Smartphones, the mobile web, social media; latter day technologies and innovations that are bringing billions of people into the global market.

Which means, your business, whatever it is, is exposed to billions of persons. Among them, the 0.0001% who absolutely agree with your values and your product and your ethics and the reason for your business and the way you do business and your commitment to the community.

Which is all you need. That 0.0001%. To be successful; earning a living at what you love doing, and for the right reasons. 

Today's New York Times looks at a rising trend among young farmers in America, and reveals how quickly knowledge can be lost -- when not available digitally:

Mr. Jones, 30, and his wife, Alicia, 27, are among an emerging group of people in their 20s and 30s who have chosen farming as a career. Many shun industrial, mechanized farming and list punk rock, Karl Marx and the food journalist Michael Pollan as their influences. The Joneses say they and their peers are succeeding because of Oregon’s farmer-foodie culture, which demands grass-fed and pasture-raised meats.

“People want to connect more than they can at their grocery store,” Ms. Jones said. “We had a couple who came down from Portland and asked if they could collect their own eggs. We said, ‘O.K., sure.’ They want to trust their producer, because there’s so little trust in food these days.”

Garry Stephenson, coordinator of the Small Farms Program at Oregon State University, said he had not seen so much interest among young people in decades. “It’s kind of exciting,” Mr. Stephenson said. “They’re young, they’re energetic and idealist, and they’re willing to make the sacrifices.”

But finding mentors has been difficult. There is a knowledge gap that has been referred to as “the lost generation” — people their parents’ age may farm but do not know how to grow food. The grandparent generation is no longer around to teach them.

So Ms. White and Mr. Broadie turned to YouTube for farming tips. They scoured the antiques section of Craigslist for small-scale farming equipment.

Google strengthens its ad platform by improving mobile-based hyperlocal ad functionality:

Google Mobile Ads’ new hyperlocal advertising feature which serves locally relevant ads and displays distance information to help users understand how close they are to a business. This powerful ad feature delivers down to the block level information about your business at the right place and at the right time. Hyperlocal distance information enhances the location extensions ad format with a marker providing the distance between the user and your business location.  This visual cue instantly helps customers who are on the go and close to a point of sale know that your business is nearby which can drive more traffic to your store and generate more revenue for your business. 

Campaigns must also be opted into showing on iPhones, Android OS phones or other mobile devices with full Internet browsers. The ad format is available only on the Google search network and in countries supporting location extensions ad formats.  Advertisers are only charged when users click to visit the website or on the phone number shown in the ad

Nice. This benefits businesses and end users. Given Google's size, reach, search and mapping functions, it's hard to see how they will be unseated in traditional online advertising, even on mobile, anytime soon. Yet, as companies like Groupon and Gowalla have shown, offering real-time deals or leveraging the crowd to create a virtuous circle between business-group-user are both high-potential opportunities that Google has not and probably will not dominate.

Still missing? Values.I am a big believer in: "values equal profits". As such, there remains a tremendous opportunity for a new entrant to integrate real-time plus hyperlocal, like a Groupon, with user recommendations, like Yelp, and then extend that by leveraging the values of the user.

My smartphone, or an app or other service will know not only my lcation and preferences but also my values. Is there a place near me, whether I *search* for it or not, that is kosher? That supports organic farming. That works for peace. That is sanctioned by the young Republicans? Or some odd combination of these or other *personal* values. How I spend my money is a reflection of my values. No one has yet cracked the hyperlocal-hyperglobal values-based recommendation platform. To whomever does, untold riches await.

I am a big believer in 'social commerce.' One of the core business models I track I label 'values equal profits.' In making our purchasing decisions (and the slew of others we make every day of our hectic lives), we seek out those with similar values, similar views.

I'm a founder's club member of OpenSky, the leader in social/relationship commerce. No surprise, I'm a big fan of Ping, the new social commerce and recommendation engine embedded into Apple's iTunes. Here's a good overview of Ping:

Ping may function like a cross between Facebook and Twitter for iTunes by allowing you to follow celebrities, create social cliques and get artist updates, via an activity stream. I think it could have tremendous impact on social sharing and commerce.

From a content perspective, there are three different types of media we love to talk about – movies we see, music we listen to and books we are reading. These are accepted social norms. In fact, many relationships are made on the basis of collective love of a movie and many friendships have started with mixed tapes. It makes perfect sense for a music service to be social.

Here's my problem with Ping. It doesn't share the wealth. God love Apple, they do play by their rules, their reality, with their toys. And like a spoiled first-born male child, they do not share well. I have followers. I have people who value my opinion. I have members of my 'clique' that will rent a movie and buy a music track and read an e-Book, via iTunes, based solely on my recommendation.

You know what my cut of all these Ping-like commercial transactions is?

Zero.

As always, Silicon Valley, Apple leaves a door wide open. Don't wait til it's too late.

Om Malik has a great snapshot on the potential of Foursquare (or a similar service) to build a 'open' platform that combines retail points of presence, the notion of check-ins, developer APIs, smartphones, coupons and advertising. In short, this could remake local advertising -- something even Google hasn't been able to crack:

When I look at Foursquare and other such companies, I finally see a solution to the conundrum around local advertising. Everyone from Yahoo to Google has viewed local advertising (long the preserve of newspapers and yellow pages) with lustful eyes, with little or no success.

