Alberta Business MarketingSep
1
2010
May
10
2010
Greetings from Florida everyone. David and I are in Tampa this week meeting with clients and partners of our Calgary-based Internet Marketing firm, Ulistic. After washing away the ice and snow from our United Airlines flight in Calgary we were on our way through Denver and eventually Tampa, Florida. A long day in the air however the flight crews and staff with United Airlines took great care of us and we got here with no major challenges or delays.
When we arrived at our destination on the east end of Tampa we had to go out and check out the local sites. Plus I have never been over to St. Petersburg or Clearwater especially after working with firms like Tech Data for so many years who has their US headquarters in the Clearwater area. David and I picked up our rental car and started to explore the wonderful sites of the Gulf coast. Those bridges across the bay are amazing, the sand was delightful and we didn’t see any oil washing up on the shores of West Florida.
After a drive and walk around the beach we decided to get some dinner and found a wonderful beach front cafe/restaurant. I have to share with you our awesome experiences at Frenchy’s South Beach Cafe on Gulfview Blvd in Clearwater. It was great and plenty of food to feed an army or at least enough for my kids to eat. The service, food and staff are simply amazing and our server Jenny provided us with an overall pleasurable experience. Frenchy’s is just a stone’s throw from the Gulf of Mexico and the sights and sounds of the sea add to the enjoyment of our night out before a couple of business days in the Bay area.
The food was great and in typical American style, way too much food for this Canadian boy. I am sure the servings are at least half to double the size of what we are used to in Canadian restaurants. Not a bad thing but you have to go in hungry. Also, the Key Lime Pie is great and something you have to experience.
Why are we sharing our feedback with our experiences with this restaurant on the beach in Florida. We believe in sharing our experiences with local business (they are the glue holding together our economy right now) and also sharing something great when we see it or experience it. There is way too much negativity in our world today and this slight shot of something positive in our blogs, day-to-day business dealings and wherever or whatever we do helps us feel good about what we do and why we are here to do it.
If you are ever in Clearwater, Florida or even Tampa it is worth the drive, walk, cab ride to check out Frenchy’s South Beach Cafe.
May
1
2010
Apr
26
2010
If you have not read this book yet, stop reading this blog and run down to your nearest Chapters, Indigo or Borders store and get it.
I need to thank my good friend and fan of Ulistic, Dr. Leslie Roberts from GoForth Institute for recommending this book to me. Thanks Leslie, you haven’t seen how much it has impacted my life yet.
Over the next few days, I will be sharing some key takeaways from Seth Godin “Tribes”. I have a few pages marked and ready for commentary.
First, if you have it, turn to page 96 and about half way down the page you will find this paragraph.
“The last person to leave the current record business won’t be the smartest, and he won’t be the most successful either. Getting out first and staking out the new territory almost always pays off.”
Wow, is all I have to say.
Seth was speaking about the music business when he shared that small bit of inspiration, but I took as my departure after 15 years in the Calgary Small Business Computer Support market. I haven’t been the last person to depart from something comfortable that put food on the table. I had a chance to catch up with my great friend Aaron Booker from Bellingham, Washington last night and discuss his new business varvid.com. Aaron is now servicing the technology community by providing high quality video production for conferences, trade shows and case studies. He does some pretty awesome work.
Thanks Seth for that message. It was really something I needed to hear and reinforced my knowing that David and I are on the right track with Ulistic.
Mar
6
2010
This past Friday, the Calgary Entrepreneur Peer Group met for our first quarter meeting, meeting number 6 for our group of talented Calgary business professionals. Our group has been meeting now for over a year and although we have had a few members come and go, our core base is still very much intact and I am so grateful for each and every person who trusts in our group.
This week after consulting with the group I have decided not to “fight the puck” when it comes to trying to get a second group up and running. This is something I turned towards when I was looking for distractions on what I need to be doing not what I wanted to do and feed the ego machine. The reality is when there is enough buzz about what the eight of us are doing, we can review starting a second group.
We get down and dirty about each of our businesses, peel back the skin of the onion. Sometimes tears flow and laughter erupts, but we are a serious business group of eight who are extremely committed to the success of every member. It just feels super safe to have a trusted group like this. I know many of my colleagues in Calgary sit back and would never even consider joining something where they need to be real, it is not an option, it is a requirement to let it all hangout.
During the eight hours per quarter we are together we discuss many topics. One of them this time around was on Social Media. Perfect, a topic for me and something where I can get a chance to share my expertise, but this time I was the student. We have experts from all aspects of business in our group ranging from insurance, technology, accounting, business leadership, governance, photography and international trade. Like I said, a great group and mixture of professionals.
We discussed the importance of blogging and social media. I ended up being the student on this day on how many Calgary small business professionals look at Social Media. Most of them understand that social media is important but many struggle with the why, how and when to focus on social media marketing.
It is so important that David and I focus one whole session in our “website owner” program and offer a full day of Calgary business blogging training. However, what did I learn today from our group of Calgary Entrepreneurs? My learnings came from all the members but especially from my trusted business mentor for many years that the real strength of blogging is around focusing on addressing customer or prospect objections in your blog.
Wow, great point. All those items prospects push back on in your business are food for your business blog. You can use your business blog to address those reasons why someone may say no to your proposal. What a great vehicle and awesome insight to one of the powerful reasons business in Calgary needs to have a business blog up and running.
This is the importance of having trusted peers around you and your business. Where can you turn for help and a shoulder to lean on? I recommend forming your own business peer group, if you need help, just reach out to me.
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