact, food technology investments totaled $13.5 billion in 2021.
While the investments did decrease in the second quarter, one thing is clear — people are dedicating significant resources toward technology that helps create a safer, cleaner food system. Soon, cutting-edge technology, like food packaging smart sensors, will be found in every aspect of food packaging.
These sensors will be essential in food sterilization and processes, which will also reduce waste. They will be used in most phases of food packaging. As the technology continues to improve over time, manufacturers will be able to use it to detect microbial contamination and even changes in the gas composition of sealed packages. Not only do the sensors support the value chain with efficiency, they also support the goal of safety; these combined are a major component to sustainability.
When it comes to sustainability in the food industry, there is a lot to consider, from outlining goals to getting suppliers in on the plan. However, even traditional industries in the Midwest can prioritize sustainability in the coming years with careful coordination and the right partners. All it takes is a goal and the right allocation of resources.
Once all of these things come into place, companies can work consistently to build a cleaner, safer future for food production.
Entrepreneurship
5 Reasons Why Storytelling Should Be a Priority for Marketers

In today’s fast-paced digital marketing world, capturing the attention of potential customers can be challenging. With so much noise and clutter online, marketers must find innovative ways to stand out. One highly effective technique is storytelling.
Storytelling has existed for thousands of years and has always been a powerful tool for engaging and connecting with people. However, in marketing, storytelling is often overlooked or undervalued.
In this post, we will explore why storytelling should be a priority for marketers and how it can help them achieve their goals.
1. Develop Deeper Connections with Customers
The success of any marketing campaign relies heavily on the ability to create a strong connection with customers. Storytelling is one of the most effective ways to do this, as it allows marketers to communicate their message engaging and relatable. By creating stories that evoke emotion, marketers can make their brand stand out from the competition and form deeper connections with potential customers.
You can also use storytelling to create an emotional narrative that resonates with your target audience. This will help build trust and loyalty between customers and your brand, allowing you to cultivate a loyal customer base more likely to become long-term customers.
2. Create Memorable Messages
Storytelling has the power to create memorable messages that stay with people long after they have encountered them. This is especially important in the digital age, where people are inundated with daily information and ads.
If you want to make sure your message stands out, storytelling can help you create content that is more memorable and engaging than traditional methods of advertising. With a good grasp of Sanderson’s Laws and the crafting of stories, you can create messages that will stay with people for a long time. The stories can be used to build brand identity and create an unforgettable customer experience.
3. Improve Conversion Rates
Storytelling is a powerful tool for improving conversion rates, as it effectively draws in potential customers and keeps them engaged throughout the customer journey. By creating compelling stories that resonate emotionally with your target audience, you can ensure that your message is more likely to be remembered and influence potential customers.
Storytelling can also help you create a sense of urgency, as it allows you to paint a vivid picture of how the customer’s life would be improved if they took action now. This will encourage them to take action and convert to your offer.

4. Reach New Audiences
The primary goal for any marketer is to reach new audiences and expand their customer base. However, with so many people online, it can take time to stand out from the competition. Storytelling offers a unique way for marketers to capture the attention of potential customers and draw them in with an engaging narrative.
Stories can be crafted to appeal to different groups of people, allowing marketers to reach new audiences and expand their customer base. This is especially important for brands trying to break into new markets or reach a younger audience.
5. Enhance Brand Image
Brand image is consumers’ perception of your brand and its products or services. Storytelling can be a great way to enhance the brand image, as it allows you to communicate the values and mission of your company engagingly. This will enable you to create a strong impression on potential customers, helping them develop an affinity with your brand and become more likely to choose your products or services over the competition.
Storytelling is an essential tool for marketers that should be noticed. Through storytelling, marketers can create deeper customer connections, develop memorable messages, improve conversion rates, and reach new audiences. It can also help enhance brand image and create a strong impression on potential customers.
Entrepreneurship
How John Accardi Made CRAVEBOX a Top-Selling Amazon Brand

John Accardi started CRAVEBOX in 2014 from his apartment. At the time, he had just dropped out of a Georgetown University PhD program, had no savings, no investors, and no business experience.