Over the past decade or so, I’ve watched numerous ill-fated attempts made to build media companies in order to cash-in on local advertising. Unless you’re in a big city like New York or Chicago or Houston, the local media market isn’t big enough to be a viable business proposition. Now imagine you had a platform big enough to encompass a lot of locations, married to an e-commerce platform and an army of local sales people: You can start to see the possibilities. The operative phrase here is “a platform that’s big enough...

Good stuff. That's a long road ahead, and Foursquare needs to get developers on board, their API must shine, user habits must continue to embrace the 'check-in', hundreds of thousands of retail outlets must sign up. All the big details and about a million little ones. Still, it's a solid vision and is viable. But I think it misses out on a critical element that without it, dooms this notion to fail:

Values

Yes, values. As in, I don't want to buy products made in China, for example (iPhone notwithstanding *cough*). Nor do I want to buy meat that contains antibiotics, for example. There's lots and lots of values that you and I and everyone else has. How are these reflected in Foursquare and other check-in apps?

And I think this is a very important point. For one thing, while I'm all for checking in to a spot to let family and friends know, I don't want to check-in to a place of business -- even if my smartphone/app handles this automatically -- because I probably don't want them to track me. More importantly, I WANT THE BEST DAMN PRICE PERIOD. I can get on my smartphone, from anywhere, including from inside a Best Buy, and check Amazon, check Tiger Direct, scan a barcode and instantly find the best price. Why on earth would some business tell me I have to *work*, to do some silly check-in and be a loyal user before they give me the best price? That's a service destined for the dust heap.

But what would work is a 'values' component. Then I would check in. Every time. Then I would tell the world I am at Clothing Store X. If I could let the world know, instantly, seamlessly, that I am here because it's a *good* price, not a deal, and they do not offer clothes made in sweatshops, say, I'd be more than happy to check in and even encourage others to join me right now. We could become a loyal flashmob!

Think about it: Ours is a world where anyone can get anything at anytime from anybody at anyplace. That is a zero sum game for business. And, ultimately, for buyers. But a business that stands for something -- that I care deeply about -- that promotes its values, that embeds its values into each point of presence, then you have something. Maybe by just checking in, the retailer, say an Apple store, will naturally give me the best price, always, but in addition, will automatically send $1 to the 'green tech' charity I have integrated with my Foursquare profile. Businesses could list their values, prices and the category of charities or the good deeds that they enable within their Foursquare settings.

Values matter. I believe that in business they will increasingly matter more and more. But if it's faux loyalty and silly promotions for coupons I shouldn't require, I have no use for it.

I have long preached that values equal profits. This includes the fierce, global, innovative tech industry. Thus, I reprint my comment here to the head of TechCrunch on his article that companies should not be concerned with doing good:

Michael, you are right on the specifics but wrong on the larger point.

As I wrote on my site, Google has done nothing more in China than pretend to stand up to their views. And of course: "Don't be Evil" is absolutely not the same as "Stand up to Evil."

With respect to the larger issue of companies doing good, I think you're way off. We are now in a globally connected world where anyone can get anything at anytime anywhere. This invites pricing battles and scalability -- which in turn, invite anti-democratic practices (to put it mildly). But the growing, ultimately prevailing Rebel Alliance, will reject this. We will turn to those companies that promote and enable (and many times) match our values.

Values equal profits!

The more I learn about the potential health benefits of beef and butter from purely grass-fed, non-pesticide, truly organic cows, the happier this makes me.

Because I love me some beef and butter.

The more we treat animals as products, I fear, the greater harm we do our spirit, our bodies and our relationship to God. And to the animals, themselves. I believe this even knowing that feeding 6 billion people requires a rather advanced infrastructure.

Luckily, I am able, for now, to affod the much higher prices of 100% grass-fed beef and I believe in supporting values-based businesses.

This year I am committing myself to destroying all my bad eating habits:

• not giving thanks before *every* meal
• eating garbage
• consuming too much
• consuming animals as if they are product

I will post updates on my progress for these as it will help keep me on track -- and I hope inspire others towards better health, a stronger spirit and a more vital planet.

Values = profits.

We are at the beginning of the age of great leveling, with the even distribution of access, work, opportunity, data and mobility.

This will lead to the destruction of everything. Yes, everything.

In such a world, brand identity based on marketing will diminish. Radically. And become mere fodder for cultural chit chat.

Like this. Which is not safe for work or children. But is pretty cool, you ask me.

Of course, no one says we have to.
Cool video. Not appropriate for children or work.

Frontera has slowly but surely brought its high-quality, mostly authentic Mexican food to its restaurants, high-end grocers and now, to the store where your mom and dad shop.

They have earned their success.

The temptation, however, is always to sell off part of your values -- which is the same as selling off all your values -- for additional profits. This will not work. In the age of the Great Leveling, when we can get anything anywhere from anyone anytime, values become more important than ever.

Selling them off is almost never worth it. Fronter does not equal pizza. I now question whether I should spend extra money on their Mexican food.