Date: October 29, 2017Name: Things bank never tell youPresenter: Mike Kao
Bank is business and most young entrepreneurs tend to forget about that. Moreover, it is important for young entrepreneurs to know the other side of the equation. Mike Kao, the Investment Fund Advisor at Portfolio Strategies Corporation, invites entrepreneurs to discuss about the things bank would never tell young entrepreneurs. In this presentation, young entrepreneurs will learn the business model behind banks. In addition, Mike Kao will share his insights of what young entrepreneurs need to pay attention to when they are in business relationship with banks.
Mike Kao is the Investment Fund Advisor for Portfolio Strategies Corporation. He worked in many top banks, this includes Financial Services Manager for Bank of Montreal Financial Group (BMO), Premium Banker for Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), and Financial Services Manager for Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC). His expertise helped many young entrepreneurs with mortgage and financial planning. Moreover, he volunteers in Tzu Chi Foundation Canada as Audio/Video Coordinator for over 17 years.
As technology improves in the banking industry, bankers are looking for ways to change their services that integrates with new technology. This overwhelms many people with additional banking information. The problem young entrepreneurs are facing is that they do not know how to integrate with new banking information. Young entrepreneurs are living in the “reverse pyramid” society. Kao states the life expectancy for women is 81 years old and men is 79 years old. When there is money crisis, people look for bankers; in fact, they are relying on them for financial solutions.
Banker’s expectation not always equivalent with everyone’s expectation. Kao refers to this as “asymmetric information”. This leads to dissatisfaction for people. People feels overwhelmed because they believe there is no other options available.
“When you understand, there is hope”
How does bank make money? First of all, people need to understand that the expectation for bankers from outside world is not the same as the reality. The image of the bankers is not as glory as what market says in the outside world. In fact, they are overwhelming with paperwork and sales.
The business model for bank is very simple. When people deposit money to the bank, the bank will lend out money to others and charge interest. The bank will charge additional fees for the services they provide to customers. Bank only put a small portion of money for reserves and the rest are lending out for borrowing. The more people borrow, the more interests and fees generate. Kao believes their mentality is to find ways to charge as much as they can.
On the bank’s statement of income, 44% or more of the total revenue comes from interest and fees.
For most banks, the account monthly fee comes from the number of transactions occur in the bank account. When there is money out of the bank account, it generates a certain fee. The more transactions create, the more fees generate. Kao states typically account fee is between $3.95 to $30 per month, bank draft is $7.50 per draft, statement fee is $2.00 per statement and other transaction is between $1.25 to $5.00 per transaction. There are many unexpected charges and these are the bread and butter for bank’s operation. Nevertheless, it is legal for bank to increase charges and many people refer those as “hidden fees”.
Kao wants young entrepreneurs to know that without these fees, bank cannot operate. Moreover, customers will always be the last to know. To counteract bank fees, young entrepreneurs should change their spending habits. Kao suggests young entrepreneurs to use credit card instead of debit card to eliminate the number of transactions. By minimizing the number of debit transactions and cash withdraw from ATM, bankers will reduce the transaction fees. Young entrepreneurs should use online banking or online statement regularly. Also, they should use electronic fund transfer instead of cheques to reduce fees. When young entrepreneurs use other bank’s ATM to withdraw cash, they will get charged with a fee for using other bank’s ATM and another transaction fee from their own bank for the transaction. It is important to keep the bank balance over the hold fund limit. Young entrepreneurs can ask their bank for their hold fund limit. If their bank balance is under the limit for just one day, the bank can charge them additional fee. This is critical when young entrepreneurs use preauthorized payments. Kao suggests young entrepreneurs to ask for overdraft protection. NSF fees is compound interest, which can be very heavy.
Bankers will never sell “one” account; they will sell packaged product. This includes the chequing, saving, foreign exchange, and overdraft. This is a way for bankers to increase their sales unit counts and product penetration. Their target on consumers is to sell premium plan with highest fee. Each bank has its revenue projection on customers; moreover, bankers are forced to sell people premium plans to meet their quotas. To counteract selling, young entrepreneurs should always state clearly what they really need. Kao explains there is no such thing as the best bank plan. Each plan depends on spending habit, personal preference, emotional tide, rates, and promotional offer.
How cheque deposit? Kao explains when payer writes a cheque to Bank A and payee deposits the cheque to Bank B, Bank B will send the cheque to the processing center. The processing center notify Bank A to withdraw and Bank A will withdraw from payer’s account to the processing center. Lastly, Bank B receive the fund from the processing center and deposit the fund to payee’s account. Depends on bank, young entrepreneurs can hold cheques for 5 days if it is a new account. 4 days if they go through person and it takes up to 30 days for foreign currency cheque. There is no hold for government cheque. Bank can hold after $1,500 if it is a payroll cheque. For ATM deposit, bank can hold after the first $100. To counteract cheque hold, young entrepreneurs should give themselves time with cheque deposits. They can ask for preauthorized deposit, internet wire transfer, or bank draft, but these will have fees. They can also ask for certified cheque and cash instead. Young entrepreneurs can ask their banks to increase hold limit.
There are two types of bank lending: installment loan and revolving loan. The major difference is the amount, terms, rates, usage, amortization, and payment schedule. The rate is what bank uses to generate interest. It can be variable or fixed. The term is the contracted time frame and the amortization is how long will it be fully repaid. These all determine the payment amount.
To process the bank lending, bankers will ask for these items:
Payroll statement
2 years of T1 general and Notice of Assessment
Saving and investment statement
Loan statements
Signed credit release statement
Other relevant documentation
Kao emphasizes when bank process the loan application, it requires 5Cs.
First C: Credit report
Bankers will ask young entrepreneurs to sign the credit release for credit report. The score is between 0 to 800. It has all personal information, including employment history, and who and when others checked. Each time it checks, the credit score will decrease. It also has all the trades, this includes single, owner, lifetime, payment history, balance, and status. Bankers will look for the payment history of 30, 60, and 90 days. Furthermore, status is either active, paid, bad or outstanding. It will be difficult to process the loan if there is 60 or 90 days outstanding or bad status.
Second C: Capacity
This is the ability to pay fully and timely. Bankers will look at the types of incomes young entrepreneurs provide. This includes employment income, rental, spouse support and investment income. Bankers like employment income because of stability.
Third C: Collateral
This is the assets given to creditor as securities for the loan. This includes home, vehicle, investments, and life insurance. Bankers prefer home because it is easy to liquid and the market value increases in future. Bankers look for GIC or mutual funds from the investment, and cash surrender value from life insurance. Kao emphasizes precious metal and personal antique collections are not collaterals for banks.
Fourth C: Capital
Capital refers to the total net worth. Bankers use this to determine young entrepreneurs’ overall financial strength.
Fifth C: Character
Character means the overall presentation from young entrepreneurs. It is the summary of all other Cs. This also refers to the “relationship”. Kao believes this is the most critical C because the relationship can impact how bankers write on the application. It is important to give bankers the best impression as possible.
Date: October 23, 2017Name: Power of GratitudePresenters: Julian DeSchutter and Jaxon Howell
The power of gratitude impacts many successful entrepreneurs. Moreover, the practice of gratitude has been proven to improve the mindsets of successful entrepreneurs. ManTalks invites Julian DeSchutter, the Co-Founder of Chasing Sunrise, and Jaxon Howell, the Founder of Nakedwood, to discuss how gratitude leads their life to have greater abundance, happiness and fulfillment. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will understand how gratitude can impact personal relationships. All presenters will share how they create the balance of health and well-being through their entrepreneur’s journeys.
The Founder of ManTalks, Conner Beaton, wants all entrepreneurs to be inspired by the power of gratitude. People are facing challenges for gratitude. Many people have been a part of unwillingness space, but not everyone is aware of it. Sometimes people are giving the meaning to the wrong thing. People are carrying the responsibilities with meaning that is meaningful to them, which makes the purpose of life.
Beaton wants entrepreneurs to focus on 5 main questions.
What moment in life is grateful?
What challenge moment that is grateful?
What do they avoid being grateful for?
Who is one person they are grateful for?
What moment in life that they will not set themselves free?
Interview with Julian DeSchutter
Julian DeSchutter is the Co-Founder of Chasing Sunrise. He is a designer and author of life. His life work of creating companies, charities, projects, culture and communities have directed him to his life goal. He has founded Passage Labs, Passage Give, Hello Sandbox, Operation BundleUp, and Status New. He is also the Consultant for Investor Relations & Market Analysis. Moreover, his passion has connected many entrepreneurs and has helped many entrepreneurs chase their ultimate dreams.
In November 2013, DeSchutter had the “over promise, under deliver” moment that defined his life direction. He changed his life by redefine his power of choice. He realized for the past 27 years of his life, he had a bright road with no abundance; however, things were starting to fall apart. He launched his company, but he was always constantly fighting what he knew that was mattered versus what was really matter the most.
The reason that helps him get up every morning is the people who are surrounded in his life. He loves engaging moments. His believes what is right for him. Deep down, he is committed to his long life goal.
DeSchutter realizes the current generation is conflict. It is important to deflect the voice from outside and trust the moment from within. The moment people give him the energy, it helps him get back on track of his life journey. In his perspective, there is no good or bad choice; in fact, the key is self-awareness and not looking from outside perspective. When there is a struggle, DeSchutter will remember 4 lessons he learned from his past.
Contradict of what he will do
Surround people who are good at what they are doing
Trust them that they are better
Put himself into “go for it” mode
DeSchutter believes when entrepreneurs use their lens to look through the world, they will find what they need to do naturally and the conversation usually follows. They know what they need to do, so they need to pay attention to those moments. These moments make up of purpose. A simple question entrepreneurs can ask themselves is “what are you grateful of?”. By putting themselves in the future self and have the tough question, they will discover their inner meaning of life.
“Willingness to face what life throw at you”
To maintain gratitude, DeSchutter will look for moments and feel the moment. People are not wired to be grateful, yet they are wired to survive. By having the moment of forgiveness, they can connect the feeling that matters. It is difficult to change and there will be struggle to implement. People will always have reasons. Therefore, DeSchutter wants entrepreneurs to create the habit and look for positivity first. Remember, it is not a checkbox, and they need to feel for it. They need to be aligned with their generous mentality.
Gratitude is everywhere. Entrepreneurs will question themselves if they are on the right path. They should try to find a place that appreciate what goes on in their life. They need to trust the life ahead and not what other people say. People need to be accountable. They are not alone and they do not need to be alone.
DeSchutter believes the key to build the right community is to first see difference of “look at” and “seen who you are”. The community should help people get real of who they really are when they show up. It should create the right space to have the right relationship.
Entrepreneurs need to have the ownership of what is important to them. DeSchutter puts happiness in the equation of Chasing Sunrise. People are looking for huge things, but in reality, it is those small things or simple ways that count. Therefore, DeSchutter wants everyone to enjoy the experience. Technology can take people’s time away, but it is up to the individual to take back the ownership of what they really want in life. DeSchutter emphasizes it is impossible to ask technology to slow down, so utilize it to connect what matters the most in life.
“The more open I am, the more people I discover that they are the same”
Journey of Jaxon
Jaxon Howell is the Founder of Nakedwood. He is also a professional lifestyle photographer. Many entrepreneurs refer him as a multi-passionate creative entrepreneur. His work is alive and has inspired many of his clients. His passion connects people around the world and his life experience has shaped him to a lovable person today.
Howell grew up in Ontario. When he was a kid, his family religion impacted his life significantly. His religion created his limitation and restriction. He never celebrated holidays and any of life achievements. He eventually developed built and shame.
In the age of 21, he followed him the path that his religion had created. He married a woman that he was not passionately loved. However, he thought he was obligated to be on the chosen path. He felt trapped, but he could not do anything since in his religion, divorce was a sin. At the age of 24, he ended his marriage and disfellowship his religion. After the decision, his parents had never talked to him ever again for over 14 years.
Howell mentions his second relationship was bad. He got a divorce at the age of 31. He felt unloved and felt like a huge failure. The guilt and the same overwhelmed his life. He was completely lost. He began to chase after money, but in reality, there was no fulfillment. He felt empty and alone. Until one day, he got caught for trafficking drugs. This could put him for over 10-15 years in jail. He was scared and he felt out of control. He could not sleep for the first night and the next 2 weeks felt like 2 months.
During his time in jail, Howell got real with himself. He dug deep in everything happened in his life. He realized he was taking the easy way out. He started to read, journal, and make list what he wanted for the rest of his life. He thought about who he wanted to be. In those moment in jail, Howell chose to look at this moment as gift.
After he got out of jail, Howell started to enjoy everything about life. He was grateful of his first marriage because it made him to see what insight he wanted to be. He followed his gut feeling and learned to love over fear. His put his energy into friendship. He made the distinction that his religion he grew up with was not aligned with who he really was. He is not grateful to people who help him: the freedom, the small things in life, and the ability to communicate at easy level.
Howell believes the biggest lesson he learned is patient and gratitude. Howell shares his gratitude practice to all entrepreneurs.
5 things that entrepreneurs feel that they are grateful for
Make the effort to tell others how grateful they really are
Be grateful of the small things in life that others take for granted
Howell wants entrepreneurs to remember that the next time they are alone, remember who they want to be in life
“The more gratitude you give, the more you see how your life really is”
Date: October 19, 2017Name: Fireside chat with Jennifer Hamilton, CEO of Oxygen YogaPresenter: Jennifer Hamilton
Building and scaling a recognizable brand is always a challenge for entrepreneurs. Moreover, many entrepreneurs stumble especially in health and fitness industry. The Pacific Club invites Jennifer Hamilton, the CEO of Oxygen Yoga and Fitness, to discuss her entrepreneurial journey of becoming a successful franchisor in Vancouver. In addition, entrepreneurs will learn the mindset behind Jennifer Hamilton’s strategies. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will learn the professional and personal side of Jennifer Hamilton.
Jennifer Hamilton is the CEO and the Franchisor of Oxygen Yoga and Fitness. With over 16 years of experience in the fitness industry, she has established her reputation and expanded over 59 locations. Jennifer Hamilton was nominated for Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the year in 2008 and 2016 and RBC Women’s Entrepreneur of the year in Canada in 2015 and 2016. She received many other awards, such as Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence award and CFA Franchisee’s choice award. She has supported many young entrepreneurs in fitness, and she is one of the major business role models for young entrepreneurs.
Interview with Jennifer Hamilton
Jennifer Hamilton believes what makes Oxygen Yoga and Fitness special is the combination of 2 energies, which are yoga and fitness. Hamilton has created the attractive environment for people to check out the programs offer by Oxygen Yoga. It is an environment for people to release stress and vent. Aside from physical benefits, Oxygen Yoga creates the community and relationship to engage with all kinds of members. Most importantly, members are able to take care of themselves.
The passion of being active helps Hamilton scale up the business. She never thought of the idea of franchising until her members want their own studio. When Hamilton introduced boot camp into her studio, she fell in love with the concept and enjoyed the feeling of how the environment has changed. Before she brought her first studio, she was flipping houses for living. Now, she will arrive to her studio every morning because she discovered her true passion.
However, Hamilton wanted an inclusive environment, but it was difficult to maintain. She welcomed any inputs, but she was struggling to execute the approach. Hamilton states many entrepreneurs have the misconception that franchising is easy business; nevertheless, Hamilton puts over 14 hours per day when she started her business. Now Hamilton has developed the right system and approach for franchisee. Franchisee just need to follow the system, but not every franchisee is will to do that.
In a typical morning, Hamilton will take her dog for a walk, check with her children, and workout at another gym. She emphasizes she will not workout in her studio because she does not want to be in business mode when she workouts in her personal time.
Hamilton’s leadership style is open communication. She believes everyone has his or her own way to express themselves. She will listen before speak. Therefore, she advices entrepreneurs to do 3 simple things: listen, process, and then reflect.
“Listen, process, reflect; being able to humble is amazing”
In her entrepreneurial journey, Hamilton learned to love fear. Many entrepreneurs are afraid to fail, but she loves making mistake. She is open minded with mistakes because she can learn from the experience. When she falls, she takes it as opportunity to grow from it.
Hamilton defines the word “passion” is to be in the moment. The feeling of waking up knowing what to do is amazing for Hamilton. Her personal mission statement is “I love my life”, meaning she wants her and people around her to take care of themselves and improve self-awareness. That is her lifetime goal.
When it comes to business, Hamilton believes accountability is skill that every entrepreneur needs. It is a huge piece of success and without accountability, entrepreneur will eventually crumble. Hamilton wants entrepreneurs to know that it is important to be accountable to themselves. She always set goals in 3 categories: family, personal, and business. In any business, the first year is always the foundation. Therefore, by being accountable and present, entrepreneurs will discover and understand the needs of others.
Hamilton always encourage her children to try new things. For example, she will teach her children that instead of being jealous, they should learn from others. She will let her children realize people who talk behind their back is afraid of being successful.
If she could give her younger self any advice, she will tell her not to make emotionally based decision. She believes decision in business needs to be black and white. Furthermore, entrepreneurs should always leave their ego at the door.
“True to your instinct, and trust yourself”
“Own that decision, it is a choice”
Hamilton recommends entrepreneurs to read “Starbucks experience” because self-reflection is important. She wants to expand her business to Halifax because it is a beautiful city. Her recent accomplishment is that she manages to partner with Costco, so Costco is now offering Oxygen Yoga gift cards. She is proud of this accomplishment because it is one step closer to National.
Questions and Answers
When there is a conflict between logical minded and emotional minded entrepreneurs, she suggests a neutral person to mediate. Everyone has different communication style. It is important to understand where each one comes from.
Hamilton shares her organizational chart is “flower style”. Everything brooms from her as center. The obstacle from promoting Oxygen Yoga in different province is that people do not understand until they are actually trying the class themselves. Introducing the theory itself is hard to expand the business. Therefore, she has to work with external tools, such as video, to expand her business.
Hamilton shares that one of her failures is her last marriage. The problem was that she let her ego get to her. When it comes to de-stress, she will use infrared sauna. She will meditate before she gets up from bed. As for marketing, she believes the best approach is still organic grow. When people fall in love with her program, all she needs to do is to provide the business model and everything will follow through. For social media, Hamilton uses the strategies of “call of action” and “retargeting” to expand her online presence.
Date: August 29, 2017Name: How to quickly write and publish a client-attracting bookPresenter: Bob Burnham
In a competitive market, successful entrepreneurs can publish their expert books to stand out and attract their right clients. Vancouver Business Network meetup invites Bob Burnham, the Owner of Expert Author Publishing, to discuss a simple and fast way to publish the right expert book. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will learn how to use expert book to gain authority and influence. Moreover, Bob Burnham will provide a formula that can help entrepreneurs write their expert book.
Bob Burnham is the Owner of Expert Author Publishing. With over 11 years of publishing books experience, he helped many entrepreneurs to publish their expert books and created over 300 bestselling authors. Bob Burnham is an international speaker. He took his original carpet cleaning business and grew it over 26 locations with over 6 million sales a year by leveraging expert book as marketing tool. Moreover, he is the author of Amazon bestselling book “101 Reasons Why You Must Write a Book”.
How to write a client-attracting book fast and make big money in your business without selling a single copy
Business has never been easy, especially in a competitive marketplace. With over 1000 advertisements grabbing people’s attention each day, entrepreneurs are having a different time to stand out above all the noise. The audience sees them, but entrepreneurs do not see the audience. Therefore, people do not know who to trust, especially in the world of social media.
Burnham believes in the world of hyper-competitive market, writing an expert book is not luxury anymore. In fact, it is a necessity. Based on statistic, over 80% of people want to write a book, but only a small portion of people ever write a book. Many entrepreneurs do write books, but they usually write the wrong books.
“Most entrepreneur authors write the wrong book that hurts their business”
Writing the expert book is a way to help entrepreneurs’ businesses. However, many entrepreneurs do not know where to start. Expert book can attract the right clients and able to charge high ticket price in any competitive market. Moreover, expert book can provide authority for entrepreneurs.
Burnham emphasizes if entrepreneurs are not getting paid, they are in business. Cash flow is important for entrepreneurs because it gives them the freedom to be creative and provide better solutions for their ideal clients. Many entrepreneurs are spending too much time behind the computer work; in reality, nothing is happening in their businesses. They need new leads every month, so they should position with the right book to set them apart from other competitors.
“Feast or famine is no fun”
The question comes down to “how to find the right leads?”. Burnham replies who ever can solve the big problem. Entrepreneurs need to be the answer the people are looking for. They need to be seen as the leading expert. They can do that by positioning themselves with the right book.
Burnham believes entrepreneurs become a commodity when they keep competing. People are search for the right solution, and entrepreneurs need to let them know they are better than anyone else. Allowing themselves to be the expert is essential. In order to get people to hire them, entrepreneurs need to connect with people emotionally. Entrepreneurs need influence. They need to be the authority. They need to turn prospects into customers. They need a system to convert, and they have to get them to pay up first. Burnham wants entrepreneurs to know that if they do not have a client until they have his or her money in the book.
“We buy with emotion, we justify with logic”
Many entrepreneurs do not believe they can sell high ticket sales until they try. Client must see their valve if they want them to pay their price. High ticket sales are better because it takes the same work as low ticket sales. Entrepreneurs need to get their clients to buy on the spot. This is not pressure sales; in fact, it is helping future prospect to get their desire results. All entrepreneurs are doing is to help them make the right decision before their doubts come in.
Burnham shares his formula for writing an expert book. It usually takes the average author 4 years to finish their manuscript, and most experts write the wrong book.
The first step in his formula is to describe the perfect customer. Entrepreneurs should not start writing a book until they know their perfect customer. The second step is to spell out the problem. By defining the right problem, entrepreneurs will be able to know the direction of the book. Third, entrepreneurs need to tell their clients about the solution they crave. Forth, entrepreneurs need to choose one clear storyline. Problem leads to solution, and many people only care about the result. Fifth, clients need to know how the solution will transform their lives. The key is not to educate; instead, they just need to provide the result. Sixth, entrepreneurs need to showcase their clients’ success through a story. People remember story. Information is worthless because people can find it anywhere on the web. Therefore, entrepreneurs need to focus on transformation and inspiration.
Education can be boring. For example, clients do not buy the plane; instead, they will only buy the destination. Seventh, people do not need big book. Burnham believes an expert book can be written in 10 chapters with total 120 pages and 2,500 words per chapter. Each chapter will breakdown into 3 sub topics. Eighth, Entrepreneurs need to make a list of top 10. Ninth, entrepreneurs suggest them to dictate it. They can interview themselves and convert the interview into manuscript. Tenth, there Is no such thing as the perfect book, so entrepreneurs should not be worried about. Get the book out first. Lastly, entrepreneurs need to publish the book.
Burnham has provided his top 10 reasons why entrepreneurs write the wrong book.
Entrepreneurs do not identify their perfect customer
Entrepreneurs do not focus on the main thing they want their book to do, which is to generate money to the book
Entrepreneurs do not use the power of story to showcase in their books
Entrepreneurs do not position themselves with a great million-dollar story
Entrepreneurs complicate and confuse people’s mind
Entrepreneurs do not think about high ticket sales
Entrepreneurs do not publish professional looking books
Entrepreneurs do not focus on solving the right pain point
Entrepreneurs do not have the right storyline that leads to the right result
Entrepreneurs do not focus on the value of the result instead they focus on details of process
Burnham advices entrepreneurs to ensure their expert books have the goal of closing high ticket offers. They should not write a book without a perfect customer. The result should combine with client’s success stories. Finally, expert book should have simple book outline that clearly show the results.
Date: August 23, 2017Name: How to identify your top growth channels that will hit your marketing goalsPresenter: Siddharth Bharath
Successful entrepreneurs need to identify their growth opportunities for their businesses. Moreover, they can focus the right resources at the right target. Vancouver Growth Hackers meetup invites Siddharth Bharath, the Vice President of Growth at Thinkific, to discuss the strategies to discover the top growth channels for any business. In this presentation, Siddharth Bharath will share his personal 5 step system to determine the growth channels. In addition, entrepreneurs will learn how to prioritize and determine where to focus their resources, hit their targets and expand their team.
Siddharth Bharath is the Vice President of Growth at Thinkific. He helps many young entrepreneurs to start their new business and provide innovative solutions to their business problems. He was the Marketing Manager for LemonStand and the Founder of The Adventure Inc, and Treadalong. Currently, he is also the Content Marketing Consultant for Siddharth Bharath Marketing, where he focuses on content marketing for business owners.
“I’m full of shit, but its good shit”
Bharath believes finding the right growth channel is essential for any business. Many entrepreneurs are using the wrong approaches. In addition, Bharath realizes there is a way to tie in the framework and processes to reach growth goals.
In business, many entrepreneurs receive conflicting advices from too many different options. To achieve growth, many entrepreneurs are having the shiny object syndrome, which causes them to keep switching different marketing strategies. They do not give enough channel time. Because of changes, many current skills are not leading to the right goals and marketing trends are not identified in advance. Many entrepreneurs are placing them in situations with a lack of research based on what they think they need. They are ignoring obvious ROI.
Bharath indicates there is a need to systemize the way to identify high ROI. He designs a 5-step system to help entrepreneurs.
Step #1: Customer Persona
It is important for entrepreneurs to understand who they are selling to and where are their customers online. Entrepreneurs need to look for their background, demographic, identifiers, goals and challenges. They also need to identify how their customers help others, their real quotes, their common objections, marketing message, elevator pitch and their social message.
Bharath identifies the major problem with research is that it does not tell the mental state of the customer at current moment. It is hard to tell if they are ready to buy. Therefore, timing is important factor to be relevant.
Step #2: Customer Journey
Bharath believes there are 5 steps in any customer journey.
Unaware
Problem Aware
Solution Aware
Product Aware
Decision
Entrepreneurs need to understand each channel that triggers the customer from one stage to another. Example of the channels are blogs, video, articles, friends influence, or story. It is important to understand customer’s mindset; be in their shoes and walk their journey.
Entrepreneurs can help customer build their persona’s journey. By understand each step, entrepreneurs will know how ready their customers are willing to purchase. In addition, entrepreneurs can create the most relevant channels to help customers through their journey.
Step #3: Bullseye
Once entrepreneurs discover their highest ROI channels, they need to do resource optimization. Bharath wants entrepreneurs to take all the channels and categorize them into 3 different sections inner circle, promising, and long shot.
Entrepreneurs will start their work in the inner circle section immediately. The key is to create fast results for customers to move from solution aware to product aware. One channel can affect multiple stages, so scalability is something entrepreneurs need to consider. Other things Bharath wants entrepreneurs to consider are cost, time, money, human capital, and speed of traction.
Step #4: Experiments
During this step, entrepreneurs still need to make assumptions. They need to test their channels before invest. Bharath shares a process called “High Temp Testing Growth Process”. It starts from unbridled ideation, prioritize backlog, launch tests, capture growth and repeat back to unbridled ideation. This is a cycle process.
Bharath suggests entrepreneurs to start with a theory, execute quick test and then gather results. If the result is valid, it is time to scale up. If the result is invalid, it is time to begin another channel.
Step #5: Scaling
After entrepreneurs narrow down the right channels, they need to scale up. Bharath provides 3 options: automate, outsource, and hire. Entrepreneurs should automate repeatable tasks, such as lead identification. They should outsource all non-brand tasks, such as link building. Lastly, they will hire brand-related tasks, such as content or partnership.
“Action beats perfection”
Questions and Answers
After the task of lead identification, Bharath will categorize them into different lists based on what information they can find. These should be automated. Entrepreneurs need to test as much channel as possible. To track experiments, Bharath will use Google Docs online and share them with other teammates. They will document their hypothesis, execution, results, learning outcomes, and action to go forward.
During the experiment level, Bharath will stick to the channel until there is a result. Blog can take a while to test, so Bharath suggests entrepreneurs to do advertisement experiment with the title to see if people are willing to click it. When the testing shows that there is no problem with the copy, it normally means there is a problem in the message. If there is no traffic, it is the channel. Bharath indicates the best way to know the right channel is to analyze the audience during the stage of customer research. See what triggers them to go to the next step.
Name: Fireside chat with Joo Kim Tiah, CEO of the Holborn Group
Presenter: Joo Kim Tiah
Successful entrepreneurs learn, inspire, and respect other successful entrepreneurs, especially their ambition and desire. The Pacific Club invites Joo Kim Tiah, the CEO of the Holborn Group, to discuss his philosophy of entrepreneurship. In this presentation, he will share his learning form his journey in Vancouver real estate industry. Entrepreneurs will learn his view of success; moreover, Joo Kim Tiah will share how he builds his personal legacy in Vancouver.
Joo Kim Tiah is the CEO of the Holborn Group. He is also the CEO of TA Global Berhad and the President of West Georgia GP Ltd. In 2017, he has successfully completed the development of 360 million Trump Tower in Vancouver and known as the young and powerful tycoon in Vancouver. Many young entrepreneurs inspire his ambition and his leadership style. He comes from a wealthiest family in Malaysia. Moreover, he is the winner of 2009 Prestige Malaysia’s most promising male award.
Fireside chat with Joo Kim Tiah
“When you put your heart into it, you will shock the world”
Tiah was fortunate and blessed to grow up with his successful father. In his young age, he understood the life concept of “the more you do, the more you get back”. He recognizes that people put labels toward the 2nd generation, but that does not hold him back from achieving what he desires. People have the impression of 2nd generation do not work hard as others; however, his father gave him high expectation and Tiah was grateful that his family did not spoiled him when he was young. He developed a strong, dominion and independent style that helped him go through his life adversity.
“If you are soft, you cannot survive in the world”
His father taught Tiah the importance of success in life. Since Tiah was the oldest son in his family, his father expected him to prove to people he was capable. He remembered a valuable learning from his father: “if you are not good, please step aside”. Tiah mentions he felt some resentment. It was tough for him to swallow his father’s teaching, but he figured out his father’s teaching was an important building block for his future success.
Tiah’s father made the decision for TA Global to come to Vancouver. The strategy behind the decision was diversity. To develop relationship with Asia and Canada, Tiah believes it is important to be on the ground, know the culture, and know he has his own people. As a developer, Tiah feels he has the obligation to sell real estate. It is not always about the most expensive project. In fact, Tiah considers land cost to be an important factor, and developers do not like to take all the risks. Supply and demand strategy plays an important role for developers, and this goes the same with government policy and politics.
In 2008, the Trump Tower project got stalled due to depression. It was the year Tiah turned everything around. He had to figure out what was best in the market and understand why others were successful. He applied the right principles and revived the development to become the local champion in Vancouver. There were some backlashes from politics. He was hurt from people who did not understand what he stands for. The important lesson he learned was that in reality, people do not live in dream. Tiah knew who he was. He knew his role was business, he knew his had the responsibility towards his shareholders and employees. He knew he had to make the best decision. Most importantly, he knew there were people who supported him behind the scene, which made him comfortable.
Tiah believes people have different views and people are sensitive to certain things. People label others, but that will not solve anything. Instead, people should try to understand first, and that will help people learn from others to bridge the gap.
When people ask him if he could change anything in the past, he responds that he only lives in the present. Tiah believes there is no point going back in the past. He feels everything is a bless because not everyone has gone through what he has been through. Age is never a factor for him. Tiah wants entrepreneurs to remember that no matter what, do not let people look down on them based on age. Entrepreneurs need to be humble, and people will recognize them. Since entrepreneurs cannot control others, they should focus on what they do the best.
Tiah considers his leadership style as “easy going”. He does not believe micro-manage, but he has high expectation. When it comes to stress, he either prays, workout or plays drums. His business philosophy is that money is not the ideal, passion is. Contribution to society is key and create memory and experience for everyone. He wants to be known as the developer who brings new level.
“If the work is not good, you will hear from me”
“When I make people happy, it drives me satisfaction”
“Every project is art”
When it comes to success, it is his father. Tiah mentions there will be more residential and rental projects in line for the future, especially the “Hudson’s Bay Parking lot project”.
Questions and answers
Tiah does not like any “what if” scenarios because he has enough things to worry about. He looks forward, and not backwards. Being a business man, never say no right away. Entrepreneurs should never make any decision in haste.
He never sees himself as special. Furthermore, he feels he is not doing enough. He emphasizes he does not want to be “old and successful”; instead, he wants to be “young and successful”. He believes he still has a long way to go.
In Tiah’s perspective, hotel industry used to be just products and services. Then it has evolved to include lifestyle and experience. Now, it is about building community. Ultimately, hotel must have a soul, so people will follow. In development, Tiah needs to make sure the work drawing is on track. Every change will cost Tiah a fortune. Time and interest is his enemy, so everything must be clear at day one.
“In business, I listen, I do not follow, but I lead”
Tiah was very rebel at a young age. When he felt empty and lonely, God revealed to him. Afterwards, his life was never the same. He believes everyone has his or her own timing. His job is to love people. Eventually, they will find their God. People need to figure out by themselves because only they know themselves best.
Tiah recommends entrepreneurs to engrave their own principle and do not be someone else.
In business decision making, Tiah will go through a list. The list can be varied, but it must have these 4 important things. First, get the facts straight. Second, pray for peace. Third, does it line up with God. Lastly, get inputs from family members. If family members do not like it, he will drop the business.
To balance patient and hustle, Tiah wants young entrepreneurs to remember that most successful stories they hear do not show how they sacrifice. Most people, not matter how talented, they need to work hard. Young entrepreneurs are easily distracted, so Tiah wants young entrepreneurs to be a master of something. Identify the passion first, then focus on the best thing they can master.
Tiah shares the time he got matured was during his late 20s. He realized how the world really works. The world is a harsh place. People do not care about others unless they are successful. So Tiah wants to be successful. He remembers an important advice from his father:” If you are not successful, your wife will leave you”. Therefore, it is important to become the key of the jungle.
Tiah recommends young entrepreneurs to focus on what they are good at. Execution is the key and always keep up the world’s current events. Young entrepreneurs are in the world of distraction of many great ideas and principles. Instead of applying all, Tiah suggests young entrepreneurs to pick a few and master them fully.
Name: Crushing it on Social Media – Growth Hack of LinkedIn and Facebook
Presenters: Marilouise Muller and Eddie Yuen
Many startups use social media to brand their business; moreover, most of them do not know how to utilize social platform effectively, especially LinkedIn and Facebook. YVR Startups meetup invites Marilouise Muller, the Founder of Propel Solutions, and Edward Yuen, the Digital Marketing Specialist of Motic, to discuss their perspectives on social media. In this presentation, Marilouise Muller will share her tips on LinkedIn, and Edward Yuen will share his strategies on Facebook. Entrepreneurs will learn the simplest ways to reach out to potential leads through social media.
Marilouise Muller is the Founder of Propel Solutions Ltd, Suuty Technologies, and PropelU Academy Inc. She has successfully use LinkedIn to build her reputation in her industry. She helps many worldwide organizations through LEAN process and PROSCI change management. Edward Yuen is the Digital Marketing Specialist for Motic. He is the Co-Founder of YVR Startups meetup. He helps many mid-sized businesses and nonprofits on strategic marketing, especially social media management. Moreover, he has the passion of a Community Builder that helps young people connect and engage.
Crushing it on LinkedIn
The mission of LinkedIn is to connect the world’s professionals to enable them to be more productive and successful. Many of entrepreneurs are not aware that LinkedIn has two major objectives: get people to work, and B2B. Muller explains LinkedIn is a powerful connector for B2B. Based on statistic, LinkedIn grows 9% per year. LinkedIn has entered the Chinese market and it has the best track record for lead generation. In fact, LinkedIn is one of the fastest growing social media networks in the world.
“LinkedIn is not for social, yet it is for business”
Entrepreneurs use LinkedIn for 3 main reasons: create identify, create network, and increase knowledge base. Muller will explain how entrepreneurs can utilize LinkedIn profile for their businesses.
To create an effective professional LinkedIn profile, it is necessary to get a professional headshot. Based on stats, a professional headshot will generate 14 times more profile views on LinkedIn. The headshot should be forward facing and smiling. Entrepreneurs should never use selfie photo on LinkedIn. They need to watch out for crooked ties and messy collars. Muller believes LinkedIn is the life time email for success. Entrepreneurs need to remember they can use LinkedIn to tell their whole story, and it is their electronic resume.
To capture recruiter’s attention, entrepreneurs need to include expertise, accomplishment, milestones, and call of actions in their description write up. They should use their industry keywords as much as possible. Muller wants entrepreneurs to be aware that the first 220 characters are immediately visible on desktop version and first 92 characters for mobile version.
To achieve LinkedIn all start status, there are 7 things entrepreneurs need to accomplish on LinkedIn.
Include industry and location
Include an update of their current position
Have at least 2 past positions under experience
Include education
Have the minimum of 3 skills
Have a profile photo
Have at least 50 connections
It is important to include skills because it helps entrepreneurs to be searchable on LinkedIn. LinkedIn allows people to search 3 different levels. In fact, many entrepreneurs are not aware that LinkedIn is a hidden job market. All profiles have profile views, post views, and search appearance. Entrepreneurs can use these stats to optimize their accounts.
The next step is to claim the vanity URL. It is recommended by Muller to setup the vanity URL on LinkedIn. Since network is a great asset for entrepreneurs, they should treat it like a CRM, where they can easily reach out to the right people and interact with the right LinkedIn groups.
Entrepreneurs can add media and make sure of visual content. This includes video, sign up, and articles. This will attract potential business. In average, many leaders usually spend 20 minutes to read articles on LinkedIn. In the experience section, Muller believes it is important for entrepreneurs to include a description of what the organization does. It creates that additional value and connection with the organization.
Muller suggests entrepreneurs when someone sends them a thank you email, they should quote them and ask if they would recommend them on LinkedIn. When they want to connect with someone, they should always include a personal note. The note should answer these 3 questions.
Where you meet?
Who introduced you?
Why are you reaching out?
Entrepreneurs should upload their logos, description and other relevant content. They can comment on current events, case studies, or blog posts. Muller emphasizes 43% of marketers found a customer through LinkedIn. To increase exposure on LinkedIn, entrepreneurs can reach out to people through their posts. They can congratulate them on their new positions. They can learn about other people through news feeds, which comes from auto Google Alert. Entrepreneurs can ask for introduction and share articles to demonstrate their knowledge of their expertise.
LinkedIn Premium is a service that allows entrepreneurs to see who view their profile. It also has the InMail function where they can surpass all connection levels. LinkedIn group is another feature that can help entrepreneurs interact with others. LinkedIn group is only valuable if members are active and are the target audience. LinkedIn group can have active posts, allows people to have regular engagement. It is a great way to brand with content and it is a place to have free job postings.
LinkedIn is now expanding to the market of sharing and recording live videos.
Crash course to marketing on Facebook
Based on statistic, Facebook has over 1.86 billion users worldwide. It is the community with consumers in a non-obtrusive way. Entrepreneurs use Facebook for brand discovery, build brand trust, brand engagement, lead generation, conversion, and retention. In short, there are 5 stages to create trust on Facebook: discovery, engagement, evaluation, conversion, and retention. Entrepreneurs can focus the right audience, which means Facebook allows them to reach out to their specific audience in their specific niche.
Yuen shares the formula for trust:
Value x Time x Consistency
Yuen explains Facebook is biased. Facebook has the goal to keep people in Facebook as long as possible. Therefore, sharing post is prioritized on within Facebook posts then external links. Facebook will favor posts that have many engagements, such as likes, comments, and shares. Furthermore, the prioritized order is livestream, video, and then image.
Entrepreneurs can create Facebook page or Facebook group. Facebook page runs like a mailing list, but not everyone gets to see the post. Yuen explains Facebook is not a charity, which means entrepreneurs need to pay in order to increase the reach. Facebook group runs like a community. It provides great supports from members. The preference of either Facebook page or Facebook group depends on brand tone and brand voice. Many entrepreneurs create Facebook group, but they often forget to brand it.
Yuen wants entrepreneurs remember that when it comes to branding on Facebook, it is not about them. People join group or like a page is because they see entertainment, status, or something new and exciting. Entrepreneurs should never be a spammer. They can invite or encourage people to take action. Moreover, entrepreneurs need to do something remarkable. This includes livestream. Humor can be a great way to connect. Lastly, it is important to be informative, not annoying. They should find ways to add value with the right content. Yuen believes the ratio should be 70:20:10. This means 70% from public share, 20% from individual posts, and 10% go for the ask. Entrepreneurs cannot rush trust. Consistency is the key. Therefore, entrepreneurs need to plan ahead on schedule, use online tools, have consistent frequency on posting.
“Trust and authority does not come automatically”
“You need to prime the pump”
Yuen provides 4 traffic hacks for entrepreneurs to use to gain exposure on Facebook. First, seed best posts. Entrepreneurs should put money on the best post, and do not boost posts that are not engaging. Second, use livestream. Third, have giveaway. They can share giveaway and boost post as an ad on Facebook. Last, have engagement linked giveaway.
It is important for entrepreneurs to create a brand and a community that communicate with their business values. Entrepreneurs in Health and Fitness Vancouver invites Danielle Wiebe, a multi-passionate entrepreneur, to discuss the importance of creating an effective branding. In this presentation, Danielle Wiebe will provide branding and community tips for entrepreneurs to implement in their business. In addition, she will reveal actionable steps to help entrepreneurs to use branding and community strategies to build authentic business relationships.
Danielle Wiebe is a multi-passionate entrepreneur in Vancouver. She is the Founder of Vancity Business Babes, a community for women in Vancouver to connect and inspire in entrepreneurship. Danielle Wiebe is currently a consultant for Arbonne International. She was a Marketing Manager for LVZ International. Her empowers many young entrepreneurs. Her personality is her greatest asset and many young entrepreneurs inspire by her commitment and determination.
Branding with Danielle Wiebe
It is common for young people to start their entrepreneurship journey with just a small vision. It all start with something called “passion”. For Wiebe, as her passion grew, she saw the needs in the market and took the opportunity to brand it. Her leap of faith took her life to an unexpected turn.
Wiebe reveals there are two types of branding: personal and business. Both types do overlap. She defines branding as “what people say about you or think about you”. Moreover, it is how entrepreneurs show up in person. Many entrepreneurs are using social media to build their brand, but they often understate the power of present. The importance is to be authentic.
Entrepreneurs need to find their top 5 values in their businesses. When they use social media, Wiebe wants entrepreneurs to remember to align their social profile with their top 5 values. In other words, if strangers visit their profile page, they need to pick up their top 5 values instantly. Entrepreneurs need to self-check their social media profile to ensure they are aligned with their values.
Wiebe shares 3 branding tips.
Content
Quality
Consistency
Content is key in branding. Content needs to align with the values. Often entrepreneurs will model other success entrepreneurs; however, they tend to lose their personal values that make them unique from other competitors. Wiebe believes value recognition is the first step, and attract target market will follow. Everything entrepreneurs post will reflect on branding. The right value leads to better and faster decision making. In this society, people will judge others from what they see on social media. Therefore, Wiebe suggests entrepreneurs to conduct social media audit every month. They should schedule their time monthly to ensure their values aligns with their content.
Quality is important. All photos and posts should be in high quality and appealing. It is an investment to branding. Furthermore, entrepreneurs need to check their spelling before posting. Many people often forget about editing before posting, which impact their quality. For business account, many entrepreneurs will hide behind their brand, but people are curious of who is behind the brand. People are looking for it and they are thinking about it. Wiebe suggests entrepreneurs to avoid posting emotional posts. They often post in the heat of the moment and regret afterwards. People will notice and will remember it. Wiebe has many different social media accounts and each account serves specific purposes and goals. In fact, all accounts revolve around her branding.
Consistency is essential. People will get confuse when entrepreneurs jump all over the place in every social media platform. Quality is always over quantity. Wiebe will post 3 times per week with great quality materials. The key for entrepreneurs is to stick to what they can keep up. It is not necessary to over post.
Wiebe shares that she finds more success in paid advertising with Facebook than Instagram. Paid advertising in Instagram can be hard to track. The broader entrepreneurs target, the most expensive it gets; therefore, Wiebe suggests entrepreneurs to narrow the target for maximum result. Facebook Advertising can be used to boost events, drive traffic and create engagement. Based on statistic, people usually look up on Instagram first, then Facebook for branding. Facebook Page and Facebook Group are a great way to create relationship. The problem with Facebook page is that people will not get to see all the posts. Facebook Group is different. It is hard to ask people to join, but their engagement is huge. The key is momentum.
Community with Danielle Wiebe
Being an entrepreneur can be lonely, and being a part of a community is powerful and supportive. It will enhance every area in life. To build a community, it is all about relationship and authenticity. Wiebe believes community is not about getting the most business card, it is to develop great relationship and connection with people who have similar values. Building a community is not an overnight thing. It takes commitment. It usually takes a year to see the impact on others.
“Share your passion, not just what you do”
Community can open up more information about others. People get excited and they have passion to help others. It gives other a chance to participate. It brings people together and allow others to be heard. It provides options for small talks. Nevertheless, Wiebe believes a community is a wonderful way to discover people’s pain point.
