Invested. Involved. Informed.  

I was asked recently what the “i” in iConsumer stood for and at first I didn’t have a clue.  Coming from a previous site with an “i” in the name (iGive.com) and the prevalence of Apple branded “i” gadgets and services, it seemed natural to me that our site would be “iConsumer”.  But the thing is, iGive (which, believe it or not, came before the avalanche of Apple!) is a fantastic compilation of being a complete sentence, a verb, and a clear understanding of what the site allows users to do (generate charitable donations while shopping online). “I give.” “I give whenever I shop via iGive.”

But iConsumer? “I consumer every time I shop” not only doesn’t make sense grammatically as a sentence, it also doesn’t convey what iConsumer is all about.

Or does it?

iConsumer is all about putting the individual (the “i”) in charge – and that’s you!

At iConsumer, members are Invested. LITERALLY.  Whether you bought shares from us directly at www.iConsumer.com/invest or earned shares while you shopped, referred friends, or earned bonuses, you have invested in this company.  You have an invested interest in the health and growth of the company.  Think about the stock market as a whole – maybe you own some stock or have a 401K with various ‘funds’ which contain a variety of stocks from different ‘growth sectors’. That’s a big, broad picture and folks go to college and work internships for years to understand what actions they may take that will result in the best outcome from an investment of cash.

Say you have two shares of Ford stock.  As an investor, you also choose to be a Ford consumer and you buy ONLY Ford vehicles.  You encourage your friends to buy Ford. When your kids grow up, they buy Ford.  You do all this in the hopes that Ford will continue to be a successful company and your shares will become (or stay) valuable.  But honestly, those 4-10 Ford purchases over the course of 2 generations probably doesn’t do much to affect the bottom line at Ford Motor Company or the trade price of Ford Motor Company Common Stock (F).  At iConsumer, your purchases, and the purchases of those 4-10 people you may refer has an immediate effect on the bottom line.  That’s the glory of getting in the game early.  Your investment is not indirect, and certainly not inconsequential.

Because of that direct correlation, we encourage all iConsumer members to be Involved.  It’s not just shopping and telling friends – it’s asking questions. It’s coming to our webinars. It’s providing feedback on our services.  It’s suggesting new partner stores.  This is your company, and while we do need to allocate resources and prioritize projects as we believe is best for the company as a whole, your input does not go unheeded.

To that end, we also want our members to be Informed.  Shareholder Academy isn’t just a fun, play on words that some marketing folks came up with.  You are our shareholders and we want you to feel empowered by that fact – the best way we know of to do that is keep you informed.  Our CEO posts monthly about the ups and downs of the business.  We have definitions of some common investment terms that we tend to use as second nature, but with which you might not be as familiar (unless you’ve done those years of college courses & internships within the industry!).  There are no ‘insiders’ because we are all ‘insiders’.  We all have the same access to the ticker price of RWRDP and the goals and strategies of iConsumer, and yes, even the potential pitfalls.