Accardi says the decision to start CRAVEBOX was risky and the odds of success didn’t look good. “At the time, I was so excited about starting my own business, I didn’t really recognize all the risk. I just wanted to work for myself and wake up every morning with the freedom to tackle my own to do list instead of someone else’s.”
For the first 3 years, CRAVEBOX operated out of John’s apartment and made no profit. John stayed persistent and had a gut feeling that he was making progress and that success was around the corner.
John said, “Those first few years were frustrating because it felt like every day was a disappointment, but the constant failure motivated me. I got to the point where I told myself I would try forever. I was giving guitar lessons on the side to pay the bills and I decided that I’d work on CRAVEBOX until it either succeeded or I was an old man.” This long-term mentality worked because sure enough, CRAVEBOX started growing. John learned how to optimize his Amazon listings and CRAVEBOX moved into larger and larger warehouse spaces and its staff grew.
Now CRAVEBOX operates out of a 60,000 sqft warehouse space in North Wales, PA with an impressive staff. “I never thought CRAVEBOX would become this successful. It’s been an incredible journey,” says Accardi.
To become a top-selling Amazon brand, John first focused on creating great images. “I realized early on that your product’s main image on Amazon is the most important part of the listing. So I learned photography and most importantly, photoshop, to take and edit fantastic images.” CRAVEBOX products now have the best-quality images in the category which gives the listings an advantage over competitors.
Accardi also focused on price. John says, “To be a top selling Amazon brand, you need to look very closely at your toughest competitors and make sure you are offering a better value. Your product either needs to be better or your price needs to be lower. This will determine your Amazon rank and visibility.” The key to offering great value is of course an efficient business and operation.
Lastly, to build CRAVEBOX into a top-selling Amazon brand, Accardi focused on reviews. “Amazon customers are tough and the only way to build a sustainable product and brand is to sell quality products that naturally collect a high review average. This is challenging but if you can offer a better product than your competitors, you will garner better reviews and rise to the top of the category.”
John is excited to continue growing CRAVEBOX. He is especially excited about their holiday products: Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Easter. He’s also excited about new CRAVEBOX products they’re introducing, for example: CRAVEBOX Kids, CRAVEBOX 110count, and CRAVEBOX Cookies+Crackers.
Entrepreneurship
How to Grow a TikTok Account with CrowdHall: Review

TikTok is the shining star of the social media world lately. This application, which initially featured only 15-second music and dance videos, has now gone far beyond these limits and has breathed new life into the concept of video platform. Because of its popularity, many people are interested in growing TikTok with CrowdHall’s services, and using the platform, which has even influenced the strategies of industry giants like Instagram and YouTube.
Whether you want to become a social media celebrity as an individual or are looking for social media marketing for your business, you need to be on TikTok as much as you need to be on other popular social media platforms. No one wants to miss such an opportunity.
As a Digital Media Expert – What is it Like Using a TikTok Service
I have been using TikTok for the past few months with similar thoughts. I have to say that it is as enjoyable to create content as it is to use the app as a viewer. Because it provides many tools to enhance your videos with a user-friendly interface. But when you get to the content side of the business, the harsh realities of life start to show themselves after a while.
So yes, creating content can be enjoyable, but on the other hand, you also have goals that you want to achieve by using this platform.
You need to grow, that is, you need to gain TikTok followers, you need to reach the likes that will bring you closer to your target audience in the algorithms. Of course, this is not easy, because there is a great competition with millions of content producers in the application. After struggling for a while, I decided to speed up this process. I thought it would be good to use a TikTok service.
I had time constraints and frankly, therefore, it would be good to have someone to help me overcome the painful processes while trying to grow.
However, it was difficult to find a reliable one that offers the services it promises, I finally found it with CrowdHall. If you are curious about this TikTok service -which I am generally satisfied with its services – you should definitely check their page.