Wiebe shares some great tips to build a community. The first one is to create confidence in people. In the community, when people see great things, they recognize it. They often compliment and support others. They also challenge others to step up to their next level. Wiebe suggests entrepreneurs to act as a connector. When people see entrepreneurs as connector, they will share their connections with them.
In a community, people are on the lookout for others. Giving away is not taking away from business. Entrepreneurs should not make friends to make friends; instead, they should share their interests and add values to others.
“Recognize confidence in others, they will thank you later”
Questions and Answers
To create a balance in a community, Wiebe suggests entrepreneurs to be active as much as possible. They need to get to know all the members and provide them a chance to be a part of the movement.
For branding, Wiebe recommends entrepreneurs to think about their caption for their posts. Great caption can show authenticity, especially vulnerability. Entrepreneurs need to be comfortable on what they are sharing online. When they have doubt, they should leave it out.
Name: Company of Young Professionals – Zero to 100, startup lessons from Vancouver Founders with Futurepreneur
Presenters: Michael Steele, Kathryn Loewen, Gamelle Fitzgibbon, and Keith Ippel
Many young leaders have great idea for business, but they do not have any idea on how to get started. Company of Young Professionals invites the seasoned entrepreneurs panel from Greater Vancouver to discuss their experience and journey on how they get their big ideas off the ground. The panel will share their mistakes and obstacles from their entrepreneurship. In addition, young leaders will discover the importance of mindset and the key elements of igniting their business idea into reality. The presentation will follow a workshop by Keith Ippel, Co-Founder of Spring.
The seasoned entrepreneurs panel includes Michael Steele, the Co-Founder of The Good Stuff, Kathryn Loewen, the Founder and CEO of Control, and Gamelle Fitzgibbon, the Managing Director of Bespoke Spanish. All panelists went through the program from Futurpreneur, a non-profit organization that helps mentoring young leaders into successful entrepreneurs. This panel is moderated by Natasha Jung, the Co-Founder of Cold Tea Collective.
Interviewing the panel
Jung asks all the panelists to define the meaning of the word “entrepreneur”. Fitzgibbon defines it as “taking risks”. She believes entrepreneur is a way to find out what people are good at. She loves service and she loves helping people; in fact, the path of entrepreneurship creates a self-discover process for Fitzgibbon. For Loewen, her background of technology created her passion and allowed her to enter the employment in technology sector. Later, she left due to less employment. While trying to figure out where she could go next, her only option is to enter the world of entrepreneurship. Steele defines it as a way to see the problem in the world and think about solution. True entrepreneurs will not stop. They will do something about it. The idea of entrepreneurship fits his needs.
During their startup launch, all panelists have their hard times. Fitzgibbon states the hardest part is she put a huge amount of emails and coffees she had to make to create connections, but nothing happened until a year later. In fact, entrepreneurs usually plant seeds, but these seeds will not grow until later down the road. Many young entrepreneurs do not have the patient to wait, and they do not realize people will come eventually. When they are at the dead end, they do not know where to finish.
In the technology sector, Loewen shares all businesses have projection and strategy in place. In her first year of business, she took no salary. She only focused on generating revenue and raising capital. What kept her moving forward was creating the opportunity to pitch like what it showed in Dragon’s Den. When success comes, Loewen suggests young leaders to keep the lights on as much as they can. In Loewen’s perspective, every day is a success.
Steele shares that many people think startup is simple as a whiteboard. In reality, it is more than they see on the whiteboard. Entrepreneurs need to learn all kinds of operating functions in order to run the business.
There are times when things are not as plan in business. Fitzgibbon believes momentum is the key when business feel like death. Loewen wants young leaders to imagine when they need to feed their employees when there is nothing coming in. The reality is that business is never the same as what textbook describes. In technology sector, sometimes investors demand business to burn capital because they are looking for huge profit return at the end. Steele emphasizes sometimes finance does not track success, especially when business is struggling.
Word of mouth is the best marketing for startups. Loewen suggests young leaders to use freemium as much as they can. There are some great tools for startups. Mailchimp is a great start for building a mailing list for startups. Another tool is called Slack, and it helps young leaders to look for user behaviors and engagement.
It is important to surround with supporters. Young leaders need to ask themselves who they hang around with. Time is limited and it is important to create their own circle and vibe. Fitzgibbon believes everyone has the option to choose their inner circle. For young leaders who would like to learn more about entrepreneurship, Steele recommends them to find another startup to work with. This will give them the opportunity to learn the necessary skills from watching other successful entrepreneurs.
All panelists have gone through the program from Futurepreneur. Loewen had the fortune to access to a group of supports and mentors. She advices young leaders to take actions and embrace the support from family. Steele recommends the program for young leaders because it allows them to seek supports from business obstacles. Fitzgibbon senses the program allows young leaders to take fresh idea and turn it to clarity. It is great to get direction and introduction from people who have similar mindset. In fact, options are available for young leaders and it is up to them to take advantage from it.
“Strength of community is still strong and existed”
Workshop with Spring Activator
Spring is a startup school for social entrepreneurs. Keith Ippel is the Co-Founder and CEO of Spring. He summarizes 3 major keys from the panel.
Able to find the right support group
Being strong as generalist
Adaptability is important
Ippel wants young leaders to think about the best place to receive support. He invites the audience to pair up and discuss their ideas. Afterwards, he wants everyone to narrow down one question: “if you can get help with one thing, what would it be?”. This question looks simple, but it is difficult to execute. It helps young leader to discover what is the most important task they are searching in business. Ippel also shares 4 tips to networking.
Talk to 3 new people
Ask how can I help you
Connect on LinkedIn or other social media platforms
Name: 3 zero cost strategies to increase marketing effectiveness
Presenters: Rnold Smith, Susan Grieg, and Michelle Falcone
Entrepreneurs have many ways to market their businesses; moreover, it does not matter how much it cost as long as it is effective. The Business Collaboration Network invites Rnold Smith, the Chief Instigator from Instigo, Susan Grieg, the Owner of 100 Braid Street Studio, and Michelle Falcone, the Founder of M-Power Life & Business Coaching, to discuss their effective marketing knowledge in their businesses. All presenters will share their experience in their fields. Furthermore, entrepreneurs will learn their mindset and steps behind their marketing techniques, such as how to getting more attention, generate customers, harness their advantage.
Rnold Smith is the Chief Instigator from Instigo. He is also a speaker, a facilitator, and a trainer to help entrepreneurs exceed their marketing performance. He is also a director in New Westminster Chamber of Commerce. Susan Grieg is the Owner of 100 Braid Street Studios. She is a contemporary landscape painter. Her work has story, which inspire many people. Most of her paintings are hanging in private collections in BC, including BC Children’s Hospital. Michelle Falcone is the Founder of M-Power Life & Business Coaching. She is a Certified Integrative Life and Business Coach. She empowers many people through transformation. Her passion impacts many entrepreneurs.
Marketing that works
Rnold Smith believes one of the big mistakes many entrepreneurs make is that they tend to push marketing to the end because they think it is not urgent. Marketing is about changing behavior and changing behavior is not easy.
If entrepreneurs discover their marketing is not reliably generating all the desirable customers, they usually have these four reasons.
No clear plan
The wrong plan
Wrong message
Lack of consistent effort
These four reasons allow entrepreneurs to believe marketing takes too much time. They are confused about the next step and they are discouraged by results. Smith believes the key is AIDA, which represents Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. He shares an interesting statistic: out of all customers, 3% want to buy, 6-7% open to the idea, 30% do not think about it, 30% do not think they are interested, and 30% know they are not interested. The main question is for all entrepreneurs is how to get the other 90%.
To get other 90%, the order goes from “Needs”, “Wants”, “Pleasures”, then “Fears”. Smith refers this as the ladder of persuasion. The key is to get customers’ attention. The best tool is to use curiosity. Needs trigger wants. Entrepreneurs need to make a list of wants for their customers. By asking why on each item on the list, entrepreneurs will discover their inner pleasures. Pleasures will also show fear. Entrepreneurs will now be able to solve their fears to win over their attention.
“Until you get their attention, it is nothing”
The huge mistake that many entrepreneurs make is that they do not use fear in their marketing strategy.
When people ask how entrepreneurs are different than others, many entrepreneurs are answering with the same generic response. In order to distinguish themselves from the competition, they need to use “abstract”. Smith refers this as the ladder of abstraction. It starts with abstract, then less abstract, then lastly concrete. The key is to understand what the target market cares about. Typically, there are 6 common complaints based on Smith.
I never see our rep
My calls are not returned quickly
The invoices are higher than expected
They do not seem to understand our business
They do not bring new ideas
They ask for things at the last minute
By discover their “what”, “how”, and “why”, entrepreneurs will become more individual focus when they tackle one or more of those common complaints.
The secret weapon is themselves. Talent is something people do every time without thinking about it, but they tend to ignore it. Therefore, in order for entrepreneurs to improve their goals, first they need to declare their goals, and then report weekly progress with someone accountable.
All twitter marketing for conversation
Susan Grieg focuses on more on social media, and less on traditional marketing. The big question for all entrepreneurs is whether or not if social media converts to sales. Simply, if it is not converting, something needs to change.
First, Grieg wants entrepreneurs to know who are their audience and location. Based on statistic, general age group for Facebook is over 40, Instagram is under 40, Twitter is under 40 and LinkedIn is over 35. Entrepreneurs should figure out what social media works well in their area. Hashtags is a great way to connect and find followers on social media. Entrepreneurs can identify the appropriate hashtag and use it in their posts. When someone is following that specific hashtag, they will be discovered.
Second, entrepreneurs need to understand the right interest in the group. Common interest is the best way to discover how people can follow each other. It shows where people are hanging. Greig emphasizes if the interest is visual, Instagram is the best social media to use for business. Entrepreneurs should follow people in target market’s city and field. The best and simplest strategy for entrepreneurs is to first find the hashtag people normally use, and then follow people who are using those hashtags. Like their posts and start create dialogue. Entrepreneurs can also follow people who are following other people in their field. To gain more followers, Greig wants entrepreneurs to follow the big influencers, click who are following that influencer and start follow their followers.
“Following is the new introduction”
Entrepreneurs can gain followers who are interested with their products by looking at Facebook groups. Entrepreneurs will join these groups and post relevant products in regular basis. The important thing is to like and comment on people’s posts in the group to engage with the community.
Entrepreneurs who are starting to use social media should focus only on one platform to avoid burnout. They need to look for call of actions. They can use testimonial. Again, they can reach out to people who can gain value from their product by using hashtags. To track conversion, entrepreneurs can ask people how they can find them.
3 mindsets keeping entrepreneurs from moving forward
Michelle Falcone has seen many entrepreneurs who are stuck and are not happy with their results. They reach the state of overwhelming. In fact, this is normal because it just means it is time to implement change.
“Change is a process, not an event”
The key for entrepreneurs who make it through is mindset. It is the difference between growth mindset versus fixed mindset.
The first mindset is “the story”. The key is to practice mindfulness and be a present. Entrepreneurs usually stuck in their own story that they are not good enough. If they fear they are not good enough, they must start taking action and create space.
The second mindset is “time management and prioritization”. They are important for entrepreneurs if they want to grow. They need to schedule their own time on their agenda to get what things done. Entrepreneurs can bring support, such as delegation, to give themselves the attention they need to grow business.
“What we focus on will grow”
The third mindset is “attachment to outcome”. Entrepreneurs need to start with a vision. Vision helps them to set the right goals. Goals lead to action steps, which takes them closer to their vision. They will encounter obstacles. Entrepreneurs cannot control others, but they can control how they react to these obstacles. Treat it as growth and surpass these obstacles. The problem for many entrepreneurs is that they tend to be too attach to something theat prevent their vision to come truth. Falcone believes the key is to create the right space. Everyone has the ability to create the life they desire.
“Discipline your disappointment”
“See the learning”
Questions and answers
The audience asks Smith if there is an easy way to get a meeting with a prospect, he responds instead of getting a meeting, entrepreneurs should “move to free line”. By giving away, it creates reciprocity.
The time frame for conversion can be varied. Grieg suggests entrepreneurs to analyze their call of action. Their message might not be effective. Grieg also suggests some tools to manage social media. Entrepreneurs can use MeetEdgar to automate their tweets from Twitter. They can also use Later.com to plan and schedule Instagram posting. In addition, entrepreneurs can use Airtable instead of Microsoft Excel to collaborate their work.
Name: Company of Young Professionals Leadership Series – The Business of Sport Hosting
Presenters: Michelle Collens and Chrissy Benz
Many major sports events, such as Olympic or FIFA World Cup, improve city’s economic impact. Moreover, leaders can leverage this business opportunity. Company of Young Professionals invites Michelle Collens, the Senior Manager of Sport Hosting for the City of Vancouver and Chrissy Benz, the Manager of the Women’s National team and Events at Volleyball Canada, to discuss how sports hosting can impact the city’s economic, social and cultural health. In this presentation, young leaders will learn how sports hosting invites business opportunities around the world; importantly, leaders will discover how it impact local businesses.
Michelle Collens is the Manager of Sport Hosting Vancouver from City of Vancouver. She involved in many major sport hosting in Vancouver, including 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, 2016 Americas Masters Games, Davis Cup, HSBC World Rugby Canada Sevens. She is preparing for the 209 IIHF World Junior Championship. Michelle Collens was the Assistant Chef de Mission for Team BC, 2017 Canada Summer Games for 5 years.
Chrissy Benz is the Manager of Women’s National Volleyball team for Volleyball Canada. She involved in 2017 FIVB Grand Pix. In 2015, Chrissy Benz brought over 800 teams to Calgary for the international tournament. In addition, she was the Sport Event Director of Domestic Competitions, the Director of NORCECA, and Manager of National Olympic and Paralympic committee Volunteer Program.
The Business of Sport Hosting
Vancouver is known as a sport city in Canada. As a matter of fact, there is not strategy, especially after the Winter Olympic 2010. The city has connections and incentive, but people believed there is no strong reason to initiate major sport hosting. The city does not own the stadium, which does not create great profit for the city. Therefore, the city could not follow the traditional route like any other cities.
Collens believes Vancouver can attract, develop and support world-class sports events through great partnerships, enthusiastic guidance and innovative approach. The 5 major partners are City of Vancouver, University of British Columbia, Tourism Vancouver, Vancouver Hotel Destination Association, and BC Pavilion Corporation. Collens shows the challenge is that all 5 major partners work separately, and sport hosting is a way to collaborate these partners together.
Based on the Vancouver sports hosting long term action plan, there is a fundamental framework. First, it improves coordination and collaboration. Second, it dedicates resources for product development. Third, it expands Vancouver’s sport events calendar. Fourth, it develops event assessment tools. Lastly, it increases Vancouver’s profile as a sport hosting destination. Collens emphasizes “create experience” is the key factor of the framework. As the momentum grows in Vancouver, it attracts new players. This extends people’s stay and reallocates resources. The business communities are matching with Vancouver’s actions. Social media and websites are aligning up, which helps sports hosting to know who to call. Furthermore, it creates attention internationally.
In 2016, there were 3 major event bids, which created economic impact of over $64 million with over 20,000 visitors and over 25,000 room nights. The sports hosting helped Vancouver received industry recognition, such as CSTA Prestige awards. The 5 year hosting strategy was in place, and aligned with youth, especially first nation. The capacity of 5,000 tickets is accessible to anyone in the city to engage the community. It reached over 15 million visitors over the year.
Overall, Collens believes the measuring success of 2016 has surpassed 2015, even 2010. The growth of tourism has increased significantly, which allows one event leads to another.
There are many world class sports hosting events that can bring significant economic impact to Vancouver. The first one is HSBC Canada Sevens World Rugby Series. The event will create $8.3 million economic impact. It is a huge opportunity for Vancouver. The next event is called Canada Soccer Men’s National team FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifiers. It can attract 54,798 attendance. Vancouver is looking forward to Gran Fondo event in Whistler, skating, and 2019 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship.
Case Study
Benz states there is a huge transition growth in Volleyball Canada National Champions.
Evolution
Current model and event
Monetizing the event
Volleyball events are now changing the platform. The current model is changing, and the way of monetizing the event is changing to be more effective and efficient.
Traditionally, it was only 8 to 10 teams for each division (Midget East, West, and Juvenile). It required to be quantified through high school and university gym. There was hardly any revenue source.
In 2012, the event managed to bring everyone under one roof. The fans were able to see 26 different teams in Toronto. People realized it is more than volleyball because it helps everyone to see the world class athletes. That event created 20,000 room nights and over 10,000 athletes attend the city. It was the major highlight of the entire city.
In 2015, the event was hosted in Calgary. The event had over 20,000 spectators, 200 staffs, and 350 refs. The event created high performance integration. Benz mentions the growth from 2012 to 2015 increase significantly. It applies the “stay to play” policy. There were 3,000 youth matches over the 6 days and over 4,000 medals distributed. That event created $20 million economic impact. With the revenue of $2.7 million and expense of $2.5 million, the event had the net profit of $571,000. That event itself created business opportunities, especially careers.
Questions and Answers
Collens mentions in the next 5 years, sport hosting will start to package the sporting experience. For instance, by creating a tour for the sport events, it layers the incremental businesses. Local businesses will able to leverage this sport event opportunity.
Comparing with different cities, both Collens and Benz state Vancouver does not have the same sports venue like other cities, such as Toronto. However, Vancouver has its advantage on product offering. Vancouver is catching up and businesses are noticing the cycle. People are able to see the niche.
“Sport activity will solve the potential future economic health”
Vancouver does not view sport events as “one time only” event. Sport hosting allows the city to leverage the sport events statistically and become the true identity for Vancouver.
Benz believes the major challenge in volleyball event is to engage non-volleyball players to volleyball community. Social media and emails are limited for them unless they follow. Resource is limited and coordinating the schedule can be a troublesome.
“They can’t just sell sport, they need to live the experience”
Collens shares there are 3 current metrics for sport hosting.
Name: The Wildcard Effect – Game changing tactics for the entrepreneurial underdog
Presenter: Corwin Hiebert
Entrepreneurs need commercial creatives to attract potential shareholders. Moreover, they are struggling to gain attention from marketplace. Creative Pulse Talk invites Corwin Hiebert, the Founder of Taendem Agency inc, to discuss how successful entrepreneurs turn their creativity into something greater than asset. In this presentation, Corwin Hiebert will explain how to clarify vision, audience, and talents. Entrepreneurs will learn how to leverage creativity into powerful tools to dominate the industries.
Corwin Hiebert is the Founder of Taendem Agency inc. He works with many well-known photographers and publishers. He is also the author of a book called “Living the Dream”. He was the Director for Craft & Vision for over 7 years educating great talents to pursue their dreams. He has created CoLab community, an environment for creative minds, to help out young entrepreneurs. Many young entrepreneurs are inspired by his message.
Hiebert spends most of his attention in the background instead of production. During his road trip with David duChemin, the World and Humanitarian Photographer, duChemin was injured from taking a magnificent shot in the cave. The photo helped his business grew over 50%. During the injury, duChemin took the opportunity to diversify his talents and expand his audience through different platforms, even the scuba diving shots. Hiebert noticed most entrepreneurs want to attract investors, clients, customers or employees, but they are trapped in a toxic cycle of shameless self-promotion.
The question Hiebert asks, “Does your making create conversation?”. There are many people rush forward with half-baked marketing efforts. They are hustling, but they tend to be in a mess at the end. Hiebert believes the key is to embrace the inner underdog. There are opportunities for being the underdog.
Entrepreneurs should always have their wildcards. Wildcard is a way to see the creative way in surprise. Artists with a strong focus will create creativity. Talent is implied, and creative vision changes the game. Entrepreneurs need to be willing to take risks. Furthermore, clients look for things that talents do not applied, especially technical aspects.
It is important to do the unexpected. Entrepreneurs need to zig zag in their entrepreneurial journeys. By taking creative risks, entrepreneurs do not fall the trip of becoming a technician. The barriers or creative blocks exist, and entrepreneurs need to redefine creativity with fill their lives with great habits.
“When ideas flow, be prepared”
Hiebert does not like to litter or leave anything behind. There are too many people leaving unfinished creative marketing garbage behind. It is important for entrepreneurs to create meaningful touchpoint that works. Clients want to see behind the scene; therefore, entrepreneurs need to show process to expose their excitement and educate their clients.
Hiebert wants to create environment for creative minds. It is called CoLab community. It is a place for photographers to thrive. The community captures over-develop talents, creates professionalism, and eliminate isolation. It is a place to provide great insight and feedback.
Entrepreneurs need to live the dream. There are ways to help them get there faster. They do not need new tools, yet they just need new fresh ideas. In order to establish value proposition, entrepreneurs do not need to convince. They need to stand for something. People are looking for strong opinion and point of view. It is up to entrepreneurs to present exciting alternatives, this includes different ways to attract new relationships and focus on their visual story.
To build audience, Hiebert does not think prospects and leads. Instead, they look for ways to build experience. They expand their tribe and ensure their business is on the right direction. They connect to the best in the industry. They make sure they are a part of the primary tribe. Hiebert believes the key is to contribute and be a part of joy. They need to add more humanness. They need the story of inspiration and be a part of human dynamic.
“Create moments to build experience”
In order to inspire deeply, entrepreneurs need to have the drive to learn more about the subject through conversation and relationship. They need to find a way to spark.
Entrepreneurs make people curious by asking hard questions. Not many entrepreneurs can collaborate.
“Strength is not the end result, it is the relationship that builds the process”
Hiebert suggests entrepreneurs not to show everything; instead, show only the best work. There are many entrepreneurs do not communicate their result of their work. They need to have trust voice. Tangible marketing can give clients the pause. Entrepreneurs need to allow people the opportunity to speak about their work.
Lastly, Hiebert recommends entrepreneurs only purchase things they need. It is hard to make money with creative work. When they are in stress, especially financial, they will be less creative.
“Low cash flow kills creativity”
Questions and Answers
To uncover the creative process, Hiebert believes by looking beyond financial opportunity. Entrepreneurs need to ditch the general approach. They need to be narrow on the skills and be excited.
Everyone can be creative. The problem is marketing. Entrepreneurs need to remember that when they execute design, they are responsible the design, not customers. Do not let customers overrun the creative work.
Hiebert used to say “yes” to everything. That was his major mistake. His first business launched when he finally realized he could not do what he did not love anymore. He notices many job holders spend too much energy to hold on their jobs, not explore. Instead of talking about internal culture problem, they need to treat themselves with an entrepreneurial mindset.
Name: 3 secrets to effectively close high ticket sales over the phone
Presenter: Kayvon Kay
Many entrepreneurs invest greatly on leads, but they fail to close the sales, especially on the phone. Internet Mastermind meetup invites Kayvon Kay, the One Call Closer, to discuss his powerful techniques on closing sales. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will differentiate between selling and closing. Moreover, Kayvon Kay will reveal some common mistakes entrepreneurs can avoid. Kayvon Kay will explain how his closing system works for any industry.
Kayvon Kay is the Founder of One Call Closer System. He masters the effective sales closing over the phone technique, and earned the reputation of “The One Call Closer”. He is an international sales trainer and keynote speakers for many years. He has taught many young entrepreneurs with his powerful system called “One Call Closer System”. His strategies have proven more effective than traditional sales tactics. Furthermore, he is a great inspiration and a mentor for young entrepreneurs who are high performers in their industries.
How to effectively close high tickets offer over the phone even if entrepreneurs hate selling
Kay believes whatever people do in business, selling is the skill that will take them to another level. When entrepreneurs can position themselves to close, they can close any client they want.
“Who your clients are is reference to who you are”
With his system, Kay is managed to become number one phone closer in 4 of highly completive industry and has earned the title of “The One Call Closer”. In his business, he values 2 things: family and options. There is no point to have one or the other. As an entrepreneur, Kay demands both. He was labeled with Attention Deficit Disorder during his school years. He failed grade 1 and 9, and lost his confidence. When he found his mentor, who believed in his talents, he gained back his confidence. He learned and mastered the art of closing.
Kay emphasizes it is not selling, yet it is providing opportunity.
It Is important to be in discomfort in order to grow. The more discomfort entrepreneurs have, the more they grow. Many entrepreneurs are having difficulty to perceive this. It is up to entrepreneur to make the decision to take the first step. At the end, they will discover the right zone they want to play in. Kay wants entrepreneurs to remember that what comfortable to entrepreneurs might be dis-comfortable for clients. They need to believe in what they sell 100%. Entrepreneurs can use these 3 questions to test if they have the believe to sell.
Would you buy the product yourself?
Would you 2X the price?
Would you sell it to your friends and family?
Entrepreneurs need to answer all “Yes” to be considered they are selling what they believe.
It is entrepreneurs responsibility to take themselves from being “interested” to “committed”. Once they have the commitment, they will reveal their objectives, such as fear. Courage is the only thing overcome the fear. The question comes down to this: “can you be courageous?”.
Kay shares when entrepreneurs combine influence, thoughts and actions together, they get results. This is why entrepreneurs will never make 1 million if they are influenced by people who makes 1 thousand. Therefore, successful entrepreneurs have people around them that keep them going forward.
The key question Kay wants entrepreneurs to answer is “what are you willing to do the next 3-5 years, that most people will not, in order to get what most people will never have?”
The world is surrounded by people who can sell but fail to close. They have dreams and vision, but they have failed to make them reality because they do not master the art of closing. The question comes to mind is who gets paid? The seller or closer? The answer is the closer.
There is something called “the critical exchange point” when entrepreneurs stop selling and start acquiring. When entrepreneurs do not exchange product or value, they do not close. In fact, close is all about exchange. Entrepreneurs need to get to the critical exchange point. The goal of the closer is to get prospect to take actions all the way to the finish line. They do not stop when clients commit, they will take it to finish. Kay believes the ultimate close is to wrap it up and get it done. Most people do not close because they do not ask. Entrepreneurs either create their own economic future by closing others, or others will create theirs by closing them.
The cost of not closing can be huge. This includes confidence complete diminishes and resources deploy. Whenever entrepreneurs’ beliefs start to drop, it is a signal. Entrepreneurs will need to start all over the cycle. It might take twice of work to restart. Lastly, it does not help customers, which means it is a lose-lose situation.
“what happen if you take ‘C’ out of close? Lose”
Top 3 typical rejection entrepreneurs will hear are as follows.
This sounds good, but let me think about it
Price is too high
Let me run with my partner
This means entrepreneurs lost their control. This results by pushing too much on features or benefits, overselling, mentioning the price too early, not creating enough authority for themselves, or even not showing the values to them. Kay points out when entrepreneurs control the conversation, they control their sell.
“When you call someone, you are a sales person, if they call you, you are an expert”
Here are the 3 high ticket closing secrets from Kay.
Secret #1: Never sound like a sales person
Entrepreneurs should never get over excited. They should not talk too fast. They should not justify their values. They should not use traditional sales tricks, and they should never please or chase their prospect.
Kay focuses on the psychology of pattern interrupt. This means do not act, look, talk like a stereotypical sales person. Entrepreneurs need to be true master of sales and have the ability to control conversation within seconds.
Kay shares the formula: psychology + acting = master closer.
“People do not like to be sold, but they love to buy”
Secret #2: Need to show the pain and provide them with promise land
It is not about giving irresistible offer, it is to identify the transformation clients will receive. It is important to show and motivate them to promise land. Entrepreneurs need to understand their clients’ pains and situation they are in. Importantly, Kay emphasizes entrepreneurs should never solve the problem right away. In another word, do not paint the picture for them, and let them pain the picture for themselves. When entrepreneurs say something, it means something, but when the client says something, it is everything. The bigger the problem, the bigger the opportunity.
“When customer is on the phone with you, they have a problem, and you have a solution”
Secret #3: Ask the right questions and listen
Based on statistic, selling is 80% listening and 20% speaking. Entrepreneurs need to ask questions for 3 important reasons: discovery, control and motivation. Entrepreneurs need to discover their clients’ issues. Entrepreneurs need to regain control of the conversation. Entrepreneurs need to get them excited with demand or urgency. Kay mentions when clients start to ask questions, entrepreneurs have lost the control.
Entrepreneurs should try to avoid as much closed end questions as possible. Those are yes or no questions and one word answer. These questions are not effective, especially when clients have buying power. Entrepreneurs can use opened end questions to get more information for qualification process. Traditionally, entrepreneurs will do proposal first. However, Kay disagrees. Entrepreneurs should not waste their time on those until they close the deal.
Kay believes the most powerful technique is to use re-direct questions. This means answer question with another question to regain control of the conversation. Another way is to use revere psychology technique. Importantly, entrepreneurs should never expose what they do unless they have a profitable reason for doing so. Kay thinks it is a waste of time if entrepreneurs do the same pitch all day to those prospects who are willing to listen but not been qualified. Therefore, the most powerful word is “no”. Move on and continue to the next prospect.
“The less you talk, the more you sell”
“Sales person has the answer, but master asks the right questions”
Bonus secret: if there is no pain, no sale
When entrepreneurs could not identify clients’ pain, there is no sale. When there is no commitment, there is no sale. Kay reveals 3 level of pain: surface, financial and personal. Surface pain can be daily life minor problem. Financial pain can be budget or cash flow. Personal relates to happiness. When entrepreneurs allow clients to understand the cost of personal pain, clients become more engage with the offer. Kay believes entrepreneurs should never present offer unless they can identify at least 3 pain.
“Sales conversation should not be a pleasant experience for the prospect”
To identify pain, Kay provides some pain discovery questions.
Can you tell me more about that?
Please be more specific?
Can you give me an example?
How long has that been a problem?
What have you tried to do about that?
Did it work?
How much do you think that has costed you?
What is the number one challenge you are facing?
People will buy because of their present pain or future pain. When there is no passion, there is no interest. When there is no emotion, there is low needs. In Kay’s point of view, entrepreneurs need to be “reward” focus, not “penalty” focus. Entrepreneurs need to be “result” focus, not “excuse” focus. If they cannot do it, they need to learn it. Revenue creates ego, yet profit creates happiness.
Name: Mobile Growth Vancouver with Staples, Koho, Curatio and PayByPhone
Presenters: Stuart Congdon, Christopher Egan, Christopher Rowntree, and Lauren Bates
Mobile app has revolutionized the way business operates in any industry; moreover, leaders must understand the importance of the mobile app trend. Mobile Growth Vancouver, powered by Branch, invites the mobile experts panel to discuss their perspectives on mobile applications. They will share the essential tools for their businesses. They will share their user acquisition strategies. Furthermore, they will share the best practices for retention and engagement.
The mobile experts panel includes Stuart Congdon, the Product Manager of PayByPhone, Christopher Egan, the Vice President of Product Management for Staples, Christopher Rowntree, the Product Manager of Curatio, and Lauren Bates, the Product Manager of Koho. This presentation will be moderated by Elizabeth Kinsey, the Director of Branch. PayByPhone is a solution to make parking less painful in Vancouver. Staples uses mobile strategy to optimize customer experience for long term growth. Curatio creates a social health platform to connect peers together. Koho is a FinTech company that helps people organize their personal finance.
Discussion with the mobile experts panel
When the moderator asks the panel what animal would their mobile app represents, Rowntree shares Curatio mobile app is like a baby giraffe. It is still a startup, but it is trying to put one foot in front of another. Bates believes Koho mobile app is like a salmon. It is trying to swim upstream every day in every industry. Congdon believes PayByPhone mobile app is like a dog on a skateboard. There is no worry because it takes any situation to painless. Lastly, Egan believes Staples mobile app is like a chameleon. It targets the specific needs and works with other channels.
When it comes to the initial mobile campaign, Egan shares the story of PNI Media acquisition. When PNI Media got acquired by Staples, Egan did the “Mad dash” strategy. The sales were sky high with the new sales injection. The cart flow increased and they managed to disrupt the market with the right timing. Congdon mentions PayByPhone had the opportunity to work along with the rise of Apple Watch. Apple was leading the market and PayByPhone received good publicity. The problem was even though many cities were aware of PayByPhone, they need to go through city by city to win other existing market. There was a spike in brand recognition, but in reality, transactions were still low. Bates shares during the public launch of Koho, Apple noticed the movement. Koho received great press. However, the problem is that opportunity was risk for Koho since it overwhelmed Koho’s existing deadlines. The CEO of Curatio was on Dragon’s Den. The exposure allowed Curatio to realize the current platform was very limited. Curatio needed to open up more community with meaningful connections. However, Curatio was struggling with retention rate. The lesson for Curatio was that they should have make it more specific group instead.
There are many great online tools to manage teams and leadership. Congdon and Rowntree both suggest Slack, and the company has already integrated fully with this application. It is easy to share and it has screen sharing ability, which improves team responses. Bates suggests Intercom and Typeform. Intercom makes marketing easy and Typeform provides great engagement through simple survey. Rowntree suggests ProdPad. It is a product management system that collects user feedback and covert the idea into roadmap. Egan suggests FullStory. It monitors user engagement. To help users discover mobile apps, Rowntree suggests Branch. It welcomes users into the community right away, and it helps companies to discover where users spend most of their time.
To maximize the conversion rate, Bates emphasizes 3 keys.
Make it clear of what benefits are in the app
Minimize the effort for users to get onboard
Provide instant user experience by avoid any delay of notification
Based on statistic, most downloads happen during the weekend due to less stress. Congdon believes it is important not to give too much during the registration. By producing simple steps, it can retain massive attentions from users. For Staples, they still focus on the web based strategy. In order to fight the internal battles and to stay on top, Egan must build the bridge with the big corporation with meaningful dialogue. Everything links to interaction, and since the barrier is now broken, users are looking to see transparency.
Egan believes companies need to use the same KPI on desktop and mobile. They need to identify and measure the behavior between both platforms. It is a great way to see the missing links. There are many simple strategies to engage with users. Rowntree recommends leaders not to send email immediately after users download the app. The key is to capture the journey of the application experience, not creating distraction. Bates emphasizes there is a fine line between push notification and in-app notification. Push notification happens when it involves with important action, yet in-app notification is mostly for feedback and personal connection. Timing is key, and Congdon believes by understanding what users’ primary goals, users will appreciate the notification instead of thinking of it as interruption. Egan mentions leaders can analyze user’s history to create individual experience.
As the role of product, there are tools available to help leaders learn why people are behaving in certain ways. Bates wants leaders to setup tracking to analyze user’s behaviors. It also allows leaders to get feedback quickly. When users are leaving, it gives leader critical information. Typically, there are 2 kinds of user experience: in-app experience and product experience. For PayByPhone, users will engage experience when they find parking, when they choose to use the app, and while they park. PayByPhone needs to meet city’s regulation. By working with the city, it creates compliance, which is another user experience. Congdon believes by looking through the lens of mobile app, users are able to understand the city’s obligation and limitation. Egan wants leaders to remember that mobile app is integrating even heavier in the future.
Question and Answers
When mobile app releases new feature, the panel believes the ability of care and attention is important. Leaders need to start testing as soon as possible. Just to name a few, there are internal testing, technical testing, and even VIP beta testing. They need to keep their eyes on the aftermath.
When machine learning involves with mobile app, there is an expectation of how user actions facilitate user experience. Users are looking for recommendation from other users. Machine learning allows mobile app to make things quicker. It can provide leverage and streamline the complexity of current procedure.
Rowntree advices leaders to get themselves into users’ shoes. Bates advices leaders not to underestimate the great value of support groups in mobile app. Congdon advices leaders to everyone. A majority of users are quiet. When leaders discover what is important to a user, they are able to capture their attention and bring out the best from them. Lastly, Egan advices leaders never let perfection get to them. Leaders need to learn to take risks.
Name: Uncovering Social Media Secrets – An Entrepreneur’s Online World
Presenter: Karin Bohn
It is not simple for entrepreneurs to build a solid online present through social media, especially creating online relationship. Kabuni invites Karin Bohn, the Owner of House of Bohn, to discuss her business insight on social media. This interview will be moderated by Kelsey Jorssen, the Director of Jorssen Media. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will learn the secrets behind online branding. Moreover, Karin Bohn will share her business experience on key fundamental of creating successful online profile.
Karin Bohn is the Owner of House of Bohn. It is one of the award-winning interior design firm in Vancouver. She focuses on all kinds of industries. Karin Bohn was a Sustainable Building Analyst from Stantec Consulting Ltd. In addition, she was a Principal for Karin Bohn Creative for over 3 years. Many young entrepreneurs follow her on her social media. Her genuine online appearance has helped her gain many media coverage. She inspires many new millennials in various of industries.
Interview with Karin Bohn
Bohn used to hate sales. To get herself better, she found connection with her online community by reaching out to them. The power of crating online relationship helped her success.
Bohn believes relationship online is a start. Social media is only a tool for connection. It is an instant way to connect with people. It is a building block for her business. Bohn expanded her interior design career through social media.
She admits she did not see the power of social media. She spent 5 years to build business offline. Until one day, her staff encouraged the company to leverage blogging. This was when online world opened up for Bohn. Online present is important because it can present more personality. However, personal branding can take a long time.
“Building a brand is evolution”
Bohn suggests entrepreneurs to concentrate only 3 social media platforms, and not going overboard. Entrepreneurs cannot just make content and dump it to social media. Audience can sense that. Instead, entrepreneurs need to make content differently on each platform. They need to evaluate the “why” and what they want from it. Importantly, entrepreneurs cannot substitute social media with sales.
Social media is used to inspire, connect and build profile. It is better to tie social media with personal brand and appropriate business topic. The key is to be specific and focus.
Bohn invests a lot in content making. There is no quick turnaround. In her current business model, expanding is more prioritized than monetizing. She invites new prospects in different markets through social media.
The biggest problem with social media is that everyone is trying to copy everything they see. There are too much content and it can take a while to find their own rhythm. Bohn starts from inspiration to personal. The advice from Bohn is that entrepreneurs should try not to look at other people’s profile. This will help them create and find their own authentic style.
The question of picking the right content or holding back can be different for many entrepreneurs. However, for Bohn, her personality is open book. She shares everything. She believes everyone is living in the show and tell age, which means the more they show, the more branding they create. Static website is enough these days. People want to see behind the scene. The key is the element of trust.
Not everyone is paying attention to every social media content. That is why Bohn needs to create all kind of content. It is evolution and the conversation needs to change. In order to change the voice, entrepreneurs need to change their focus. Experiment is essential. Feedback is the appetite for business. When audience is reaching out to them and telling them what they want to see, that is branding.
Bohn believes entrepreneurs need know themselves well. They need to know what fit them. There is no right way of doing things, but they need to measure based on their resource and time. Ultimately, they should not do just because others are doing it. Audience can sense if entrepreneurs are not being authentic.
To get attention, Bohn hires PR person. She manages to get media going for her business. The world of market is always changing, so visibility is an important factor on social media. Based on statistic, service is shorter time than product in media. Therefore, entrepreneurs should not expect of conversion from social media to sale immediately. Bohn still do cold calling to generate business. However, the best skill still has a better chance to close than the best creative skill.
“Trust your content, it will bring back in future”
In her next business move, Bohn will collaborate her design team with digital team. She recommends entrepreneurs to assess the question of “Do I continue to do creative or growth?”. Entrepreneurs are living in the age of “bigger is better”, so they have to focus on their objective. Growth can take time, energy and resource, and growth itself is not enough. Furthermore, bigger followers do not mean success.
Questions and Answers
Bohn believes personal branding is the form of giving back. She wants to help people grow their businesses. She wants to share her experience and expertise to entrepreneurs since it can be lonely in the path of entrepreneurship. Quality is important. However, aiming for perfection can create endless problems. Social media shows personality by creating content that presents Bohn. The key is whether or not if they can deliver the right value to the right audience.
Some people do not like cold calling, so Bohn use cold emailing instead. Cold emailing can be more effective than cold calling. Since emails can be buried with other emails, Bohn suggests entrepreneurs to use both methods. Transparency is important.
“Call is not about sales. It is about giving value to other people”
Entrepreneurs can use social media to search other business’s story. Bohn believes business first and social media second. Business should always be the top priority for startup. In the next stage of business, PR is essential because visibility is what expands the business. The hard question is “what do you do after you receive media spotlight?”. The answer is social media. Bohn shares 5 main stages of business.
Visibility
Creditability
Profitability
Sustainability
Scalability
After visibility, people are starting to notice the business. The question is “do they want to work with you?”. This is when next 2 stages come in. Is business making money? Will it be able to sustain? Lastly, business needs an exit strategy, which is scalability.
There is no point to sit and wait. It is important to move forward with creating new content. Networking through social media is a good start, but knowing where the audience hangout keeps business sustainable. Sales and education are different, and entrepreneurs should not expect sales will come from education right away.
Successful entrepreneurs seek for successful experience from acknowledged leaders in difference industries. Startup Grind Vancouver invites Natalie Dakers, the Founding President of Accel-Rx, to discuss her success and mistakes. Entrepreneurs will learn her path and apply the lessons to their businesses. Moreover, Natalie Dakers will share her personal experience in the view of investor.
Natalie Dakers is the Founding President and CEO of Accel-Rx. She was also the Founding President of The Centre for Drug Research and Development and the CEO of Neuromed Technologies Inc. Natalie Dakers is considered to be one of BC’s most influential woman entrepreneur in biopharmaceutical industry. She helps many startups with her expertise and raises over multi million dollars of venture capital. Moreover, she inspires many young entrepreneurs and she is a role model for future entrepreneurs.
Chat with Natalie Dakers
During her trip to Europe this year for Health Science Conference, Natalie Dakers saw the opportunity of collaboration. Her mission was to sell Canada to invest and attract companies to Canada. Her role of an advocate allowed her to build opportunities with many companies oversea. The value proposition for Canada is good corporate tax. Comparing with other countries, Canada has good corporate tax. Canada also have well scaled workforce, great environment, and future young spirit.
When it comes down to capital versus talent, Canada needs to find ways to recruit, keep, and grow good talents. In Dakers’ point of view, the application from tech sector has increased, so as the students. However, in biotech sector, the challenge of growing comes down to a lack of leadership skill, not technical skill.
Many entrepreneurs label Dakers as the entrepreneur, but Dakers believes everyone can be entrepreneur if they want to. She realizes it is the way of being. The fund about being entrepreneur is the uncertainty. There are opportunities around them.
“Be comfortable in uncomfortable”
People are in fear of failing because everyone wants to look good all the time. Being an entrepreneur is about believing what he or she can give. Passion plays a huge role. What entrepreneurs believe depends on their definition of entrepreneur. Furthermore, Dakers wants entrepreneurs to ask themselves “why” they do what they do. It is good to fail because entrepreneurs need to know the feeling. It allows them to prepare. Entrepreneurs embrace failure and many of them tend to take the safe path and do not allow others to do too good. This has to stop. Dakers believes entrepreneurs need to prepare to failure; otherwise, they will not able to reach their top potential.
Many people label Dakers as an investor, but Dakers emphasizes that she loves pitching ideas. She has more compassion in companies. It is difficult for Dakers to transfer from being an entrepreneur to an investor.
“Entrepreneur is a pain in the ass”
Dakers has learned that being an entrepreneur is to work with people who wants to work with them. To be successful, entrepreneurs need to seek feedbacks. Listening is the key. There is a gem in every feedback.
Her business model for Accel-Rx comes from her passion. She had built neutral infrastructure for biopharmaceutical industry. She allowed people to take advantage of the resources. She seek this opportunity by creating Accel-Rx to streamline the pipeline for helping companies in funding. Accel-Rx provided customized support and it helped many startup companies to prepare for series A investing opportunity. Accel-Rx raised commercialize funds and other capitals. The key is to streamline the investing process.
Dakers shares the trick to raise fund is to have a good story. Entrepreneurs need to communicate and listen to the needs. They need to keep their eyes open for possibility. The problem she is facing is that British Columbia does not have enough companies to form resources for startups. The competition is rising, yet there is not enough venture capitals. Dakers needs to take her company to national view because she believes there is money out for every startup.
To identify investment opportunity, Dakers will focus on 2 main questions.
Is there enough money on the table to go Series A?
Can it build relationship around people?
Entrepreneurs need to ask themselves if they are a bridge or a pier. Will they make a difference? Can they connect with people? Are they able to work together? At the end, technology factors often rank the lowest.
Dakers see in the future that the problem occurs more in people than technology because everyone has already assumed technology will change. In other words, people will hold entrepreneurs back, so they need to know who are dedicated. A majority of entrepreneurs who are on board with their projects is part time. This characteristic need to change because the is no chance for them to succeed Series A if they are part time. The question is how to convert them to be ready for Series A. Dakers looks for passion and determination. The best combination is science person with a business person. Why? Because they respect as team. Dakers emphasizes the power of company is that partnership.
In 2008, Dakers mentions British Columbia had lost many ventures due to the crash. BC has not bounced back from the recession. Accel-Rx is created to have open doors for startup companies. Dakers is certain that Accel-Rx has the ability to make them as profitable companies in BC. It will be difficult, but they will find the way.
