When it comes to making your mark as a small-business owner, there’s nothing quite so effective as being part of a revolution.

As American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, and inventor Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller said: “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

To that end, we dedicate the July 2016 issue of Be Inkandescent magazine to looking back into history so that we may all be better prepared to make effective change.

For guidance and assistance, we turn to David Bruce Smith’s Grateful American™ Foundation, which is dedicated to restoring enthusiasm in American history for kids and adults. On July 4, the Foundation launched a new site focused solely on the nation’s children, GratefulAmericanKids.com.

“We’ve all seen the research about how kids are not being taught history effectively, and with that comes the tendency to slough it off,” explains Smith, a Washington, DC-based author and publisher. “We need to have the same feeling of patriotism that existed after 9/11, but without the framework of a disaster. Grateful American™ Kids will be educational, entertaining, and help stimulate some of those thoughts.”

In this issue you’ll find:

• Leadership lessons from Benjamin Franklin.
• Management tips from James Madison.
• Financial advice from Alexander Hamilton.
• Diplomatic ideas from Abraham Lincoln.
• And we’ll help you bring the past to life with a few Colonial-era recipes like Macaroni and Cheese that you can make this month with your kids. You’ll also discover how wine was made in Thomas Jefferson’s day, and gain access to some of the most intriguing books on the lives of the Founding Fathers by best-selling author Tom Fleming.

We leave you with this parting thought from Benjamin Franklin: “We need a revolution every 200 years, because all governments become stale and corrupt every 200 years.”

Here’s to your revolution! — Hope Katz Gibbs, publisher, Be Inkandescent magazine • founder, Inkandescent Public Relations

Image (above) by Benjamin Franklin: Frustrated by the unwillingness of Colonial legislatures to accept his “Plan for Colonial Union” out of fear they might lose individual power by agreeing to work jointly, Franklin designed and published this simple warning: “Join, or Die.” This icon would later gain popularity and importance as a revolutionary symbol. Source: assumption.edu.