Als Blog

Forget Google Video!

Wow did a test of the newly launched www.tokbox.com with 22 people in on video chat and it was not to bad. Check it out for yourself and get lots of your friends in so you can try to kill it. You can Download a mac app that has it right on your desktop so you can easily chat with friends and business partners any time. Thanks Steve Bristol from www.lesseverything.com for the demo today.

New Fitness Craze..

Ok well maybe it's not a fitness craze it's jsut fitness crazy. I've decided to start bicycling on a regular bases and did a ride tongiht. Here it he ride I did. My goal is to work up to doing a century which is 100 miles in one day ... oh boy ... what am I thinking.

iPhone has come!

Well I am writing this from my iPhone.

That's right I finally droped the greenbacks on the phone I have been drooling over for a long time.

What drove me to finally drop the cash and make the leap after all this time you ask? Well I finally realized that I could wait forever to see the exact piece technology come out that would cover all my needs. Also I have the need to be extremely productive and organize lately so this is going to be my main tool for being extremely effective over the next few months.

I will let you know how it goes.

This is me jumping in with both feet.

Networks are like banks

Nothing gets my goat up more than people that don't understand how to network in a healthy way. You've met them. The person that tries to get to know you and you KNOW that he is only caring about you because they want something from you. They want to sell something to you or pick your brain on business ideas with NO intention of a relationship that is mutually gratifying or beneficial.

Add to that that everyone is told that their network is the most important thing in their lives that they could build and we have an epidemic of people that just want to add to their network just in case they need something from it.

What these people don't realize is that in building their network this way does nothing for them and really renders their networks useless. You can have a MASSIVE list of people that you have had contact with but a completely USELESS network because you have no relationship with any of them other than a name on contact list.

When you are building a network it should be one in which EVERYONE gets benefit from it. Both the person building their network and the people that are a part of it.

IT"S ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS. Mutually beneficial relationships. Think of it like this. Each person is a bank account and you can make deposits and withdraws. Unless you have done sufficient deposits there is nothing to withdraw and you are asking for a loan or an overdraft. It is very important that if you want to get the most out of your relationships you have to have deposited as much as possible before you ever withdraw.

So when you are working on building your networks please make sure you are depositing in the people that you are asking to be a part of your network. Not only will you have a more effective network you will gain some life long friends along the way. I know I have.

Another Minority Government in Canada

Well the Conservatives have pulled out another win with the support of the Canadian people. I find it interesting that they still were not able to pull off a majority government. I think it shows that the Canadian people still have a lack of faith in our politicians. While the Conservative party gained a few more seats and the Liberals had their worst showing in 150 years the Conservatives really need to look at what the country wants to do and look to the people for leadership. Imagine a government looking to the people for leadership.

We in the business world know that if we don't look to our Clients for leadership as to where our product map goes we will surely fail. The new government needs to look to the people especially with the world in the economic state it's in.  If the Conservatives are to work on getting a Majority government this is a crucial few years. They really have two options in my opinion for our economy. Either cut government spending or run a deficit budget in Canada for the first time in 11 year. I think that cutting spending would not help the economy but potentially fear the public into an economic slow down so they should really just look to a deficit budget. The problem with this is that the Canadian public does not like deficits and one would definitely affect the Conservatives popularity. This next year will be interesting.

Twitter Revolution

Micro blogging is getting more and more popular. For those of you on Facebook this is the next social networking fad. Twitter is basically a quick entry, no more than 140 characters, that you make and share with your friends and business associates. If you are familiar with Facebook it is basically the what are you doing now field on steroids. The interesting part for me is that there is valuable information in there as you understand your market and figure out what they are saying about you.

Go to Search.Twitter.com and type in your company name and see what people are saying about you.

Victoria IDC Angel forum

I had the chance to present at the UVic's first Angel forum. After seeing some of the companies there I have to say that for the investor there is a lot of really cool things happening in Victoria right now. I was skeptical going in that the companies presenting would just be the usual suspects with an idea and not much more. I have to say the Brent and his team did a good job picking the companies to present. Most of them had a product already or at least a prototype with one company already selling their product for 6 years. I do how ever have one take away for all of you

PLEASE FIGURE OUT A SIMPLE MONETIZATION SCEME FOR YOUR PRODUCT before you try to raise money.

I think one thing that Canadian business suffers from is good products with little marketing or monetization understanding. You may have a great idea but if you can't clearly present an easy to understand monetization plan you will loose investors interest. I can't tell you how many great products I see that the inventor or founder has no idea how to monetize. So PLEASE make sure that before you go asking for Hundreds of thousands of dollars make sure you have figured out how to make money off of your idea that is realistic and simplistic.

Email Deliverability

Today Oprius launched a white paper on the issue of Email deliverability. This is an issue that is close to our heart here at Oprius as we have to deal with it on two fronts. We send email for our clients and have to make sure that it gets delivered and that we only send emails that are legitimate emails not spam. We also have to filter out incoming emails for our clients.

If you have to send email as a part of your business you should read this and pass it on to those you know that regularly send email as a part of their sales process.

This paper outlines the following information:

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• Defining Spam 
• How Spam Affects your Earnings 
• Double Opt-In Versus Single Opt-In 
• Why Double Opt-In Is The Right Choice 
• Common Questions About Spam 
• Maximizing Email Deliverability  

This paper is designed for a quick over view and understanding of the issue as a individual sending email as part of your business process.

Don't Panic

I know that in this world of uncertainty with the stock market and the economy most people tend to panic. They spend more time worrying about their business and their future opportunity than they really should. Although we have to be aware and informed don't be distracted by the things going on around you in the market. Make sure that when the world is getting crazy with the stock markets and economy you continue to focus on what you are doing.  

Your job is to build a company. Focus on the fundamentals of building a solid business during these times. Drive profitability when the markets are going down and you will be fine. Use this time as a reality check for your company. I often notice that the companies that are most effected by the economic slow down are ones that are pushing the edge of good sound business strategy. Design you company so that it can weather a storm. Honestly the markets will come back around so now is the time to prepare yourself for that reality. I can't help but thinking that Warren Buffet is like my wife during a shoe sale.... BUY BUY BUY. He understands that markets come and go. 

I think this comic sums up the whole situation well.

How Wikipedia got started.

Many of you might find this image as amusing as I do. If not that's ok to.

I don't know why I shared this it just made me laugh.