There are too many false hopes passing down to students. Principle is important, but understanding what entrepreneurs try to do is more important. There must be a change in managing expectations.
Questions and Answers
When the funding pool is limited, venture capitals will base on different mandate to allocate the funds. Entrepreneurs need to look at it as continuum. The advice Dakers gives to young entrepreneurs is to think who they are as a person. They do not need to be in hurry to figure things out. They just need to breath and do not believe that a single decision can change everything. They must follow their passions. They need to be practical and be willing to work hard. They need to build their network.
The strategy is to chase all the leads because young entrepreneurs will never now. They should conduct a lot of conversation. They are seeds and they need to nurture. Therefore, Dakers think entrepreneurs should have the mindset of expect small percentage of ownership of a bigger pie. Culture is important. Value is important. However, living in value is more important.
When it comes down to personal, Dakers shares her sons are the most important people in her personal world and her team is the most important people in her professional world. All good things and bad things revolve around people and when entrepreneurs invite the wrong person in, it is death.
Name: The Art of Financial Projections – Turning Dreams into Numbers
Presenter: John Kay
Financial forecasting helps entrepreneurs understand the projection of their businesses; moreover, it can be a huge challenge for many entrepreneurs, especially at startups. Kabuni invites John Kay, the CEO of Realize Strategies, to discuss the technologies to build a realistic financial projection. In this presentation, John Kay will share the key elements in forecasting. He will simplify the overview on how to create the forecast. Entrepreneurs will able to apply the strategies to their businesses.
John Kay is the CEO and the Principal Consultant of Realize Strategies. For the past 5 years, he led his team to search financial solutions for many entrepreneurs. His strategies have helped and improved many companies to the next level. He is a Certified Management Accountant. Moreover, he volunteers as a Director-at-Large with The Shanti Uganda Society and the Chair of Board of Directors for Fairtrade Canada.
Turning Dreams into Numbers
Many people have great ideas. It is the “how” that frustrates them. The path from great idea to make banker happy is not easy for entrepreneurs. Financial projection will help entrepreneurs start their paths.
Is financial projection an art or science? Kay believes it is the mix of both. There is no magic bullet and entrepreneurs must anticipate that things do not always go according to plan.
There are 6 basic terms in any financial projection.
Income Statement
Balance Sheet
Fixed cost
Variable cost
Cost of Goods sold
Profit
Kay indicates Income Statement is the revenue over expense for a period of time. It shows profit after tax. For balance sheet, it has assets, liabilities, and equity. Asset is what entrepreneurs own, liability is what entrepreneurs owe, and equity is the net worth of the business. The total assets equals to the sum of the total liabilities and equity. Fixed cost is the cost that do not increase or decrease with sales, yet variable cost is the cost that do increase or decrease with sales. Cost of goods sold is the total cost of material, direct labor or any cost that is associated to the product.
Profit is the financial gain between revenue and expenses. There are 3 types of profits: gross, operating, and net. Gross profit comes from the difference between revenue and cost of goods sold. When entrepreneurs deduct all operating expenses from gross profit, it shows operating profit. Lastly, after taxes, it is net profit.
“Cash is King”
Kay wants entrepreneurs to remember that in any business, cash is king. If there is no cash flow, entrepreneurs are out of the business. Therefore, all matter is the bottom line.
In startups, when entrepreneurs are building financial projections, kay wants entrepreneurs to answer 2 questions.
What will it cost to start my business?
How much do I need to borrow?
Startup cost is essential. Many entrepreneurs ignore that cost and they experience difficulty operating the business at the beginning. Kay believes the important concept is to be conservative on the numbers. They need to understand what will it cost to operate their business even if they do not sell anything. That will be the fixed cost for the business.
Many people believe the opportunity is massive. They overestimate their projecting revenue. It takes time for startup to capture the right market, Kay advices entrepreneurs to be conservative and realistic.
Kay shares 2 bottom up approach. The first approach is called Breakeven. Entrepreneurs need to ask themselves how much they need to sell to breakeven. The second approach is called Estimates. Entrepreneurs can research their market and location to determine the right amount for their projections.
Kay shares 2 pricing strategies for entrepreneurs to determine their product price. The first strategy is called Cost Plus Pricing. Entrepreneurs can take the cost to produce the goods plus the required funds to cover the overhead and the expected funds to generate profit. In other words, the selling price is the combination of the total cost per unit plus the desire profit margin.
The second strategy is called Target Pricing. Entrepreneurs need to identify what will customer pay. Can they sell at that price or do they need to reduce production cost? The answer comes from the market research. When entrepreneurs do their market research, they will know how competitive their markets are in their industries. Entrepreneurs must understand the product characteristic, know the right cost drivers, and figure out the process and analysis in order to determine the right target price.
There are more pricing strategies. Kay has listed out some great pricing strategies.
Penetration Pricing
Market Skimming
Psychological Pricing
Influence of Elasticity
Value Pricing
Going Rate (Price Leadership)
Contribution Pricing
Loss Leader
Tender Pricing
Marginal Cost Pricing
Price Discrimination
Predatory Pricing
Absorption or Full Cost Pricing
Destoryer Pricing
To project revenue, entrepreneurs need to cover material costs, labor costs, and the margin. In order to know how much entrepreneurs need to sell. They can use the breakeven formula, which is the total fixed cost divided by the difference of the projected selling price and the total variable cost. Kay wants entrepreneurs to visit these 2 questions when they determine their breakeven numbers.
Is it realistic?
Can I make it work?
To project profit, entrepreneurs need to estimate sales required to generate profit. They need to determine their desired profit, contribution margin, and breakeven sales. Contribution margin is the difference between selling price and the total variable cost. The strategy to project profit is to work backwards. The required sales is the desired profit divided by the sum of the contribution margin and the breakeven sales. Again, entrepreneurs need to ask themselves if it is realistic.
Two important questions Kay wants entrepreneurs to ask is “what number do they want to charge their client?” and “how much do they want for themselves?”. To control the cash flow, Kay advices entrepreneurs to pay attention on the receivable. Do not to let receivable go crazy and pay attention to the inventory.
Kay recommends entrepreneurs to know their industries, keep it simple, know how much money they need and how much risk they can afford. Never overestimate and be realistic and cash flow is paramount.
Name: Leadership Forum – Strategies for achieving a healthy corporate culture
Presenters: Karina LeBlanc, Wendy Lachance, and Dr. Kevin Wainwright
It is critical to strive a healthy team environment in every business; moreover, leaders are encouraged to cultivate a supportive healthy culture. Company of Young Professionals is the signature program from Greater Vancouver Board of Trade. Company of Young Professional invites the leadership panel to discuss strategies to create team culture. All the panelists will share their key success factors to achieve ideal team culture. In this presentation, leaders will learn the action steps to implement their strategies and vision.
The leadership panel includes 3 leaders. Karina LeBlanc is the 2x Olympian and Canadian Women’s Soccer Team. She is also the UNICEF Ambassador and motivational speaker. Wendy Lachance is the Director of Community Leadership for Coast Capital Savings. Dr. Kevin Wainwright is the Director of Projects and Strategic Initiatives for BCIT School of Business. The moderator for this panel presentation is Farhan Mohamed, the Editor-in-Chief and Partner of The Daily Hive.
Playing in the healthy sport culture is essential for LeBlanc. Sport is a huge part of her life. When the pressure is on her in the playoff, the light is bright and clear. Her mind needs to work and stay focus. During the World Cup, it is them versus China. There was a penalty kick. Because of all mental training, her mindset was aligned with the mission and objective.
“Prepare, believe in yourself, balance”
Wainwright sees a psychological challenge in modern culture. After military, many soldiers are experience the shift from a family culture to a new culture. Many of them are not aware of the transition. Wainwright explains they are not engaging to reach out. They need to engage, listen, talk, and work. In fact, they need help. Many of them are experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder. They are taught to be strong. The world needs to have a portal for them to be aware of this issue. They are not alone. Wainwright believes everyone goes through the transition phase in their lives. There are resources available and they need to engage to use them.
The feasibility of corporate culture is essential. Lachance believes the world needs an easy to implement solution. It is shocking to know that many people are not aware of mental issue in corporate culture. An easy physical activity is a simple way to implement healthy corporate culture. A small change does make a difference. The key is to ask, listen and learn. Leaders need to take time to check in and never assume everything is fine. The responsibility is on leaders’ shoulders. If there is a challenge, it is best to speak it out.
In 2011, a reporter asked an uncomfortable question to LeBlanc after a defeat in a World Cup game. The question was “how does it feel to let your country down?”. LeBlanc felt embarrassed. Afterwards, a new coach was hired and a new culture was formed. Instead of using traditional training techniques, the coach helped all teammates to be aware of who they were. When everyone discovered their “why”, they could see their strengths. LeBlanc was inspired. Because of this new team environment, they were able to bounce back. They knew their country care for them. The culture helped the team reach another success.
“People will go beyond for people”
Wainwright believes the atmosphere must be welcome. This comes from engagement of the team. He explains there are two factors to achieve healthy corporate culture.
Trust everybody
Empower others
It is about trusts on their decisions. If these factors are met, everyone will take care of themselves. The role of a leader is not being the expert; in fact, it is about bringing together.
Lachance believes not getting to know the team is a common mistake from leaders. If there is no honest conversation, it is difficult to develop relationship. When that happens, people will not speak up.
LeBlanc wants leaders to remember to make team members comfortable and make the best of them out there. In leadership, the fundamental concept is that “teach you all, and you all teach me”. Understand their strengths, lead by example, and give reward that people value.
Wainwright believes leadership only happens when people are willing to follow. This must come from within. By changing the way of thinking, leaders can invite others to them. There are too many leaders try to do everything. Therefore, it is important to step back and understand why people are following.
When it comes to mental health issue, Lachance encourages people to give back to community. By allowing employees the opportunity to volunteer, it creates a healthy vibe to the team culture. The economy impact can be huge. When people do not come forward to this issue, it loses productivity.
Employee recognition is a great way to improve team culture if it is done correctly. Lachance believes this method gives them an opportunity to publicity, allowing everyone to see it. However, Wainwright believes employee recognition must be a part of a big strategy. Employee recognition is like a milestone. It magnifies the issue that needs to be solved. Employee recognition is just the first step; leaders need them to keep building more success.
The technology can also impact the culture. The technology world forces people to be more self-control, connected, and flexibility. However, the problem of addition can a challenge. LeBlanc encourage leaders to allow their team to be present as much as possible. The moment of face to face can create a stronger impact towards the culture. It is important to find the balance. The power of technology can be amazing since it provides the freedom of stress. However, it can affect lifestyle. The question comes down to if technology removes stress or reduce stress in people’s lifestyles. Therefore, Wainwright wants leaders to be conscious about it.
LeBlanc recommends leaders to “own the moment”. Wainwright emphasizes sometimes when leaders cannot figure it out, there will be someone out there that will help them out. Leaders need to be active listener, be willing to share, be human, be open, and be willing to listen and learn.
Many entrepreneurs are leaning towards paperless concept to create productivity; moreover, they believe paperless is the future direction for businesses. The Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC) Richmond Chapter invites Tony Tsao, Director of Purplo Consulting Inc., to discuss the best practice of implementing paperless operation. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will learn the strategies to build paperless. Tony Tsao will share his experience to help entrepreneurs develop paperless framework for their businesses and reduce costs in operation workflow.
Tony Tsao is the Director of Purplo Consulting Inc. He helps many entrepreneurs to integrate their business with modern technology. He also helps them to see the benefit of leveraging technology into their businesses. Tony Tsao is a Certified Management Accountant. He volunteers in Junior Achievement of Canada as a Class Leader, and he is a Board Director for Taiwan Chamber of Commerce in BC. Moreover, his passion in technology has inspired many young entrepreneurs in technology sector.
Tony Tsao believes paperless office is the next shift in any business industries. The concept of paperless office consists of 3 major factors: people, infrastructure, and process. People is considered to be the most important factor. People focuses on culture and change. It can be difficult to explain change, especially there is resistance from people. The infrastructure in the digital world is evolving. Many operating functions are now processed through computers. Consumers usually are the first to test bug when new technology is released. When the new technology is matured, it will sell to big corporation as premium package. Many entrepreneurs tend to forget about process. Technology is no longer acceptable to only store or archive. Instead, entrepreneurs look for automation. Software is what entrepreneurs are demanding in today’s digital world.
Paperless is important because it can save money, offer better client service and work anywhere. Cost of storage and staffing can be reduced. There will be more customer customization when entrepreneurs adopt the paperless concept. Furthermore, entrepreneurs are able to rely on remote access information for digital records through internet connection.
“A happy client is a repeat client”
The cost of implementing paperless system software depends on the size of the organization. However, if the culture is not compatible, the paperless system will reduce the productivity. The risk of employee dissatisfaction comes from no involvement of decision making from employees, no buy-ins, and no guideline in place. Therefore, it is rare to see entrepreneurs go complete paperless.
Tsao emphasizes paperless is a culture. Entrepreneurs need to identify if there is any tension when paperless concept is introduced. It is not for everyone. Many entrepreneurs will implement only a portion of their operation into paperless. There will be a hurtle and it is up to entrepreneurs and their teams to overcome it.
Tsao shares the 3 levels of paperless: digital office, paperless office, and paperless office with workflow. Digital office uses technology tools, but the final product is still paper. Paperless office will include digital copy of the final output. Lastly, the paperless office with workflow will have alert, automation, triggers and communications.
There are 4 steps go paperless.
Planning
Tool selection
Implement
Review
Tsao shares the planning step is the key to success because it builds the foundation of mindset, workflow, and file structure. It allows entrepreneurs to understand their current situation. They need executive sponsor, empower paperless champions, define key roles, and get buy-ins. Workflow helps entrepreneurs to see the importance of document management, alerts and automation. Tsao recommends entrepreneurs to use diagrams or flowcharts to illustrate workflow. It helps entrepreneurs to think about the flow of document and engagements. For entrepreneurs, Tsao suggests them to use Salesforce, Podio, or MyDocSafe to help their workflow.
Tsao illustrates the diagram of Points of Entry. When client data flows into the paperless system, it leads to document intake and outflow. The usage of the document will store in the engagement. Once it is complete, it will deliver the information out of the paperless system. Tsao wants entrepreneurs to carefully structure how the files organized. This includes the types of files, access, and conversion date.
“If human do the process, you will get human error, so let the system do the work”
The second step is tool selection. Entrepreneurs needs to select the right tools for software, hardware, training and IT support. Software includes productivity, document, workflow management and communication. Hardware includes scanner, server and network. It is suggested to hire training provider and IT professional for support.
The third step is implementation. Based on experience, Tsao estimates the implementation will take around 1 year. It usually takes 4 months to scan old files. Tsao recommends entrepreneurs to do pilot test on one department first then expand. Remember to work with paperless champions and provide enough training.
The last step is review. The is the stage where entrepreneurs need to listen to users for feedback. Feedbacks identify issues and it helps entrepreneurs to reiterate the current process. It is important to document any changes.
“Whether going to paperless is still personal choice”
Paperless system can be overwhelming for entrepreneurs. Overcome the change resistance from the team can be challenging. Fear is valid, and people will resist. They think change is bad news. At first, people experience blissful ignorance. It leads to informal anguish. When they adapt the system, they will come to term. Lastly, they will have realistic support.
Tsao suggests some useful software and hardware for entrepreneurs. For scanner, Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 is a great investment. It is wireless and has the OCR option; however, it has TWAIN issue. For server, it is suggested to invest from Tier 1 manufacture companies. It lasts longer and has less compatibility issues. For software, Adobe Acrobat DC can be expensive. Therefore, it is suggested to use it only if it is required from contracts. The alternative for Adobe Acrobat DC is Foxit Reader. It has the main feature of Adobe Acrobat DC on free version. For practice management tool, entrepreneurs can try OfficeTools Workspace for CRM and Document. This tool can help entrepreneurs manage folders and analyze how long users access the file. It also has customer portal. Vohcom Page is another great software for file storage. It is simple and it can import/export outlook emails. E-Courier is a great secured way to deliver files online. Doc.It is great for document management. It uses OCR searchable feature, and it manages file structure. Podio is a great for workflow structure. It is cheaper, and it has customized option.
Backup is important. Tsao believes every industry must has a system for backup files. Anti-virus is mandatory. Many anti-virus programs provide centralized dashboard for monitoring. TPS software helps entrepreneurs track time. Tsao recommends entrepreneurs to get 2 monitors. For paperless, many entrepreneurs will go for 3 monitors. They also can get Google Chromecast for presentation purpose. Entrepreneurs can download TWOmonUSB app to covert iPad into monitor. It is important to purchase software with training component. It is suggested to get IT team because outsource is better than over burden someone in the company with technology issues.
There are other concerns entrepreneurs have for paperless system. The security of using email or cloud is a concern. The automation for proper backup is another concern. Network configuration manual is needed. Where is the IT resources? Outside assistance? Or maybe in-house system?
Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of try to tackle all at once, especially scanning. They need to have a plan first. They need document process. They need to think about digital file organization. They need IT infrastructure, and they need proper training.
“Why aren’t you going paperless? It is totally viable”
Presenters: Kraig Docherty, Sarah Veness, Laura Crawford, Tarrnie Williams, and Haidee Kongpreecha
Tech industry is facing a shortage of skilled entrepreneurs; moreover, successful young entrepreneurs are witnessing a good timing to transition themselves into this industry. GradusOne produces GradusTalks events to help young entrepreneurs get closer to their business goals. GradusTalks invites the tech panel to discuss their perspective on the current tech industry. In this presentation, the tech panel will share their unique experience on how to build the necessary skills in their industries. Furthermore, young entrepreneurs will learn their insight and apply to their pathway to tech.
The moderator for this presentation is Kraig Docherty, the Director of Talent Programs from BC Tech. The Tech panel includes Sarah Veness, the Web Developer from Omnifilm Entertainment, Laura Crawford, the senior manager from Mobify, Tarrnie Williams, the CEO of Blueprint Reality, and Haidee Kongpreecha, the Content Marketing Strategist from RED academy.
Keynote from Kraig Docherty
The current ecosystem in Vancouver is elevating the game of tech. There is a shift coming to tech industry. Many young entrepreneurs are looking for opportunities; in addition, tech industry is bringing back the key players to Vancouver.
Docherty believes the tech industry is facing 3 major challenges. First, there is a growing talent deficit. Local companies are required to access talents. The opportunities in tech are rising, but these positions are not filling. Entrepreneurs need to change rule of the game. There will be more graduates who are stepping into tech industry, yet they are competing with existing seniors. Based on statistic, 45% of workface only 10% are in tech sector. Eventually, entrepreneurs will see a shift in the tech industry.
The remaining 2 challenges are compensation level and work drain. BC Government has renewed their BC Tech strategy to help young entrepreneurs. This includes investing in post-secondary capacity, doubling co-op and work integrated learning, and supporting Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality development. BC Government looks for improvement, education, and support in tech industry.
The Tech panel discussion
The question of gender difference in tech industry is raised. Williams believes balance board equals to balance result. Opportunities exist anywhere. In tech, interest plays a bigger role in the industry. Kongpreecha believes passion is the key. Crawford believes networking is essential. Veness starts to see change mindset for young kids in school. Traditionally, school was lacking encouragement. Now, the tech industry is starting to see balance opportunities for everyone. Success cannot be measured by gender; in fact, different perspectives are the key to success.
For young entrepreneurs who want to work in tech industry but no tech skill can be challenging. Veness shares that she always had the interest before she worked in tech industry. With no tech background, she went to many meetups, seminars, and information workshops. She finally took the initiative to enroll herself into a tech course. Crawford had a similar experience. She was following a non-conventional path in her career, but she decided not to become a teacher. She enjoyed the interactions, talking and meeting. One day, she took the risk and stepped into the tech industry. The learning curve was steep, but the opportunity was worth it. Crawford advices young entrepreneurs to be vulnerable and honest.
“Become a sponge first, the hours I put in will pay off”
Williams suggests young entrepreneurs need to look inside themselves and ask why. They need to discover their own values. It is worth the time to think about the passion. Tech is everywhere because everything involves in tech. Kongpreecha does not feel she works in tech industry because she knows tech is everywhere. Young entrepreneurs need to go out and find the right people. They will realize tech industry is not just one industry; in fact, it is a part of everything.
Crawford believes the best way to know about corporate culture is to have informational interview. Networking on LinkedIn is another alternative. The key is that if young entrepreneurs do not ask, they will never know. In Blueprint Reality, Williams hire most employees through referrals. Williams suggests young entrepreneurs to network people who are in that company in their company events. They need to do research, such as following social media. Young entrepreneurs will be surprise how many people are willing to help out.
Kongpreecha believes soft skill is essential in tech industry. This includes good personality, work ethic and continuous learning. Young entrepreneurs need to look beyond technical skills. Team work is important according to Williams, and be resilient is key for Crawford. The ability to say “I don’t know” is significant from Veness. The willing to learn is important. Young entrepreneurs should never be afraid to have human connection. It narrows down to two major questions.
How badly do you want it?
How do you interact?
Veness mentions she loves teaching. Mentorship is a way to help people get motivated. Kongpreecha believes there are many opportunities to guide, especially in soft skills. Docherty was Crawford’s mentor. She had the pleasure to talk to Docherty outside of work. He offered her new perspective that leads to her success. Williams has been a mentor more than mentee. Overall, experience can be passed on and young entrepreneurs are encouraged to share. Being a mentor can learn a lot about themselves.
Comparing with other cities, tech industry in Vancouver has great ecosystem, great diversity, and great inclusive. However, there is limited funding. This means there is noth enough investors in tech who are willing to invest companies to become the next billion dollar enterprise. There is not enough exits in Vancouver. Williams shares when there is limited amount of funding, competitors from other cities will pivot and move on. Vancouver is still not close enough comparing with other cities. Veness advices young entrepreneurs that they should not assume fast pace as the next tech idea. Great idea is great, but great delivery is even greater. In Vancouver, companies tend not to see others as competition because resources are shared. Collaboration leads to better result.
Crawford believes the biggest challenge is the value alignment. Many young entrepreneurs come from different backgrounds. It is important to bring something different to the table. Kongpreecha believes manage expectation can a challenge. Communication must be clear.
Williams believes Virtual Reality will rise. There are many VR events in Vancouver, and many people have the passion to build something from VR. It will change everything. Other than VR, Fintech, Clean Tech, gaming and e-commerce are also booming. Eventually, all companies will become tech companies in future. Kongpreecha looks at it as a bucket of skills, which is digital development, digital marketing, digital design and soft skills. These skills are not just only for tech industry. They are important for all kinds of industries. Any traditional marketing will insert technology aspects.
To prepare for tech industry, it is important to reach out to people for training. Mindset is extremely important. Change can be rapid, support is the key, and focus on experience.
Name: BCBusiness – Thought Leadership with Boyd Liski
Presenter: Boyd Liski
As technology enhanced, many entrepreneurs think the end of B2B sales team is near in the current business world; however, it is the rise of new B2B sales reality. BCBusiness invites Boyd Liski, the Founder of Iksil Group Inc, to discuss sales training techniques and systems for B2B. In this presentation, Boyd Liski will share the shift of new B2B era. In addition, Boyd Liski will provide key components of creating high performing sales team. The sales concepts and strategies from Boyd Liski will benefit many entrepreneurs who are looking for a breakthrough in their sales market.
Boyd Liski is the Founder of Iksil Group Inc. He is also the co-Founder of FOCUS$SellingSystems. With over 23 years of experience, Liski has specialized the strategy of B2B investing. He coaches many top performing companies to create record breaking success. Moreover, he helps many entrepreneurs to develop their market growth and leverage technology to gain competitors advantage. His unique sales training techniques inspire many young entrepreneurs and startups. Liski is also a Board Facilitator for The Alternative Board.
Boyd Liski believes the new B2B sales reality adds up to big numbers. In his sales model, it consists of 4 major parts: strategy, build in value, capture value, and win. Strategy requires strategy drivers. Build in value needs system drivers and capture value involves sales drivers. All entrepreneurs need to have the mindset of “win”. The strategy and build in value are task oriented. When entrepreneurs reach the capture value, they will see 10 times return. As they reach to the win, they need market strategy for greater return. Liski mentions many entrepreneurs are stuck in the build in value and could not move up to capture value. In fact, many big companies are managed to move up to capture value, such as intelligence, quickly.
There is a radical shift of B2B sales reality. Many entrepreneurs think B2B is broken; however, Liski disagrees. The new era of B2B has begun. Entrepreneurs will be seeing 3 factors: marketing has a bigger role than before, performance needs structure, and the impact of sales revenue.
In the selling process, many entrepreneurs could no surpass 57% because they only gather limited customer information. The missing piece is customer experience. Liski emphasizes the purchasing experience from customer is number one driver to their loyalty, ahead of brand, product or value. For many companies, widespread support is the number one criteria for decision making. Customer experience creates a huge impact in B2B and it sets apart from other competitors. Many companies are focusing on technology changes, such as new website or software, but smarter marketers start with big picture. To move from 57% to 80% or more, entrepreneurs need to have add sales value experience.
Liski shares the 5 best practices to be a strategic marketer.
Start with strategic approach
Success is gradual
Establish the position of though leader
Combine multiple tactics
All about customer
Liski believes there are 5 common marketing mistakes many entrepreneurs are making.
Undefined value proposition
Weak messaging
Features, not benefits
Project orientation
No sales alignment
In this new B2B sales reality, customers are looking for experts. They are craving for consultant. Liski believes it is time for entrepreneurs to get smart people in the front line. Therefore, Entrepreneurs need to unlock customer value, create predictable result, deploy high performance team, and master simple power system.
Liski provides 5 main criteria to reach high performing sales team
Raise themselves as excellent
Structure sales process
Hold to high level of accountability
Aggressively raise bar year to year
Terminate underperformer
The number one business rule is to have a system to leverage team talents. It requires the approach to build and master the Sales Operating System. There are 4 components of Sales Operating System: hiring, training, coaching, and paying. Moreover, leadership and management play a huge part of all 4 components.
The hiring component focuses on market clarity. Entrepreneurs need to analyze the market priority, align all capability gaps, and place themselves in the attack position. The training component focuses on pipeline creation. Entrepreneurs need to target the right campaign and process. Each part needs to be tested in the field of behavior, motivation, and knowledge. They need to consistently maintain with manuals. The coaching component focuses on continual review. Entrepreneurs need to have customized one on one training with the team. They need to have field strategy and feedback. Moreover, they need regular guidance. Lastly, the paying component focuses on continually do better. Entrepreneurs need to recognize the team in public. Reward must be easy to calculate and analytic. They also need to reinvigorate with skill refresher or new tools.
Liski believes by helping others, it is the quickest way to success. Process leads to profitability. The quicker the feedback, the faster to process. Furthermore, the quicker entrepreneurs pay, the better the result.
“You gotta get it right, and hold it tight, forever and ever”
“System first, then people; that is how you measure the matrix”
Sales Operating System provides full transparency, predictable review, predictable profit, continual improvement, and customer satisfaction. To get performance, entrepreneurs need to be supportive and be cleared with their role. They need to define the right market. They need to integrate SMART principle. They need to have productive meeting and simplified pipeline process.
Liski wants entrepreneurs to remember that there is only one purpose, one system, one language, one playbook, and one focus. The reason for underperformance are poor hiring, no training, inconsistent sales leader, and anti-sales culture. Liski advices entrepreneurs that they can engineer and manufacture sales, they always have control of the process, and they can product revenue and profit.
Name: The keys to decrypt entrepreneurial intuition
Presenter: Gaetan Mourmant
Intuition is a powerful soft skill for many successful entrepreneurs; moreover, intuition tend to help entrepreneurs make better business decisions. Holistic Entrepreneurs meetup invites Gaetan Mourmant, the Founder of XLerateur, to discuss his finding on entrepreneurial intuition. In this presentation, Gaetan Mourmant will share his research on the link between intuition and decision making process. Furthermore, entrepreneurs will learn where energy comes from and how to use them in their journey.
Gaetan Mourmant is the Founder of both XLerateur and Vba101. He is an Affiliate Professor for over 20 years in IESG School of Management. He received his PHD degree in Information Systems from Paris Dauphine University and Georgia State University. He manages many Information Technology projects and helps many entrepreneurs through the study of Entrepreneurial Intuition. Moreover, he publishes many publications, including “Awakening the Dormant Dream: The Concept of Entrepreneurial Shift of Understanding” and “Another road to IT turnover: The Entrepreneurial path”.
The passion of decision making comes a long way for Gaetan Mourmant. He started exploring the concept of analytical business decision making through Excel, statistics, and business intelligence. As he shifted to entrepreneurial decision making, he accomplished his master thesis and PHD. Now he concentrates on meditation, intuition and energy. This includes energy healing and mindfulness meditation.
“Optimism 100%, naivety 300%”
Mourmant believes that when entrepreneurs can control their energy, they are able to control their emotions. For example, when they start their companies, they will have tools to reduce their ungrounded fear. Moreover, it is about reducing the negative energy.
Based on the synthesis of Shepherd et al., (2015), Mourmant explains that entrepreneurial decision can be organized in four different type.
Opportunity assessment decision
Entrepreneurial entry decisions
Decision about exploring opportunity
Entrepreneurial exit decision
The decision to start a business and the development of entrepreneurial intuition can be a long process for many entrepreneurs. Many entrepreneurs are looking to achieve their expert intuition, which is defined as “a non-conscious process, involving holistic associations that are produced rapidly, which result in affectively charged judgement” Dane and Pratt (2007) . It is important to explore intuition because it can draw out entrepreneurs’ inborn ability to make accurate decisions. Mourmant believes intuition can also be hindered by more formalized procedure. However, intuition is particularly helpful in turbulent environment.
Mourmant shares that as employee climbs the corporate ladder, their problems get more complex and the environment gets more turbulent. For entrepreneurs, the environment is turbulent. Therefore, they tend to discover their analytical skills are less and less useful. This can be a major problem. The higher the position in the corporate world, the more intuition they will need to use. Why is that? Because the more turbulent is the environment.
Dante and Pratt (2007) suggests that intuition can be seen either as process or an outcome. It is effectively based on the domain-relevant experience, as well as the complexity of the mental schemas of the entrepreneur. Task characteristics also plays a role. Research shows that entrepreneurs tend to experience that the complexity of the domain-relevant schemes may increase the effectiveness of intuition. In other words, entrepreneurs need to ensure that the complexity of their mental schema matches the environmental complexity. They need to apply and discover the pattern through intensive training. Research shows it requires 10 years of intense training to achieve expertise in a domain.
Mourmant introduces Jungian Psychological types. The theory of Psychological types comes from Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung. Further developments by Myers, Briggs or Keirsey, lead to the creation of personality tests. There are four dimensions in the Jungian’s Theory.
Where did entrepreneurs get their energy from? It comes from either introversion or extroversion. Introversion focuses on the inner world, such as thoughts, ideas, and experience. Moreover, extroversion focuses on outer world, such as people and activity.
How do entrepreneurs handle perception? It comes from either sensing or intuition. Sensing means entrepreneurs look on detail or tangible items. However, intuition means entrepreneurs look for big picture and relationships.
How do entrepreneurs make judgment? It comes from either thinking or feeling. Thinking means entrepreneurs are more logic and objective. However, feeling means entrepreneurs are more into empathy or guided by personal values.
How entrepreneurs relate to the outer world? It can be perceiving or judging. Perceiving means open to change and not constrained by plan. Judging means making plan and having deadline.
These four areas make up personality. There are 16 possible personality types. Mourmant emphasizes based on research, most entrepreneurs will rely on their “Extroverted Intuition”, the intuition for which the direction is the outside world. Such extraverted intuition is used for spotting opportunities in the environment, which is a very important skill for entrepreneurs. The extraverted intuition can be developed by all personality types, and is naturally present in type such as the ENTP (Extraverted, Intuition, Thinking, Perceiving). Of course, the other dimensions should support the Extraverted Intuition, for instance to execute the plan (Judging) in a very precise matter (Sensing Introverted).
It is important for entrepreneurs to discover their own personality type. By knowing which one they have, they will know which dimensions are potentially missing; hence, developing their skills or working with people with complementary skills.
“A great entrepreneur, you will become”
Mourmant is currently working on deeper understanding of Spiritual Intuition. This research focuses on step by step process through meditation.
His next courses can be found here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/o/holistic-entrepreneurs-12005393580
Bibliography :
Dane, E., & Pratt, M. G. (2007). Exploring intuition and its role in managerial decision making. Academy of management review, 32(1), 33-54.
Mourmant, G., Gallivan, M. J., & Kalika, M. (2009). Another road to IT turnover: the entrepreneurial path. European Journal of Information Systems, 18(5), 498-521.
Shepherd, D. A., Williams, T. A., & Patzelt, H. (2015). Thinking about entrepreneurial decision making: Review and research agenda. Journal of management, 41(1), 11-46.
G Mourmant, K Voutsina (2017), Awakening the Dormant Dream: The Concept of Entrepreneurial Mind-Shifts. Upcoming in the DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems
Name: Double your Bookings with Jean Marie DiGiovanna
Presenter: Jean Marie DiGiovanna
Successful entrepreneurs are able to turn keynote into experiential workshop; moreover, they are able to get more businesses. Canadian Association of Professional Speakers Vancouver Chapter invites Jean Marie DiGiovanna, the Founder of Workshop University, to discuss the strategy to make profitable workshops. In this presentation, Jean Marie DiGiovanna will help entrepreneurs to discover their learning objectives for their workshop framework. Moreover, entrepreneurs will learn the key success factors to make a successful workshop.
Jean Marie DiGiovanna is the Founder of Workshop University. She helps many entrepreneurs turn their contents into effective business workshop and courses. She is also an Executive Coach & Management Consultant for New England Consulting Partners. She is the President and the Founder of ThinkPeople, and the author of “Wake Up to Your Life” and “Success is a State of Mind”. Jean Marie DiGiovanna inspires many young entrepreneurs through her work.
Jean Marie DiGiovanna believes everything has impact and value. Once the speaker walks on stage, the speaker is making an impact. DiGiovanna wants entrepreneurs to remember that every time they walk in, they have dollar value.
DiGiovanna uses critical success factors to valuate high impact. The critical success factors are experience, value and action. Experience is something audience must go through. Value is when information is relevant for audience, and action is helping audience execute their call of actions. DiGiovanna emphasizes the true measurement for success is the number of participants who will do something after they leave the presentation.
Many entrepreneurs leave too much money on the table. Their potential dollar value is based on the value of their talk on stage times the number of clients who left the presentation. With high impact, DiGiovanna believes entrepreneurs can 10x that potential dollar value.
“Your message will not be heard without your voice”
DiGiovanna will provide her step to step method to turn keynote to effective workshop that creates high impact.
Step #1: Set the Foundation
DiGiovanna wants entrepreneurs to think about the key takeaways for their attendees from their talk. The game changing question is if they apply those learning, what are the possible challenge they still may have. When entrepreneurs discover these challenges, they can use those as potential follow-on topics to create workshop that overcome those challenges. Entrepreneurs can think of this as a step by step manual.
For DiGiovanna, after she delivers the keynote, she will provide webinars and workshops for her attendees. She then offers 1 to 2 days training or home study course as follow up. When attendees want further learning, she offers products and tools. Lastly, for deeper learning, she provides 1 on 1 coaching or consulting. Think of this as a funnel. The deeper the funnel, the higher the premium charge will be to attendees.
Step #2: Set the direction
Entrepreneurs need to develop the purpose of their workshop. Treat this as a 60 second elevator pitch. Next, entrepreneurs need to know who is their target markets. Entrepreneurs also needs to think about what challenge or area of pain that their target markets are currently facing. Afterwards, entrepreneurs will need to think one action that they want their target markets to take after delivering the workshop. DiGiovanna wants entrepreneurs to imagine what the results look like if their target markets complete the action. Typically, it follows in this order.
Impact
Inspiration
Action
Result
Learning objective is what helps their target markets complete the action. Entrepreneurs will use learning objective as framework for their workshop. DiGiovanna simplifies the steps as follows.
The what?
Target market
Pain
Benefit
Learning objective
DiGiovanna believes keynote is not a shortened workshop and workshop is not extended keynote because values and topics are different. Workshop is deeper of keynote. The key DiGiovanna wants entrepreneurs to remember is the more to sell, more to offer, and more dilute for workshop. The goal is to create the experience. The goal is to customize and connect. Furthermore, the goal is to connect the audience to the topic and to each other.
Based on statistic, people will retain about 10% of what they see, 30 to 40% of what they see and hear, and 90% of what they see, hear, and do. It is important to create connection. The best way is to have effective hot workshop openers. Entrepreneurs can ask the audience to imagine if they are the existing product. Entrepreneurs can identify one of the audience’s skill and share them. Moreover, they can customize a question for the audience or provide unknown facts.
To create experiential learnings, DiGiovanna believes there are 3 levels: visual, questions, and interactive exercises. Each level requires mastering in designing and delivering. For visual, entrepreneurs can have diagrams to help the audience walk through the process. Instead of works, they can use pictures and numbers for their slides to create powerful impact. For questions, entrepreneurs can use question to share information by using “what”, “when”, “how”, “why”, and “where”. Questions help deeper the learning or forward the action. Instead of telling the audience what it is, entrepreneurs can turn it to question. Instead of sharing the content, questions can be asked and let the audience understand the content by themselves.
“Unless what is learned is applied, there is no learning”
For interactive exercises, DiGiovanna shares 4 types: acquire knowledge, assess information, build a skill or practice a process, and shift behavior. For acquire knowledge, it can be sequential questioning, popcorn brainstorm, games, or group share. For assess information, it can be assessments, problem-solving swap, or unscramble exercise.
DiGiovanna shares that attendees are doing 70% of the work in workshop and entrepreneurs are teaching 30% of the work in workshop. Workshop requires more design work. It is a different set of skills for designing and delivering. It is important to focus on design as the foundation for success.
DiGiovanna reveals the remaining steps. Step 3 is to design modules for workshop outline. Step 4 is to develop experiential learning for interactive exercise. Step 5 is to develop online experiential learning. Step 6 is to create open, close, and timing. Step 7 is to create energy slides. Step 8 is to use webinar tools and setup. Lastly, step 9 is create market, price and fill.
Questions and Answers
It is important to ask beforehand for any follow up training. To shift the focus back to entrepreneurs from slides, DiGiovanna suggests entrepreneurs to turn off the screen or only have visuals on the slides. To prepare for the timing of the workshop, DiGiovanna will have end time on every slide. She will place a clock on the table to reminder her the time. Entrepreneurs should always time the presentation. The key is to articulate, and not memorize.
Name: Personal Branding – How to communicate for more impact and influence
Presenter: Audrey Joy Kwan
The influence on first impression is valuable for successful entrepreneurs; moreover, they need to be aware of how communication can impact their emotional intelligence. The Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC) Richmond Chapter invites Audrey Joy Kwan, the Owner of Audrey Joy Kwan Communications, to discuss ways to improve communication for better leadership in any industry. Audrey Joy Kwan will reveal the strategy to leverage the power of body language. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will learn the framework of becoming an effective communicator. Moreover, they will take the advantage of their strengths to maximize their public marketing.
Audrey Joy Kwan is the Owner of Audrey Joy Kwan Communications. Many entrepreneurs refer her as “Communication Strategist”. Her ability of storytelling marketing help many companies to connect with their ideal customers. She was the Marketing Communications Manager for BC Centre for Ability and the Consultant of Indulge Living. Audrey Joy Kwan is currently volunteering as Vice President of Public Relations in Toastmaster International District 96. She helps many young entrepreneurs build successful branding. She is a role model for many young entrepreneurs.
Audrey Joy Kwan was not born with the gift of communication; in fact, she had the introvert personality. With training and hard work, she managed to jump out of that comfort zone. The main takeaway through her journey was that “communication is about giving, not getting”.
The key in communication is to engage with people and create meaningful conversation. Kwan states 2 kinds of communications: verbal and nonverbal. The best verbal communicator is usually the best listener. The top 7 barriers to good communication according to Kwan are listed as follows.
Quick to judge
Make assumptions
Poor listener
Low confidence
Avoid conflict
Poor body language
Take things too personally
Kwan wants entrepreneurs to become a “ninja listener”. If there is an owner manual for understanding how to communicate with others, entrepreneurs will be stress free. Unfortunately, there is no such thing because communication is like an art, not linear.
Kwan discovers there are 4 types of communication personalities: blue, green, orange, and gold. Blue focuses on relationship and authenticity. Green focuses on knowledge and understanding. Orange focuses on freedom and skillfulness, and yellow focuses on duty and responsibility. The strength for blue includes empathetic, flexible and compassion, but blue shows stress if they meet someone who are unappreciated and cold. Green refers to analytical and problem solvers with high standard, but it stresses when people are in interruptions and emotion outburst. Orange is adventurous, impulsive, and love attention, but it shows stress on people who lack actions and deadlines. Lastly, gold is detailed oriented and practical, but it shows stress when people are lacked on routine, rules and instruction. Everyone has all types of communication; furthermore, everyone will dominate one over the other 3.
Typically, when orange meets with gold, it will have conflict. Green normally will show stiff face. To communicate with blue, Kwan suggests entrepreneurs to tilt their head and noddle. Many entrepreneurs are living in orange because they do not afraid of risks.
“Seek first to understand, then to be understood”
It is important to master the body language. Kwan believes body reacts on emotion. Based on research, different emotion leads blow flow to different location. Body language and emotions are related. The key is to bring awareness.
Kwan lists 5 major nonverbal communications.
Posture
Movement
Gesture
Voice
Face
Entrepreneur react differently in all 5 nonverbal communications when they are in low or high confidence. However, everyone has his or her own baseline. The key is it all starts with awareness. It leads to actions, and turn to adoption. Every entrepreneur can learn it; however, it is up to entrepreneur to discover it.
Kwan believes first impression is important because it is impactful. A good first impression can override every impression afterwards. Whenever entrepreneurs look at somebody during communication, they are giving authority to others. Based on research, there are 800 signals send between 2 people every 30 minutes. 93% of those signals are nonverbal. The power of body language can help entrepreneurs build overall performance and speaker presence.
During first impression, hands are the first thing people notice. There is a reason behind this statement. Traditionally, people will look at their hands for weapon to judge whether or not they are friends or enemy. To build trust, Kwan emphasizes the key indicators are visible, expressive and gesture. This means hands need to show and do not hide them. Entrepreneurs need to use hands as a part of speech. Different hand gesture works with different scenario. Entrepreneurs can use chop (up and down motion) when they want to plan information. When they use show (congruent), it will increase trust. When they use open hand, it shows friendliness. If they use close hand, it shows aggressive. Open hands allow people to take actions during presentation.
Power posing can change physical state and feeling. Kwan shows power posing can reduce cortisol and increase testosterone. Based on statistic, power posing increase 33% on taking more risks, 20% on increase testosterone, and 18% on reduce cortisol. Entrepreneurs who are using low power pose will increase cortisol and decrease testosterone. Therefore, pre-power pose is important for meeting. The launch stance is considered the natural position. It is the tone down version of high power pose. Entrepreneurs can observe people in their launch stance for their personalities. Kwan wants entrepreneurs to remember not to cross hands because cross hands show defensive.
Eye patterns is essential in communication. It is the sub-conscious signals to brain. There are 3 types of eye patterns.
Power gazing
Social gazing
Intimate gazing
Power gazing is when entrepreneurs look at other’s eyes, then forehead. It shows authority. Social gazing is when they look at other’s eyes, then nose. It shows social and calm. However, intimate gazing is when they look at other’s eyes, then chest. It shows flirting. It is important to know what others think because it puts them in control.
There are many micro expressions on face impression. For happiness, entrepreneurs can look for cheek raise and lips drain. For fear, they can look for brows raise and eyes had upper white showing. Anger shows brows lower, tip tense or chin forward. Contempt looks for one side of the mouth raises and eyes can be narrowed at target. Surprise looks for brows raised, white of the eyes above or open mouth. Disgust looks for nose crinkled, lips pull up or upper row of teeth visible. Sadness shows inner corners of eyebrow drain, eyes droopy or chin back. These are examples of different emotions with different micro expressions.
Kwan lists some example of procedures for each emotion. When people are in happiness state, entrepreneurs can celebrate together. However, they need to watch out for fake happiness. For fear, they can ask reassurance or explanation. When there is anger, entrepreneurs can avoid offensive, find the source, and then cooperate. When someone is in contempt mode, entrepreneurs can purse more information and build rapport. For surprise, entrepreneurs can ask explanation or review goals with them. When someone is in disgust mode, entrepreneurs can identify problem and provide solution. For sadness, they can offer help, empathy and space.
Name: BCBusiness – Thought Leadership with Bob Lenarduzzi
Presenter: Bob Lenarduzzi
Understanding the view of team leadership can build a stronger organization; moreover, entrepreneurs need to integrate the power of team leadership. BCBusiness invites Bob Lenarduzzi, the President of Vancouver Whitecaps FC, to discuss his business insight on team leadership. From the perspective of sport industry icon, Bob Lenarduzzi shares his valuable lessons that integrate into business. In addition, entrepreneurs will discover the key elements of building a professional team.