The Quality of CrowdHall’s TikTok Growth
Buying organic followers is the most basic feature of such services. Obviously, if you want to test the quality of a service, it is wise to use this option first. If at the end of this process, your account is not filled with bot users and provides meaningful growth, it means that you can move on to other features.
I followed the same method when using CrowdHall’s TikTok services. There are three important considerations for me when buying TikTok followers; first, as I mentioned above, do not to fill your account with bots and dysfunctional users, only buy real and fast delivered accounts.
Real and Organic TikTok Followers
Imagine having a thriving social media account filled with genuine followers who engage with your content and boost your online presence. Sounds like a dream come true, right? Well, that dream can become a reality thanks to the ingenious methods used by CrowdHall Team. Unlike other services that use bots to inflate your follower count, they employ authentic strategies to attract your target audience and entice them to follow your account.
The results speak for themselves – my account now boasts a strong following of real people who are genuinely interested in what I have to offer. And the best part? There’s no cheating or shortcuts involved – just hard work and dedication to ensure that you get the results you deserve. Trust me, the feeling of having a genuine following is incredibly satisfying.
A Reliable Service
When it comes to utilizing social media services, nothing is more crucial than reliability. Our social media accounts are incredibly valuable to us and entrusting them to an unreliable service can be a risky gamble. That’s why I cannot stress enough how impressed I was with CrowdHall’s commitment to ensuring their service is not only reliable, but also goes above and beyond to earn your trust.
First off, their security measures are top-notch. With all the necessary security certificates in place, you can rest assured that your personal information and payment details are safe and secure. And if you’re still not convinced, their refund policy is a testament to their confidence in their service. You can trust that they will do everything in their power to make sure you are satisfied.
But what really sets CrowdHall apart is their exceptional customer support. With a team available 24/7, you never have to worry about being left in the dark. I personally bombarded their support team with a barrage of questions, but they patiently and thoroughly answered each and every one of them, ensuring that I fully understood the process.
Fast Delivery
Whether you prefer to receive your followers all at once or gradually over time, the choice is yours. This level of flexibility demonstrates that your growth is in your hands and that CrowdHall is dedicated to ensuring that you achieve your desired results at your own pace.
I Bought TikTok Likes to Reach More People
Likes are very critical on TikTok. The more likes your content gets, the more likely it is to be recommended to more users by the algorithm. The likes services offered by CrowdHall are very specific and this is what I like the most. What do I mean? I’m talking about a system where you can even choose the country where the likes come from, so you can focus on buying likes from your targeted region and increase the likelihood of your content appearing in the feed of people there.
You can also subscribe to one of the many like packages. This way, the likes are automatically refilled and you don’t have to buy them over and over again every month. I’ve used this subscription system and I’ve been very happy with it. It’s also very easy to switch to another package, and if you want to differentiate your strategy, you can cancel your current package and switch to a new one.
I Achieved Sustainable Growth by Buying Viewers
As an expert in social media marketing, I can confidently say that increasing your views on TikTok is critical to driving engagement and growing your audience. And when it comes to achieving this goal, CrowdHall’s monitoring services are the perfect solution.
By purchasing their monitoring services, you can increase engagement on your TikTok account and sustain your growth. This service is available for both existing videos and live broadcasts, ensuring that you always have the support you need to increase your views.
One of the most impressive aspects of this service is that the views come from real accounts, not bots. This means that not only will your views increase, but the organic engagement will contribute to your account’s sustainability by getting your videos more exposure in the discover section of the app. And the best part is that you can set this service up automatically for each of your videos, eliminating the need to worry about views every time you share a new post.
But the benefits of CrowdHall’s viewership services don’t stop there. If you’re a content creator who aims to collaborate with brands, increasing your viewership numbers is crucial to attracting their attention.
What Else to Say on TikTok Growth
In short, if you’re serious about growing your TikTok account and attracting potential brand partnerships, CrowdHall’s viewership services are an essential tool in your arsenal. Trust me, the impact on your account’s growth will be undeniable.
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