Welcome to the part of my blog site that focuses on Consumer Wisdom. If you would rather learn about wisdom in general first, then go here. If you are ready to dive into Consumer Wisdom in particular, then read on.
In the following sections, I will explain why it’s in your best interest to care about your own Consumer Wisdom. My goal is to make this easy, relevant, and worth your time. And, if you want to become a wiser consumer (whatever your starting point), I’ll share what you need to know to help you along the way (most of which I learned from the wise people I have had the luxury of studying for my research).
Ok, here goes. I’d suggest that you work through these in order but I have designed this site to make it easy for you to jump around. That’s often how we learn new things anyway, so do whatever works for you.
Why care about Consumer Wisdom? makes a simple, fact-based case that being a wiser consumer will help you get the most out of your fixed resources (whether you feel like you have a little or a lot) and help you live a more fulfilling, healthier, and joyful life.
Are you a Wise Consumer? is your chance to take the Consumer Wisdom Scale (CWS) survey. Check this section out even if you have already completed the survey since I will also share some background on the scale and help you compare your scores to US national averages.
Introducing the six dimensions of Consumer Wisdom will describe the six dimensions and help you understand which of the questions from the survey related to each dimension (full transparency!).
The five most common types of Consumers draws from a national database of CWS scores and some fancy statistics to define and describe the five most common types of consumers (each type represents a commonly recurring pattern of CWS subscores).
Developing a simple plan for change will provide some suggestions on how to use your scores, along with your emerging sense of what they mean, so you focus your ongoing exploration of the six dimensions.
A deeper dive into the six dimensions of Consumer Wisdom will explore each of the six dimensions of Consumer Wisdom in depth. This is a “work in progress” so please be patient as I add to this section over time.
Note that unlike other lifestyle and finance blogs that charge a fee, all of my content is free. A lot of the fee-based blog sites often restate and repackage information that is otherwise free elsewhere on the internet, or simply promote their own personal opinions and agendas. Though I will mention other research, most of what you will find on this site is both new and peer-reviewed by other academics.
In return for this free content, please consider the following ways to support this work and to share back:
- First, please be patient as I build out the site.
- Second, you can share feedback as you engage with this site (as comments, questions, or ideas on individual pages and posts).
- Third, please share this site with friends and family.
- And, finally, please share your stories with me about your personal journey towards your own wiser consumption.
We live in great times; I really believe that despite the negative news that the media seems to focus the most on (true across the political spectrum, sadly). But, we need to use the abundance of our economy more wisely and, of course, use our own resources more wisely – and that is something we all have some control over. My hope is that this research and what you can learn on this website will help you in your journey and, collectively, will contribute to a shift towards a more caring, productive, and joyful economy.
And if you’re wondering about my own journey and why a marketing professor is cautioning you to not blindly buy into the drumbeat of our current, mainstream economy, then check out my journey.
Thanks!