Bob Lenarduzzi is the President of Vancouver Whitecaps FC. He was the former star of North American Soccer League, and won the Player of the Year award. As a coach, he led his team to Canadian Soccer League championships, and led Canada’s men’s national team. Lenarduzzi received North American Soccer Hall of Fame, the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame, the British Columbia sports Hall of fame, and United Soccer Leagues Hall of Fame. Furthermore, he received the Order of British Columbia for his contribution in the sport of soccer.
The Power of Team Leadership
Bob Lenarduzzi is grateful for all the games he played through his career. He will continue to do so and he look forward for many years.
Instead of following the traditional academic education route, Lenarduzzi went to be a professional soccer player in the age of 15. He compromised with his family by continuing the education with correspondence; however, he failed to do so. He still regrets for that decision, and he commented, “Do what I say, not what I did”.
Lenarduzzi mentions he does not profess all the answers, but he resonates the lessons he learned from the locker room. There are five importance factors for leadership in the life of sport player.
Discipline
Hard work
Commitment
Drive
Passion
“Look what I can do today, not tomorrow”
When his youth, passion was his driving force. Lenarduzzi experienced his true motivation when England beat Germany during 1966 World Cup. His brother guided him to discover his strength. His parents supported his decision. Eventually, Lenarduzzi moved to England for his apprenticeship. He learned a valuable lesson of hierarchy and team culture.
He brought over his experience to Vancouver Whitecap and promoted the residency program, where they recruit many talented young players, such as Alphonso Davies and Russell Telbert. Lenarduzzi encourages many old players to take young players aside for the mentorship.
John Giles was Lenarduzzi’s old coach. He had a great coaching style. By taking players aside, he provided feedbacks on what the players need to do better and what they do well. He provided valuable encouragement. It is a powerful acknowledgement for Lenarduzzi. John Cruyff was Lenarduzzi’s idol. Lenarduzzi believes he was equivalent to Wayne Gretzky in hockey. He had the honor to play against him and it was a moment he never forgets.
Lenarduzzi shared during his coaching, he met John Catliff, a Harvard graduate. When he questioned his coaching method, Lenarduzzi provided him harsh criticism with precise facts. That is concise communication. He met Dave Cox, the sport psychologist. Lenarduzzi learned the lesson of “process versus outcome”. People often hear the phrase of “we need to win”; however, they never realize the importance of determining how to get here.
Lenarduzzi had the honor to played in 1984 Olympics. The coach bought beers for them. Coach trusted them. The coach wanted all senior players to invite young players to deliver the message of empowerment. The bonding made them trust coach even more. In the World Cup 1986, the coach established something called “team first philosophy”. Lenarduzzi learned even the other team outperformed his team, the coach wanted the team to stick together with the plan, stick to the process, and stick to the strategy. “No one is bigger than the team” was the message the coach wanted to deliver. In the match against Mexico, the team was in the bull fight and lost miserably. Instead of looking for exercise, the coach took the hit and asked themselves to be better next around.
True leader is graciousness in victory or defeat. They give back to the community. For Vancouver Whitecaps, Lenarduzzi encourages the team to network and be in the appearance. Lenarduzzi believes the guiding principles.
Our all. Our honor
Unity, winning, and honor
T be a champion club on and off the soccer pitch
These guiding principles form the Vancouver Whitecaps today. Every player honors these principles.
Lastly, Lenarduzzi shares a couple of quotes he inspired from Paul Bear Bryant the coach of Alabama.
“If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, we did it. If an anything goes really good, then you did it”
“That’s all it takes to get people to win football games for you”
“You must learn how to hold a team together”
“You must life some men up, calm others down, until finally they’ve got one heartbeat. Then you’ve got yourself a team”
Questions and Answers
For any entrepreneur who need to manage up, Lenarduzzi suggest entrepreneurs to create good foundation. They need to adapt the top with clear communication and coordinate the low to understand the true “why”. Lenarduzzi is shock that many people who are in the senior position, do not have clear communication with their team.
From a player to coach and coach to leader, the shift of mindset can be difficult. Lenarduzzi believes Vancouver Whitecap still does not have the roots that other sports in Vancouver have. However, it takes strong desire to do well. There is always opportunity. To apply mentorship for youth, Lenarduzzi still believes storytelling is the suggested method. Instead of focusing on the problem, leaders should focus on how they deal with the situation.
Name: Creative Pulse Talk – How to be more creative (and less busy)
Presenter: Zoe Garred
Many young entrepreneurs are holding their creativity hostage due to repetitive tasks; moreover, they need to make time for creative work. Creative Pulse invites Zoe Garred, the owner of Fleet Objects, to discuss her valuable lessons on searching ways to create more time for her creativity. In this presentation, young entrepreneurs will learn how to take advantage on automation. In addition, they will discover the importance of delegation and schedule.
Zoe Garred is the owner of Fleet Objects. She considers herself as product designer, artist and ceramicist. Her creativity involves with passion and simplicity. Her studio fills with beautiful artworks with the balance of artistry and functionality. Many young artists and designers fascinate with her work and inspire her creative ideas. Moreover, she was the Creative Director for 18KARAT for over 4 years; currently, she is the Accessory Designer for Article.
Zoe Garred believes the number one issue for most product designers is not enough creative time. Sometimes the feeling of creativity is lost even when there is time. The feeling of being too busy kills the moment of creative time. Eventually, young entrepreneurs tend to push creative time to the bottom of the list.
Creative space is essential, and it is up to young entrepreneurs to make it happen. Garred believes young entrepreneurs should find discover the right kind of space for their creativity. This includes the preference of a desk or pillows on the floor. The choice of home, studio or public space can make a difference, including the choice of working alone or with collaborators. Young entrepreneurs need to limit the creative space for only creative work. Garred wants young entrepreneurs to train their brain to eliminate distractions, such as phone and computer.
The idea of creative space can be simple and basic; however, often many young entrepreneurs do not follow through.
After young entrepreneurs pick the right place for their creative work, they need to design their space. Garred asks young entrepreneurs to ensure they have the right tools in the space. This includes if the tools are easy to find or close at hand. How many duplicates they need to buy? Does it come with a kit? Is pen and paper works better than computer? The key is to ensure it is comfortable.
Next, young entrepreneurs need to choose the right time. Is it in the day or night time? Young entrepreneurs should block off time as if it were meeting. Garred suggests young entrepreneurs to put the time in their schedule. This will train their brain to be creative.
The next step is to create automation. Young entrepreneurs need to automate repetitive tasks. They need to ask themselves if they should outsource a part of their production. This could mean they need to invest in machine to speed up their work. Learning new automation system can benefit in the long term.
Streamlining repetitive tasks is time saving for many young entrepreneurs. Garred suggests young entrepreneurs to redesign their workflow to be more effective. This means they need to group similar tasks together. Furthermore, they need to limit meetings with no more than 30 minutes. If meetings require more than 30 minutes, young entrepreneurs will require to book two meetings. Software can help them streamlining. Garred recommends a Project Management Software called “Trello” to help working with multiple projects.
Sometimes, young entrepreneurs need to delegate in order to make time. Letting go of tasks can be difficult for them. They need to recognize they are not always the best person to perform the work. If the tasks are simple, they can delegate these tasks to other expertise who can do it faster. This includes paying someone else to do some of their tasks to save time and money.
Garred asks the audience to layout their job description on a piece of paper. By writing it down, young entrepreneurs are able to look for ways to delegate.
Questions and Answers
Garred shares her first experience of delegation. She hired her first intern from Emily Carr, but she had the fear of letting someone fail. When she taught the intern the procedure and instruction; surprisingly, the intern got better and managed to teach Garred new ways of doing things. Moreover, the procedure gave the intern great work experience on her studies.
“Pain in short run; pleasure in long run”
“I made more money from the time I delegate”
Garred believes external factors can create motivation. She signed up for many things outside of work to force her to do something she wanted to do. She provides 2 tips for young entrepreneurs to start business or brand. The first tip is to ensure they are really want to do it. The second tip is to be aware of others and model them. This will help young entrepreneurs to discover what they like and dislike. They need to understand where they want to take their business or brand to.
Garred joined a local program called “Futurepreneur”, where the program assigns a mentor to monitor their business progress. Garred met her mentor, who had banking background. She learned how to invest and how to get others to invest. The knowledge she gained was amazing.
Name: Kabuni Academy – Create a content strategy and sell your why
Presenter: Attie O’Rourke
Successful entrepreneurs use effective content strategy to raise their visibility online, especially when they need to stand out in their competitive industries. Kabuni Academy invites Attie O’Rourke, the Founder of Brand Sauced, to discuss her business insight on content strategy. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will know a simple way to brand and deliver their message to their audience through compelling content. Attie O’Rourke will share her key perspectives on creating brand value through content.
Attie O’Rourke is the Founder of Brand Sauced. She helps many entrepreneurs to craft their personal branding. She was a Marketing Specialist for LGM Financial Service Inc and a Marketing Manager for Silver Chef Ltd. O’Rourke has volunteered in Opportunity International for over 9 years. She is also a mentor for a signature program in Greater Vancouver Board of Trade called Leaders of Tomorrow. Furthermore, her passion in marketing inspires many young entrepreneurs.
A question in every entrepreneur’s mind is that they do not know how to form the right marketing strategy in their marketing space. Attie O’Rourke is a marketer and she knows the key in marketing is the word “why”. She inspires Simon Sinek and agrees with his concepts. O’Rourke has a strong “why”. She wants to help people succeed even with no big budget. She wants to inspire others with marketing.
O’Rourke believes to create a content strategy from scratch, the first thing is to start with “why”. There are 3 main questions O’Rourke wants entrepreneurs to ask themselves.
Why does your brand or product exist?
Why do you get out of bed in the morning?
Why should anyone care?
The last question is the most important question for all entrepreneurs. O’Rourke wants entrepreneurs to think deep on the last question.
O’Rourke provides 3 examples. The first one is called Casper. Casper is a company that makes mattress. Instead of branding the function of mattress, Casper does not mention product on their website. They talk about process and explains to audience the drive behind sleep. They even have a blog on sleep. The second example is called Phil and Sebastian. This is a company that makes coffee. Phil and Sebastian explains their true “why” on helping farmers improve. They make videos on their interactive conversation with farmers. Moreover, they have Instagram feed on what they stand for. The last example is called Matthew McCormick. Matthew is a fashion designer. He explains his true “why” on making things beautiful through light. Instead of writing blogs, Matthew uses amazing photos to capture the hidden message.
“People do not buy what you do, they buy why you do it”
Content consists of blogs, videos, podcasts, photos, and social media. O’Rourke defines content as designed for consumption and packaged to share. Instead of thinking of getting a blog or social media, entrepreneurs need to understand what channel is right for their goals and audience.
“Content strategy is a road map”
O’Rourke shares her 3 key steps to create content strategy.
Strategize first
Play to your strengths and be realistic
Schedule and relax
Entrepreneurs need to know why they exist, what do they hope to achieve, whom are they attempting to influence, what is important to their audience, who are their competitors, and how will they measure results. To summarize, O’Rourke wants entrepreneurs to remember “why”, “goal”, “audience”, “interest”, “position”, and “metric”.
When entrepreneurs sell their true why, they need to show they care. When they capture the right moment, they will connect with the audience even closer.
O’Rourke creates a spreadsheet that can help entrepreneurs monitor and keep track the progress of their content strategy. Entrepreneurs need to breakdown all the actions by months and categorize by the types of content. Each action will have its own topic, which is individual “why”. Entrepreneurs need to know which keywords to use for each action. By injecting the right keywords in the content, it rises the awareness through the marketing space. Every action will target specific audience group. Lastly, each action will assign an author. O’Rourke suggests entrepreneurs to keep it realistic and do not sign up too much. They need to delegate if necessary.
Entrepreneurs can send out Q&A to others for content topic research. For every reposting, it is important to credit the source. Entrepreneurs can make comment or opinion to interact with the audience.
O’Rourke recommends entrepreneurs to use Later.com for scheduling calendar for photography. Many applications have a build-in statistic that shows the best time to post. Hootsuite is another great tool for social media scheduling. When the scheduling is set, entrepreneurs can relax and monitor the result.
Questions and Answers
O’Rourke suggests 2 posts maximum per day is ideal. The main metric tool O’Rourke uses is the conversion rate. Social media is a way to increase brand awareness, but the number of conversion through different stages in the funnel is critical for decision making.
The best tool for analytic is Google Analytic. There are many platforms have analytic tools, so entrepreneurs should utilize those build-in tools before purchasing.
To get large followers, entrepreneurs need to tailor their why and share great content.
Name: Learn how to scale a startup with Mobify’s CEO & Co-Founder
Presenter: Igor Faletski
There are key success factors which all successful entrepreneurs need to follow to have successful startups in technology sector. Brainstation Vancouver invites Igor Faletski, the Co-Founder of Mobify, to discuss his entrepreneur experience in tech space. In this presentation, Igor Faletski will share his leadership principles that help him start and scale his company. Entrepreneurs will learn his business insight on building the right culture in an organization.
Igor Faletski is the CEO and the Co-Founder of Mobify. He has passion to make mobile commerce simpler and effective. He is also the External Advisor Council for Simon Fraser University in the faculty of applied science. He was a Front-end Engineer for HSBC and Incognito Software before he started his business. Moreover, he was awarded BC Business top 30 under 30 in 2014 and he was the finalist in Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the year 2013.
Fireside chat with Igor Faletski
Igor Faletski was born in Russia and came to Vancouver when he was 16 years old. When he was young, he loved computer and owning a computer was his childhood dream. While he was attending Simon Fraser University, he started to learn Startup. He originally had a career plan of becoming an engineer, but he saw the opportunity of growth in mobile phone platform. He founded his first company and eventually turned into Mobify.
Faletski believes the environment in the faculty of applied science was not a place for entrepreneur. It was a place to enhance the ability to build complex system. However, Faletski has the eager to work on hands-on for future education.
Innovation was his link to e-commerce. He explained his professor took his idea of bus schedule system to press release. The idea caught the attention from Translink. Afterwards, Faletski formed a company to sell that software system to Translink. Faletski emphasizes selling to government is a slow process, which can take over a year.
Faletski found his other co-Founder, who he met at school. Faletski believes school is a great place to meet future business partner. All Mobify’s co-Founders have similar background, so it was easy for them to divide up the work. However, they are weak in business. They needed to take additional business development courses and they had a mentor to help them in business. Eventually, they were able to take software from retail to enterprise consumers.
Faletski believes the key for success for is never stop learning. It is important for entrepreneurs to control how they learn. Entrepreneurs need to have enough passion on what their companies are going to be in the future.
“Jump in first, figure it out later”
“build parachute as you fall”
At the beginning, it was “sink or swim”. The pressure forced Faletski to take necessary actions to be successful. It helped them increase velocity. Now, Faletski concentrates on coaching program because he believes investing in people is the key to success. Helping team to level up is one of the top priorities.
Faletski mentions there are 3 core areas to be a strong leader.
Visionary
Relationship
Execution
Visionary focuses on making good decision. Relationship builds on good foundation, and execution helps entrepreneurs keep track. As company gets bigger, entrepreneurs need to learn how to leverage with other employees. Building an effective communication culture is essential. Design mobile friendly environment is important because it can help entrepreneurs understand their core value from people.
“Culture fit is the key. The right culture gets the right people involve”
Faletski believes many great startups start in Vancouver, but they eventually branch out. Vancouver is a friendly environment for startups, but there is still a gap of global experience. Vancouver has great opportunity, but it is still at mid stage. Top talents and investors are still in United States. Faletski emphasizes there is nothing wrong with Vancouver; however, Vancouver is categorized in a friendly, but not competitive environment.
Faletski had the opportunity to interact with Microsoft. He defines Microsoft as a more customer centric. It is a good future partner. Faletski advices young entrepreneurs to join an existing startup to gain experience. By spending time in big waves that have long term vision, they will build up the foundation of their network. Faletski is looking forward to virtual reality, Bitcoin, and finance sectors. As for artificial intelligence, Faletski believes there is a big trend on machine learning. Machine learning is the key engineering skill in the future. There are more mobile companies coming in future.
“What is next to mobile? More mobile”
Faletski uses twitter following, podcasts, and books to enhance his business development.
Questions and Answers
At early stage, investors were not paying attention to Mobify. They notice Mobify when opportunity grows. Faletski is fortuned to have many small companies come aboard with Mobify. Culture is not the perks for Mobify; in fact, it is how Mobify executes. Mobify focuses on performance culture because execution is the key to compete with others.
Faletski focuses on 3 principles in performance culture.
Communication
Accountability
Leadership
Communication helps everyone to be on the same page. Accountability focuses on corporate goals and how to track these goals. Leadership helps new leaders know they matter to the company. Faletski believes investing in middle management is an important part of success.
In the hiring process, entrepreneurs need to ensure candidates have the culture fit. The next ten new hires are what determine the culture in company. Entrepreneurs should have conscious bias on hiring process. Company cannot be great without diversity. Faletski looks for curiosity and the characteristic of taking on execution.
Originally, Mobify shows only 1% traffic in retails. Now, Faletski notices people are now shopping everywhere. Entrepreneurs need to create shopping journey experience, yet people are looking for simplicity. Website is still strong in Canada and United States, but in Asia, WeChat is growing. Canada is still behind in payments, and consumer adoption in Europe is still ahead.
When it comes to investors. Faletski believes if the company is not successful, it does not matter how much ownership they own. They need to make sure investors fit and they should not just go for money. Faletski suggests entrepreneurs too look for vision fit, long-term fit, culture fit, an extension leadership. Advisory board is great as long as it has to address to the gap. Mentors are great if their messages align with company value. Moreover, entrepreneurs can form a peer group to evaluate each other.
Successful entrepreneurs who work oversea use hedging and derivatives effectively. Moreover, their strategies reflect on the impact from current financial market and risks. The Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC) Surrey Chapter invites Karen Horcher, the Treasury Consultant from Hedge Rho Management Inc, to discuss her perspective on hedging and derivatives. Karen Horcher will help entrepreneurs to understand risk, set strategy, and implement right approach. In addition, entrepreneurs will also learn some of essential changes affecting financial markets and risk.
Karen Horcher is the Treasury Consultant from Hedge Rho Management Inc. She holds two designations: Chartered Professional Accountant, and Chartered Financial Analyst. Karen Horcher was a member of Board of Directors for Pacific Pilotage Authority for over 9 years. She is currently one of the advisory board members in CPA Canada. Moreover, she published “Essentials of Financial Risk Management”, “Essentials of Managing Treasury”, and “Practical Guide to Managing Foreign Exchange Risk”.
Hedging and Derivatives
In any business, entrepreneurs must remember that no consultant knows better than them. They are obligated to understand their own risks. Risks come from external and internal. External comes from global market, sales, competitors, inputs, regulatory environment, brand, reputation, and size. Internal includes people, system, processes, pricing, products, projects and other.
Business is like a portfolio of other businesses. It is important to think about what potential ways their customers might go somewhere else. Competitors can drive what entrepreneurs do, especially when competitors can change price easily. Attending Accounting and Sales conference is suggested by Horcher because accounting drives money and sales drives opportunity. Horcher suggests whenever founders or potential decision makers retire, usually systems will change and entrepreneurs should anticipate new risks.
Horcher indicates financial risks make up of market risks, credit risks, and operational risks. Market risks includes interest risks, exchange rate, commodities, and equities. Credit risks come from industry, sovereign, and counterparty. Operational risks come from systems, people and process.
When it comes to risk, entrepreneurs need to think about if it is a part of core business, accident or purpose. The risk can be affected on customers, sales and market share. It is important to know if there is ability to shift risk on other stakeholders, especially competitors.
“Run your business as core, speculate with other”
Entrepreneurs need to consider the risk culture. Every organization is unique, and risks can be developed from ownership, structure, historical or circumstantial. The main questions entrepreneurs need to ask themselves.
Do we have confidence in our forecast?
How much are we willing to lose?
Most important, Horcher believes entrepreneurs need to know how their business think and how the business manage risk.
Should entrepreneurs hedge? It depends on many factors. Factors include the confidence in forecast, market view, risk tolerance, opportunity loss, the cost of hedging and competitive considerations. Entrepreneurs might already have nature hedge in their businesses. To deal with exchange rate, Horcher recommends entrepreneurs to develop their own market view. They can ask others for research and they will be amazed on how much they already know. When there is opportunity loss, it does not mean entrepreneurs make the wrong decision. Therefore, entrepreneurs can choose not to hedge, business hedge with minimize exposure, hedge using derivatives, or combination of approach. Statistically, successful business will hedge depending on forecast. Based on average, business only hedge 50-70%.
Entrepreneurs can create policies because policies provide framework. This will create a good foundation for procedure and controls. It also facilities measurement and reporting. It has a clear mandate to avoid judging with hindsight. If entrepreneurs want to forecast exchange rate, Horcher suggests them to ask economist. However, forecast is never prefect.
Implementing the right approach can be difficult for entrepreneurs. They can use forward-type derivatives. Forward type includes forwards, future, forward rate agreements, and swaps. The key is that forward type uses fix rate and there is no cost to enter. All parties are obligated to act on the agreement, and forward type do provide some certainty.
Another approach is using options. Options include puts, calls, collars, caps, floors, swaptions, structured, and exotics. It works like an insurance model, which means buyers purchase premium, sellers sell premium, and both are obligated to deliver. Typically, the premium is the sunk cost. Only the seller is obligated to exercise the option.
Entrepreneurs can use derivatives to absorb risks internally. The economic exposure has low margin. It alters process, and it changes the way they do things. Another method is to shift risk to customers. Horcher suggests entrepreneurs to invoice in Canadian dollar. They can develop new source of currency to pay for inputs, or look at their pricing for other differentiations or rate adjustments. They can also shift risk to vendors by paying in another currency or us fixed-price or long-term contracts. Entrepreneurs need to know their exposure. They need to know if it is freely-traded, derivative availability, and market intelligence. Horcher wants entrepreneurs to watch out for over hedging.
Recent change affect financial markets
Horcher provides some major updates that affect financial markets.
Based on G-20 Pittsburgh statement, there were 21 specific recommendations on Over the Counter (OTC). These recommendations include derivative standardization, exchange electronic trading policy, trade reporting and central counterparty clearing.
For trade reporting, it is mandatory depending on province. The reporting excludes any spot foreign exchange transactions within 2 days, commodities, and exchange traded derivatives. The legal entity identifier, DTCC, and CME are established under trade reporting. Entrepreneurs can check British Columbia Securities Commission website for reporting requirement.
Traditionally, OTC derivatives accept bilateral clearing as direct settlement. Now, it is required to use central clearing. Central clearing takes swaps, fixed income, repo, future, options, and currencies to one destination. It is net one payment per currency per day. It is oversight by securities regular or central bank.
There is now an official international reserve. This holds in exchange fund account for GoC. It includes SDR, IMP reserve position, and gold. However, Canada had sold a majority of gold in 2003 and melt the rest. In 2016, there were only 77 ounces left. Canada did not reserve gold because gold is too expense to hold.
The Buffett’s big bet is still on going. Warren Buffet believes high fees will doom hedge funds. Fees come from annual fee, performance fee, active trading cost, and other fund hedge costs. There is new bond reporting requirement. Entrepreneurs can visit Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada for detail.
Horcher wants entrepreneurs to remember the lesson on the 1987 crash. Entrepreneurs should be aware not to let history rerun itself again.
Name: The crazy email sequence that bumps webinar sales by 500% with Jon Benson
Presenter: Jon Benson
Webinar is a powerful tool for entrepreneurs to convert prospects into buyers; moreover, to increase that conversion, it requires a creative email sequence. The Internet Mastermind Meetup invites Jon Benson, the Internet Marketing Legend, to discuss his strategy on email sequence. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will learn the importance of copywriting and the keywords they need to use to increase conversion rate. Furthermore, Jon Benson will reveal his tool that will help entrepreneurs build their email sequence.
Jon Benson is the Internet Marketing Legend. Many entrepreneurs refer him as “VS Godfather”. He is the CEO of Sellerator, the Founder of Jon Benson Fitness LLC, and the Owner of Digital Publisher. Jon Benson is considered to be one of the top sales copy strategists in the world. He creates the Email CopyPro online software that helps many entrepreneurs to increase business sales. Many entrepreneurs inspire Jon Benson, and many entrepreneurs look towards Jon Benson as a true digital marketing mentor.
Jon Benson believes writing and copywriting are two different things. Copywriting emphasizes the power of persuasion. The key is to keep it simple. Benson defines persuasion as “to have anyone do anything”.
Copywriting is all about relating to client’s pain. To produce a great copywriting materials, entrepreneurs need to feel the pain themselves first. In addition, Benson believes if grade 3 kids could not read it, the copywriting is considered a failure. The biggest mistake entrepreneurs make is to fall in love with work and not the pain.
Entrepreneurs often forget about the importance of conversation. Conversation can help entrepreneurs resonate with the pain and know other’s fear. Entrepreneurs can sense it through emotion. The idea is to know client’s emotions needs.
Benson loves copywriting and when it works, clients do follow. Effective copywriting requires persuasion, and persuasion needs repetition. People are living in the world that have the power of making a choice. It appeals with human nature of wanting things more quickly and feel easy.
Benson indicates copywriting does not require to lie. However, some people will step across the ethic line without knowing it. They might push too far, and people tend to carry away. Benson suggests entrepreneurs to pick the right avatar that compels to them. When entrepreneurs look at someone’s avatar, it is impossible to write a wrong message. It lets others know they are relate to their pain and get the feeling through their pore.
“How does it sound to you?”
Entrepreneurs need to build around the pain with the solution out of their pain. They can talk to other people who have similar pain and translate it into copywriting. Entrepreneurs will need to let other people feel the pain bigger than what they feel. If language is an obstacle, entrepreneurs need to understand the culture difference. It is essential to use the language properly.
“it is so good that it makes others feel it is their responsible to purchase from you”
Benson recommends entrepreneurs to use “how” and “you” as much as possible. It improves interactions and pulls clients closer. The best advice Benson received is “to study others and dissect”.
“My goal is to connect the right people with right product”
For Video Sales Letter, Benson suggests entrepreneurs to disable the pause button. Without the pause button, it is impossible to scroll, so it forces people to engage. People value time until they are struggle with money. Therefore, entrepreneurs need to sold them with reason for their time. Info selling is powerful. Entrepreneurs can use it on their blogs. Until readers know what they want, entrepreneurs will offer a link with exclusive solution. Video Sales Letter and email can be different. 80% of people think about something different when they search for something online. In order to break their attention span, entrepreneurs need to use something out of their expectation. Benson suggests entrepreneurs to use open-loop strategy to capture their attention.
To capture attention in Video Sales Letter, Benson start with this sequence.
Did you know that…
Would you believe it or not…
Let me tell you why it is important to you…
The sequence creates anchor. The important thing is to brand the problem. Entrepreneurs can use metaphor or common terms to tie in with people’s problem. When entrepreneurs use it on email, it allows readers to relate to their story.
For Webinar, replay email can double the sales. Benson creates an online software tool called “Email CopyPro” that helps entrepreneurs write effective emails. Many entrepreneurs ask Benson how often they should send email. Benson replies only on the day they want to make money.
There is always a persuasive trigger on all sales emails, but It is difficult to write multiple emails on emotions. The strategy is to allow entrepreneurs to rewrite itself to produce unique email with same emotion. “Email CopyPro” can generate those emails that sound like personal emails.
Benson reveals the 9 steps email sequence after webinar.
Encore webinar email
Q & A email
Something to experience email
What else you will need email
Free stuff email
Payment plan email
Price point email
I apologize email
Last call email
The encore webinar email allows people to know what they miss. This creates the pain and people hate they miss something. This email provides solution for them to change from pain to pleasure.
People love Q & A. This email need to compliment people that smart people ask questions. This includes what other want to know.
For something to experience email, it invites people into their living room and experience. People want experience, not buy. For what else you will need email, entrepreneurs will put people into the future and think they are already succeed.
Free stuff email provides discount code. The payment plan email is important because not everyone get to the payment plan page on the sales funnel page. The purpose of price point email is to give people money for their solution. Entrepreneurs will use I apologize email for the last bonus. Lastly, the last call email provides the deadline countdown for the offer. The last call email should be short. The sequence of that last call email is “command”, “promise”, and command”.
Name: GoGetters Vancouver – How to build a business that makes history
Presenters: Himanshu Narang, Ryan Joseph Zokol, and Connor Beaton
Successful entrepreneurs need to acquire the necessary skills, strategies, and ideas to take their business into the next level. GoGetters Vancouver invites Himanshu Narang, the professional speaker, Ryan Joseph Zokol, the Lifestyle entrepreneur, and Connor Beaton, the Founder of ManTalks, to discuss their key lessons from supporting leading entrepreneurs to exceed their businesses. In this presentation, Himanshu Narang will share steps on making actionable decision. Ryan Joseph Zokol will share the importance of storytelling, and Connor Beaton will share his 3 pillars to build a business that lasts.
Decide Tonight
Himanshu Narang is the co-Founder of GoGetters Vancouver. He owns his own company, Himanshu Narang Inc, to help entrepreneurs produce legendary results. He was a chief business strategist for RocketFuel Digital. He won many awards, including the 2016 Graham Anderson Golden Eagle Award, and Top 9 Speakers in Canada. Moreover, he is a reliable mentor for many young entrepreneurs.
Himanshu Narang believes it is important for all entrepreneurs to complete their monthly plan. It provides directions and accountability to overall productivity, success and enjoyment. Entrepreneurs need to think about their “Past Wins”, “Not Doing Anymore”, “Celebrate Life”, and “Not Doing Now”. This exercise will help entrepreneurs to discover their top 3 priorities and 3 actions for that month.
Narang states one of the main moves that most people do not complete is decision. To help entrepreneurs make decision, Narang provides a list of questions.
What problem will your business solve in the world?
How will your business solve that problem better than anyone else?
When you would have built the business of your dreams, what would your life look like? Socially? Intellectually? Financially? Physically? Spiritually?
What are you willing to do and give (for the short / medium term), to get what you want?
Are you ready to decide to build business that will make history?
Are you ready to sacrifice or are you staying for status quo?
The purpose of these questions is to trigger for more inner personal questions. It will also explain the missing pieces of the puzzle. Many entrepreneurs are struggling with the last 2 questions. Many people are not willing to sacrifice their salary and saving to achieve their dreams. Sometimes, entrepreneurs need to let go of something good to get something great. When they make the decision, they need to write it down.
“I decide to build a business that will make history”
Using your story to build your business
Ryan Joseph Zokol is also the co-Founder of GoGetters Vancouver. He is also the Chief Operating Officer for Pacific Institute for Advanced Dental Education. He is a speaker and a coach to help young entrepreneurs be able to breakthrough their life obstacles. He was a Vice President of Strategy in Cerulean. Moreover, he is a gold metal champion in rowing and swimming.
In any networking event, entrepreneurs are often asked two questions: “who are you?” And “what do you do?”. Most answers are the same. They normally list their titles. Zokol believes it is important for entrepreneurs to know who they are and what their business is truly about. They are more than just making money.
There is a difference between listing accomplishments and sharing the hardship and lessons learned. It allows others to remember their values, connections, and emotions.
Zokol shares his life story. Zokol was a meth addict when he was young. His parents were divorced and his life was not going the way he wanted. Nothing was good enough for him because there was no acknowledgement. In high school, he felt empty and suffering. There was abuse in his family. He felt drug was his way of escape the reality. One day, he was checked by a police. He had two options. He could continue to escape or admit and face the demon. He took the second option. The commitment led to realization.
“From story and accomplishment, emotions are different”
Story is important. Entrepreneurs need own the past first. They need to make themselves from victim to hero in their story. They need to own their story and stand out. Everyone has a story and each story is different. That is how entrepreneurs make a difference in the world.
In business, story can set entrepreneurs apart. Story can help them build something that people care about. It frames their scarcity and dictates their values. It also creates loyal and meaningful bonds. It is more than content and a narrative.
“The world’s most successful brands do not behave like commodities and neither should you”
Story tells people what they should believe based on the signals. Signals show what entrepreneurs stand for in a complete picture.
Zokol believes story begins for entrepreneurs when customers hear their names for the first time, see their logos for the first time, visit their website for the first time, and experience about their service for the first time. It is entrepreneur’s job to give customer a story to tell.
Personal and business stories can create powerful impact. It tells the “why”, the passion, and the difference. Entrepreneurs should not downplay their stories because hardships are the most compelling.
Zokol provides a strategy to help entrepreneurs discover their story. It is called “7 levels deep”. This exercise digs down 7 whys to allow entrepreneurs discover their true “why”. It sounds simple, but it is very effective because it touches the core of their story.
Zokol lists 6 tips for storytelling.
Must have “circumstance”, “curiosity”, “characters”, “conversation”, and “conflict”
Stop bragging and start relating
Spark the emotions
Engaged through the senses
Start in the middle
Give the audience what matters
“Not mental problem, it is empowerment problem”
Three pillars to building a life and business that lasts
Connor Beaton is the Founder of ManTalks and the Founder of Real Talk Summit. He creates a movement that connects minded men across Canada and North America. He worked in Apple for over 3 years and his own photography for over 4 years. With his core leadership skills, he supports and mentors many young entrepreneurs. Moreover, he is an international speaker and has spoken on TEDxStanleypark and featured on HeForShe, CBC, and National Post.
When Connor Beaton was 8 years old, his parents brought him a hatchet for gift. He loved going to the background and build his own space. He would invite kids in his neighborhood to play in his secret space.
Beaton asks entrepreneurs to think about these 2 questions: “what is the title of your autobiography?” and “what do your autobiography need to be at the end of my life?”. This should capitulate their story because it defines who they really are.
Beaton was born in Edmonton, Alberta. From a divorced family, Beaton experienced two different families. He saw the opposite forces everywhere he went. He began to see it in his life, like 2 different personalities. In high school, he was miserable. He had no life goals and directions. He once worked in a gravel pit and discovered the people around them are depressed. He was worry his life would become like them. He asked his father for advice. His father left him the advice of following his passion. Beaton loved opera, he took that passion and turned it to his career. However, his life was bad. He became arrogant, stubborn and never reach out for help. He believed reaching out for help is a failure. He lived in his car for a while. Finally, he got himself up and set two goals he wanted to accomplish: go to the most impactful company (Apple), and start a business that impact the world.
Beaton believes the purpose starts with who. Entrepreneurs must understand who they are and they need to be comfortable of saying out loud. The vulnerability creates connection. Beaton develops a strategy called “Life in 90 seconds”. Entrepreneurs need to define their important moments through 90 seconds. It is a great way to engage with people. The exercise will make other entrepreneurs want to know more about them. Everything is routed to purpose.
“People buy who you are not what you know”
Entrepreneurs need to remember by knowing what to do in their jobs is just a prerequisite. Entrepreneurs cannot give others what they do not have. Therefore, self-awareness sells.
Self-awareness makes them stand out. It makes them unique. It allows entrepreneurs to discover their specific reason why they exist. The more awareness they know about themselves, the stronger they are.
Beaton often asks himself, “what is true about your life now that would make your 8-year-old self cry?”. Whatever entrepreneurs are not doing right now, they need to shift. They need to align with their purpose. Often their message is similar to their primary message when they are young.
The 3 purpose pillars are freedom, fulfillment, and contribution. Beaton uses these 3 pillars for his decision making. Beaton believes it is the simplest way to live. It is the foundation of choosing. Beaton will create his virtuous vision. Beaton suggests entrepreneurs to go out to native and explore.
Fulfillment is important. Nobody wants to start a business they hate. Money is not the primary factor. If entrepreneurs choose money, they might look successful, but they are miserable. Passion is the fuel. Success is a combination of purpose and fulfillment.
“Chase fulfillment first, money follows”
Beaton believes motivation is not the answer. People think they need motivation, but their brain will avoid it because the brain is structured to stay comfortable. Inspiration is the key because real change only happens in inspiration or desperation.
Most entrepreneurs have a “Do” list, but not “Be” list. “Be” list is what makes entrepreneurs who they are. They tend to forget about the “Be” list. Many entrepreneurs tend to peddling potential. They sell themselves on potentials, but deep down, they do not have it at all. Beaton recommends entrepreneurs to sell where they are right now. People only cares who they are at that moment. Beaton believes in “heterodox”. If entrepreneurs do the right thing, people will follow.
Entrepreneurs should stop doing what they hate. Beaton suggests them to outsource these activities to someone else. They need to focus on making their own legacy. They need to understand what others want to remember them at the end of their lives. Often people only tend to “get by”, but they need to look more further.
The ultimate currency is human connection. Human connection is the single most important thing in business. No matter what, human connection is not avoidable. Beaton had a golden salary at Apple. When his business was able to support himself and others, he took the chance and chase his dream. Beaton suggests young entrepreneurs to build the net first, then leap.
Name: Vancouver LeaderImpact – Integrating business, life and faith with Jonathan Friesen
Presenter: Jonathan Friesen
Cross cultural heritage can create Key differentiators for successful entrepreneurs. Moreover, the perspective they look at will determine if they are challenges or opportunities. Vancouver LeaderImpact Forum invites Jonathan Friesen, the CEO of Mission Group Enterprises Ltd, to discuss the key lessons in his life of entrepreneurship. In this presentation, Jonathan Friesen will share his unique story on cultural difference. Entrepreneurs will discover success comes not from fitting in, but by being different.
Jonathan Friesen is the CEO of Mission Group Enterprises Ltd. He focuses on growth strategy, casts vision, and cultivates strategic partnership and financing. He had the opportunity to work in Mitsubishi Corporation. His strength is on property development world. He helps corporation to see the power of vision, turn them into actions and create the desire outcome. Outside of work, he has passion in road racing, cycling and cross country skiing.
What are your key differentiators?
Negative can be important for growth. Many entrepreneurs believe the goal of business is to take advantage from other or stay ahead. In the world of business today, Jonathan Friesen believes customer experience ties in with brand expectation. Recognition increases when brand expectation increases. Company product can be sustainable in the market because people are willing to pay extra 10% more if there is unique customer experience.
Friesen engaged property development with customer experience. In Kelowna, he integrated property with history of neighborhood. The differentiator is to create similar culture fit with the building around them. For traditional properties, he brought in the splash wall design. For student housing, the differentiator was to create unique twist on building design. For the future housing, he incorporated living experience as differentiator for baby boomer market.
“Third culture kid” is a term describes Friesen. It defines it as parents from one culture and kids are not. Third culture kids feel they do not fit in. However, Friesen shows third culture kids are actually an advantage. They create and look for unique solutions. When Friesen was young, he felt unacceptable. He thought he was different than everyone else. In business, he leveraged this uniqueness to create innovative advantage. There is certain comfort in discomfort, and that is the cutting edge he has in his success.
“We are different, but this cool”
Friesen encountered a business crisis when the CEO of Mitsubishi Corporation suicided. Many of his equity supporters went bankrupt. Friesen felt shame and defeated. People told him there was no way to sell and clear the loan. Instead of blaming other people, he conquered the obstacle for his family. He took away his family time to be engaged at work. Until one day, he was away for work so long that his kids did not recognized him anymore. He was able to lose his wife. Friesen realized he needed to change. He went for soul searching and decided to move his family to Grand Canyon to start over. For 2 years, he found his life back.
Friesen shares another unique experience at Nukitipipi, French Polynesia. He was alone for 24 days to clear his head and refocus. He encountered a rare opportunity to raise marijuana. If he accepted the offer, the potential profit would be able to clear his money problem. However, he refused the offer because he felt it was not right. Afterwards, there was an inspection and he was thankful that he did not accept that offer.
Friesen believes tragedy will make people strong. His first and second sons died from born in premature. Friesen and his wife were healthy and they did not know why. He was introduced to Dr. Beard and he accepted the research of OB/GYN. With the doctor’s support and guidance, Friesen and his wife had 2 healthy kids. Things could not be explained, but he saw miracle. He began to realize his duty to help others. Furthermore, he discovered his spiritual faith.
Friesen shares the wheel of life. There are eight components.
Career
Money
Health
Spouse / Romance
Friends and family
Personal growth
Fund and recreation
Physical Environment
These eight components create the wheel of life, but he notices these eight components are surrounded by an empty circle in the middle. It feels there is an anchor that triggers these components. Friesen reveals it is spirituality. Spirituality is the connection for these components. It is the analogy of how lacking of what people are without the middle piece of spirituality.
Personal core values define what people believe. To discover personal core value, Friesen suggests entrepreneurs to imagine there is only 24 hours to live. They are on an island with a kid they love. They need to use the time they have to teach that kid about themselves. This exercise will help entrepreneurs discover their core values. It will also help entrepreneurs lead to their middle piece of their wheel of life.
Questions and Answers
Friesen did not have mentor when he was young. That was a regret and a lesson Friesen would never forget. He wants entrepreneurs to learn to look beyond their career and life.
For his legacy, he wants his 2 sons to have meaningful relationship with their spiritual belief. He wants his family to have each other’s back and learn the value of success, which is respect. People can train what is right or wrong, but it is more important to know what is honesty. Honesty comes from a voice within. The voice inside of each entrepreneurs’ head will always be there.
There is no work / life balance for Friesen. As an entrepreneur, entrepreneurs expect to work all the time. He could not ask the same expectation for his employees, but he expects his employees to commit to get their jobs done. His whole life is work and life.
Friesen suggests young entrepreneurs to find the intersection between fun, profit and passion. Fun provides enjoyment, profit can drain energy, and passion creates hobby. Therefore, intersection is what young entrepreneurs should aim for.
Friesen uses meditation to deal with doubt and stress. He relies on spirituality. His company incorporates his unique culture of honestly.
Who you are, how you believe
Never take a shortcut, never tells a lie
Make a promise, keep it
If you make mistake, own it
Best to be transparent
“Success comes not from fitting in, but by being different”
Name: Bryan Baeumler – Make Money with Income Properties
Presenters: Bryan Baeumler, and Mac Boyter
With the proper knowledge and management, real estate is another revenue stream for entrepreneurs. Pathway Events invite Bryan Baeumler, the Star of HGTVs House of Bryan, to discuss his mindset on his path of entrepreneurship lifestyle. The event also invites Mac Boyter, the Associate from Interactive Trader, to discuss the importance of trading. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will also learn the framework of real estate property strategy. Moreover, entrepreneurs will explore the opportunities from the benefit of real estate revenue stream.
Bryan Baeumler is the host of many HGTV Canada shows. This includes “Disaster DIY”, “Leave It to Bryan”, and “House of Bryan”. Baeumler is also the judge of Canada’s Handyman Challenge. Baeumler is Founder of Bryan Inc and Baeumler Construction company. He manages to help many people to renovate their houses for a higher profit.
Baeumler believes in travel and work balance lifestyle. He always wanted to be better than his father. His father took care of him when he was young. At a very young age, he understood the concept of “making your own luck”.
After the television series, he discovers many people refer him as “lucky”. In the show, Baeumler might look perfect and happy; however, not everyone knows the work behind the scene. Baeumler believes in his career, “keep trying” is attitude that attracts success. Passion will follow as long as work is committed. Currently, Baeumler has employed over 100 people in his company. In his company, he believes in fundamental.
Baeumler mentions many people in this generation forget about the work behind success. They often give up easily. He was taught to fish and farm; however, many young kids are forgetting the reason behind farming. When they are offered seeds, they can either waste it or plant it. When seeds are planted, it is beyond their imagination. Baeumler uses the analogy of Sheep and Shepard. The difference between these two is that sheep can one day stand up and lead the rest of the sheep.
“Everybody needs to be a fisherman someday; otherwise, they will get the fish”
“Until you master the bucket, I will then teach you how to use the broom”
Baeumler wants entrepreneurs to commit on something long term. Real estate is an example of long term investment. Stocks can fluctuate from market. However, as long as entrepreneurs do not sell the property, they will sustain the captain investment. When the property value is low, it is rare to see people lower rental income.
Knowledge of Real Estate Income Properties
Wholesaling is a form of real estate flipping strategy. The market is used to have many buy low and sell higher opportunities. People are creating bidding war to capture the gain from flipping. The new strategy is to buy low and sell low. The key of that strategy is to roll the gain from the real estate to the next deal.
Real estate can be owned and produced rentals. US Properties are great because entrepreneurs can obtain these properties with a fraction of cost and capture the rent exchange rate. There is a difference between cash and cash flow. Investment is to help entrepreneurs create as much cash flow as possible. These cash flow can be used for retirement, pay off the debt and etc. However, why not everyone is in real estate? Because of two factors.
Lack of knowledge that creates fear
Lack of funding
Instead of asking how much the property will make today, the key question is “what is the property worth today?”
The first rule of real estate investment is not to fall in love with the houses. Entrepreneurs can fall in love with the opportunities, but not the properties. To evaluate properties, entrepreneurs need to know the current value, location, and current condition. For example, when entrepreneurs see a property of $200,000 that is worth $300,000 today, it does not mean they will get $100,000 because of bidding war. In real estate, money is made in the buy or purchase because the discount can do more opportunities in the future. The secret is wholesale. If entrepreneurs are not finding good deals, they are not looking at the right spot. They should avoid places that many people are often to visit. People creates competition, which is high bidding war.
The strategy is called “Below-Wholesale Competition Advantage”. For Canadian properties, entrepreneurs can look for foreclosure, probate, and bankruptcy. For US properties, they can look at foreclosure, 25 to 1, wholesalers, and pre-foreclosure.
For example, A property is listed for $200,000 and the value can go up to $400,000. Entrepreneurs will put in contract obligation and sell for $322,000 (discount of $78,000 from $400,000). Entrepreneurs will pay the seller $200,00 after the property is sold. With around $30,000 additional costs associate with the property, entrepreneurs will get a profit of $92,000.
Entrepreneurs can have high knowledge, but they can be broke because of lack of action. There are 9 ways to get funding for real estate investment: personal cash, retirement account, profit from wholesale deals, partner money, hard money lenders, strategic funding partners, and OPM.
Take control of your financial future
Mac Boyter is the Associate of Interactive Trader. In real estate, profit will get taxable. Trading can be option for entrepreneurs with their profit from real estate. When US market is down, Canadian market will follow. The key question for entrepreneurs is if their money is protected. Many people are putting their money in a place that do not do anything for them. 85% of mutual funds are under perform and average broker only have 1,500 clients each to take care of. Successful entrepreneurs use option on trading.
“Nobody cares more about your money more than you”
Boyter wants entrepreneurs to keep 3 things in mind.
What you want to do?
What you should do?
How long you need to do?
“It is not how you make money it is what you do with it”
Many people are living paycheck to paycheck. The reality is many of them will never retire. They are fearful of outliving their money and they are not protected against market drop. Most of them are making the bank and brokers rich with their own money. Moreover, inflation is taking away their money. Currently, the market is high, which means more opportunities; however, there are warning signs that it will go down soon. Based on statistic, the market has 6-7 years’ cycle. It is called pendulum effect. The drop from 2008 was lower than the drop from 2000, and many people are not aware of it. People have insured their cars, home and life, but they do not insure their money.
A strategy for entrepreneurs is to use “hood”. The key is to keep the money liquid. Many people put their money in GIC because they do not know other options. With the effect of inflation, GIC is actually has negative return. Bankers give cheque account to people, so they can rent their money for 0% interest.
Entrepreneurs need to have a managing account. It is a way to use money in the cheque account and give 2% interest. Entrepreneurs will buy stock for long term income. They will use option for immediate income. Option can be inexpensive, limited risk and unlimited potential. There are two types of option: call and put. Call is having the right to buy asset at certain price. Put is having the right to sell asset at certain price.
For example, entrepreneurs can use call option of $1,000 to buy $200,000 property. When the market is up, property is now $1,000,000. The profit is $799,000. Another example, entrepreneurs will use pull option of $1,000 to sell $200,000 property. When the market is down, the property is $150,000. The profit is $49,000.
Many people are not doing this because others are taking charge of their money. Brokers and Bankers are doing trading, but they are not obligated to tell others.
Another strategy is to use “straddle”, which is combination of both call and put options.
Boyter wants entrepreneurs to look for 4 components. The first component is fundamentals. To pick the right stock, entrepreneurs should look for 7% on earnings, 5% on revenue, as much as possible for cash flow, and if stock pays dividends. The second component is the key ratios. They need to look at 15-50 days moving average and see when lines are crossed. Every cross is a turning point. The third component is inner cycle. This means insider and institutional activities. The last component is valuation. This refers to project value.
Presenters: Jonas Caruana, Dante Luciani, Francis Piche
Many entrepreneurs are taught to set large goals; however, they tend to forget about the pre-game of goal setting. ManTalks invites Jonas Caruana, the Aussie Athlete, Dante Luciani, the Coach of Vancouver College, and Francis Piche, the Host of Resilience Element Show, the discuss about their perspective of goal setting. Each presenter will share their strategy to maintain goals. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will learn their unique methods and apply to their business and personal lives. Entrepreneurs will discover the pre-game of goal setting can be a huge factor in the long run.
The Founder of ManTalks, Connor Beaton, believes learning requires information and emotion. There is no secret sauce to achieve goals; however, sometimes the pre-game of goal setting is what matters the most. Sometimes people see others’ success as “easy life”. Unfortunately, they do not know what they been through. “Easy life” is just a perspective.
“Pre-game is what shows your true ability, not in the game”
“The truth behind the door is different than you think”
Story of Jonas Caruana
Jonas Caruana is an Aussie Athlete. He is currently training his first Ironman triathlon and breaking the record of swimming 3,800 meters in less of 3,800 seconds. For the past 12 years, Jonas Caruana helped many business owners with their financial. This included working in Lululemon athletica as Strategy Project Manager and Educator. Moreover, he was also the Co-Founder of Training Mobs.
In his 20’s, he worked at a big consulting company in Lindon. He was dealing with a horrible client, who frustrated him for a year. One day, he went to the gym and discovered his mind was blink. He lost touch of everything that meant for him. He realized he needs a change. He asked for help from people who could help him discover where he is in his life. He met a mentor. His mentor gave him 2 important life exercises that changed his life around.
The mentor asked Caruana to document anything that inspired him from his childhood memory. The list could be on-going. Afterwards, Caruana needed to document what inspired him at the current moment. These could be the experiences that touched him. After he completed these two lists, he stored it in a secret place.
After a while, he opened up these two lists and read it. Caruana discovered some common inspiration from these two lists. He saw 7 common inspirations and called it “7 clouds”.
Family
Fitness
Travel
Sustainability
Technology
Design
Entrepreneurship
“How to evaluate the goodness?”
Caruana believes everything he accomplishes connects to these clouds. When he takes on new opportunities, he connects them with his clouds. The process makes him think he is not crazy; in fact, it connects with things that are important to his life.
“Align your goals, it will stick”
Sometimes entrepreneurs will forget about their goals. It happens because when they set those up, they do not live up to it. Caruana suggests some tips to help entrepreneurs keep their goals align.
The first tip is smartphone lock screen. Entrepreneurs can set their specific goals on their iPhone lock screen. Every time they look at their smartphone screen, it reminds them the goals. The second tip is the inside of medicine cabinet door. Entrepreneurs can place a calendar and highlight the days to show progress. The third tip is on the fridge. Caruana suggests entrepreneurs to stick their tactical goals on their fridge. The forth tip is the back of the front door. This is used for personal goals.
Caruana believes entrepreneurs are living in distract time. Instead of trying to solve it, work with it. When entrepreneurs have the habit of creating positive reminder, it will highjack their attention and pull towards their desire goals.
Story of Dante Luciani
Dante Luciani calls himself “Delusional Optimist”. His energy level creates positive influence to people around him. He is a coach at Vancouver College. Many of his students are inspired with his teaching methods, which is foster a healthy and positive lifestyle. Dante Luciani was a Personal Trainer at HIPFIT Studio and a teacher at Halton Catholic District School Board and Collegio San Carlo. Aside from work, he trains as a competitive triathlete.
Delusional optimize works well for Luciani. He learned his principles from his parents. When he was young, he learned the importance of self-talk. He was taught to be ok to dream big. His parents believe in him, which helped him strive his goals.
Luciani will share this valuable advice “The 5B” that he got from his mother.
The first B: Breath in
Entrepreneurs are often influenced and inspired by people around them. The people who they listen to or follow can make a difference. Luciani believes it is important to recognize the environment. Luciani experienced people who told him to quit, but he surrounded himself with people who encouraged him to continue. It makes a difference.
The second B: Believe it
Whenever entrepreneurs think if they are correct or not, they are always right. The brain is like a computer. Imagination thought is like a file in a computer. The most important question Luciani wants to ask entrepreneurs is what files are they taking in, create, alter, or delete. The key is that where mind goes, the body goes.
“I do not just believe it, I decide it”
The third B: Behave it
Luciani believes in self-fulfilling prophecy. The positive feedback between belief and behavior can impact entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs need to create positive loop with actions. Instead of asking for autographs, Luciani will ask leaders for advice on how to get to where they are. This gives them the permission to dream big, which also gives them the confidence.
“To create belief, follow belief”
The fourth B: Become it
Luciani emphasizes setting goals is a part of improvement. When entrepreneurs take their vision to career, it is the road trip that see the growth. It is important to look for a way to test potential.
The fifth B: Breath it to other
Entrepreneurs need to share it to others. This starts the cycle for someone else. Sharing the lessons entrepreneurs learn can create positive impact for others. Be grateful for it.
Story of Francis Piche
Francis Piche is the Founder and the Host of Resilience Element Show. He inspires many young people with his passion and message. In addition, he interviews many high-end professionals on his show to help young people discover their passion. Francis Piche is also a realtor at Century 21 in Town Realty. He was Volunteer Facilitator for Canadian Cancer Society; moreover, he volunteers as Ambassador at Greater Vancouver Board of Trade.
Francis Piche creates the term “Resilience Element” to help entrepreneurs reactive their passion.
Piche always have big goals. In grade 8, he wanted to go to camp, but he must sell 10 calendars. He managed to sell them all by door knocking selling technique. His passion of wanting to go was so high, he went back and sell more calendars. He was happy. He was resilient because he had the passion. The burning fire inside him was creating the drive.
Piche believes the foundation is to connect with heart.
After university, he had a choice of working for his father’s friend or go for international company. He chose to go for money. He went to the industry he did not like and he felt like “4 years in jail”.
Piche believes when entrepreneurs do not follow their heart, there will be consequences. He mentions he almost jeopardize his relationship because he did not follow his heart. When entrepreneurs are happy in their lives, they must connect their hearts. They need to give that gift to the world.
Piche will share his 5 components to reactive passion
The first component is clarity. Some people think too much small goals instead of big goals. Piche suggests entrepreneurs to try to do nothing for 3 days. In that 3 days, they need to avoid all distractions. They need to think of these 3 days as life or death situation. They will discover what they need to do with limited amount of time they have.
The second component is conviction. In order to make goals work, entrepreneurs have to believe. If entrepreneurs are having hard time figure out their purpose, Piche suggests them to
to look at themselves at the next 5 years. Entrepreneurs will discover they can do many things in 5 years. The life they want is fill with love and passion.
The third component is certainty. When entrepreneurs see themselves 5 years from now, they will see the detail, breakthrough, or experience that are important to them. Now they know the results, and it is up to entrepreneurs to create their path to achieve those outcomes.
The forth component is commitment. The key is to do it every day. No matter how many obstacles, they need to look forward. There is no excuse. Piche believes it is like retire saving plan, where entrepreneurs do not see it for a while. Dreams can be big, but commitment should be in small increments, which can create momentum.
The fifth component is courage. Entrepreneurs will hit the wall someday. This is growth. They need focus. They can ask people to be accountable for them. The important thing is to elevate the positive energy to crush these obstacles with courage.
The goals entrepreneurs set can be achieved by resilience element.
Name: The 5 key fundamentals of creating a successful WordPress website
Presenter: Michelle Castillo
An effective business website can support successful entrepreneurs achieve their business goals; moreover, it can also capture more leads and clients. Internet Masterminds meetup invites Michelle Castillo, the President of Spot On Digital Marketing, to discuss how to use WordPress to build the right website with great conversion rate. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will discover the effective way to design website with minimal time. In addition, Michelle Castillo will provide considerations which entrepreneurs need to watch out for.
Michelle Castillo is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Spot On Digital Marketing. For the past 6 years, Michelle Castillo helps many small businesses to build the right website that works for their industries. She also published 2 eBooks called “8 Actions You Can Take Right Now to Optimize Your WordPress Website” and “3 Biggest Mistakes Business Make with Digital Marketing and How You Can Avoid Them”. Her inspiration and passion inspire many young entrepreneurs.
Michelle Castillo believes all entrepreneurs are not alone. Based on statistic survey, 9% of entrepreneurs believe their digital marketing is working; in fact, a half of the participants indicates they do not know if their marketing is effective. Moreover, only 14% of entrepreneurs already know it does not work at all.
Castillo considers herself as “Digital Mechanical Engineer”. When she discovered WordPress for the first time, she knew it was an important key for digital marketing.
To indicate whether a website is successful or not, result is everything. Castillo emphasizes website result is the product of traffic and conversion. Traffic means the number of people visit the site and conversion means the number of visitors do what entrepreneurs want them to do. Castillo shares 5 principles that can help entrepreneurs make an effective website.
Principle #1: Do your market research
It is important not to make any assumptions. Instead, entrepreneurs need to do their market research. Market research is important because it gives entrepreneurs valuable insights. It shows if the product or service has a market. It gives entrepreneurs what potential clients are looking for and who are the competitors.
Keyword research is important. Keyword research shows what words target audience used to look for the product or service. The stats will show the popularity of the keywords. Moreover, it tells entrepreneurs the language clients are using to reach their wants. Castillo believes keyword research can help entrepreneurs create the right content that satisfy their audience’s expectation. Entrepreneurs need to use the right keywords so the prospects can find them on website. Keywords can help website to rank higher on search engine. By using keyword search, entrepreneurs can discover topics that can make great blog posts.
Entrepreneurs should make a list of keywords associate with their businesses. Keywords should be specific. Entrepreneurs can ask themselves “what problem does my product or service solve for my typical customers?”. SEMrush is a way for entrepreneurs to check their competitors.
Castillo suggests entrepreneurs to use Google AdWords Keyword Planner. This tool requires an active AdWords account. It will help entrepreneurs narrow down the keyword search for statistic results. Moz Open Site Explorer is also a good tool to use. Entrepreneurs can also use Google Suggestion to show what ranks the most. Another suggestion is to install a Chrome Extension – Keyword Everywhere.
Market research should be ongoing activity. Entrepreneurs are encouraged to signup Google Search Console and Google Analytics.
Principle #2: Plan your content and make it about your client, not you
Entrepreneurs need to change the wording to reflect “how to help your clients?”. It allows effective communication on the product or service offering. Moreover, it helps with SEO.
Castillo suggests entrepreneurs to use the result of keyword research and create unique pages and posts. Castillo do not recommend entrepreneurs to make a long list of their services on the website because it is hard to search and it is hard on visual. It also lower the ranking on SEO due to too many keywords on single page.
“Think content first”
Principle #3: Pick a quality WordPress theme
Many entrepreneurs have hard time picking the right theme because there are too many out there to choose from. Not every theme is SEO-friendly and it is important to find th one that fits the need of their businesses.
Some WordPress themes have bad use of tags. They do not use <H1> tag properly and they use <H2> tag instead or make the font bigger. Furthermore, many WordPress themes have slow loading time.
Castillo suggests entrepreneurs not to use sliders. 99% of website now have sliders, but it crates confusion for visitors to know the primary business goal. Many researches show sliders are ineffective. Entrepreneurs need to plan first and think about how clients will feel when they visit their sites.
There are free themes available to use for website. These can be simple, but they offer very limited customization. Most free themes are designed for blogs and there is no guarantee on support and quality. Premium themes have wide variety of selection. They have good support and better quality. They have more customization and more functionally.
Castillo suggests entrepreneurs to use Thrive Theme, Divi, and Genesis. Thrive Theme is flexible and it can be used as lead capture or sales funnel. Divi is more modern flexible style. Genesis can be complicated and entrepreneurs are required to have more knowledge on WordPress.
Principle #4: Optimize from day 1
When entrepreneurs have the habit to optimize from day 1 of the website, it can save time and receive result faster. Castillo shows 2 important things that most entrepreneurs forgot to optimize.
Permalinks
Image
Permalinks need to contain keywords. When entrepreneurs change their permalinks later, it might take a while to redirect. Entrepreneurs can edit the permalinks from WordPress function and default setting.
To optimize image, entrepreneurs need to use ALT text tags. They need to use the right keywords in the image title name. It is important to use captions appropriately. In addition, entrepreneurs should not use images with 1000 or more pixel wide or 100kb or more in size. The website can spend a lot of loading time to run large pictures. It hurts SEO and users experience.
Principle #5: Plan for lead capture
Many entrepreneurs miss this step. They need to covert traffic into leads. By offering a lead magnet, free incentive or templates, visitors are more likely to join the email list. A lead magnet does not have to be complicated. Castillo strongly suggests not to use “Sign-up our newsletters” because it drives visitors away. There are many ways to create lead magnets. Moreover, they should be relevant to their needs and their expectations.
Name: 2017 is the year of engagement with Jonathan Christian
Presenter: Jonathan Christian
Many entrepreneurs are struggling to create their own engaging content; moreover, they invest time in social media and without receiving quality return. Vancouver Business Network meetup invites Jonathan Christian, the Founder of We Make Stuff Happen, to discuss his strategy on social media success. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will learn his valuable social media tips to create and deliver successful content. Furthermore, Jonathan Christian will cover some important keys for entrepreneurs to take advantage of social media in 2017.
Jonathan Christian is the Founder of We Make Stuff Happen. His training courses help many entrepreneurs take their lead in social media in their industries. He is the expert in the world of social networking and content marketing. Jonathan Christian is also the Chief Imagination Officer for JDGEM Consulting Inc. Many of his clients are inspired and impressed with his engagement and passion. He over delivers his materials. He was nominated BCAMA Marketer of the year 2012. Moreover, he is also a board member of Pain BC since 2013.
In Jonathan Christian’s perspective, social media is a platform for storytelling. In the upcoming 2017, Christian believes “engagement” is the theme in social media. Everything is in contact with mobility and 2 main questions should be asked: “How well you are found on mobile?” and “How they want to have communication with you?”
For the past many years, the adoption of enterprise communication was increasing exponentially. It took 75 years for the phone to reach 50 million users. 38 years for radio, 14 years for television, 4 years for internet, 3.5 years for Facebook and 3 months for Google+. The trend shows users are increasing the urgency of information. People are resonating with the communication. Moreover, Christian believes mobility is the key of the winning formula in social media.
Christian moved to Abbotsford, lived in his dream house and married over 30 years. He has 3 children, who are also a big part of the social media. He even has created his own hashtag. Christian believes content and emotion are the triggers for social media influence. He got into social media because he wanted to stay in touch with his mother. He also wanted to keep connected with his daughters. During a car accident in 2008, he was diagnosed with Annus Horribilus. Life threw him a weird turn and forced him to find ways to do business using what he knows the best, which is social media. While spending quality time with many amazing people, he managed to create his tribe and founded the company called “We Make Stuff Happen”.
Christian asks entrepreneurs if they ever google themselves in the Google search engine. The results show up based on the keywords they use. To get a better search result, Christian suggests entrepreneurs to use Google+. Google+ has search ability, Google Maps, SEO, business reviews, and knowledge graph. Entrepreneurs need to remember it is no longer about selling, but it is about the stories they tell. Social media is powerful enough to impact people’s mindset and online reputation is extremely important in this generation. There is a question Christian wants to ask all entrepreneurs: “what is the most valuable thing they bring to their clients?”
“Be real, emotional, and authentic”
On social media, storytelling is the best way to connect with people. Social media is the new internet. Entrepreneurs need to let social media become their heartbeat. This is a social world and now the awareness is not the driver; instead, advocacy is now the next business level. People are looking for advocate; therefore, entrepreneurs need to become the “go-to” person. 80% of consumers look at online review. Only 14% of them trust advertisement and only 78% of them will trust recommendation. Christian believes it is important for entrepreneurs to become the best storyteller or the best educator in their industries. This will change their paradigm.
“Help, but do not sell, people will come to you”
Christian suggests entrepreneurs should only use 3 to 15 minutes to manage their social media account and 3 times a day. Entrepreneurs need to determine their target audience. Niche is important because it is impossible to reach everyone. Content should start from a website and expand to different social media platforms.
The first tip for entrepreneurs is to become the leading authority within their own industry. When entrepreneurs use professional pictures, it shows confidence. They need to have that confident image in their head first to believe in themselves. Afterwards, entrepreneurs need to get people to write their google reviews. 5 stars review can help entrepreneurs to gain high awareness in the Google search.
To have an engage content, it needs to be educated, entertained, engaged, empowered an excited. Video is the best way to share engage content in social media. Entrepreneurs do not need expensive camera; instead, smartphone is all they need. Entrepreneurs need to share their Vlogs and blogs. They can use Facebook to boost their reach and views. Live video is the next level in social media strategy.
Story is the where entrepreneurs should begin. People want to hear stories and stories can bridge the connection. People can experience the message in the stories.
“Whatever you are thinking, think bigger”
The second tip for entrepreneurs is to have personal profile and business page. They are different because they tell different stories. Christian suggests entrepreneurs to link the profile to the page to gain maximum exposure. Entrepreneurs should also get their business page verified. The business page will receive a blue checkmark. 52% of people are likely to trust the brand if it interacts positivity on social media. To improve the edge rank, it focuses on affinity, weight and time. Christian provides 3 key questions.
Affinity: How often do they engage?
Weight: What type of content?
Time: When are they online?
Christian wants entrepreneurs to become the best storyteller within their industries. Social media is a powerful tool if they use it properly. They can also use the Pin Post function in Facebook. The post they pin is the first post people see when they visit the page. Entrepreneurs just need to remember the 3 steps: create the page, post, and manage.
Another tip for entrepreneurs is to build the community. They can ask questions to the community to engage members. Christian suggest entrepreneurs to look into Canva or PicMonkey to access images for building the community.
To gain more engagement on social media, entrepreneurs can also tag others in their posts. Entrepreneurs need to remember not to post anything they do not want others to see online. Here are the 5 key steps to build relationship to social media success.
Name: GoGetters Vancouver – Make 2017 Your Best Yet!
Presenters: Ryan Joseph Zokol, Graham Young, and Himanshu Narang
To get a head start of year 2017, entrepreneurs need to refocus their goals and understand how mind can influence mental performance. GoGetters Vancouver meetup invites Ryan Joseph Zokol, the Lifestyle entrepreneur, Graham Young, the Performance Coach from Graham Young Strategies, and Himanshu Narang, the professional speaker, to discuss their breakthrough from their businesses. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will learn the steps to focus their goals. In addition, Graham Young will reveal the connection between relationship and performance. Furthermore, Himanshu Narang will share his 5 principles to live in legendary life.
The Bullseye
Ryan Joseph Zokol is a lifestyle entrepreneur and a performance coach. For over 3 years, Zokol spends a large amount of time to help entrepreneurs transform. Until now, many entrepreneurs are inspired from his talk. Zokol is also the Chief Operating Officer for Pacific Institue for Advanced Dental Education. He was a Vice President of Strategy for Cerulean and he volunteered in Ripple Effects Society.
Zokol provides a worksheet called “Monthly Plan” to help entrepreneurs focus on their daily success. Entrepreneurs need to write down their accomplishments from the past month and also write down the commitment they are not doing anymore. Zokol wants entrepreneurs to list all the actions entrepreneurs are taking to celebrate their lives and a list of things they are not doing in their current schedule. These 4 steps will help entrepreneurs to narrow down their top 3 priorities for the current month and the actions they need to take to complete those priorities.
Zokol provides another worksheet called “The Bullseye”. Entrepreneurs need to make a declaration. The declaration must be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-sensitive, and past tense. When declaration is in past tense, entrepreneurs will be more aware of opportunities. Next, entrepreneurs will need to describe their current reality related to their goals. The beauty of this step is to understand how far away from the current stage to their goals. Zokol wants entrepreneurs to use all information to determine the ideal actions they need to take to complete their goals. They also need to brainstorm people they can share these goals and actions. This is important for entrepreneurs because they can get feedback and additional supports from others. Lastly, entrepreneurs will need to write own the daily and weekly actions that can help them create the necessary habits to accomplish their goals.
The Science behind relationship and influence
Graham Young is a performance consultant for Graham Young Strategies. He helps many entrepreneurs improve their sales performance and other engagements through his leadership training. His leadership skill involved with neuroscience and psychology teaching, which support entrepreneurs to breakthrough their peak mental performance. He was a business development manager from ePACT Network. Moreover, he volunteers as a Director in a charitable foundation called Contributing to the Lives of Inner City Kids.
Young believes many entrepreneurs are comparing themselves to others and using other entrepreneurs as measuring stick. In fact, they are always worry about judge.
Young shares his mother threw him self-taught books when he was young. In 2009, his business mentor suicided, and his mentor’s action did not make sense to Young. Young realized people expect leaders who are in higher position with all the answers to their problems. However, it was difficult for the leaders to ask others for answers. In 2012, Young’s mother was diagnosed with cancer. It did not make sense to Young because his mother was into healthily lifestyle. He later realized his mother was stressed out about the concern of health. These life challenges directed Young to realize his mission is to help people simply the psychology of neuroscience. In another word, Young can help entrepreneurs rewire their brain.
“We cannot be truly effective in building relationships and understanding human behavior if we do not fully understand our own”
Young defines expectation is the belief in people’s head that think it is trust worthy. People have expectation for others, themselves, others that have on them, and think what others have on them. Expectation helps entrepreneurs know what to focus on that moment. The question Young asks the audience is “what expectations do you have?”
Expectation is a defence mechanism. It can lead to rejection or connection, and it gives entrepreneurs the control of their lives. It also helps entrepreneurs aware of threats and avoid pain.
“Do your best, focus on your intent”
Young shares 2 strategies for entrepreneurs. The first strategy is to build the value tribe. Entrepreneurs create their contact list. They should spend 15 to 30 minutes per day to give value to one person on the contact list. The list will help entrepreneurs to ensure they do not forget about the promise they made to others. This will help entrepreneurs understand what type of value they can bring. The second strategy is to write daily journal. It can help entrepreneurs reconnect with themselves.
Young believes rules is a part of expectation. Rules is what must happen to achieve fears or valves. Fears can be rejection, not accepted, not appreciated, failure, making mistake and etc. For entrepreneurs, the underline message for fears is that they are not good enough. Values means love, connect, respect, success, achievement and etc. Young emphasizes the brain is two times as motivated to move away from pain than it is to move towards pressure.
For entrepreneurs, rule or expectation will go through 3 stages: deserving, outcome, and validation. Entrepreneurs need to know if they deserve enough. They need to see the outcome, and they need validation from others. They need all 3 to happen; otherwise, it will be out of their control.
Young shares the reactions to achieve rules or expectations.
Perfectionism
People pleaser
Compare / jealousy / inferior
Over prepare / overthink / over analyze
Take personally
Avoidance
Blame others
Emotions
Young believes the solution is to understand the foundation of value and intention. It is important to ensure entrepreneurs are doing their best. They need awareness. They can change the rules or expectation. They can do mental workout, experience wrap, or affirmation.
“To change your rules, reverse your struggle”
Young shares the brain learns from the words people say, how these words make people feel, experience, how experience make people feel, and repetition.
Young provides new rules for entrepreneurs who want to change. He calls it “Power Phrase”.
Perfectionist
“I do not need to be perfect to be accepted by others, I am perfect in my imperfection”
Take things Personally
“I have no control over other’s actions. How they treat me is how they treat everyone else. I trust myself to be in the moment”
Social Anxiety
“I connect with the right people, clients, contacts and friends in my life when I am my natural self. I am connected to myself”
People Pleaser
“I feel appreciated by others when I treat them with warmth and respect, not how they treat me”
Worry what other people think
“I trust myself to be in the moment, out of my head and in my heart. I trust in my intent”
Judgement
“The more I judge others, the more I feel I am being judged. Everyone is doing the best they can with what they have and what they were given”
Fear Failure
“Confidence comes from my action not my outcome”
“Confidence comes from stepping out of my comfort zone, making a decision and not looking back”
Comparing to others
“I love myself because I am learning and growing for myself and everyone around me”
To do a mental workout, Young wants entrepreneurs to do the following.
Breath 4 seconds in, hold 2 seconds, exhale 4 seconds
Say the power phrase
Visualize 3 things that was completed in the last 24 hours
Visualize 2 things that needs to complete today
Visualize 1 thing in the future
Say the power phrase
Breath 4 seconds in, hold 2 seconds, exhale 4 seconds
Live Legendary – Perspective and Tactics for a Legendary 2017
Himanshu Narang is a professional speaker and a professional trainer. He helps many entrepreneurs to reach and produce legendary results. His training involves in Business value creation, peak performance and communication skills. Narang is the Co-Founder of GoGetters Vancouver. He was a Chief Business Strategist at RocketFuel Digital and a Board member of GoGreenChandigarh.
Narang asks the audience what do entrepreneurs really after? The answer is the fulfillment through success. To live in legendary life, it all start with doubt.
Narang shares his story. He disliked the life of engineer. He felt his life was just passing by. He was disappointed and powerless. The leap of faith helped him land to Vancouver to study MBA, but he was concern about his future of his dream. In 2013, he had hard time finding internship. He began to study people in the industry, especially those who fulfill their lives. He discovered 5 principles that changed his life differently. These principles changed him significantly. He started to earn 6 figures and accomplished his dream of speaking as a speaker. He called the 5 principles as “CRAFT”.
“What is legendary life look like? whatever you see it is possible”
Principle #1: Create an artist’s perspective
Narang wants entrepreneurs to create something that the world has never seen before. The product they make should give the same experience all the time. It is beautiful creation from hard work. The path of being a legendary artist is continuous improvement.
Principle #2: Re-think leadership
When people know what they want, followers will come. Narang wants entrepreneurs to remember the legendary leadership starts with themselves. It is all about believing themselves and it is not about blaming others. They need to focus on what they can impact. It all narrows down to dream and choice. Therefore, entrepreneurs need to act like a leader all the time.
Principle #3: Adopting 1% mindset
Narang believes the world is structured in the shape of pyramid and only 1% of people or business reach to the top. The pyramid starts with under average, then average, then good, and lastly the legendary. Entrepreneurs need to do what 1% of people do to be at the top. They must be prepared to make the choices, and live the way only 1% have courage to.
Principle #4: Focus on being an exceptional human being
Entrepreneurs should be givers. Since people are programed differently, but too many people are spending money they cannot payback on things they should not be spend. Narang asks 2 questions.
If your kids knew who you truly are, would you be proud of yourself?
How do you want to be remembered at the end of your career or life?
For entrepreneurs, at the end, how they feel about themselves matter. All actions align feelings made to others. Moreover, it is important to build real relationship.
Principle #5: Tune into “stick until it will click’ attitude
Narang shares a lesson he learned from his grandmother. In 2014, he was struggling to find a job. When he was about to give up, his grandmother told him everything new is difficult first, but it will get easy. She also told him “if you stick, it will click”. When entrepreneurs have burning desire, it will click if they do not give up.
The bigger the network does not mean the bigger the net worth; moreover, many entrepreneurs tend to forget the importance of business relationship. Vancouver Entrepreneurs & Business Builders invites Jacob McGill, the Founder of 8020 Media, to discuss his insight on making beneficial business relationships. Jacob McGill will provide key takeaway for entrepreneurs to build meaningful relationships. In addition, entrepreneurs will establish the right fundamental skills to improve their communication in their businesses in the right direction.
Jacob McGill is the Founder of 8020 Media. For the past 18 years, he focused on creating a better health systems for people. He is a Total Health Consultant for Complete Wellness Solutions. His passion and beliefs help many people to break their limited beliefs in communication, business and life. He was also sales and leasing consultant for Enagic and Vendor Partner from Rapid Time Networks. In addition, he studied Aikido for over 15 years.
Jacob McGill is a great believer in the importance of getting pass the fundamental education. He mentions he was inspired by Robert Kiyosaki from Rich Dad Poor Dad. He was taught that people work in narrow channel inside the box. It is good for memorization, but in business, nobody wants to see the report card.
McGill believes it is important to get outside influence. Entrepreneurs should build network that they can leverage. McGill founded 8020 Media. This is a digital brand agency with using collaborative business model.
“I want my business to strive”
McGill states in Moore’s law, when the rate of frequency is moving up, the process will eventually go up exponentially. Applying this theory to business world, big corporate businesses will not last due to the rate of going extinct. Less than 50% of Fortune 500 companies will disappear. As times continues, the rate is getting faster and faster.
McGill emphasizes the problem in this reality is fake entrepreneurship. There are many people who have ideas and they are executing; however, money is active, yet people are not linking that with ideas. Even though government placed an act to protect companies, especially after the Great Depression, fundings are not going into business and business is not maintain relevant.
“In business, people are seeing the tide going away”
The collaboration builds the fundamental in McGill’s business model. It is designed to grow other businesses. This turns operation into agility. The purpose is to build meaningful business relationship. McGill wants entrepreneurs to remember that no matter where they go, marketers will come and screw it up.
In this generation, business focuses online. There are over 308 thousand babies born per day and 4 mobiles ship per day. There are over 8 million people online. Traditional advertising works for old school and it is not collaborating with the new generation because this generation has the ability to choose what they want to see.
Attention is rare and developing relationship is the only way for business to move forward.
Entrepreneurs are now taking the existing business model and hire people for data. When data is integrated to the existing business model, they will discover things are different. Entrepreneurs will need to change the existing business structure. They create a new business plan and get back to the playing field once more.
The collaborative model initially comes from native. It works not just vertical, also horizontal. In business, entrepreneurs are used to play finite game; but business is an infinite game because entrepreneurs need to change the rules all the time in business. Finite will not work in business. Most importantly, building relationship is infinite game.
Finite looks at the horizon, and eventually it will come around. Infinite looks at the projectile, and it will see things above. McGill believes that is where collaboration comes from.
If corporations keep the advertising budget for television and use it as a contest, they will identify customers’ concerns. McGill states corporations are not wasting money because those advertising budget will be wasted in ineffective television campaign anyways. It will work because it creates collaboration with customers.
“Collaboration starts with questioning and listening”
In leadership, successful entrepreneurs always sit in circle and always the last to speak. This is developing collaboration. Entrepreneurs need to figure out what others before take actions.
Collaboration reveals different revenue streams. Entrepreneurs will know the bigger picture and understand how to add on to the big picture. They will able to link other entrepreneurs who are relevant. Sometimes marketplace does not understand, and collaboration helps entrepreneurs to make action. It is a challenge to link with actions, especially people now it, but they do not know what to do. Many people are lazy. It is a part of the human nature. Collaboration helps them cut down to pieces to make it accessible.
Demographic plays a huge role in collaboration. Making it accessible is important to the right market. Execution is the main piece and when generation changes, entrepreneurs must be flexible.
Collaboration looks at the sentiment of the market. It gets the attention. McGill suggests entrepreneurs to keep consistent on actions. Eventually, they will attract the right people and right value.
Questions and Answers
The audience asks how to build relationship in business without depending on finance. McGill advises entrepreneurs to do the following.
Think about what people they want to attract and build
Understand the value of time
When they say no to one thing, they are saying no to 30 others
Look at the long-term plan
Look for overlap from others
Keep asking questions to know what to provide
Know what others want
Do not sell short
Look beyond the transaction
Surround with similar mindset
Focus on relationship and collaboration, not how sell because sell attracts sell
Time is a factor for entrepreneurs who are creating their own contents; moreover, to write faster with shorter time is a skill all entrepreneurs need to learn. The Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC) Richmond Chapter invites Daphne Gray-Grant, the Principal at The Publication Coach, to discuss the strategies on writing more efficient and effective. Daphne Gray-Grant will share the “Mindmap” technique to help entrepreneurs develop better ideas. In addition, Daphne Gray-Grant will help entrepreneurs to break some of their negative blockage and habits in business writing.
Daphne Gray-Grant is the Principal at The Publication Coach. She was a former editor for Weyerhaeuser, MacMillan Bloedel and Vancouver Sun for over 20 years. Gray-Grant helped many young entrepreneurs to become more skillful writers and communicators. She is also a keynote speaker for many seminars. She published a book called “8½ Steps to Writing Faster, Better” to help entrepreneurs gain the extra edge in their businesses. In addition, she has the passion to help entrepreneurs to go above and beyond.
Daphne Gray-Grant believes outlining is a way to hate writing process. The left side of the brain uses linear and the right side is creativity. When entrepreneurs write, they use the creativity side, not linear. The problem is many entrepreneurs are good at linear, but they have difficulty to turn to creative side. Only one side drives the other. She encourages entrepreneurs to stop using outlining; instead, they should use mindmap.
“It is not left vs right, it is a metaphor”
Mindmap is a powerful technique that most entrepreneurs underestimate. Entrepreneurs will write a question in the middle of the page. This challenges the brain and it triggers the creativity side. Entrepreneurs can branch out the questions with different ideas. When they start using mindmap, they only put limited information they need to recall. Gray-Grant believes the mistake many entrepreneurs make is write too much information on the mindmap. Mindmap is like finger prints; every mindmap is different.
Gray-Grant lists 7 major rules for mindmap.
Write down everything
Include stories
Do not try too hard to be organized
Keep writing, and do not stop
Ask a question in the center of the page
It is not necessary to finish the mindmap
You might need more than one mindmap
Ideas on subconscious can be very powerful and only entrepreneurs themselves can control what to do. People listen to story more than facts because people remember stories. It does not matter ideas connect to the right ideas; instead, entrepreneurs should not feel constraint by using the space on the paper. Mindmap can also work with fiction and non-fiction. It helps entrepreneurs know how to begin their stories. For entrepreneurs, mindmap is like brainstorm with themselves. It looks for specific story and not fact. Mindmap helps entrepreneurs go different directions. When entrepreneurs feel the “Aha” moment, they should stop mindmap and start writing. Mindmap inspires entrepreneurs to write.
“Being specific as you can will capture more people and increase interest”
Contents come from many sources. Entrepreneurs need to ask the right questions. Gray-Grant suggests entrepreneurs to ask themselves this question: “How full is your bucket?”. Many entrepreneurs tend to forget to ask questions about feelings. Emotions can lead to interest. Therefore, entrepreneurs should have balance of facts and non-factual questions. Gray-Grant recommends entrepreneurs to paraphrase back to others. This mitigates errors and it makes others feel comfortable. The more comfortable they feel, the more information they can give.
Gray-Grant provides 5 elements on writing good quotes: interesting, brief, quirky, idiosyncratic, and expressed in a different voice. The reasons for paraphrasing are to eliminate boring material, to reduce jargon, to be more succinct, to deal with people they are obligated to interview, and to save quotes for the best of the best. Gray-Grant emphasizes entrepreneurs should not accept quotes by email because written words and spoken words can have different meaning.
It is important to budget time in writing. Entrepreneurs should use reverse engineering method on budgeting their writing time. Gray-Grant suggests the percentage of time spend should be 40% on preparing to write, 20% on writing, and 40% on re-writing and editing. Many entrepreneurs spend too much time on writing; instead, they should spend more time on preparing and editing.
People talk to themselves all the time. Moreover, people have doubts. Doubts come from within and it is up to individuals to overcome doubts. To deal with doubts, Gray-Grant gives 5 tips for entrepreneurs.
Do not ignore it
Watch the breathing
Know that it will pass
Do the work regardless
Celebrate all the achievements no matter how small
“The best flower is fertilized by crap”
Many entrepreneurs edit while they write. They tend to go back and edit the previous sentences. This slows down the writing process; instead, Gray-Grant recommends entrepreneurs to edit after the draft.
“Just write without editing”
Entrepreneurs can turn off the monitor because if they cannot see, they cannot edit. Entrepreneurs should consider using Pomodoro technique. This can help entrepreneurs concentrate on finishing one task at a time. They can use a noisy timer. Statically, distraction occupies 10% of the brain. Therefore, if the noise cover that 10%, entrepreneurs can concentrate on writing.
Entrepreneurs can use online applications, such as “writeordie.com” to force themselves to write. When they need to check for reference, they can post a note so they can check later instead of stop the writing process. Entrepreneurs can use dictation application to speed up the writing process as well.
The linear side of the brain can be bossy and the creativity side of the brain can be shy. Gray-Grant believes it is important to not give the creative side of the brain the excuse to leave.
“You can always fix crap, but you cannot fix a blank page”
“It is a first draft, not a bomb”
The best writers are best re-writers. Good writers are made and not born. Entrepreneurs need to spend more time on editing. Gray-Grant illustrates the Venn Diagram. When entrepreneurs edit, they must remember the message and what readers want to read. Entrepreneurs should be careful with jargon words. They need to think about the audience because clarity is the key. They need to tailor the message to the audience.
Entrepreneurs need to determine the readability level on their content. Readability level means how easy to read the content. There is a matrix to measure the readability level. Most newspaper is in grade 6 or 7. If it is easy to read, people will read. Gray-Grant wants entrepreneurs to remember that readability level is not about the content.
Entrepreneurs can use http://buff.ly/28UYT0h to measure the readability level. The key is to look at the average number of words per sentence. The ideal words should be 14-18 words per sentence. Entrepreneurs can also use Ernest Hemingway application for readability level. The key in this application is to identify passive voice. Ideally, Gray-Grant suggests entrepreneurs to aim for grade 7-9 on their content. It should never be higher than grade 10. The grade levels are arbitrary. The grade level is measured by word length, sentence length, paragraph length and the amount of passive voice. Long sentence is harder to write than short sentence. It is easier to make grammatical mistakes. It is hard to read and it is hard to make interesting. Entrepreneurs can shorten the sentence by eliminating “and”, “which”, “that”, and the semicolon. They can also take words ending in “tion” back to root. Entrepreneurs can mix long sentence with short sentence to make the content interesting. Moreover, they can use bullets and lists as well.
Passive voice is not recommended for content because passive voice hides the actor of the sentence. Most readers are visual; passive voice can confuse readers because it is hard for them to visual the image.
In conventional writing, people learned paragraph is mandatory. However, Gray-Grant believes paragraphing is arbitrary. In fact, paragraphing is just easy to read.
Gray-Grant provides 10 tips to help entrepreneurs on proofing. Entrepreneurs should allow time to pass. Let it sit and come back later. They should proof on paper instead on the monitor because it is easier to spot mistakes on paper. The monitor light can make entrepreneurs’ eyes tired. This reduces their concentration on proofing. Entrepreneurs should use distinctive typeface and put the font in 20 points. They need to recheck the names and the dates because statistically, the most common errors in printed materials are names and dates. Sometimes the obvious can be a mistake. The bigger it is, the more likely people will miss it because of assumption. Entrepreneurs should use a ruler because it allows them to break the “scanning” habit. They can start proofing at the end. It forces them not to rely on the chronology of the story. Entrepreneurs should ask themselves what they may have omitted and have their own list of things to check. Lastly, entrepreneurs should read it out loud to catch hidden mistakes. Human speaks slower than reading. The slower it gets, the easier to catch errors.
Name: TalentsTalk – What is the future of human performance?
Presenter: Tom Waller
Technology enhancement has impacted many industries, especially the athletic apparel industry. It seems innovation has reach to a limit. Entrepreneurs are concerned what is the next stage. TalentsTalk invites Tom Waller, the Senior Vice President of Whitespace, to discuss the future of human performance. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will discover how innovation development change the world. Tom Waller will share his insight on the progress of performance. Furthermore, entrepreneurs will learn the secret of performance and how they can apply them into their businesses.
Tom Waller is the Senior Vice President of Whitespace. Whitespace is Lululemon’s in-house innovation and R&D. Before Lululemon, Tom Waller was the head of Aqualab from Speedo International. He is a keynote speakers in many events, including TEDx. He is also a mentor for many new graduates and professionals who are looking to make a change in the world. Moreover, Tom Waller is an executive board member for ProMotion.
Waller has been working in athletic apparel industry over 17 years, he is still searching for the answer on the future of human performance. Waller is clear that the mission of Lululemon is to elevate the world from mediocrity to greatness. Waller believes his work has put a big dent to the world. It allows people to see different perspectives in human performance. Moreover, Waller shares his purpose is to acquire and share knowledge to make the world a better place.
There is opportunity to change. Waller believes innovation fill that gap. His team and himself work and discipline to impact the world with sports knowledge. Waller creates Whitespace because he wants to involve with the lead of innovation. With the new team and new responsibilities, he needs to step out of the conventional box and fulfill their mission and purpose.
“The purpose of ‘Whitespace’ is to find more whitespace”
Waller has listed what types of projects Whitespace has been working on.
Sports Technology
Polymer Science
Electrical Engineering
Experience Design
Biomechanics
Chemistry
Biomedical Engineering
Innovation Strategy
Physiology
Materials Engineering
Systems Engineering
Architecture
Thermophysiology
Textile Engineering
Anthropology
3D prototyping & development
Aeromechanics
Mechanical Engineering
Ethnography
Fashion & Industrial Design
“Projects own people, not people own projects”
Waller emphasizes instead of thinking like hero or villain, he creates integration. He opens up the space for discovering, learning, and experimenting.
Some entrepreneurs believe performance is like 20 yards further because they think performance come through objects. Based on research, technology can raise and develop new standards on how people measure the object. However, Waller does not agree because he feels something is missing.
New research shows performance is like 0.01 seconds of drag. Instead of looking at it like an object, it is about how object do to human. When entrepreneurs take 1000 things and have one small increment of change on each thing, the combination of those small increment of change become big change. The amount of drag is important for human body to accelerate. However, is it necessary to go for these small matters? Waller starts to lose faith.
Based on Gore-Tex, this innovation shows performance is like 20,000 millimetres of waterproof. In another word, this type of rainproof fabric can sustain 20,000 millimetres of water without soaking. Is it relevant? Waller thinks not. After Michael Phelps’ Olympic performance, many people define performance is like getting 93% of all medals. Michael Phelps has the world record of holding the most Olympic medals. Speedo absolutely nailed it. Many people start to believe if they wear Speedo swimwear, they can also perform as well as Michael Phelps. Is performance a part of extrinsic technology? Waller thinks so. Between 1960 to 2016, the world record breaking starts from new technique, new chemistry, new facility, and lastly new technology. However, Waller believes something else is happening.
Can performance be guaranteed? Performance can only be guaranteed if all factors are met, but it does not mean everyone will get the same performance equally.
New discovery indicates performance is state. Performance is a state of matter and based on the Flow State Graph by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, people can obtain flow state if they match high challenges with high skill level. The brain tells the body what to do. When someone breaks the world record, it tells the brain it is possible, which triggers the body to exceed performance. Waller believes the true performance is accessible to everyone.
“Limits is not physical, it is psychological”
Performance is perceived and there is evidence that yoga can change performance. Yoga sends body and brain in different direction. Waller did some experiment and it shows all yogis can turn down emotion to neutral anytime, and many athletes could not do it. Medication works and it is not just about physically fit, it is about mentally fit.
Waller suggest the future performance is about “feel”. Brain contains beliefs and relationship towards memories, and most of them trigger by sensory experience. It changes the way people feel the world. Waller believes “feel” can take people further. For example, when people put on clothes, it triggers the sensation that drives emotion response.
Lululemon knows how to use “feel” in their products. Their clothes create the feeling to the body that give experience in sensation. Waller believes he is on the right track and it is possible to achieve top performance by how people feel the world.
Question and Answers
Lululemon uses senses rays to measure the pressure on people. To discover how to trigger the rays is one step closer to peak performance. Technology can only reshape the body, but it could not make body float; instead, people should focus on psychology.
Medication can change emotional relationship. To change people’s belief on performance, they need to explore further in psychology. People only willing to test if they are willing to measure or let go.
Based on the NBA trend, Waller comments it is not NBA players got taller; in fact, it is more tall people playing for NBA.
In any sports, outfit and psychological belief work together. There is a connection between those two. Belief helps brain to create the sensation to start, and outfit helps the body to accelerate performance.
Name: Company of Young Professionals – Leadership Café with Evo
Presenter: Tai Silvey
Many young leaders are the next generation in many innovative industries, especially in technology. Moreover, their contributions lead companies to the innovative direction. Company of Young Professionals invites Tai Silvey, the Director of Evo Car Share at British Columbia Automobile Association (BCAA), to discuss the future of Evo in Vancouver. Young leaders will learn how Evo can change the transportation infrastructure. Moreover, Tai Silvey will share his insight on how Evo can benefit the future generation. In this presentation, young leaders will focus on the evolution of transportation and the sharing economy.
Tai Silvey is the Director of Evo Car Share. He is also one of the founding member of BCCA that launched the Evo Share project. Before Evo, Tai Silvey was the National Account Manager of Dyson that focused on branding and Territory Sales Manager of Red Bull. Moreover, Tai Silvey also volunteered as Disaster Management Instructor for Canadian Red Cross for over 7 years.
BCAA created Evo to provide car sharing option for the next generation. Evo is the next generation of mobility for British Columbia. When demographic changes, environment factors appear. To mitigate those factors, Evo membership is created.
Silvey states only 45% of 17 years old North Americans will have license in 2010. 44% of millennials will make effort on alternative. Furthermore, 35% of millennials believe losing computer will create negative impact on their life. BCAA introduces Evo as one way car share, which can embrace British Columbia lifestyle
Currently, Silvey believes there are 3 types.
Consumer sharing type
Airbnb type
Business to consumer type
Silvey emphasizes that Evo has two major elements: convince and simplicity. Evo focuses on 3 simple instruction.
Find a car online with the app
Unlock and hit the road
Park anywhere in the home area
In 2015, Evo launched over 250 cars. Evo manage to expand the home zone to Grouse mountain. Later, Evo had over 400 cars in used with the expansion to University of British Columbia. In 2016, Evo reached 600 cars within one year. Currently, Evo has over 750 cars in used over North Vancouver district. Evo is now ahead of the result. Silvey reveals Evo is currently targeting 60% of millennials and the research shows 73% of them are taking trips. Transportation is a dynamic equation for Evo. The research indicates transportation is about the means and not the mode. Silvey shares 3 main characteristics for Evo.
Constant contextual evolution and re-evolution
Constant communication and coordination
Remaining hyper flexible and spontaneous
Car sharing is flexible and any trip can be a car share trip. This includes routine commutes, errand trip chains, quick shot, city activity, and unexpected scramble. In average, adult takes about 3.9 trips per day and the majority of them categorizes as single person private car trip. The demand is growing and options are changing. In 2021, technology will advance to the possibility of self-drive car.
Evo focuses on convenience in transportation option. Also, Evo’s members are resourceful and juggle multiple transportation options in a single trip. Many ride sharing options are entering Vancouver in the next 2 years. Silvey asks young leaders what direction Evo should evolve to become a mobility leader in the market.
Suggestions from young leaders
Young leaders suggest Evo to create loyalty program that provides incentive perks and notification alerts. Branding can expand towards luxury car share, bike share and even ski tool share. Minutes bundle can be an option for Evo. Young leaders can repurchase minutes or even send through gift cards.
Evo is suggested to install drive tracking mechanism to improve easy spotting and safety. Evo can enhance user sharing experience and create community. Evo can also target different pricing strategy, such as bundling or donation.
Consumer journey is important for Evo, so Evo can integrate compass card to reach untapped areas through universal system. The system can predict faster route for consumers. Evo is recommended to launch car pool option that emphasizes real time sharing experience. This can attract new members and reduce fixed costs.
Young leaders encourage Evo to utilize data for social sharing or rewarding. Evo should implement “Evo Connect” to broaden the sharing program. Evo Connect can help young leaders to look for available ride. This allows young leaders to experience adventure sharing by joining adventure together with other Evo members. Evo can offer referral programs for discount promotion.
Name: From Passion to Paycheck: How to become a social influencer
Presenters: Caley Dimmock, Ally Pintucci, Sarah Namrood, and Kate Zessel
Successful entrepreneurs can become influencers by utilizing the power of social media. Moreover, they discover their business opportunities through their digital skills. Red Academy invites a social media panel to discuss how they build their passion into careers. In this presentation, all panelists will share their experience on how they build their side business and how they establish opportunities through side hustle. In addition, entrepreneurs will learn how to create their branding through social media.
The social media panel includes Caley Dimmock, the Brand and Marketing Manager of Daily Hive, Alley Pintucci, the Social Connector, Sarah Namrood, the owner of HairbyNamrood Salon, and Kate Zessel, the local Whistler artist.
All entrepreneurs find their niche in different ways. Pintucci discovers her niche market through her personal Instagram. By doing what she loved, she found the path of storytelling. When Zessel was injured one day, she saw a rare business opportunity. For Dimmock, she realized how passion and business could merge together with marketing. When she established the niche, she created her own space. Namrood had her niche from the start. However, her parents were the obstacles of her path. She managed to save up for hair school and eventually took the initiative to follow her dream. Through social media, all panelists discover they can take on business.
“I can always get another job, so I have to try this”
Branding is like art. Dimmock learned branding through her previous acting job. The entertainment business influenced her perception. Pintucci believes her Instagram is her channel. She restricts what she can post on her account. She turns her social media to personal branding. By knowing the channel, entrepreneurs will figure out what social media works for them. They need to discover the flow and get all channels together. Through branding, she can now take control of what and how her message communicates through her network. Namrood learned branding from someone else’s social media. Instead of re-invent the wheel, Namrood takes what is working and duplicate it. Zessel has her personal and professional pages. She mentions reputation is everything. Dimmock mentions it is important to watch out what has been posted. Dimmock always have 3 questions in mind.
What can I do well?
What can I maintain?
What is my passion?
Dimmock believes entrepreneurs must be authentic and thought out in social media. They need to be convey themselves to discover the magic pairing. Namrood suggests entrepreneurs to plan out a professional layout. A good layout can engage more followers. Pintucci believes there must be a theme in social media. Entrepreneurs must consistently be analyzing and testing their posts. First impression is important, so entrepreneurs should rearrange their contents the best way possible. Pintucci will schedule her posts to engage audience, which means she builds content 3 days in advance. Zessel uses different approach. She creates the content on the spot. Instead of posting words, she utilizes images.
As a social connector, Pintucci spends a half day working and a half day personal branding. It is up to entrepreneurs to be a hustler. Moreover, Pintucci believes entrepreneurs must have dedication to make things work. Authentic is important for Pintucci. If the post is not authentic towards her brand, she will not post. In fact, she chooses the strategy and aligns what she wants.
“I do not wait, I go after”
Zessel had 3 jobs, now she has none. Zessel advises to entrepreneurs that they should not start it if they decide not to hustle. Zessel focuses on her content through personal branding. Her followers send her their story and usually the connection and engagement start. There is no end time for her work because she enjoys it.
“Do not do it unless you really going to hustle”
Dimmock shares that many people reach out to her for business opportunities; however, she will not accept unless it is relevant with her brand. It comes down to one factor: brand fit. When entrepreneurs go with their brand fit, they will discover what they really love. There must be mutually beneficial and everything is about right exposure. Therefore, entrepreneurs need to keep in mind what are their end goals because time is valuable. Pintucci mentions as branding improves, someone will recognize. Pintucci will work with people who have these 3 elements.
Authenticity
What does it look like
Compensation
Many people do not know how much it takes to make it happen. Therefore, Pintucci will turn down opportunities that she will not get paid for. Namrood mentions hair style is different. She normally pays people to post. Many influencers can get paid a lot, so it is easy to get judge. The key is to align with the right company. Zessel is an ambassador of what she believes in. She will work with people in design. She gets to pick which suits her in her life style. Sometimes entrepreneurs can do it as a favor, but it must be authentic.
Dimmock shares a good way to test and it is to ask the question “what is the compensation?”. Money can be priority, and this method can screen out all the irrelevant. Pintucci will prepare a secret page with statistics. She can use that page to pass over to people with price. She can adjust the price to what suits them the most. Zessel will ask the cost on it. Entrepreneurs should not discount themselves.
Through social media, Dimmock turns consulting into her revenue stream. Pintucci creates a community on love. She builds and redefines her box; moreover, she can shape her box. Her main revenue stream has become collaboration campaign from sponsor posts. Namrood discovers people love to learn. She builds up her brand so people know who she is. She builds other leaders by teaching them through private courses. Therefore, she builds her online school. Zessel believes people want personalization; therefore, her main revenue stream is through commission.
Zessel recommends entrepreneurs to be themselves and be genuine on what they are doing. People will connect and people want to see others strive. Namrood recommends entrepreneurs to let go insecurity. Pintucci recommends entrepreneurs figure out what they want, get a plan, elevate it, and stick with it.
“Chase your curiosity”
Dimmock recommends entrepreneurs not to underestimate the connection on social media. They should not be scared to reach out. They need to get involved and create relationship.
Questions and Answers
Dimmock recommends entreprenerus to use Facebook insight page to analyze when they can post. Pintucci states the best time is between 7:30 pm to 10 pm. Entrepreneurs must be aware that Instagram always push out new algorithm.
Social media creates big influence on Dimmock’s career. Her business relies on social media. Entrepreneurs should not post things they do not want people to see because when it is out there, it will never get deleted. Instagram is not the best social media platform, and it depends on the audience they want to reach out to. Zessel uses Instagram for work and Facebook for personal. Nevertheless, Namrood uses Snapchat.
Social media can be addicted. The best way is to post and leave it. Entrepreneurs should focus more on engagement. For Zessel, it is in-person experience. Entrepreneurs can get attached by social media and sometimes it can lead to depression because it can limit who they are.
When Pintucci is shooting her shots, she knows the vision in advance. She works on her planning and figure out the story that she wants to tell. Using Facebook ads can be expensive, but it requires a minimum investment to reach out the right people. Pintucci do not recommend entrepreneurs to buy followers.
“Focus on your feature, not on short cut”
Entrepreneurs make time to engage with followers. It is all about priority. However, they need to remember social media is not their whole life. The more effective way is to engage right after posting. When it comes down to original content versus repost, Dimmock suggests entrepreneurs to create a page for original and another page for repost. People are thankful for repost, but it is important to ask permission first.
Name: YVR Authors – Author spotlight of Janet Walmsley and Martin Crosbie
Presenters: Janet Walmsley and Martin Crosbie
Many authors are looking for positive exposures, both online and offline. Moreover, successful authors are building their brand through more eBook publishing and more personal interaction. YVR Authors Meetup invites Janet Walmsley, the author of “The Autistic Author and Animator”, and Martin Crosbie, the author of “How I Sold 30,000 eBooks on Amazon’s Kindle”, to discuss their experience on their publishing journey. In this presentation, Janet Walmsley will share her tactics and strategies on book signing and book stores invitations. Martin Crosbie will share his methods and process on successful eBook publishing. Authors who are looking for directions on marketing will benefit from this presentation.
Interview Janet Walmsley
Janet Walmsley is a professional actor and singer. Her experience, including theatre, film and commercials, helped her achieved the nomination of best supporting actress in the 6th Annual Indie Series Awards. She also worked in marketing for over 14 years. Moreover, Walmsley and her daughter, Jenny, published the book “The Autistic Author and Animator” to share her daughter’s life journey with Autism and how she overcomes the obstacles.
The passion of turning her daughter’s life story into a book is an uncreditable journey for Walmsley. When Jenny was in grade 10, she had the talent of writing great story. Jenny had a strong passion for animation from the start. When she was accepted in Vancouver Film School, a rare event gave her the opportunity to publish her life journey of autism. They decided to take the chance and face obstacles.
“I trust you, you trust me, you will publish and everything will follow through”
Walmsley believes her book provides enlightenment for her readers. The book helps them to see the hope in the dark tunnel and breakdown the barriers. Walmsley emphasizes the book is not a “how to” book; in fact, it is about raising the awareness of autism. It is a book that shine about autism. She wants to let autism families to know there is hope. She also wants to prove specialists were wrong.
The whole publishing process made their relationship stronger. Jenny also publishes her own books; moreover, both of their books go hand in hand.
The first book signing took place in Kelowna because it was the place that made special for Jenny. Walmsley spoke to the person in charge in the store by sharing the story. The person was inspired and gave her the business card. She followed up by providing photos, headshots, bios and synopsis. Later, Walmsley provided newspaper, interview, radio, links, and podcasts. Walmsley suggests authors to gather as much media as possible.
During the book signing, Walmsley first communicated to the manager. Walmsley believes in create connection and create connection starts with speaking up. She provided two big eye appealing posters, many copies of her media exposures, and personal gifts, such as personalized bookmarks. The key to make book signing successful is to engage with audience. Walmsley did not sit in the table; instead, she moved around and engage with the store customers. The store loved her strategy because it created a good atmosphere.
Walmsley believes when authors sit in the table, they are limited to customers who walk by the table. Authors need to approach other entrances to create exposures. Walmsley will have books and flyers with them to promote. She will give out small piece of synopsis of her book. Authors can bring someone with them to help the table while they engage with customers.
Walmsley suggests authors to place a gift card draw in the middle of the table. The gift card must be from the store. This will help promote the store and give back to the store. When authors built a good connection with one store, the message will share to other stores. This allows authors to create relationship with others. It is important to create a bond with the store and customers.
“It is what you create that brought you there”
“It is how you are in each spot”
Most stores use cosigning methods. It is important to keep track of who brought the books. Walmsley encourages authors to stay overtime because it shows respect and this gesture will help them connect to the next store.
“Story is not written until the author writes it”
Interview Martin Crosbie
Martin Crosbie is the author of “How I Sold 30,000 eBooks on Amazon’s Kindle”. He is a contributor at Indies Unlimited. Martin Crosbie also published “My Temporary Life”, “My Name Is Hardly”, and “Lies I Never Told”. He achieved #1 on Amazon ranking and #7 Indie Readers best Sellers in 2012. In addition, he made top 30 Amazon’s Hot New Releases in 2013. The latest book Crosbie published is “The Dead List”.
Crosbie shares a quote to the audience:
“Always pay it forward and never forget to pay it back. It is how you got there and it defines where you are going”.
When Crosbie started his first book publishing, he needed help. He was fortunate to receive help from competitors. With the effort of rebrand and reconnect, he managed to reach his goal.
Crosbie believes there is 4 essential components: content preparation, product presentation, marketing and balance.
The content requires beta readers. Beta readers are unknown group that are volunteered to provide suggestions. Authors should approach to editors after the changes made from beta readers. Crosbie recommends authors to hire professional editors or editors by referrals.
“More beta readers you have, less editors you need”
The next part is the proofreaders. They are basically beta readers. After the changes, they will take the revised version to editors again. Lastly, authors will hire formatters for professional book formatting.
The process Crosbie suggests to authors is product, beta readers, editors, proofreaders, editors, formatters, and final product.
The product presentation includes cover design, synopsis, keywords, categories and pricing. Authors can use cover creators to help them pick a popular cover. A professional cover costs around $200 from cover designers. It is better to hire cover designers because cover designers can help authors create the right visual. There is professional synopsis writer who will help authors write appealing synopsis. For keywords, authors need to choose the specific category, which widen the readers group. For categories, Amazon allows 2 categories per book. Crosbie suggests authors to pick one that is popular and the second one a winnable. The average royalty for eBooks that charge $2.99 to $9.99 is 70%, and for book is only 35%.
Crosbie suggests authors to check out the competitors. It is important not to over or under price. When authors find the sweet spot, they can only lower the price during a promotion. They will need to return to original retail price once the promotion is over.
Authors should take advantage of Amazon KDP. This includes Kindle owners lending library, free promotions from Kindle unlimited, and Kindle countdown. Social networking also plays an important role too.
For the marketing section, Crosbie suggests authors to utilize Amazon’s tools, such as Goodreads. There are many free promotion tools, such as Free Kindle books and Tips, Bookbub, Ereader news today, and Kindle countdown deals. Crosbie encourages authors to give away books for free for 1-3 days. They will be surprised that giving away will help them move the book to popularity chart. Others include BookPebble, Book Raid, Manybooks, Buck books, and Goodriter.
Authors can also access podcasts, blogging, submit articles, BRAG, and box set to connect with media. Instafreebie is also a great resource for creating mailing list. Authors can upload, set number of copies, generate a link and allows readers to opt-in. Lastly, Kindle Scout is also a great way to help authors move to Amazon imprints.
Balance is important. Crosbie wants authors to remember they are writers. They should focus their energy on writing and less on non-writing activities. Since most authors are self-publishing, Crosbie suggests 50/50 balance.
Name: How to systemize your business so that it runs without you
Presenter: Dan Lok
Most entrepreneurs are limiting their business’ growth because they are relying on hard work. Moreover, successful entrepreneurs focus on something different. Vancouver Entrepreneurs Group invites Dan Lok, the serial entrepreneur, to discuss how to create system to maximize business. In this presentation, Dan Lok will reveal the unwritten strategies to help entrepreneurs free up their time while creating above and beyond business profit. Entrepreneurs will discover the hidden truth behind systems and be able to enjoy the progress of their business.
Dan Lok is the Founder of Vancouver Entrepreneurs Group. He is also the multi-millionaire and one of the international best-selling authors. Young entrepreneurs refer him as the “Millionaire Mentor” because he has the passion to help entrepreneurs elevate their businesses to the next level. He dominates the internet business platform and publishing field. In addition, he is also the CEO of Charm Junction Inc and the keynote speakers for many leadership conferences.
The value of intuition is what Dan Lok refers as “Zen”. In order to absorb new value, Lok suggests entrepreneurs to empty their cups, which contains their current “Zen”. Business is like a mirror image. Instead of accepting the reality or the truth, many entrepreneurs blame others for their problems. They feel it is easier to accept. Therefore, in this presentation, Lok will reveal the truth for entrepreneurs. The truth can hurt entrepreneurs, but in long term, they will be relieved. Sometimes it is best to walk away and cut the loss.
“If you cannot get 6 figures in 5 years, you need to empty the cup”
There are thousands of reasons why people start their businesses. Based on the book, “The E-Myth”, the myth that most people who start small businesses are entrepreneurs. However, entrepreneurs have the assumption of by only understanding the technical work of business can successfully run the business. Therefore, Michael Gerber, the author of The E-Myth, believes most entrepreneurs are merely technicians with an entrepreneurial seizure; in fact, they fail because they are working in their businesses rather than on their businesses.
Lok believes any business needs 3 types of people: entrepreneur, manager, and technician. It is a see-saw situation if the business only runs by the owner. The reality is that most entrepreneurs are running their business like a see-saw. Most entrepreneurs are technicians and they believe they can solve business problem by working harder at what they do. Nevertheless, they are preventing themselves from growing their businesses. Lok reveals in order to be a successful entrepreneur, they need to understand the skills that make them a successful technician has little or nothing to do with the skills that are required to build and manage a business. They do not realize that most business owners do not have a business; instead, they have a job.
Lok has a blueprint of a successful cycle that every successful business will go through.
Attraction
Retention
Optimization
Systemization
Delegation
Automation
Expansion
Not many entrepreneurs are aware that they are going in the wrong direction by going form step 7 to step 1.
Attraction means to attract ideal customers. If entrepreneurs do not have a method to attract their ideal clients, they have a hobby instead of a business. Retention means to retain ideal customers. Optimization means to optimize the values for client from the start. There are 3 simple ways to make more money: increase customers, increase the frequency of customer visits, and increase the transaction size. Many entrepreneurs do not realize that systemization is the forth step and not the first because entrepreneurs need something that works first in order to start systemize.
“If you have a lousy result and you systemize it, you get lousier result”
Entrepreneurs need a system first before delegation. Delegate without system means inconsistent results. It depends on people’s personalities to run the business. Therefore, instead of manage people, entrepreneurs should manage the system.
Automation means to use the tools to automate the system, and expansion means to increase business market by duplicating the system. Entrepreneurs should be system depended, not people depended. Lok likes to ask entrepreneurs the following question: “Can you walk away from your business and maintain the same result?”. If not, entrepreneurs do not have a system in place.
The purpose of business is to provide entrepreneurs what they want. It is not to make them miserable. Most entrepreneurs are miserable because their businesses are consuming all their time, forcing them to whine, stressing out the financials, and hating their customers. A typically question most entrepreneurs ask is “how many hours do I need to work?”. Lok believes that is an employee mentality. The problem for entrepreneurs is that they want freedom from day 1. Entrepreneurs want more sales and profit. In order for them to get more, they need to systemize their business to reduce the hours they need to work.
Lok provides 3 simple steps to systemize business for entrepreneurs.
Step 1: Describe your perfect business
Lok wants entrepreneurs to visualize their perfect business. Entrepreneurs can use these questions to help the process.
What would it do?
How big would it be?
What type of products, services, or projects would it be known for?
How would it be unique and different from the competition?
What type of customers would it target?
How much money would it make?
What would it do for you?
Would it deliver peace of mind, security, freedom and fun?
If entrepreneurs are not clear of their perfect business, they would not know when their perfect business arrive. They need to think business like a product. It is important to develop the skill of business to make their perfect business into reality.
Now entrepreneurs need to know the purpose of owning that business. They need to know what that business can allow them to have, what kind of enjoyment that business can create, and what the abilities that business can bring. Usually the first thought is the most accurate. When entrepreneurs are clear, they might realize the business is not as big as they think. The price they have to pay will be different.
Lok believes business is a vehicle to get what entrepreneurs want. Entrepreneurs should not get attached to business because entrepreneurs can always sell and create.
By looking at a typical online business, the business needs content, list building, finance, technology, copywriting, traffic and offers. Dan shares a list of tasks require for each section.
Content
List Building
Finance
Technology
Copywriting
Traffic
Offers
Articles
Lead Capture
Merchant Accounts
Hosting
Sales Pages
SEO
Upsell
Tele-seminar
Tracking
Chargeback
Server Maintenance
Subject Lines
Viral programs
Down sell
Podcasts
Autoresponder
Taxes
Plugins
Pay-per-click Ads
Sponsored Ads
Membership Site
Automated Webinar
Segmenting
Paying Affiliates
Shopping Cart
Order Pages
Keyword Research
Cross sell
Products
Deliverability
Refunds
Site Maintenance
Banner Ads
Video Marketing
Bundle Offer
Audio
Email Broadcasting
Insurance
Email Database Management
Affiliate Recruitment
Media Buy
Seminars and Workshops
Webinar
Recurring Payments
Mobil Apps
Name Capture Pages
RSS Feeds
One Time Offer
Blog posts
Accounts Payable
Tracking
Emails
Social Media
Discounted Offer
Video
Cancellations
Computer Maintenance
Facebook Ads
Links Building
Coaching and Consulting
Press Release
Payroll
Split Testing
Facebook Advertising
Backend Offer
eBook and Reports
JV Recruitment
Continuity Program
Banner Advertising
Done For You Services
Blogs
Pay Per Click
Without systems, all tasks will lead to entrepreneurs themselves. It is important to leverage other people’s resources. Entrepreneurs need to know what are the roles, goals, and responsibilities in their businesses. Every business contains people with distinct function by doing differently towards the same objective. Lok asks these simple questions.
What is it you are trying to do here?
What is the structure of the business?
Who is meant to do what, when, how?
Who are the responsible for and answerable to?
“Entrepreneur is the conductor of his or her business”
Step 2: Create an organizational chart
Every business has a structure and it is entrepreneur’s responsibility to develop the structure that reflects the functions in business. Lok believes in any business, there are 4 core functions: operations, finance, marketing, and people.
Each core function can have many different positions. Lok believes it is important for entrepreneurs to pay attention on the titles of each position. The title should create a mindset of expectation, but not seniority. This means title can change on how others take on their roles. Lok suggests entrepreneurs not to use the word “junior” or “senior” because each position should treat fairly.
Lok shares there are 3 types of employees: mercenary, grunt, and patriot. Mercenary will ask money questions at the end of the interview. They are driven by sales. Grunt will do only minimum work. They usually ask benefit questions at the end of the interview. They are driven by security. Patriot asks quality value questions that can bring to business. They are driven by mission.
Entrepreneurs do not spend time changing grunt to patriot; instead, they should hire patriot at day 1.
Lok shares an interview tip. Entrepreneurs should give a test that is out of the norm for the candidates. If they make excuses, entrepreneurs should not hire them because they are not coachable and they only do what they want and never go for extra mile. Imagine if entrepreneurs hire them, it will be a disaster. For internet interview, entrepreneurs should give candidates tight deadline. If they make excuses, they do not want the position that much after all.
Job descriptions should not be built around the skills of current team member because people will come and go. The people need to fit the job description and the job description should not be designed to fit the people.
“You have to start thinking of your business as apart from you, not a part of you”
Step 3: Develop business management system
Entrepreneurs need to find the best practice to produce the best results in business. When the best practice is identified, it is important to break down and document the procedure so it can be reproduced.
System stands for “saves yourself stress, time, effort, and money”. The key mentality for entrepreneurs is to solve a problem not once, but forever. Entrepreneurs need to give their team members the chance to grow. Treat them as adult, but never do the work for them. They need to give expectation to team members so they can grow from their mistakes.
Lok believes there are 3 types of systems. The first type is called hard system. Hard system is what something looks like, such as uniform and logos. The second type is called soft system. Soft system is what something sounds like, such as the way people answer the phone, the way to greet customers, the method to deal with complaints, and the procedure to sell and follow up.
Entrepreneurs should be the best salesman in the company. If they are not the best, there is a problem because they are not able to set others for success. How can entrepreneurs teach others to sell if they cannot sell? People will work for entrepreneurs who can help them succeed.
The last type is called information system. Information system is the standardized reports or process in business, such as training program, tracking KPI, and website traffic report.
The secret is a script. Script can help entrepreneurs deliver consistent results and they will know what is not working. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs do not have a script. Lok encourages entrepreneurs to start with one page; eventually, they can create the system and run the system.
“If your business is not system dependent, it is dependent on you”
Successful entrepreneurs do not perform core functions; instead, they delegate to others. Some entrepreneurs do not delegate because they are tired all their self-worth in their business. They want to feel important and they want control. Ultimately, they are contradicted with what they want in the first place, which is freedom.
“Only if it hurts so you can do something different”
Lok emphasizes making money and building business are two different things. Polices and procedure manual are essential. These are the materials that allows others to run it. Entrepreneurs need to think this as important things to do. They must remember they cannot get this all in overnight.
Entrepreneurs must distinguish the difference between what they do not like to do and what they do not need to do. The solutions to most business problems are system and training solutions. After they systemize their business, they can concentrate on high end productive activities.
Lok suggests entrepreneurs not to keep everything in their head; instead, they need to map it out. When they map it out, they will realize it is not overwhelming. Now entrepreneurs will have the sense of running their businesses and not driving their business with blindfold.
“Who do I need to be to win in business?”
Entrepreneurs are suggested to master their skills of business. If they could not even do the things they want in life, there is no hope to have others to do what they want. Therefore, entrepreneurs cannot manage people. They can only manage time, space and systems.
“The systems run the business and the people run the systems”
“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out”
Name: An intimate talk with machine learning leaders
Presenters: Jaspreet Oberoi, Natalie Cartwright, Justin Long, Chris Adlparvar, Suzanne Gildert, Jeff Herbst, Geordie Rose, Toufic Boubez, and Mike Gelbart
Machine learning is changing the way entrepreneurs operate their businesses. Moreover, entrepreneurs need to adapt the new ways to take advantage of the changes. Vancouver Entrepreneurs Forum invites the machine learning leaders panel to discuss their perspective of machine learning. Vancouver Entrepreneurs Forum also invites 5 machine leading companies to share how their companies play in the part of current machine leading trend. Entrepreneurs will learn the impact of the changes and discover where they can find their talents in this industry.
Machine Learning Presentation
Jaspreet Oberoi, the Researcher of data science, machine learning and optimization algorithms of 1QB Information Technologies, believes a different perspective solves a different hard problem. The classical tools are saturated in this industry and many people are trying to fit everything into classical tools. Entrepreneurs need to redefine interaction.
1QB focuses on software development. It provides micro services and custom software. Oberoi believes the trend is leading towards quantum. It is required. It requires to insulate in future since it might become familiar programming for the future. In the future, quantum will play a huge role in finance, health science, and energy industries. Entrepreneurs must realize machine leading will optimize effective algorithm, time and accuracy. The optimization approach will outperform classical methods to solve problems in business.
With quantum software, businesses will be able to perform better market basket analysis, collaborative filtering, image recognition, clustering, and big data.
Natalie Cartwright, the Co-Founder of Finn.ai, shares the history of machine learning. The PC Era started in 1980s and it leads to Internet in 1990s. Mobile started to take over in 2008 and leads to artificial intelligence in 2016. Cartwright believes white label virtual banking is an example of the future artificial intelligence. The company is working with ATB Financial to fully utilize Facebook and Facebook Messenger to gain better and efficient experience in virtual banking. In the future, this new type of artificial intelligence will expand to all kind of channels.
Currently, Cartwright is working towards building data sets for users with productive and personalize data.
Justin Long, the Founder of Bernie AI, revolutionaries the online dating industry. Bernie AI is a personal assistant for online dating and it helps people to start conversation. The application does all the hard work for users. Long reveals the idea started with a conversation at the bar to automate Tinder algorithm system. Now Bernie AI is everywhere. It allows people to learn enough to make the right decision. Long mentions it uses face recognition and landmark system to match personalizes with the users. The face recognition also uses background scan to identify mood for users. The application works along with other dating application.
Chris Adlparvar, the Founder of Copypants, focuses on Intellectual Property protection. With the advance of machine learning trend, entrepreneurs need to protect their personal and business brand. Adlparvar identifies the problem of Intellectual Property theft and many other law issues. These problems will remain exist. Copypants will help entrepreneurs to protect, find, notify, give and manage their Intellectual Property.
As machine learning trend increases, Adlparvar ensure Copypants will understand and match content, discover the difference, and grow the user database.
Suzanne Gildert, the Founder of Kindred Systems Inc., shares their company vision of building machine with human-like intelligence. The company has 3 core technology. The first one is to build robots. It uses embodied cognition hypotheses. The second one is immersive and real time. It uses teleoperation by linking human perspective and robot actions. The third one is the state of the art AI. The AI operator learns the process from human operators and send the perception data to robots.
Machine learning leaders panel
The panel includes Jeff Herbst, the Vice President of Business Development from NVidia, Geordie Rose, the Founder of CTO D-Wave, Toufic Boubez, the Vice President of Engineering at Splunk, and Mike Gelbart, the Machine Learning Lecturer from University of British Columbia. The moderator is Moe Kermani, the Managing Partner of Vanedge Capital.
What attracts Herbst into the machine learning industry is the ability to create high performance solution. The development of machine learning crates availability for entrepreneurs. They can take advantage of generating improvement for their businesses and provide platform for many users.
“We build it; we are there at the right time”
Boubez sees the problem for machine learning industry. Entrepreneurs will encounter weak security application because it still requires human detector to detect unusual pattern. The second weakness is predicting analytics. The last weakness is clustering.
The view of Artificial Intelligence changes time to time. Rose believes it depends on what dimension entrepreneurs are measuring. The new cycle uprising fears people if there is no human work in the future. The way human spends their time will change. Rose mentions sometimes in future machine works better than human. However, the role of human will still remain in future.
“Understand the fundamental mechanism of how we act”
The driver of Master Degree of Data Science for Gelbart is to bring in all kind of people in different industries to data science. It joints with computer science and it gives the students the cutting edge. In the machine learning industry, entrepreneurs are looking for team. Gelbart emphasizes teamwork is important and people need vertical experience. Algorithms are opened for public, and data is what entrepreneurs are after now.
Rose believes the key of future of machine learning industry is transformation. More data is better for certain algorithms. People who can do all this is still in a small group and tools are getting better for them to use. Boubez believes the major advantage for entrepreneurs is the unsupervised learning. They need to get the data that nobody has.
Herbst believes the tangible values in the future appear in automotive space, finance, voice enable system, and security.
For closing thought, machine learning is still messy, but it is still exciting. Entrepreneurs are living in the most interesting life in this century because they are creating the life of machine for the future. It is an exciting stage for entrepreneurs, but existing tools are only to make life efficient because they are still in the stage of acceleration in machine learning industry. It is a big deal even though nobody knows what comes after Artificial Intelligence. Nevertheless, all moves to process data.
Name: Secret tips of business plans that raised over $1 Billion
Presenter: Wanda Halpert
Great business plans help entrepreneurs obtain financing for their businesses. Moreover, business plans highlight business knowledge and transcends entrepreneurs’ vision. Vancouver Entrepreneurs and Business Builders meetup invites Wanda Halpert, the President of Concord Business Plans, to discuss how to utilize business plans to compete for funding. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will discover ways to produce insightful business plans. Wanda Halpert will reveal what investors are looking for in their eyes of business plans.
Wanda Halpert is the President of Concord Business Plans. She wrote over 550 business plans that have raised over $1 billion of investment capital. Wanda Halpert also prepared intensive market research and marketing plans for entrepreneurs. For over many years, she demonstrated her knowledge and business planning in many industries. She was the chairman of the board for Business Management Forum for over 6 years. She achieved the “Top Market Research Firm” award from BC Business Magazine in 2008.
Wanda Halpert mentions her business started at .COM rush. She had done over 100 types of internal models and saw many different industry trends. By learning the language of each different sectors, Halpert had written over 600 plans.
Halpert believes the hardest part is to write her own business plans. There are tight schedules and certain structures when entrepreneurs write for clients; however, sometimes it is difficult to place the same rules to themselves. It took Halpert 3 months to write her first business plan. She was fortune enough that the right people saw it and hire the right people to complete it. Her business started to launch.
In any business plan, Halpert believes it is important to have the confidential letter as the first page. The tip Halpert suggests is “talk about it, but do not show what it is”. In addition, entrepreneurs need to provide their contact information on the first page.
Follow the confidential page, Halpert provides the highlight page. Highlight page is the summary of the actions for the business plans. Instead of reading the whole business plan, entrepreneurs capture the necessary information on this page. It shows business perspective. Halpert encourages entrepreneurs to show graphs on what investors get if they invest the plan.
Great business plans do not use the default table of content format. Table of content should be market in different ways for different business plans. A typical business plan should open with an introduction, follow by the current situation, then a list of directors, position, social media profile and services. The next section entrepreneurs should provide strategic analysis. This includes market segment, SWOT analysis, and competitive analysis. Entrepreneurs should include the strategic plan that has primary objective and timeline. Afterwards, business plans should have marketing strategy and finance projection. As for the rest, it should be put into appendix section.
Business plans for grant application can be a bit different. Opening should also include contact information and the highlight page. Halpert recommends entrepreneurs to use pictures in executive summary for better result. The business plan includes operation plan, market research, market tactics, and financial section. Halpert emphasizes the key is to tailor each plan to the right audience.
For business plan in technology sector, business plans need to include value projection and milestone achievement. Halpert will also include a deep analysis of market trend and have one-page business plan. The plan should backup with financial. It is beneficial to include company overview that shows who key players are. If there are strategic alliances, value chain, major events or future plans, business plans should include those as well. Halpert shares some companies demand more information, so it is important to understand the audience’s requirement. Halpert suggests entrepreneurs to give company its own chapter in the business plan.
Halpart suggests entrepreneurs not to give the whole business plan to investors at the beginning. Instead, they should show them first page. If they have interest, entrepreneurs will show the rest.
Market research is extremely important. It shows how the sector is growing today. For any technology business plan, Halpart suggests entrepreneurs to include smartphone trend since smartphone is the biggest want in 3rd world country. Market research also includes the growth of spending, target market and distributors.
Market strategy should follow after market research. Marketing plan is important because entrepreneurs might have the best product, but if they do not have a great marketing plan, it is difficult to convince investors how they can get their money back. Halpart encourages entrepreneurs to show pictures and competitive analysis. Moreover, entrepreneurs must remember to include bibliography. Investors are smart, so make sure all statistics are right on.
If entrepreneurs are writing business plan for government, Halpart suggests them to use traditional setup. It is important to figure out what government wants and match everything, including the wording, on the business plan.
To write a great business plan, Halpart have 3 important keys to remember.
Use suggested format
Show diagrams as much as possible
All about content
Halpart likes to use spiral binding because it is easier for investors to read and fold down. She feels she is like a translator. She needs to translate PHD in lab to investors who are not PHD but who have the money. The important key is to make the business plan easy to understand. Pictures help investors understand the plan faster.
Pitch deck is another way to present business plan. Halpart provides some recommendation.
Give headline first
Identify the situation
Show statistics
Provide diagrams on options and highlight the hotspot
Provide business model, marketing plan, market size and strategic review
Pitch deck should be less than 10 slides. It is important to summarize a timeline on how business will grow. Sometime, investors will question if entrepreneurs put their own money in the business plan. Therefore, business plan should be plausible and exciting. Always bring something new to the table and let them feel they are already got their money back.
The second important key is to phrase the words that is positive. Never write in negative. Entrepreneurs should always write what they can do not what they cannot do.
For advanced technology sector, entrepreneurs must use the right words that describe who they are. Business plan should show advantage, sectors involvement, current operation, and company overview. For products and services, business plans must include detail description and who to call. If there is positive publicity, business plan should include it. For stocks, entrepreneurs can use similar style. Moreover, business plans should show the obligation and global growth. Since most investors prefer business plans in digital format, Halpart recommends ISSUU to show business plan online.
“Even if it is creative, you still follow the classical”
Questions and answers
Halpart does her own research. The turnaround for the 1st draft of any business plan is 2 weeks. There is no short cut. Halpart emphasizes every business plan must focus on their primary audience. The projection years for business plan can be vary. It depends on different sectors. Halpart believes technology plan should have 3-years projection and real estates should have 5-years projection.
Every business plan should always review annually. Appendix section is the best sector for entrepreneurs to show off their contracts that add values to business. For government grant, there are specific requirements. Halpart suggests entrepreneurs to use the same word choice and look for a checklist.
Halpart shows the basic formula for standard business plan.
Product description
Market research
Marketing plan
Revenue
Market research includes the proof the growth of sales. Entrepreneurs should pick the most optimistic ones. The marketing plan should include online and offline. Revenue links with financial projection because marketing plan is the revenue generator.
Presenters: Kevin Shaw, Daniel Fox, and Graham Young
Many successful leaders believe mentorship can be the only barrier between success and failure; moreover, mentors provide leaders the right mindset for growth and success. ManTalks invites Kevin Shaw, the Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions at Renaissance Group, Daniel Fox, the Founder of WILD, and Graham Young, the Disruptive Performance Strategist of Graham Young Strategies, to discuss their journey of finding their meaningful mindset and the right mentorship. In this presentation, all presenters will share their experience on how they battle their obstacles and how they find their fulfillment.
Connor Beaton, the Founder of ManTalks, believes everyone has two different kind of mindsets: fixed and growth. Each mindset has their unique ways to pursue challenges, obstacles, effort, criticism, and success of others. It is up to leaders to discover their way to growth mindset with the help of mentorship.
The journey of Kevin Shaw
Kevin Shaw is the Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions at Renaissance Group. He is also the co-Founder of Whisky Wisemen, and the board member of Hong Kong Canada Business Association. In 2010, he won Ken Shields Community Achievement Award from Canada West Basketball Association. Moreover, in 2014, Kevin Shaw achieved the NOTABLE.CA best Not for Profit Award. His success come from great mindset, discipline and determination.
Kevin Shaw shares many people look at situations with negative outlook; however, successful leaders look at situations in different view. Mindset is a choice and it is a decision to change.
Shaw shares his childhood experience. He grew up as a regular kid in the average household. His parents taught him a valuable lesson: the principle of commitment. Shaw never missed any class at school because he was afraid he will upset his mother’s expectation. Shaw attended basketball practice every day after school until his mother gave him his first job.
“If you do not show up, you will let your friends down and yourself down”
Basketball was his whole life. At the age of 13, he wanted to focus on basketball and set the goal for scholarship in university. He met his mentor, Glent, and he showed him what it takes to build and work for dream.
“A candle loses no flame to light another”
Shaw believes mentor is somebody who has others’ interest in mind. Furthermore, mentee must be coachable. In grade 12, Shaw had 2 signing offers: full scholarship in Capilano College, and partial scholarship in Simon Fraser University. He took the university offer because his mentor inspired him to realize his true meaning of his goals.
Shaw indicates there are 3 things he always follows in his life: goals, commitment, and beliefs. By combining these 3 words, it summarizes his definition of mindset. He believes belief is something leaders must earn and it correlates to leader’s confidence.
In the age of 25, Shaw came across a crossroad in his life. He had the vision to cycle across the country. His movement was towards the Movember Charity. He created the group “Mo ride Canada” and cycled along with 2 of his friends across Canada. It was not easy for Shaw and there were many obstacles. The right mindset can shape leaders. With the strong mindset, he pushed his body to the limit and accomplish the vision. This ride motivated Shaw more than his daily routine life. He managed to raise $160,000.
Shaw suggests leaders to set small goals to give them positivity. They need to set large goals because mentors will always be there for them. They also need to continue their goals with determination and discipline.
“To live in an unreasonable mindset, to not let the reason not to do something, be the reason that you don’t”
The journey of Daniel Fox
Daniel Fox is the CEO of Daniel Fox SEA. He is also the Founder of WILD. Many leaders know him as “The Explorer”. His love of nature inspires many young leaders. His photography and writing touch many leaders’ souls through the world of natural world. He participates The Wild Image Project that focuses on relationship with environment. Moreover, he continues to help young leaders to discover their connection with nature.
Daniel Fox shares the memory of his childhood was vague. There was no emotional memory in his childhood and he defines his childhood as the theme of loneness. Fox moved a lot when he was young. At the age of 12, he already moved over ten times. Every time he moved, he had to leave everything, including friendship. However, he found peace in nature.
Nature was the world of silent. It made him comfort and it was the value of his life. It helped him understand how to live in this planet. Nature is Fox’s mentor.
Fox was born in Quebec and he had the childhood dream of going with the whales out to the sea. During his university years, he wanted to become Marine Biologist; however, he went for business in Toronto instead. The change of path took him to a different route. He then moved to New York when he decided to leave his childhood dream behind. He tried to fit in and tried every job he could apply. However, his heart contained an artist and the studio was the nature.
He reassessed everything and the theme of loneness was still within him. He decided to drop everything and go back to nature. He brought a camera and travelled down south. Since he never done this before, he encountered many obstacles, including the tragic of losing his life.
He reassessed everything again. He had no idea what he wanted to do, but he knew going back was not the option. He decided to travel to Patagonia to explore the wild life. It brought him back from unhappiness and he search his life passion.
“Nature is the reason for what I do”
Fox has the passion to create photos and write. He often goes out and meet his mentor. He knows it is important to be vulnerable and learn what is offer. Fox believes mentor is an experienced and trusted advisor. Mentor can help leaders take stress out and lead them to peace. Mentor guides them towards exit when they are stuck. Moreover, mentor stands by them during their epic failures.
Fox believes mindset is the habits of mind formed by previous experience. Mindset helps leaders to remain humble and it teaches them reciprocity. Vulnerability is the key to find leaders’ light. Tension is the pulse of life. In nature, there is no good, bad or judgement. Leaders never know up until they know down. Life is messy; we learn through failures.
Fox started a group called “WILD” to help people to reconnect through nature.
“Just go for it; stop thinking you need to fix the system”
“Look up to remind a connection that is important to us”
The journey of Graham Young
Graham Young is the Performance Consultant, Coach and the speaker of Graham Young Strategies. He is also the Founder of Disruptive Performance and he was a director in the organization called “Contributing to the Lives of Inner City Kids”. He focuses on brain performance and his work show many organizations how brain performance can impact employee engagement, productivity and sales. Graham Young inspires many young leaders. His speech motivates many young business professionals to achieve their next level of success.
Graham Young shares a memory from his childhood. When he was 13, he found out his parents were getting a divorce. Young mentions people have different perspectives and experience. In reality, they cope their problems in similar ways. They solve things in very similar ways; in fact, they are very similar regardless the differences.
Young provides a list that many leaders are going through in their life journey.
Worry too much
Fear failure or rejection
Bad at making decision
Perfection
People pleaser
Never satisfied
Disorganized or lacking control
All these on the list comes from the past. When Young questions himself if he blamed for his parents’ divorce, he believes he could have done something to prevent it. When he was young, he already knew their parents’ change of tone. Their conversation changed. However, Young developed or coped something that started to create anxiety. It made him not to let go. He wanted to be normal, yet he was trying to gain control of things he did not understand.
Family is number 1 as kids. In fact, when facing problems, they tend to create other problems to avoid the bigger problem. It is a way to protect family as kid. When Young knew his parents were getting divorce, he felt he was a failure. He felt he was not good enough to keep his family together.
Young mentions everyone has his or her own coping mechanism. People worry about everything. People fear things, and people feel dissatisfied. When there are negative things in life, people’s brains want to reject those feelings. Brain wants to protect, so it forces them to control everything. When mind starts to think they are not good enough, it triggers the statement of thinking if they do not do something, they will lead to failure. Young believes this explains the reason why he became an impulsive note taker to avoid pain when he was a kid. When people are busy all the time, they end up being overwhelmed and fail at everything. People want to become independent because they want to in control of their environment. People have the fear of talking because they are afraid of being judge.
In order to change those negative thoughts, Young suggests leaders to start small and build their way up. For example, Young went to Starbucks to lead a random conversation to force him out of comfort zone. Young also force himself to do toast at his friends’ parties.
Often time, mentorship is a common advice in this generation. Leaders do not do that because they believe they are strong enough to do things by themselves. They do not ask for help. Young suggests leaders not to let their subconscious mind take their control. Young suggests leaders do not intentionally ask for mentor. Leaders can reach out over coffee. They should show their willingness to learn. Naturally, they will become their mentors. Moreover, leaders need to show relationship first.
Young also suggests leaders to stop thinking they are not good enough. They first need to understand there is a linkage between past and present. The beliefs formed a long time ago and those beliefs affect the mistake they are making in the future. Leaders need to reset the rules and change their definition of success. That is how successful leaders make powerful mindset.
Name: Talking growth and traction for early-stage startups
Presenter: Jayesh Parmar
It is not easy for entrepreneurs to gain growth and traction at early-stage startups. Moreover, they often do not know where to focus at early stage. Vancouver Growth Hackers meetup invites Jayesh Parmar, the co-Founder of Picatic, to discuss his early stage entrepreneurship. In this presentation, Jayesh Parmar will reveal his success tips to help entrepreneurs avoid common business mistakes. In addition, Jayesh Parmar will show entrepreneurs the importance of building the right product at the right time.
Jayesh Parmar is the co-Founder and CEO of Picatic. With over 20 years of event industry experience, he helped and mentored many young entrepreneurs to start their businesses. He is a serial entrepreneur and he is one of the world’s top 10 Tech Entrepreneurs Disrupting The Event Industry. He is also the winner of SISO 2013 breakthrough event technology award. Furthermore, he is a speaker that motivates many leaders in many industries.
Jayesh Parmar’s entrepreneurship started in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He worked in many real estate and music companies. One day, he had the opportunity to pitch his idea to a serial entrepreneur and he was invited to work in Silicon Valley. The experience in the valley got him anxiety because people he met were out of his range. It was tough to survive there and he came to the realization that he needed more training to step up in their ecosystem.
Parmar took the initiative to get into an accelerator program in Toronto. He built his first startup and receive a quarter of million-dollar opportunity. He continued his path and went to New York. He managed to learn the environment and able to close the round.
While he was building his startup, he received a “5 minute long” advice from his mentor that he never forget. The advice was “Have you talk to your wife or girlfriend?”. Whenever there is stress, entrepreneurs should have a chat with someone who is close to them. Family support is important for Parmar. Whenever Parmar is in stress, he will remember his family support and continue to overcome his next obstacle.
“If you do not have family support, you cannot start this”
Parmar mentions he have many business failures. It takes many tries to come up with the current business model for Picatic.
His first idea for Picatic was the crowdfunding method. First, entrepreneurs need to create a track. Second, they will get the funding. Third, they need to launch the event successfully. If not, they will not get funded. The idea worked; however, Parmar encountered a problem and that was Picatic could not provide life time valve for entrepreneurs. If entrepreneurs have a successful event, they do not need Picatic because they have their own database or customers. It took Parmar over a million dollars spending to notice and address this major problem.
The second idea was to implement Picatic to a new business model called “Pay what you want”. Picatic allowed entrepreneurs to pick how much they want to pay for service fees. This allowed entrepreneurs to break through the economic barrier; however, the idea failed again because it created more business barriers.
Parmar changed the business model into “Freemium to Premium”. Picatic is now able to select different plans for their membership. Many entrepreneurs are giving themselves a year to try. The business model works and the sales are starting to increase. Picatic is now partnering with many big corporations.
“Every idea, we died every time because there is no road map”
Parmar shares some valuable lessons with entrepreneurs during his entrepreneurship.
Lesson #1: Team
Parmar believes team is like a marriage. The best thing for business is to get the right members into the team. Products will change, but entrepreneurs need a team to be there for the change.
Lesson #2: Market
Parmar believes entrepreneurs need to know their market size and the venture map. In British Columbia, funds will only be secured if entrepreneurs can provide enough support to investors that it has the potential to reach a billion-dollar market. Therefore, it is important for entrepreneurs to address the market carefully.
Lesson #3: Value
Parmar believes entrepreneurs need value creation. When value exceeds payment, entrepreneurs will have the sales right away. Entrepreneurs need to tell the story that adds value to customers.
“Are you a painkiller or vitamin?”
Lesson #4: Hustle
Parmar believes entrepreneurs need to keep selling and keep talking. They need to nail down that pitch, get out there and sell it. Business can only be done by handshakes and relationship starts outside of the comfort zone. Parmar mentions a statement “Stop being a Canadian” because he feels Canadian are too polite and they are not hustling enough. Moreover, there are many things out here when entrepreneurs ask.
“If it is in your mind, go out and hustle”
Lesson #5: Listen
Parmar believes entrepreneurs need to go out there and listen. If entrepreneurs are not embarrassed by their products in six months, it is not good enough. Entrepreneurs will need to push out there and let others know. For entrepreneurs who have no experience in startups, Parmar suggests if they want to do a startup, they should work in startup and learn how to do a startup first. The startup should be a space where they likely to work in future.
“Products do not belong to us, yet it belongs to users”
Parmar believes in alignment. In his team, he needs to make sure everyone is on the same page. They will have consolidated road map that expect what everyone needs to accomplish. There is no silver bullet because there is no short cut in entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs need to hustle everything. Products can be a disaster at the beginning, but that is the main reason why entrepreneurs need to keep painting the picture and try new things.
Parmar feels he is living his life because he gets to hear other people’s success stories. He emphasizes entrepreneurship is the most fun and it also the most painful experience.
“There is no silver bullet in this game”
“Nothing beats product and value”
Parmar reveals the process of startup.
TechCrunch of initiation
Wearing off of novelty
Through of sorrow
Release of improvement
Crash of ineptitude
Wiggles of false hope
The promised land
Acquisition of liquidity
Upside of buyer
The main reason why Parmar can raise funds successfully is to speak to investors every month. He updates investors monthly to create relationship and trust.
Questions and answers
Parmer did not continue the crowdfunding method is because he focused on addressable market. In his family dynamic, he allows his wife to see how fast he needs to go in business. When she understands, he is able to fully launch himself into the business. There is no best strategy in any business, so entrepreneurs need to do their homework in advance. They need to check what other people other there are doing.
“We live in the bubble, get out of it”
There are two defense in business: users and revenue. Parmar’s strategy is to get as much users as possible because later they will bring in revenue. He will ask the inside sales to promote the users to the next level in membership. Many users in the top enterprise level membership are using the Pro level as a sandbox. This means customer value creation is essential.
Parmar believes discipline can help him move forward. The right discipline creates right hustle to win. Entrepreneurs need to be a problem solver. They need to stay consistent and stay discipline.
Parmar suggests entrepreneurs to look at their average revenue per users. Another tool they can use is NPS score. The key to help employee to move forward is to introduce the employee stock plan. When entrepreneurs have employee stock plan and hire super players, it creates alignment. Parmar recommends ideas, such as open doors, Town hall meeting, dinner with employee families, introduce people, demo day, or standups, can help employees improve their motivation to go forward.
Name: Small Business BC – 7th Annual INSPIRE Celebration of Entrepreneurship
Presenters: Tom Leavitt, Charles Chang, Darryll Frost, Bradford Cooke, Sunny Lenarduzzi, Alexander Fernandes, and Peter Higgins
October is recognized as the month of small businesses in Vancouver. Moreover, local entrepreneurs are willing to celebrate their contributions to local economy with others. Small Business BC forms a technology panel to discuss the insight on how technology drives their business. This presentation also features 2 major keynote speakers, Alexander Fernandes, the Founder of Avigilon Corporation, and Peter Higgins, the President of Purdy’s Chocolates, to discuss their road of success in their entrepreneurship. Passion in creativity and building community are the keys to build small business in Vancouver. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will inspire by success and experience from others.
Technology Panel Discussion
The panel includes Tom Leavitt, the Founder of Leavitt Machinery, Charles Chang, the Founder of Lyra Growth and Vega, Darryll Frost, the Founder of Central City Brewers and Distillers, Bradford Cooke, the Founder of Endeavour Silver Corp, and Sunny Lenarduzzi, the Radio and Television host from City TV.
There are some foundation components entrepreneurs need in any successful business. Cooke believes entrepreneurs need 4 things. First is the entrepreneur spirit. Second is the passion to build business. Entrepreneurs need to build business, manage the growth and go to expert to bring good management. Third is the innovate business plan and last is quality. Quality comes first because quality is the key building block for any business. Chang believes entrepreneurs need to get going on sales effort. They need to create sales and learn; moreover, entrepreneurs need to focus on topline. Frost believes structure is important. Entrepreneurs need to understand the importance of finance in incorporation. Lenarduzzi believes entrepreneurs need a strong 5 year vision that can impact the public. Entrepreneurs should outsource or delegate as soon as possible. Moreover, listening is the key because social platforms are full of clues and opportunities. Leavitt believes customer satisfaction is important. By knowing what customers want will be direction for the entrepreneurs.
Leavitt and Frost comment that it is important for entrepreneurs to establish a good relationship with the bank.
Comparing profit versus revenue growth, Frost believes entrepreneurs need to give time to scale first. Structure must be in place first. They need to build scale, then profit. Lenarduzzi shares entrepreneurs should aim for breakeven in first year. Leavitt believes net profit is important because without profit, there will be no retain earnings. Profit is everything because it drives everything. Therefore, retain is important, so entrepreneurs must invest wisely.
Personal brand is essential for entrepreneurs. Lenarduzzi believes with a great brand, it benefits all. It creates authority in industry space, and it also creates a strong competitive advantage. With the right social media strategy, entrepreneurs can reduce bad press because it ranks up with good information. Entrepreneurs must remember that people google them before they hire them for service. Cooke agrees with Lenarduzzi. People deal with people and brand is a step to success. It creates high accessibility and high engagement. Leavitt believes a strong brand brings people through the door. Chang believes it increases reputation and personal integrity. How people do something is how they do everything. Frost believes branding has three steps: create, evolve, and protect. Entrepreneurs need to recognized their physical brand. Hiring marketing team or having spokesman can help focus on branding.
System and process are important for entrepreneurs. Lenarduzzi shares she started as one to one, then she transferred to video answers and online courses. Cooke believes it starts with redefine and recognize what entrepreneurs are good at. They need to deliver online and tight up the focus. Frost suggests entrepreneurs not to start with ERP right away. Instead, they can use excel first to establish the foundation before enhance right away.
Leavitt suggests entrepreneurs to “stick to their knitting” first. Change believes people is the best advantage, so entrepreneurs must always prepare before delegate. Frost suggests entrepreneurs to prepare to take risks because if they do not try, they will never succeed. Cooke wants entrepreneurs to remember 3 words: passion, perception and persistence. Passion drives accessibility, perception creates awareness, and persistence allows entrepreneurs to keep trying. Lenarduzzi suggests entrepreneurs to look and check what is currently working. They need to hire people who are willing to learn, and face challenges.
Disruption is something all industries are facing. Chang believes entrepreneurs should think well and ask questions. They need to figure out what they can control, stop blaming and take accountability. Leavitt wants entrepreneurs to focus on current resources, diversify out and figure out what is coming. Frost believes if entrepreneurs think they will fail, they will fail for sure.
Chang comments sustainability is the driver in his market. As for mentorship, the panel agrees that mentees must be patient. Lenarduzzi suggests entrepreneurs to do research on the mentor and understand how they make money from business. Hiring family members can be difficult. Lenarduzzi thinks it is a great opportunity to create great relationship, but policy must be in place. Leavitt believes it is better not to hire people they know.
Cooke identifies business starts with the right people. Leavitt comments if entrepreneurs offer to the same price to the same competitors, they will never make money. Therefore, they should always aim for premium pricing. The biggest challenge Frost faces is raise money not giving out too much equity. Chang agrees and comments that managing cash is an important lesson for entrepreneurs. The first job in startup is survival, so entrepreneurs should take the time to learn cash flow.
Lessons from Alexander Fernandes
Alex Fernandes makes a strong and bold statement in the presentation.
“Time is money; however, I cannot make more time, but I can make more money”
Fernandes believes to become the industry leaders, they need 3 elements.
Advancing teams
Technology
Innovation
Fernandes shares some ingredients of a recipe for success.
Ingredient #1: Push yourself
Fernandes believes success is not for the faint of heart. It requires passion and desire. Entrepreneurs need to envision their goals by writing them down on paper with step by step plan. They need to constantly reading them. Entrepreneurs need to strive for excellence, but not perfection. They should deliver no matter what obstacles they come across. Entrepreneurs need to remain steadfast and maintain long term focus. When entrepreneurs focus on achieving goals, executing business plan and developing personal wealth, they will ensure wealth follows when business is successful.
Ingredient #2: Build and motivating an all-star team
Fernandes reveals 2 main ingredients for success.
The plan
Execution
Entrepreneurs need to look for “A” players and sold “B” with potential and ambition to become “A” players. When entrepreneurs combine “A” players and “B” players, it creates a winning team, which leads to success. Usually “C” players hire “D” or “F” players. Entrepreneurs must aware of carrot and stick and reward and consequence logics.
“100% of failure comes from internal, not external”
“Before hire someone, ask yourself, ‘Can you fire them?’ If not, do not hire”
Ingredient #3: Viewing your business as an outlet for competitiveness and winning
Fernandes summarizes there are only 3 ways to make money in business.
Services
Products
Dreams
Whatever entrepreneurs choose, they must be better than competition. The differentiation comes in many forms, especially in innovation.
“Success is internal. If you fail, or succeed, it is internal”
Ingredient #4: Investing in innovation and product development
Based on statistic, every dollar entrepreneurs invests, they should expect to get 3 dollars back within 3 to 5 years. They need to focus on design the near future by anticipating and predicting technology evolution. Fernandes suggests entrepreneurs not to design based on state of the art technology and do not look too far ahead. They should expect and plan for setbacks, delays and the unexpected. For instance, if entrepreneurs do not have plan B or C, they will fail plan A.
“If your plan is based on everything going well, you will have a plan for failure”
Comparing young or experience, Fernandes believes entrepreneurs should hire people who are young and creative. To have an inspire team, entrepreneurs need to help the team find their career objective. They can promote within only if they demonstrate loyalty.
“Do you want to eat or eaten?”
Lessons from Peter Higgins
Peter Higgins shares the history of Purdy’s Chocolates. Richard Carmon Purdy founded Purdy’s Chocolates in 1907. The company went through war and depression period from 1907 to 1963. Charles Flavelle brought the company in 1963 and started to grow in shopping malls. In 1999, Purdy’s executes the ‘E’ Commerce sales strategy and began the Ontario expansion in 2004.
During 1965, Charles Flavelle created the Purdy’s Vision Statement.
“Purdy’s will be a place where people like to gather, as in a community, to work effectively at jobs they like and are challenged by, amongst people they like to be with”
Until now, Peter Higgins believes there are 3 core mission in Purdy’s.
Fantastic chocolates
Fantastic people
Fantastic services
With these 3 core mission, Purdy’s is able to create Purdy’s moments for customers.
There are 4 values for Purdy’s.
Never compromise quality
Be customer obsessed
Respect and support each other
Make us better each day
Higgins wants entrepreneurs to think about these 3 questions. The first question is “what is your niche?”, the second question is “How can your team be stronger?”, and last question is “What are your strategic actions?”.
Purdy’s strategic actions comes into 3 parts: packing, services, sales. Traditionally, it is based on how fast they can pack; however, the strategy changed in 2010 because of changing culture. They are now focusing on 3 things.
New shop design
Create, go crazy, and invert
Team to hire for passion and chocolate education
“Combine passion and knowledge is the customer connection”
The next evolution for Purdy’s is sustainable coca. The company will work directly with farmer by paying them premium. They will provide farmer education and increase living standards. The advantage Purdy’s chocolates give to people is “premium chocolate giving direct to customer”.
Presenters: Jan Kasparec, Taylor Smith, Kelly Jablonski
There are moments when leaders feel they are broken down in their lives. Moreover, these individuals need to overcome the odds, battled failure and defeat. ManTalks invites Jan Kasparec, the Visual Artist in Vancouver, Taylor Smith, the co-Founder of Chasing Sunrise, and Kelly Jablonski, the CEO of Ultimate Skateboard Distributors, to discuss their life experience from bottom to top. Many leaders could not find the answer and they are stuck in survival mode. These leaders will show their vulnerability in this presentation to inspire people their valuable life lessons. This is a conversation everyone is looking for.
“The more you look into it, it appears not a problem after all”
“Until you are broken, you do not know what you made of”
Life journey from Jan Kasparec
Jan Kasparec was born in Czech Republic. He started to explore painting in 2004 and discovered his art talent. He opened his studio to the public showcase in 2012. His paintings inspire many young local artists and he is a mentor to many young talents in Vancouver.
Kasparec is good at art because his art creates abundance of what he loves in life. However, he discovered this life mission later in life. When Kasparec was young, he loved adventure. He describes his personality as “the baddest boy in school”. He had the burning love in nature and art. Kasparec had a dream of saving the Amazon when he was a kid.
Things started to change when he experienced a life incident that made him hatred. The hatred forced him to get revenged, so he began to lift weights and became the leader of a guys. The dark side made him fight every day. He thought he had no fear, but in fact, fear was all he had.
In the age of 17, he got arrested. He sworn to his mother he would change. People hunted him down and labeled him as traitor. He unleashed once again; however, this time he was sentenced to prison. He escaped to France without looking back.
Within the next 5 years, Kasparec faced many deaths. There was no shoulder to cry on. He could not go back home because he was listed as wanted criminal. He ego became pain. Finally, he hit rock bottom in military.
Kasparec discovered the true meaning of struggle when he had the opportunity to visit Africa in military. He cried and remembered his childhood. He worked his way up and got his life back until he was wiped out from the criminal status.
Kasparec realized his limits were further than he expected, and the pain could be dropped if shame and ego were gone. He decided to attend university. In the age of 28, Kasparec took a vacation to Argentina. He shifted his life style and discovered he needed to find himself once again. He travelled for 2 years and finally stopped at Vancouver. He believed he could rebuild his life in Vancouver.
Kasparec shares he stopped caring about title. He is full time as artists and has the passion to work hard in the field of art. After 3 years in Vancouver, he burned all his saving and started to ask himself an important fundamental question: “should I still paint?”.
The joy from art gave Kasparec the realization that he should continue. His vision of feeling positive from people starts to burn. His income and social media start to go up. He is now focus on creation.
“When I tap into joy, external stuff goes away”
Kasparec paints for people to have the feeling of who they really are. Kasparec wants leaders to remember that art is also a language that can touch people’s core. Kasparec only wants to become who he wants to be. Without discipline, leaders will not go anywhere. The power in mind is the only enemy leaders have and nothing can break down leaders when they discover the wisdom of love.
Life journey from Taylor Smith
Taylor Smith is the co-Founder of Chasing Sunrise. He has the ability to help people to push their body and mind to their limits. He creates a community that supports many leaders to chase what they desire and want. In addition, he is also the Project Coordinator for Brymark Installations Group.
Taylor Smith is the oldest of 4 in the family. He had a typical childhood and played sports all his life. He joined a Water Polo team and involved in many activities in his school years. He felt he was set and everything in life was going good.
In 2007, he got T-boned from a car accident. There was a pain in his back that changed his life. The doctor diagnosed he had 2 injured discs in his back. He quickly started the physio to recover the incident.
He went to Victoria for post-secondary education. His life started to fell apart. He failed everything and felt he was a failure to everyone. The emotional pain made him unwilling to attend classes and he began to start drinking. Smith moved back home after the first year of college. He could not know what he needed to do. He started to work and regained his passion of life back.
He moved back to Victoria again to complete his education, but he was still living in the life of lies. When people started to notice, he hid and retreat. He could not let others know he was down.
In 2010, Smith escaped to Calgary to start fresh. He started over and began to return to Water Polo. However, he felt the emptiness in his life from the wall he built. In 2012, he chose to end his life. He could not admit his failure, so he drove back and reconnected with his mother. He let all out to his mother. He started to feel the pain from the crack he could not repair once again. With the encouragement, he finally tackled the problem by going to therapy. He then tackled his stress.
He returned to work and found the thrive with purpose. He looked at himself in the mirror and began to tackle one by one. He regained his confidence by going to gym. The energy kept him going and he started to fill his calendar with activities. He felt he is in control in his life because he stripped things down and rebuild with the true meaning of why.
Smith hit the restart button in his life and now he lives every moment. He is now knowing who he is and he is grateful of everything.
Smith suggests leaders to get out there and live. Do things they want. He found the Chasing Sunrise to help people define life by figuring out what they want to do.
“It is ok to be broken or fail”
“Where you going in life, it is ok to succeed or fail. We can all rebuild”
Journey of Kelly Jablonski
Kelly Jablonski is the CEO of Ultimate Skateboard Distributors. He is also the Founder of Just Giver 4PD Cycling Club. Kelly Jablonski was also the Board of Director for International Association of Skateboard Companies for over 3 years. He was the recipient for 2010 Business in Vancouver Forty under 40. Moreover, his experience and journey inspire many new cycling members.
Kelly Jablonski shares a life experience that changed his life in 2011. He was on his way to Mexico until there was an oil patch leaking out of engine. The plane was forced to do emergency landing and that 15 minutes changed Jablonski’s life.
Jablonski was a boxer. He took up the interest of becoming a skateboard professional when he met his idol. He also went into motor cross racing. In the eyes of Jablonski, everything seems to go under control. In 2000, he broke his vertebrae and he needed to rebuilt his life. He wanted a change. He transitioned his career to cycling and founded 4PD Cycling Club. He believed big things start with small ideas. The charity raised over $315,000 with many priceless photo memories.
“Money is great, but awareness is priceless”
In 2011, Jablonski was the recipient of Business in Vancouver Forty under 40 award. He continued to cycle and create awareness. He signed up for the Schwalbe Tour and stepped into the plane to Mexico. The plane had an incident and it was forced to land.
In that 15 minutes, Jablonski shares he felt calm at first until the last 315 feet. He was scared. The plane hit the ground at 192 Kilometer per hour. He felt the flame burning in the plane, he thought he was about to die and everything was over. He was rescued by firefighters. The plane was crashed 2 Kilometer away from his home.
Jablonski had spinal surgery. His lung was burned and he could not speak. He managed to stand up after 4 days, but all his ribs on his left side were broken. With friends’ support, he was able to leave the hospital.
The recovery was painful. It was not easy for Jablonski to get back in shape. He weight was down to 130 pounds. He visited the remaining of plane crash and felt emotional.
In March of that year, he could ride his bike. He started to keep track everything. He would not let the past to be his present condition. He signed up a race in Europe for 7 days. He rode for 900 Km. Instead of competing, he stopped and enjoyed the ride. The experience was incredible.
“You can get support, but you have to do all the heavy lifting first”
“Do not quit, suffer now and live the rest of your life as champion”
Jablonski mentions the plane crash killed 2 pilots. Without them, he would not survive. The accident did not change the course of Jablonski’s life; instead, it is the course of his life.
Leaders must remember the future is now. Time waits for nobody. Age wrinkles the body, but quitting winkles the soul. Things do not define leaders, only experience can define leaders. The difference leaders make and the experience they create for others will never take away from them.
Jablonski wants leaders to ask themselves a simple question: “what is your purpose?”
There are many successful leaders who are introvert. Moreover, sometimes introverted leaders deliver better results than extroverted leaders. Chartered Professional Accounts of British Columbia invites Kristen Rasmussen, the Vice President of People and Culture Supporting the Consumer from Telus, to share her journey in the perspective of introvert leadership. In this presentation, leaders will learn ways to promote their teammates who are introvert. Kristen Rasmussen will share her insights and tactics to bring the best of out introverted leaders.
Kristen Rasmussen is the Vice President of People and Culture supporting the Consumer and Small Business Solutions and Finance organizations from Telus. In her 12 years in Telus, she was also the Director of Business Strategy Enablement. Before the involvement of Telus, she was the lead of a startup project called “Projux” and she was a senior consultant from Deloitte. Many introverted leaders are inspired by her authenticity from her presentation. She helped many young leaders to discover who they are and expand their leadership within.
When Kristen Rasmussen was a kid, she had a quiet personality. She could not able to express herself when she knew she was different than other people. Rasmussen loved running, but the running activity was contradicted with her personality. When she realized she was not alone, she started to open up and enjoy her personality.
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom”
Rasmussen defines the word “introvert” comes from the combination of the Latin word “inward” and “to turn”. It describes as a person who is energized by spending time alone. Rasmussen emphasizes introvert is not equivalent to shy. In fact, it is where leaders can get their energy and where can they find their place.
Leader can be introvert without knowing it. Rasmussen provides a list that might signal leaders who are introvert.
Leaders who prefer one on one conversations to group activities
Leaders who prefer to express themselves by writing
Leaders who enjoy solitude
Leaders who care about wealth, fame, and status less than their peers
Leaders who dislike small talk, but enjoy in-depth topics that matter to them
Leaders who are good listeners
Leaders who are not big risk-takers
Leaders who enjoy work that allows them to dive in with few interruptions
Leaders who love to celebrate birthdays with small scale
Leaders who are soft spoken or mellow
Leaders who do their best work on their own
Leaders who tend to think before speak
Leaders who feel drained after being out and about
Leaders who let calls go through voicemail
There are some different themes between introverted and extroverted leaders. Introverted leaders are usually within smaller groups. They process internally and have deliberate approach to risk. They enjoy solitude and they energize when focused deeply. However, extroverts are friends and strangers alike. They process externally and are comfortable with conflict. They stimulate environments and focus multiple areas. Rasmussen believes it is important to know how to communicate with both introverts and extroverts.
Rasmussen explains the science behind introverts and extroverts is the processing time and the response to stimulation. Extroverts have faster processing and stimulation; however, introverts have slower processing because they have longer neuropath way. Their thoughts need to go through long term memory and planning before it processes by brain. Rasmussen believes introverts are happy with less stimulate information.
This society has a strong bias towards introverted and extroverted leaders. These beliefs are formed by socialization, experiences and different views. Rasmussen explains the experience creates conscious compliance. Leaders must be aware of how unconscious and conscious minds work.
There are some biases in this society about introverts.
Social media can be a great place for introverts.
Less patient to wait for introverts
Less engagement from introverts during conversation
Introverted leaders need their space. It takes time for introverted leaders to get the best of out of them.
“You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand”
Rasmussen emphasizes there is zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas. The society has a movement from who people are, how they make up their characters, and honor their characteristics to people who believe the best talkers are the frontline of business. Introverted leaders need to step up and create the impact they deserve.
There are many strong introverted leaders, such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Oprah Winfrey, and Steve Wozniak. Rasmussen believes introverted leaders have the characteristic of creating space for extroverts to perform and come forward. The ability to think deeply is one step towards success and introverted leaders have the attribute of creating expertise.
There are barriers, such as expectation and perfectly, that prevent introverted leaders to truly thrive. Rasmussen suggests leaders to review their current structure. Leaders need to provide education that allows for different type of output and provide agenda in advance during meeting.
Rasmussen recommends introverted leaders to take time to know themselves and recognize their value. Introverted leaders need to focus on the right ROI, manage their schedule and push their comfort zone. Introverted leaders can make pre-plan to control their environment or partner with extroverted leaders to become aware of systems around them. They need to understand how others see them and think holistically. Rasmussen also recommends leaders to read “The Manifesto for Introverts” from Susan Cain.
The first step for introverted leaders is to start with a conversation.
“Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the best of our civilization”
Name: How millionaires manage their time and achieve maximum personal productivity
Presenter: Dan Lok
Many entrepreneurs are struggling with their productivity because time is not enough. Moreover, successful entrepreneurs have methods to improve their productivity. Vancouver Entrepreneurs Group invites Dan Lok, the Serial Entrepreneur, to reveal his time management strategies and productivity secrets. Entrepreneurs can use these techniques on their businesses. In addition, Dan Lok will share his insight on why many conventional productivity managements will not work for successful entrepreneurs. In addition, entrepreneurs will learn the proper way to maximize their time on their productive activities.
Dan Lok is the Founder of Vancouver Entrepreneurs Group. People refer him as the “Millionaire Mentor” because his leadership and advices have proven to increase business productivity for many successful entrepreneurs. He published many top sell books, including “FU Money” and “Lies Salon Owners Believe”. Dan Lok is a keynote speaker that has strong and high profitable business ventures. Many young entrepreneurs follow his footsteps to become the best in their industries.
Dan Lok shares an important quote for all entrepreneurs: “the use or misuse of your time on the degree to which you achieve peak products will determine your success”.
Productivity is the key ingredient for entrepreneurs. By narrowing it down, entrepreneurship is the conversion of knowledge, talent, guts, and etc through investment of time into money.
“If I have your productivity, I will have your income”
Based on conventional time management theory, if someone wants to earn $1 million dollar a year, presuming 220 work days will require $56 dollar per each hour. Lok indicates the problem with the conventional time management theory is that it only works for employees and not entrepreneur. There are 3 problems with that statement.
Entrepreneurs do not just work 8 hours a day and 5 days a week
Entrepreneurs do not get paid for the hour because they get paid for what they bring to the hour
Workday hour is not always equal to productive hour
A study for Fortune 500 CEOs shows they have average of 28 productive minutes a day. Honestly, people are not productive. Entrepreneurs should take their annual expected income and divided by 220 days in 8 hours. Afterwards, they need to take that amount and times it by 3. Lok indicates that is the “Base Earnings Target”.
Lok wants entrepreneurs to focus only on income producing activities. When there is doubt, entrepreneurs can ask themselves a simple question: “Is what I am doing worth the base earning target amount per hour to do it?”
Lok emphasizes learning is not productive time. Learning is learning, and only when entrepreneurs convert learning to result is productive time.
There are 3 stages of entrepreneurs’ growth: productivity, leverage, and freedom. Productivity defines the maximum results in minimum time. Leverage means the maximum productivity with minimum effort and freedom is the maximum leverage with minimum stress. The problem with many entrepreneurs is that they skip to the second stage before completing the first stage. Lok believes in order to have maximum growth, entrepreneurs need to go through all stages.
“You cannot delegate what you do not understand”
“Time management ultimately is self-management”
Lok defines self-management is about knowing what to do at any given moment. Entrepreneurs need to deal everything towards goals and purpose effectively Moreover, they need to know what is important on the information they are receiving. Entrepreneurs should not be slave to their to-do list because they are facing new obstacles and opportunities every moment. Lok suggests entrepreneurs to question their to-do list and cut down all unproductive activities. They need to learn to say “no” to other things.
“Communication is message send, message received, and message act upon”
When entrepreneurs know how valuable their time is, they will not do it because they know what is costing them. Many people do not respect others’ time because they do not respect their own time first.
Time is not equal to money because entrepreneurs cannot get time back. Time cannot be saved and entrepreneurs cannot make more of it. Therefore, rich people will value time over money and poor people will value money over time. The problem is not lack of time; in fact, it is a lack of direction.
There are 3 questions entrepreneurs need to ask themselves to improve productivity.
What is the highest and best use of time right now?
Why doing this?
What is the payoff of this activity?
Lok shares his top 5 time management secrets of millionaires.
Secret #1: Put a stop to interruptions
The average entrepreneurs will be interrupted once every 8 minutes. The more employees they have, the more they will get interrupted. Furthermore, many entrepreneurs have the conception that they need to be immediately and constantly accessible.
The strategy is “to be inaccessible”. If people cannot find them, they will not interrupt them. The open door policy is not effective because it invites interruptions. If the door is closed, it shows to other they do not want to be bothered. Entrepreneurs should never take any unscheduled incoming calls. To get maximum productivity, entrepreneurs need to be in a non-interrupt environment.
Entrepreneurs can make pre-scheduled phone appointments. It is efficient, effective and it creates win-win situation. It benefits everyone else because it eliminates phone tags. It gives other party full complete attention.
When entrepreneurs take incoming call, they should set up the exit time first.
“I have a conference call starting in just 15 minutes, but I wanted to take your call – I hope that will be enough time of your discussion. Do you agree or should we set up another telephone appointment?”
“Distraction is the only true luxury of poor people. Laser-beam focus is mandatory for success”
Secret #2: Eliminate time vampires from your life
In this society, people think it is necessary to respond immediately and instantly to unrelenting communication. Successful entrepreneurs should refuse to operate in the environment of constant, mindless, open communication.
The strategy for entrepreneurs is to turn all the notification off and only check them when it is time to check. This habit can train people around them on how they should respond to them. When entrepreneurs respect their own time, people will respect their time as well.
Lok believes it is a bad slogan for entrepreneurs to say “Call me anytime”. It is showing entrepreneurs are not valuable.
Lok asks all entrepreneurs these 3 questions to reflect on themselves.
Do you have all of your notification turned on?
How many time you check your email everyday?
How many time you check your social media everyday?
Entrepreneurs need to find something important enough to do that they are unwilling to be so easily and frequently interrupted and distracted. Entrepreneurs must remember that other people’s emergency does not become their priority. It is important to train clients how to treat entrepreneurs. It is entrepreneurs’ responsibility to sell others on doing business with them on their terms for their benefits. There is no virtue in thoughtless response given unrestricted access, cell, email, social media, pressure for expectation of instant response.
“Respond when you feel they deserve to help”
When entrepreneurs think they cannot afford to take this approach, they will never be. There is never a perfect time to start, but there is always a reason to wait. Lok emphasizes entrepreneurs do not gain or secure power in the marketplace by giving into everybody, by accommodation or acting out of fear because power comes up supply and demand.
Secret #3: Fight to link everything to your goals
Everything entrepreneur do is linked or moved closer to his or her goals. Busyness is a form of laziness and entrepreneurs cannot b productive without measurement.
People are busy all the time shows they have low self-esteem. Constant interruption also shows low self-esteem.
Lok shares the money circle theory. Entrepreneurs have layers of circle. The inner layer is family. The layer outside the inner layer is people they trust. The layer outside of that layer is other. Entrepreneurs should spend more time with inner layer and less time with outer layer. Entrepreneurs need to ensure they place people in the right layer.
“The amount of attention you get from me is in direct proportion to how much you pay me”
Secret #4: Create a peak productivity environment
Entrepreneurs are the product of their environment. They need to ensure the environment works for them. The expected income is the average income of the 5 friends in the environment.
“Elevate your success, dress for your success”
Wealth triggers are important for entrepreneurs. It can remind entrepreneurs to think certain way. Each trigger can represent something meaningful; in fact, environment is more powerful than will power.
The best environment for most entrepreneurs is semi-organized environment. Sometimes their creative, innovative thinking will come out in that kind of environment. Just to remember to start the day fresh and never pile up.
Lok shares a big time saving tip. Entrepreneurs should stop meeting people at restaurants for meal. The environment will affect the meeting, such as time wasting. If it is mandatory to go off-site meeting place, entrepreneurs should have something to read or some work to do with them.
Secret #5: Scheduling vs scripting
Entrepreneurs should have the habit of scripting their time, and not scheduling it. Having an outline is not enough. If they are making a movie, people will not invest to produce a movie without a script.
Scheduling is working with other people’s agenda and scripting is creating personal agenda. If entrepreneurs are selling on stage, they are scripting. Lok believes if entrepreneurs want result, they need to script.
The hidden secret for high performance is to make inviolate appointments with themselves. Successful entrepreneurs will block time for themselves.
Lok wants entrepreneurs to develop their daily disciplines on 6 areas.
Emotion well being: 30 minutes a day on morning rituals
Financial well being: 30 minutes a day looking at financials
Business well being: 60 minutes a day on marketing self-promotions
Growth well being: 60 minutes a day learning
Psychical well being: 60 minutes a day exercising
Goal well being: 60 minutes on email management
If entrepreneurs do not schedule it, it will not get done. If entrepreneurs can see their goal clearly, their goals are not big enough. The purpose of goals is to get entrepreneurs out of their comfort zone.
Lok believes extreme control is equal to extreme freedom. If entrepreneurs use extreme measure, they will get extreme productivity.
“Raise your standard, be more productive, and you will get more”
Name: Discovery Series – Gaining power and influence
Presenter: Christine Day
Many leaders are eager to have power and influence; however, many of them have failed to sustain them. The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade invites Christine Day, the CEO of Luvo, to discuss the true meaning of power and influence. In this presentation, Christine Day will share her leadership experience. Moreover, leaders will learn different types of power and influence. Leaders will be able to apply her knowledge and insight to their current career.
Christine Day is the CEO of Luvo. Before Luvo, she was the CEO of Lululemon Athletica. Christine Day has many board director experience, including REI Sleep Number by Select Comfort, and the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade. In addition, she was also a Senior Vice President of Starbucks in Asia Pacific. Her achievements and leadership have inspired and helped many young women leaders in new generation. Moreover, she won many awards, such as Globe and Mail CEO of the year, Business in Vancouver CEO of the year, and top 50 most influential women in BC.
Christine Day starts off by giving the advice of “claiming your power” to young leaders. The power of self-leadership has shaped Christine Day’s fundamental. The power of self-leadership means self-leading, self-knowledge, and responsibility. Every leader needs to find his or her own style. This will help leaders to discover their true responsibility. Responsibility can create great traits and take control. When leader take control of their leadership, they must be aware of power because it might impact the result of contribution.
Day believes successful leader needs to have these 2 responsibilities in their mind.
Create future of others
Create space for others
Every leader wants to contribute. Contribution is a way for leader to tap into their power. When successful leaders talk about leadership, they are not talking about power. Many people purposely put a frame around the word leadership or power. It is up to leaders to find a way to break them. To become powerful, leader needs two elements.
Self-gain
Serve for others
With these two elements, leaders can be powerful, which they can motivate others.
Day explains in the old days, many people defined women leadership as “looking glass of men”. This made Day very uncomfortable. She took the stand on what she believed. Every leader needs to have that kind of courage. Day questions leaders in the room that if they have the courage to take on their own goals. Courage is the key.
Leaders do not learn “acquire power” from school; instead, they learn it during their career journey. Day emphasizes there is something called “dysfunctional leadership”.
Dysfunctional leadership is act to protect their power. It also describes leaders who do not collaborate or who do not have sense of community. This kind of leadership uses power of punishment to get what they want. Day believes this type of leadership are often shown a lot in entrepreneurs because recognition is important for entrepreneurs. The true power does not come from individual, yet it comes from others. Give creditability to others is the best way to claim power. It is all about team work and leaders must always be confidence on the progress.
“If you only have leadership for yourself, no one is willing to follow”
People work for someone who will help them get to where they want to be. The purpose of corporation unites people to work together. People join with similar purpose, which comes from power of contribution.
Power of status quo
Day believes when leaders are rewarded by status quo, they are learning not to take risks. Rewards cannot help leaders all the way. They need to know they are making a difference. To become a great leader, they need to think through of themselves.
Power of engagement
The power of engagement is the ability to empower others. Many people do want to contribute and they want to participate. Instead of judgement, leaders should make job people want to do. By giving them a sense of ownership, they will find themselves enjoy work. Day believes stress comes from hard work with no purpose and passion comes from hard work with purpose.
Power of taking the stage
Leaders must be a hero of their stories. If not, others are not willing to follow. When leaders become a hero, they are able to communicate their vision to others. Leaders need to appreciate others. However, sometimes they need to stand out for themselves by giving them the power play moments. Day believes will power comes from stand the criticism. When leaders know someone took their ideas, they should either claim it back and be assuring.
Leaders earn their power and then give it away.
“Leaders have to lead, not support”
Power of relationship
The power of relationship is to remove barriers for alignment. When leaders use authority, they must be accountable. People are obtain waiting to see where the power balance is. Relationship allows leader to seek opportunities. Day believes power balance is where the risk goes. When there is power struggle, leaders should never choose success over their own values. This is the power of choice. Whenever leaders feel powerless, they must remember they still have the power of choice. Day believes power lies on daily small choices. When knowledge is gone, leaders still have the power of love.
Question and answers
By building share experience, leaders can help others to be a part of progress. People seek share experience and it is a great way for leaders to gain their trusts. When leaders deal with difficult people, leaders can ask questions back and never react on that individual. Leaders can learn from them and get to know their why.
Day believes the best questions to ask people in mentorship is “how are you at service?” and “are you matching my purpose?”. These two questions will help leaders to discover their true identity.
Day suggests leaders that many things are not related to talent. It is important for leaders to connect others from who they really are. Problem is just a problem and facing problem is the best solution. The more leaders declare, the more people will come in solve it with them.
Name: Red Academy – 5 keys to designing a disruptive business
Presenters: Brittany Hobbs, and Arpy Dragffy
New innovations can disrupt current business for entrepreneurs. Therefore, successful entrepreneurs will adapt the change and become the next transformative industry leaders. Red Academy invites Brittany Hobbs, the Director of Research and Branding for PH1 Media, and Arpy Dragffy, the Customer Experience Strategist for PH1 Media, to discuss the strategies to prepare the effect of disrupt and leverage the industry opportunities. Entrepreneurs will learn the methods to help their business move towards innovative society. Moreover, disruption is changing all sectors and both presenters will share their insight to help entrepreneurs overcome the fear of disruption.
In this world, many companies are overwhelmed with disruption. Many successful companies find their ways to use disruption as advantage. When they succeed, others follow and they become the game changer of their industry. For example, Airbnb opened up the new meaning of travel in people. Moreover, Uber defines the new meaning of how people use asset of what they own.
In fact, there are many entrepreneurs who have disruptive mindset. They change how people traditionally do things.
The world is being disruptive. The change is small, but the impact many at the same way. The first cause of disruption is the world growth is declining. By looking at the GDP growth trend, the world is not growing as fast as it used to be. The second cause of disruption is the declining population. The world is facing the problem of reducing global economic growth. The third cause of disruption is the declining productivity. The world is now seeing the max capacity of current technology. Both Brittany Hobbs and Arpy Dragffy believe it is time for entrepreneurs to break something to create something else.
“The report from the McKinsey Global Institute says that to compensate for the drop in the growth of the labor force, productivity needs to accelerate 80% from its historical rate to keep global GDP from slowing”
Many entrepreneurs believe the word disruptive is a way to take out of competition. However, there is always consequences. Hobbs and Dragffy believe innovators who create products at “hackathons” are not even trying to disrupt entrepreneurs’ business. In fact, entrepreneurs’ business are just the collateral damange.
Hobbs and Dragffy share the 5 keys to designing a disruptive business.
Key #1: Challenge yourself to think different
Entrepreneurs need to think different in order to revolutionize the current market. Hobbs explains the 3D printing technology was already in the market in 1992. Furthermore, entrepreneurs turn the innovative idea around and create opportunity. Now it is possible to produce organs to help patients.
Dragffy believes disruption relies on the ability to redefine the problem. Design thinking is an exceptional way to see new opportunities.
Key #2: Create experience, not product
Traditionally, people see Sony and Yahoo as top innovative companies. Now, things are different. people are referring Apple and Facebook as the leader of innovation. The difference is all about create experience.
Hobbs explains Snapchat is a new innovative way to interact with people. Labster is a company that teach people to interact in a lab. Based on statistic, the effect on Labster for students is 76% better than the traditional teaching. Moreover, when they combine both together, it raised up more than 101%.
Dragffy believes disruptive business excite the senses and help expand what entrepreneurs believe are possible. With the improvement of customer experience, entrepreneurs will abe able to capture more than ever before about their customers.
Key #3: Do not jump at low-hanging fruit
It is important for entrepreneurs to find something unique that can embrace them. They need to create the type of community they want to be in. Therefore, change the perspective the way they look at their business direction.
Hobbs shares 3 unique markets that no one would have expected. The first market is GoPro. GoPro creates extreme sports photography trend. The second market is Sketch3. It defines the new world for user interface. The last market is Car2Go. It is the most urban way to own a vehicle.
Another example is Bitcoin. Instead of requiring 3rd party intermediaries, which generate high processing fees, entrepreneurs are able to do direct payments. The theory behind Bitcoin is like a block chain of DNA, which creates unlimited innovative potential.
Dragffy believes disruptive business find uniqueness in the market which others neglected. Currently there is trend on design for disabilities.
Key #4: Master new technologies before others do
The primary goal for technology is to create ways for info to be pulled or give.
Hobbs believes MagicLeap is a great example. MagicLeap creates the term “Mix Reality” by having virtualization through reality. They learn mistakes from other companies and implement on the existing technology. They create dynamic simulation where they can interact with different materials.
Hobbs empathizes entrepreneurs should not re-invent existing technology because they are already out there waiting for them to implement.
Dragffy believes disruptive business rarely are the inventors. They only create addiction. The future of interface design relies on user experience. User experience must exceed the cookie-cutter box of designing app.
Key #5: Fail better than everyone else
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, failed 4 times to bring the rocket back to earth, but he made it. The Indian Space Research Organization researched all fail companies for success and now they are now able to test fire scramjet engine. China is no longer a nation of tech copycats because they learn mistakes from other companies that fail.
What is going to happen to the future of Silicon Valley? It is hard to say.
“Great, now I cannot use the ‘that autonomous mode is impossible’ excuse anymore”
Dragffy believes disruptive business look at failure as the reason for success. Everything is surrounded by the concept of ideation, revision and accepting what is not working. Entrepreneurs are suggested to adept the core concept of design thinking.
Question and answers
Hobbs and Dragffy wants entrepreneurs to think about this statement.
“Study where you going? No, study why you are going”
Expertize is no longer comes from one source. Companies these days are either lack of people, lack of vision, or lack of intention. It is entrepreneur’s responsibilities to prepare. Entrepreneurs should aim to change people’s behaviors due to the shift of the successful technology. It used to be the domain of science, but now it is domain of everyone.
Name: Vincent Dignan – From welfare cheques to $250k+ in 3 months using social media
Presenter: Vincent Dignan
Many entrepreneurs are utilizing many social media platforms for their businesses; however, many of them are struggling on their social media strategies. Internet Mastermind invites Vincent Dignan, the Founder of Magnific, to discuss his success strategy on making profit with social media. Vincent Dignan will share his secret of growing online communities. In addition, entrepreneurs will learn his perfect pre-launch strategy. Moreover, Vincent Dignan will share his recommended tools for entrepreneurs to increase sales, marketing and productivity.
Vincent Dignan is the Founder of Magnific. He is also the Founder of Planet Ivy and Screen Robot. His ultimate social media strategies impact his business over millions views. He refers his strategy as “growth hacks”, which demonstrates his vision and success. Overall, he is featured in many media, including Inc, New Statesman, TechCrunch, and The London Economist. His speech in SXSW V2V 2015 was voted the best talk in conference. He published his book, Secret Sauce: A Growth Hacking Playbook”, to help entrepreneurs who are looking for a direction in the digital marketing.
With over 150 millions of total page views, 50 million visitors, 200 thousand likes, 50 thousand followers and over 1000 signups, Vincent Dignan is now one of the major influencers in social media platform. His strategy converts traffic from zero to 50 thousand visitors per month and 100 to 200 app downloads in first month. Dignan believes anyone can do it with the right training, right coaching and right consultancy.
Dignan defines growth hacking means a marketing technique initially employed in tech startups that uses creativity, social metrics and analytical thinking as well as tools to sell products and gain exposure. The golden rules of growth are scalable, repeatable and predictable.
Dignan reveals the 10 rules of growth hacking
You do not talk about growth hacking
You do not talk about growth hacking (investors / public)
Speak to customers and define messaging before you go viral
Investigate and map channels from easiest to hardest
Set SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-based) goals
Read the basics for your channel
Do not sweat the small things on day one
Be a mixture of mad men and math men
Pour more resources into the ones that work
Rinse and repeat
Dignan emphasizes if the user cannot use it, it does not work. The key is to keep everything simple, especially the signup. Website should have the ability to do auto login after signup and send personal email within 24 hours. Entrepreneurs must keep in mind that they need to deliver what they promise. Dignan believes to receive successful user experience, entrepreneurs need to pay attention to these 6 elements: competitive analysis, user stories, data analysis, user flows, user feedback, and red routes. Entrepreneurs should test their website with 5 different people.
Dignan introduces a couple websites that can help entrepreneurs simplified their online platforms.
Tailerbrands.com
Create a free logo
Uxmyths.com
Build website based on evidence
Balsamiq
Create mockup website
Crazyegg
See where visitors went
Optimizely
Help A/B testing
Qualaroo
What visitor do on the website
Usersthink.com
Test website with real users
Bestaboutpages.com
List of About Page layout
Every entrepreneur should plan out every single user. Dignan shares a list that shows all the social media platform with visitors expected, conversion rate and total signups. The analysis will help entrepreneurs to keep track their performance.
When users decide to unsubscribe website, many entrepreneurs direct them to signup page. Dignan reveals many websites will shrink the cancelation button and enlarge more membership options.
Dignan mentions entrepreneurs can import their address book on LinkedIn to extract massive number of new users. Entrepreneurs can utilize StoreMaven to do A/B testing on App Store and Google Play page. In addition, entrepreneurs can use AppTweak to optimize App Store. Dignan shares his “The $9 Marketing Stack Analytics” websites for entrepreneurs who are starting to use social media for analysis.
Segment
Google Analytics
Mixpanel
Perfect Audience
Entrepreneurs want to find ways to get users or customers from other platforms. Dignan calls it “The milkshake theory”, which means entrepreneurs should always drink other people’s milkshake first when they are thirsty. Dignan recommends some website for entrepreneurs.
Similarweb
Spy on other people’s website
Import.io
Extract web data
Apifier
Web crawler for website
Dignan identifies there are 5 scams on social media entrepreneurs need to be aware of.
App store fraud
Ad fraud
Click fraud
Copyright fraud
Influencer network
The typical growth engine for app requires awareness, which leads to download. When users download the app, they will start the activation process. Lastly, they will share the app. The cycle continues. The key for entrepreneurs is to create the right attraction for users. Dignan introduces the website called “Sumome” for entrepreneurs to create widgets with no coding involve.
Dignan believes the secret formula to get returning users is “the hook”. It first needs a trigger. Then it follows actions. Users will be rewarded for actions. Users will start invest their resources. Finally, they will see the internal value of the product. Dignan uses Mandrill website to automate emailing users when there is a trigger.
There are many ways to acquire users. If entrepreneurs have no idea what they are doing, they can visit the website called “Clarity” to find and connect with experts. Entrepreneurs can use net promoter score to identify their product satisfaction status. There are 18 main channels of user acquisition that Dignan believes it is important for startups.
Targeting blogs
Publicity
Unconventional PR
SEO
SEM
Social and display ads
Speaking engagement
Content marketing
Email marketing
Business development
Affiliate programs
Viral marketing
Community building
Sales
Existing platforms
Trade shows
Offline events
Offline ads
Dignan still prefers IRL, social media, content marketing, and email marketing with bonuses. Dignan defines IRL as the type of business that is sales driven and rely on relationship. It is a great start for entrepreneurs who do not know where they can find their users. Dignan explains Mint.com used the right pre-launch strategy to increase online attraction. They utilized multiple channels to expand their awareness. They shared many content through different platforms. They asked bloggers to share their content. Every blog post had email option and they have press tour for signups. They setup the right keywords for SEO and at the end, the cost of user acquisition was under 1 dollar. Entrepreneurs can use Maitreapp.co to create their viral waiting list.
“Get your skates on and hustle”
Entrepreneurs need feedbacks. They can visit Slack Communities to get support on feedback. Dignan introduces some useful tools for entrepreneurs.
Charlieapp
Research someone online
Email Hunter
Direct access to company emails
Voila Norbert
Find anyone’s email address
Mailtester.com
Email address verification
Discover.ly
See mutual Facebook friends on LinkedIn
Dignan summarizes the 4 simple steps for successful social media.
Get a following
Broadcast to them
Reap the benefits
Profit
Many entrepreneurs focus too much attention about themselves; in fact, it is all about users themselves. Dignan introduces a Facebook page called “Welcome to the internet” to see what is trending for users. Ruzzit.com is a viral content aggregator, and You&snip.ly is a website to share article in entrepreneurs’ websites.
Dignan suggests entrepreneurs to use Instagram. It has ideal users and they reply and flood hashtags. It also has many click through with direct CTA. Instagram can help business to build their personal image and brand. Entrepreneurs can use Instagram to generate traffic. Entrepreneurs can use Audiense website to find followers on Instagram. They can use Canva.com or Text Cutie app to create great Instagram posts and use Hootsuite or Buffergram to schedule their posts. Moreover, they can visit websta.me/hot to find the right hashtags.
Entrepreneurs can also utilize Facebook. Entrepreneurs need to make professional profile. They need to turn on the follow option for people to follow their status. They can utilize the note function for blogging to get traffic. They can join Facebook groups as well.
Dignan shares a Facebook strategy to get 1000 members in Facebook group. Entrepreneurs can add people they know by pressing individual letters. When Facebook notifies them the group is full, they can continue on the next letter. After all the letters are used, they can use combination of letters.
The function of Facebook news feed is the impact of interest, post, creator, type and recency. Entrepreneurs can use Spaceship.rocks to customize Facebook ads. Moreover, they can use Fanpagekarma.com to track Facebook traction.
Twitter can help business double their leads. It helps business to focus on large user base. Events are great in Twitter. Entrepreneurs can use Audiense website to search companies, find customers, and influencers. Tweepi website can also help entrepreneurs get more followers. Dignan wants entrepreneurs to tweet 50-100 times per day and the same articles at least 5 times. Picture is the best for retweets.
Snapchat can have great engagement for local businesses. Pinterest aims for females above 30 of age. Dignan wants entrepreneurs to remember to find the right influencers. The right influencer can provide leads, content promotion, and find affiliates. Dignan suggests NinjaOutreach.com to find influencers. Onalytica and Famebit are also a great tool to find influencers.
Dignan provides a strategy to get first 500 users for business. First, they need to message LinkedIn contacts in batches through LinkedIn groups. Second, they need to individually message each Facebook friends. Third, tweet all the followers one by one. Lastly, email one by one. Entrepreneurs can also search their niche and find at least 10 subreddits to post.
Dignan believes entrepreneurs need to write at least 25 headlines to attract users. They can us bitly to save, share and discover links. Buffer.com is also a good way to share. Dignan suggests entrepreneurs to use it. They can block out 9pm to 12pm every Sunday night for preparation. They should post their money posts 4 times a week every morning at 10 am. Fun posts can be posted at 6pm. 3 money tweets a day at 10am, 2pm and 6pm. Entrepreneurs can use Meetedgar.com to utilize social updates.
Email is still the most effective for conversion. Dignan provides the 5 steps for emails.
Always use first name to make email unique
Warm up IP for new email
Send small bursts
Avoid the word “free”, “giveaway”, or “discount”
Send in batch
Dignan has suggested some great tools for email marketing.
Mailchimp
Batch email
Kickbox.io
Get rid ofbroken email address
Mail-tester.com
Test to see if email is spam
Really Good Emails
Copy other email format
Stocksnap
Free photos
Pixtabay
Free photos
Revue
Automate email newsletter
Wavelength
Trade email lists
Sidekick
See who opens and click email
Boomerang
Send later
Mailstrom
Clean up Inbox
Streak
CRM in your inbox
Rebump
Redress the power balance
Quickmail.io
Create cold email
Chartgo
Create a chart in 30 seconds
Docusign
Send, sign, and approve documents
Dignan also suggest some great tools for public relations.
PR Presshour
Get press coverage for a startup
Hey Press
Find any journalist anywhere
Entrepreneurs can insert emojis into their email, Twitter, and Instagram. In addition, they can insert gifs file. Dignan shares the trick that by adding “gif” in front of the YouTube link can turn YouTube video into gifs.
There are some other useful tools Dignan shares in the presentation.
Typosaurus
Check spelling errors on the site
Xendpay
Send money worldwide for free
Trello
Organize tasks
f.lux
Prevent eye straining
leandomainsearch.com
Find domain name with keywords
investorlist.co
Find investors
Dignan has suggested a list of books for entrepreneurs.
“The 48 laws of power” by Robert Greene
“How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie
“Trust me I’m lying” by Ryan Holiday
“Zero to one” by Peter Thiel
“The four hour work week” by Tim Ferriss
“The hard thing about hard things” by Ben Horowitz
Dignan suggests all entrepreneurs to make their to-do list based on distinguish of either making money or not. For startups, they should have board meeting with themselves. This will give them a time to reflect on their direction. Sometimes news and blogs can misdirect entrepreneurs. In fact, they should focus on building and selling business and growing users.
Presenters: Lori Mathison, Kari Lockhart, and Sujeet Kini
Successful leaders differentiate themselves in the workplace; moreover, accomplished industry leaders create meaningful connections and insights in their career paths. Board of Trade invites Lori Mathison, the Managing Partner of Dentons Canada LLP, Kari Lockhart, Partner of Deloitte, and Sujeet Kini, the Chief Financial Officer at Hootsuite Media Inc, to share their key success factors in their career. In addition, all presenters have Certified Professional Accountant designation, and they will discuss how they benefit the internationally recognized designation to accelerate their careers. This presentation will benefit all young leaders who are pursing accounting designation.
Lessons from Lori Mathison
Lori Mathison started her career from a law firm called Fraser & Beatty. The firm later became Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP. In 2012, the firm was combined by Dentons. Mathison emphasizes her career was not easy, but she believed in order to be successful, leaders need to be different.
The approach of CPA designation was a huge asset for her because not all lawyers have CPA designation. This was different and it made standout from other lawyers. During her career journey, she discovered her passion in tax. She refocused her direction and move to tax concentrate path. CPA designation helped her explore more clients and accelerate her creditability in her career. Mathison was thankful for CPA because it made her business relationship stronger than ever.
Mathison believes leaders need to build on relationship. They need to be committed and be involved. Mathison recommends young leaders to get on the board or committees in an organization they love. They can start with a small committee and move on the director in the future. Being on the board helps Mathison improve her strategic thinking.
Mathison lists 4 major key to success.
Find and optimize leader’s differentiator
Tackle leader’s weakness
Value all relationships
Earn it
Leaders need to develop skills and use it as a business generator. Leaders in this generation require passion that turns innovate new ideas into niche industry. The key question is “What makes leader special?”
Mathison admits she is afraid of public speaking. She mitigates the weakness by teaching baby class about tax. Leaders must value all relationships because all interactions are like opportunities. Leaders must always have the mindset of “no one will hand them success”. They must go out there and earn it.
Leaders should have work-life balance and have the ability to take a long term view. They should learn how to make choices and say “no”. They should embrace team approach because feedback is helpful and it can discover better result.
“All of us is smarter than one of us”
“When you say no to something, you are actually saying yes to something else”
Lessons from Kari Lockhart
Kari Lockhart started her career at Ernst & Young. She received her CA designation and pursued her career in London Ernst & Young. In London, she got approached by someone who worked in Enron. However, she turned down the offer and went to a middle energy company called “Dynegy”.
Many people have the conception that Enron blew up overnight. Lockhart disagreed. When Enron hit 1.2 billion on their equity, Lockhart thought nothing would happen. Dynegy had the opportunity to buy Enron. When more bad pressed appeared on Enron, it affected Dynegy. Eventually a 2 billion lawsuit hit Dynegy.
Dynegy was in crisis. Lockhart explains without her designation, she could not make it. Three years later, Dynegy got liquidized. The Chief Executive Officer resigned and the responsibility got transferred to Lockhart. She needed to work with the president to shut the company down. She sold all the assets, turned off the light and moved back to Vancouver.
Afterwards, she managed to work at BC Hydro. Lockhart quitted after 2 months because she could not handle from going crazy environment to government. She went work with a startup that involved with online poker, but the company got brought out in 6 months.
Lockhart realized Vancouver is a different market. It was all about relationship. She headed back to Ernst & Young and worked in the technology sector. Her success in technology sector got attention by Deloitte. While in Deloitte, she loved technology, but the organization kept pulling her into Mining sector. By sticking with passion, she managed to help Deloitte to grow up the practice by focusing on helping small business companies on finance.
Lockhart lists 3 major key to success
Follow the heart and the passion
Do not over think too much
It will work out in the future if leaders stuck with it
“Follow your gut, success will come”
Lessons from Sujeet Kini
Sujeet Kini works in Hootsuite Media Inc, the world’s most widely used social relationship platform. It raised over 250 million to drive hyper growth with over 2500 enterprise customers. Hootsuite has over 14 million users, 200 and more integration with 175 countries. The organization has over 800 employees and adapted 800 of the fortune 500 companies.
Kini explains the speed of change has increased in all industry. It takes telephone 75 years to reach 50 million users; in addition, it takes 38 years for radio and 13 years for television. However, it takes 4 years for internet, 3.5 years for Facebook and 3 years for iPhone. This shows social media is here to stay.
Kini started his career in PricewaterhouseCoopers as senior associate. He moved to GT Group telecom as Senior manager and later to Direct Energy as Controller. Afterwards, he transferred to Open Text as Chief Financial Officer and now the Chief Financial Officer in Hootsuite.
Kini shares the evolution of accounting. Originally, people refer to accountants as the bookkeepers. When companies are evolving, people starts refer them as bean counters. As they starting to drive or influence the decision making, accountants refer to themselves as “the smartest guys in the room”. Accountants starts to aim form creative accounting, which make them as “the custodian and allocators of capital”, which means they are having equilibrium in the organization.
Leaders who are in accounting field must always remember what the letters after their name means. Kini emphasizes leaders’ reputation is their badge of honor. These letters made them become the trusted expert.
Skills trump title. Leaders must distinguish between the authority of ideas and the idea of authority. Leaders focus on skills they learn because it can change their career perspective. Title can only get to certain point, and leaders need to sell in order to sustain their success.
Work-life balance can be difficult for accountants. The key for leaders is to find the right way to get ready to manage their lives.
During interview, Kini looks for integrity. He believes hiring for integrity is important because skills can be trained later.
Question and Answers
There are many kinds of leadership style. Mathison believes in collaboration. Lockhart wants to be pioneer and wants to try new things. Kini looks for empowerment. Aside from work, Lockhart spends time with the Board of BC Technology to stay connect with the industry. Kini has the passion about reading and writing because writing can articulate complex subject to non-accountants. Mathison spends time to give back to community.
Kini gives young leaders the advice of wherever they are, they need to think like an owner. They need to understand what other people are thinking. Lockhart gives the advice of glass is always half full and embrace the bad. Mathison gives the advice of career is a marathon, not a race.
Name: Daymond John’s Launch Academy – Become an Entrepreneur
Presenter: Tim Payne
It is not easy to become a respected entrepreneur without right successful model. Moreover, many entrepreneurs tend to miss the opportunity to build their business with the right strategy. Daymond John’s Launch Academy invites Tim Payne, the instructor, to share the key information to become a successful entrepreneur. In this presentation, Tim Payne will reveal the 3 key principles to position entrepreneurs to their destination. Entrepreneurs will learn the hidden truth behind common business concepts. People who are thinking of becoming an entrepreneur will benefit from this presentation.
The mission behind Launch Academy is to help entrepreneurs to make money. Tim Payne explains many people are attracted by this presentation because of image of Daymond John from the TV Show called Shark Tank. In average, there were at least 50,000 business auditions and only 100 make it past producers to have the opportunity to be in front of the Sharks. Statistically, it would cost them around $20,000 in total to get a chance to meet the sharks.
Wealthy people will not do what they are not expert at. This is why forming a team is important. After the successful pitch from the Sharks, entrepreneurs will work with the team, not the Sharks. In addition, the team entrepreneurs work with is extremely important for success.
There is no such thing as “self-made millionaire” because it takes a team to accomplish that goal. In reality, entrepreneurs need to work with the team. Payne emphasizes it takes work and entrepreneurs need to believe themselves before they are a millionaire.
Entrepreneurs will not find the truth in their comfort zone. Successful entrepreneurs need to give people the permission to disagree with them; otherwise, they are lying to them. In addition, wealthy people do not go to entrepreneurs; instead, they need to go to them first.
Payne believes it is important to use 10% of the profit for celebration. Also, to be successful, entrepreneurs need to think, speak, and live in the present. Entrepreneurs should never speak in past tense or future tense. Many entrepreneurs will witness 3 scenarios: They know what they know, they do not know what they do not know, and they just plain do not know. Many entrepreneurs are looking for a switch that can instantly become wealthy. It is normal for people to think that way because they are programed to think like that.
Payne believes the word “broke” is taught by people who are poor. Time is money is another example of concept that is taught by poor people. Many people are taught or trained to trade their time with money. People are spending so much on school tuition to learn business and most professors are not wealthy themselves. Moreover, school is teaching people how to be employed. Instead of “time is money”, wealthy people will use less time to make money. They will not trade time for money.
Another “broke concept” entrepreneurs were taught is to do everything themselves. The “wealthy concept” is to find expert to help them accomplish their goals. Payne shares that the world is created by how people speak. Both broke people and wealthy people use different language. Truth is always there, but people tend to lie about it. People are not born to lie; instead, they are taught to lie. They do that because they want to feel connected with the rest of the society. Because of that, people are restricted to feel certain way.
In business, entrepreneurs need to do 2 main things.
Personalized Business Assessment
Establishing Corporate Credit
The Personalized business assessment should complete quarterly. It must be external. They will analyze what entrepreneurs do with their time. They will discover where they are and what they are weak at. Entrepreneurs will receive traction right away.
“The purpose of business is to get out of business”
The establishing corporate credit is important. Wealthy people do not worry about their personal credit because they utilize corporate credit. They will get corporate structure. They will then receive Tax ID number. Afterwards, they will start establishing that corporate credit for business transactions. If something goes wrong, they can bankrupt the corporation. They are protected because the corporate structure is not connected to personal credit.
Bankers are trained to let people take all the risk on personal credit. If entrepreneurs have corporate credit, they can use it as leverage against bankers’ rules. Each corporate credit is separate and each corporate credit can buy off from each other. Corporate credit allows entrepreneurs to play bankers’ rules.
“Stop doing what the banker says and start doing what the banker does”
Payne says the root cause of pain for entrepreneurs is to think they do not have enough money. In fact, money is everywhere. To shift from broke to wealthy, someone needs to show entrepreneurs what is missing. First, entrepreneurs need to be open minded and admit to themselves they are weak and need help. Everyone is replaceable and if entrepreneurs think they are not replaceable, they will never replace themselves. When entrepreneurs figure out their deepest why, they will start to act and decide their goals.
Entrepreneurs can use corporate account to write off their expense. When opportunity comes, wealthy people will think about return first before cost. Payne provides 2 important rules for entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs can make money without money
Debt is great if it makes money
“Is it expensive? Depends what you get for”
Wealthy people focus on return and poor people focus on cost. Many entrepreneurs limit themselves. Their subconscious mind is trying to fight it. It is easy to find what is wrong instead of looking for the truth.
There are 3 wealth principles for entrepreneurs.
Principle #1: Yourself
Faith is moving cause of all actions and everyone is holding the key to his or her own life. People are taught that they cannot afford failure because they do not have enough. In fact, people learn everything from failure.
“If you do not know the target, you will always miss, but if you know the target, you will make it”
Principle #2: Get on the right side of the equation
The truth is always simple and not complicated. When it is complicated, it is a lie. Therefore, the truth is simple and it is always going up stream.
Principle #3: Pull the trigger
The secret is to be decisive and never ever second guess. Poor people will second guess on things that will make them wealthy. Entrepreneurs need to do things more than just money. The fundamental of business is to create customers. They will tell entrepreneurs what they need to sell. They know where the fish is in the pond.
In business, it starts with a dream. Dream leads to startup, and then enters to survival. When it becomes growth, the next step is to exit. Lastly, Payne suggests entrepreneurs that they need to use OPM (Other people’s money) concept, but also they need to know OPI, which stands for other people’s influence.
Every successful leader need to go through their transformational change to get to where they are. Moreover, every time they go through the cycle, they become stronger than before. LeaderLounge, presented by Smart, Savvy and Associates, invites Bailey Heckel, the former Vice President of Operations Product at Lululemon Athletica, to discuss her entrepreneurship journey. The event is moderated by Catherine Ducharme, the Co-Founder of Outsidein Communications. In this presentation, Bailey Heckel will reveal her emotional triggers in her career struggles. Leaders will learn the impact of the stories they tell themselves during the transformational change. The concept in this presentation is based on the book, “Rising Strong”, by Brene Brown.
Bailey Heckel is the former Vice President of Operations Product at Lululemon Athletica. With over 20 years of retail experience, she managed to rise her career to yoga industry. The transformation career experience took her to a level she never expected. Her leadership with her team created many outstanding milestones in the yoga industry. Her success came from hard work and dedication. Moreover, Bailey Heckel is considered a young leadership model for many young generations. She is the Vice President of Brand Operations for Coldwater Creek.
All successful leaders face vulnerability. It is not about winning; in fact, it is about having the courage to show up when leaders do not know the outcome. In this current society, people believe vulnerability is a sign of weakness, but they never realize vulnerability is the birth of innovation and creativity.
Leaders must develop the understanding that people admire others who take risks.
“Vulnerability is not weakness; it is our greatest measure of courage”
In Brene Brown’s book, “Rising Strong”, she defines the word “shame” as the most powerful master emotion and it is the fear that leaders are not good enough. In reality, leaders need to have whole –hearted living in order to get to their end goals. This means they will need to understand their emotions. Leaders need to engage love in their lives. Whole-hearted living will make leaders more satisfied and it will revolutionize in the new generation.
Bailey Heckel shares she had struggle with numbers. In Lululemon, she faced her fear by asking people for help. She revealed her vulnerability to her team and asked for support. Furthermore, this built a strong relationship on trust with her team. Heckel believed this is growth. She breaks down into 3 simple steps.
Open
Recognize the problem
Action
Many leaders believe they should not reveal their emotions in workplace. Most of them are taught that feelings do not belong in business discussion. In reality, they need to be brave because when they fall, they can rise up again.
“People who wade into discomfort and vulnerability and tell the truth about their stories are the real badasses”
In the book, Brown uses the term called The Arena. It is a metaphor for where leaders show up, where they see, and where they put themselves out there. The credit belongs to the leader who is actually in the arena. If they fail, they fail greatly, but in every arena, they will see a tunnel. This tunnel can be unknown and uncomfortable. The end of the tunnel is the reward. Leaders can choose comfort. Leaders can also choose courage. However, they cannot choose both.
“If you are not in the arena getting your ass kicked – then I am not interested in your feedback”
Heckel shares the story in her arena. 5 years ago, Heckel was facing a mid-career crisis. She was not brave enough to get out of the retail industry. She took the step to make the list and Lululemon was at the top. Heckel believed Lululemon was the company that could develop leaders. Heckel pursued them and made on the shortlist of an IT job. Heckel took the job even though she had no experience in IT. She was not afraid because she knew Lululemon was not looking for IT experts, yet Lululemon was looking for leaders who are willing to work in IT. This new career change allowed her to figure out her passion in operation. Heckel started to build her team and established team management. She moved to Canada with the support from husband. Her life was now appointed to the right career and she believed she can change the world.
“If we are brave enough, often enough, we will fall”
In the book, Brown explains even gladiators fall. Fail is painful and death of expectation can be beyond measure. As leaders, they need the embrace all different emotions because there is no learning without failing.
Heckel explains in every chapter, leaders need to go through something called “The balancing act”. Two months ago, Heckel lost her opinion in Lululemon. Her position was eliminated. Change management is not uncommon in this age. In fact, Heckel noticed there were signs of changing before the decision was made. The organization was going to a different direction. Heckel believed he let her husband down.
Heckel moved directly to action. She wanted others to know she was ok, but deep down, she was hurt. She forced herself to be busy. Three weeks later, she realized she was still in the fall.
In every leader’s journey, there are three important acts.
Act 1) Inciting incident
Act 2) Leader struggle to solve problem
Act 3) Learn the lesson and redemption
Act 2 is messy for many leaders, yet it is the most important act because it is where the magic happens. Within act 2, there are 3 steps.
Step #1: The reckoning
Leaders walk into their own story. They need to integrate all experience. Leaders can recognize their emotions by developing self-awareness, opening up line of inquiry, being brave enough to want to know more, and allowing them to come to the key moments.
“We own our stories so we do not spend our lives being defined by them or denying them”
Step #2: The rumble
Leaders must be honest and challenge their assumptions. Instead of going or certainty, leaders should go with uncertain. Leaders must confront the story they are making up.
“In the absence of data, we will always make up stories”
Step 3: The revolution
Leaders own the truth and integrate the learning.
Heckel noticed her behaviors had changed significantly. She started to hide herself and avoid herself. She could not let her ego down because she did not want the spectators to see the ugly side of her. Heckel realized she was a failure, but she was afraid to admit the truth because she lost her confidence, something she was proud of. She began to be vulnerable to her husband and realized her husband was supporting her the whole time. She has now found her new direction.
Heckel suggests leaders should stop using work and life balance as excuse. Everything has relationship with everything. Leaders need to start be generous of themselves. All revolution starts with a new vision of what is possible.
“More generosity, less judgement, your life will be different”
Name: Rogers Talk – Maximize your small business social media to get better results in less time
Presenter: Mhairi Petrovic
Social media is an important tool for small business entrepreneurs. Moreover, social media can help entrepreneurs to reach their audience further than before. Rogers Talk invites Mhairi Petrovic, the Founder of Out-Smarts Marketing, to discuss her insight of utilizing social media on small businesses. Mhairi Petrovic will breakdown the level of strategy on social media. In addition, entrepreneurs will discover the usage of social media and transfer the strategy onto their current businesses.
Mhairi Petrovic is the Founder and Chief Marketing Orchestrator for Out-Smarts Internet Marketing. She is also Certified Marketing Executive and Certified Sales Executive with distinction. She moved up from Account Executive from Speedware Corp to Account Manager from MicroStrategy. Her passion towards helping clients with online strategy promoted her to create Out-Smarts. Her knowledge and expertise are recognized by many entrepreneurs. In addition, she was a Board Director for SMEI.
Mhairi Petrovic defines social media as websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking. Based on stats, over 1.65 billion users are using Facebook and over 310 million people are active on Twitter. Petrovic believes the key question for entrepreneurs is not whether or not they are doing social media; in fact, it is the question of how well entrepreneurs can do it.
Entrepreneurs must have a social media plan. They need to know who to follow, which tool they will use, what are their competitors doing, what to post, when to post, and how to measure success and goal. Importantly, entrepreneurs need to remember their social media should line up with their business plan. The business plan must include these 7 elements.
Search Engine Marketing
Website Optimization
Internet Advertising
Social Media Marketing
Measuring and Reporting
Email Marketing
Digital Marketing
Entrepreneurs must know their social media goals. Goals can be build awareness, drive traffic to website, connect customers, enhance relationship, share knowledge, or reach more audience.
There are many social media tools entrepreneurs can use. The rule is to use the ones customers use and also use the ones that showcase what they do. LinkedIn can reach business people. Facebook can reach potential consumers. Twitter can impact the community. Snapchat appeals to younger audience. Active Rain is good for real estate industry. Houzz is for interior designers and TrustedPros is for home improvement industry. Petrovic suggests entrepreneurs to concentrate only 3 to maximize the tools.
Entrepreneurs need to find their tribe. They can follow their existing customers, people in their hood, potential new clients, partners, suppliers, influencers, and other media. Entrepreneurs need to lookout for opportunities. Petrovic recommends entrepreneurs to check and reply comments daily. They can follow the influencers in their industry for clues. Tools, such as Google Alerts, Social Mention, Hashtags, Hootsuite, and Twitter Lists, can help entrepreneurs listen to opportunities.
Petrovic believes in order to make use of the digital time, entrepreneurs need to stay focus, set boundaries, schedule social media time or even use automated tools for posting. By creating content calendar, entrepreneurs can prioritize their goals and actions on social media.
Petrovic suggests some timing for entrepreneurs.
1 pm for the most Facebook shares
12 pm to 6 pm for the highest impression and clicks on Twitter
Evening is best for Pinterest
Monday is best for Instagram
LinkedIn works best first thing in the morning
Contents with photos and videos work the best for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs should interact with audience by asking creative questions. Contest or giveaway can attract audience. Moreover, entrepreneurs should make the content current and timely. Entrepreneurs should always add value on social media. The rule is 80/20 for promotions. Social media is for entrepreneurs to share their knowledge and they should never post anything in the heat of the moment.
Audience can use social to find entrepreneurs’ stories. Social media can help entrepreneurs distinguish their uniqueness. The benefits and personality can reflect from social media. Petrovic suggests entrepreneurs to use first person and avoid business speak. The important key is to start conversations.
Entrepreneurs can use Google Analytics to measure their website traffic. The follower count can help them build network and interactions can help them monitor their presence. Petrovic shares a list of tools.
Buffer, ScoopIt, LinkedIn Pulse, and FlipBoard for content
Name: Launch Talk with Dennis Pilarinos – Success outside of Silicon Valley
Presenter: Dennis Pilarinos
Silicon Valley is known as the hub for brightest talent in technology industry. However, many entrepreneurs do not know that there are many hidden technology talents outside of Silicon Valley that are successful in technology industry. Launch Academy invites Dennis Pilarinos, the Founder of Buddybuild, to discuss his successful journey when he left Silicon Valley to purse his startup. In this presentation, Dennis Pilarinos will reveal his experience in assembling team, establishing credibility, and connecting customers. Moreover, entrepreneurs will receive his insight on his process of fundraising from top venture capitalist.
Dennis Pilarinos is the Founder of Buddybuild. Pilarinos was in a top product and engineering leadership role in Amazon. He involved in Windows Workflow and Azure Platform in Microsoft. Eventually, he moved up to become one of the top Directors in Microsoft Canada. Furthermore, he was the Co-Founder of InvestorSense and the Advisor of Skyscrpr.
Dennis Pilarinos wanted to create a simple platform for end users to create their own mobile applications. He came up the idea of BuddyBuild. He mentions the idea evolves around the statement of “Instagram for driver”. The product aims for simplicity, but the backend is complex. The key is to engage end users to their business problems. Pilarinos shares his model.
Push code
Easy to deliver result
Develop feedback
Pilarinos emphasizes he does not optimize by money. He believes the impact comes first and money will follow. Everything Pilarinos aims for is achieve personal happiness. During his journey, he realized the fastest way to pinpoint the global problem was to ask everyone he knows.
He utilized the internet channel to ask people problems they are having. His understanding revolved around these 3 questions.
Is it a pain point?
How critical?
Is it skeptical?
“If you never experience it, you cannot suspend it”
Pilarinos shares a memorable personal experience in his journey. When he started his journey, he did not know about the size of the market. He needed to experience it. He knew he needed to make it work; otherwise, he would need to get a job. He flew down on one of the Sunday night to pitch to the board first thing next morning, the pitch round went on for 8 hours. He managed to turn from “oh crap” to “great”. He believes sometimes entrepreneurs would spend months to develop solution, but without a good pitch strategy, all could go down the drain.
Pilarinos believes stress management is a top problem for entrepreneurs to get to the next level. Pilarinos will run or exercise to reduce his stress level.
In his first pitch to the board, Pilarinos built a simple prototype to increase his chance. He asked for $100,000 and eventually went up to $1 million. Pilarinos believes relationship matters. Before his pitch, he spent 8-9 months living at San Francisco. He met many incredible people and had many intimate conversations.
However, Pilarinos could not see himself living in San Francisco. He mentions he was always surrounded with people who are asking the same questions.
Who are you?
Where you come from?
How can you help me?
Pilarinos relocated to Vancouver because he knew San Francisco would not lead to his happiness. He discovered Vancouver has a balanced lifestyle culture. When Amazon recruited him, he insisted staying in Vancouver. However, Vancouver was still lacking marketing comparing with San Francisco. Pilarinos mentions he might open a satellite office in San Francisco in the future.
In Pilarinos’s view, Vancouver has many challenges. Even though Vancouver has many hidden talents, but the business function is weaker than San Francisco. There is more friction in Vancouver than San Francisco. Canadians are more risk-adverse and Americans are more risk takers.
Pilarinos is now focusing more on continue improvement for his business. He wants entrepreneurs to remember to focus on people who love the product, and not those who hate it.
“It is always day 1 and there is always room for improvement”
There is a difference in the valuation in US and Canada. Canadian tends to want higher equity and Pilarinos could not rationalize it. United States is much more flexible. Investors have their own tastes. When entrepreneurs receive too much over the valuation, it will be a risk for the next round because investors are expecting more from them. Overall, because of competitive from investors, Pilarinos believes United States gives better valuation than Canada.
Background can play a significant factor. Pilarinos believes the more track records can give more execution. Investors mostly look for these 3 questions in the first round.
Is it a big market?
Is it the right people?
What is the term of the deal?
Usually, the term they are expecting is around 15-20%. Many entrepreneurs might not able to answer to investors when the development tool do not make money. Pilarinos suggests entrepreneurs to use other similar successful companies in the counter. In his first round, Pilarinos came in with confidence that he knew the problem exists in the market and by solving it, it would open up better market opportunities.
Pilarinos believes the first round does not mean it will have the best help to the team. After the first round, Pilarinos would send monthly updates to investors. He wanted to be transparent and he was also searching for guidance from them to help him through the process. The network was unbelievable and the knowledge was extremely helpful.
In his opinion, US investors are all selfless. They want to make impact on others lives, but he still feels like they expect for return. On the other hand, Canadian investors will help as much as they can.
“The next industrialization is technology”
He suggests entrepreneurs to make introduction first before asking for money. In his business, he utilizes the internet. Anyone who presses the “submit” button is his client. His early adopter was an accountant from downtown. During that moment, he hoped his process can help the accountant.
In the Series A round, most investors will ask for 20 to 30%. Based on calculation, that amount is the average expected return they need to get their money back. Pilarinos believes more traction is not always the best. Sometimes hard number can go against entrepreneurs. Pilarinos advices entrepreneurs to know their audience. After the first round, investors will only care about statistic.
Entrepreneurs need to do research on investors. They need to look at their background to find the best fit for their approach.
Pilarinos shares his strategy approach in his first round.
What do we do
Customer needs
The problem (pain point)
Examples (Story telling)
Solution
Demo
Why now (trend)
Competition
Product round map
Business model
Marketing plan
Founding team
Detail financials
Ask (committed angels)
Canadian consideration
Pilarinos also shares his strategy approach in his Series A round.
Common software development series in development team (Create, share, feedback) and users (Share, test, feedback)
System and workflow
Ecosystem solution
Details (example)
Demo
Feedback
Who is clients
Market trend / size plan
Market / customer segment
Financial model
Experienced team
What to do next
Pilarinos thinks the process comes into 3 steps: know associate, meet partners, create partnership. Pilarinos recommends entrepreneurs not to send the deck before the money comes in. It will take 24 hours to finalize and sign the term sheet. It will take another 32 days to receive the money from investors. Entrepreneurs are suggested to send monthly statements to investors. They will tell them the best time for second round.
Pilarinos believes CEO has 3 tasks: get money in the bank, build the right thing, and get the right people in. Lastly, Pilarinos does not worry about patent because he believes if anyone can out build them, they deserve it.
Name: YVRCommunities – How to Monetize your blog, podcast, and YouTube Channel
Presenters: Tyler Basu, James Martell, and Desmond Soon
Social platforms have been a great exposure for entrepreneurs. However, many entrepreneurs have not been taught the successful way to monetize their social platforms. Ricky Shetty, the Founder of YVRCommunities, invites Tyler Basu, a professional Content Marketer, James Martell, the Co-founder of jambMedia, and Desmond Soon, the Pan Asian Serial Entrepreneur, to discuss strategies on blog, podcast, and video monetization. Entrepreneurs will discover ways to take their content into the next level. Moreover, all experts will reveal their secret steps to accomplish their goals, and entrepreneurs will be able to utilize their methods into their businesses.
How to monetize your blog
Tyler Basu is a professional Content Marketer. Basu has been blogging since 2011. In 2013, he hosted a podcast called “Chatting with Champions”. He is also the author of one of the bestselling book “Lifestyle Business Blueprint”. He is currently the Content Marketing Manager for Thinkific and the publisher for Lifestyle Business Digital Magazine.
Basu focuses on a the statement of helping entrepreneurs to create and promote content that attracts and retains their ideal clients. Basu believes the best way to monetize blog is to sell something. Entrepreneurs can sell products, services or traffics.
Many entrepreneurs could not distinguish between blogger and content marketer. Basu defines blogger as someone who can write online. On the other hand, content marketer is someone in business process for creating and distributing valuable and compelling content to attract, acquire and engage a clearly defined audience with the objective of driving profitable customer action. Both have different goals. The goal for blogger is to create content to share their thoughts, opinions and stories. Moreover, the goal for content marketer is to build and connect relationship that results in a sale.
Basu shares the 5 steps to create a content funnel that converts visitors into paying customers.
Step #1: Identify a specific target audience
Entrepreneurs need to understand their target audience’s demographics and psychographics. Basu advices entrepreneurs not to attract everyone because the result will be no one.
Step #2: Identify the pain point or struggle
Entrepreneurs need to discover clients’ problems. They need to understand what result are their clients looking for. Entrepreneurs can provide them information to the questions they are looking for.
Basu shares 2 ways to find clients’ pain points: market research and feedback loop. Questions and complaints can also reveal certain level of pain points, which can lead to business opportunities.
Step #3: Create and an EPIC piece of content that is actually helpful
Entrepreneurs can create blog post, podcast or video to share their advices online for their clients. Basu suggests entrepreneurs to aim long and not short. Contents with research, statistic or quotes for supporting documents are essential. The key is to provide content that can generate worthy comments, shares and bookmarks.
Step #4: Include a content upgrade to build the email list
Entrepreneurs need to create a lead magnet. Lead magnet can be an audio or video training, cheatsheets, resource guide, infographic or Ebook. Basu believes free resource can help entrepreneurs to exchange for clients email.
Step #5: Guide email subscribers through a sales process
Entrepreneurs must realize that people do not become clients automatically. They need to be guided. The truth is that no sales means no revenue, which results of no business. Basu suggests when entrepreneurs guide them to the sale process, they can invite them to a webinar, offer free coaching or link them to a sale page through email. The important thing is to make them an offer they cannot refuse.
“Do not all me something, solve me something”
Basu emphasizes entrepreneurs need to go through these 6 stages.
Target audience
Pain point
Solution
Content upgrade
Email Call the action
Product for sale
When every piece of content is part of a funnel, there is a measurable rate of return. Through the conversion rate (Free content, content upgrade, email list, sales process, and then customer), the conversation rate drops. The average is 1%.
“When you know how much a new client is worth, you know how much you can spend to promote your clients”
How to architect a podcast the speaks to your ideal clients
James Martell is the Co-founder of jambMEDIA. Martell is also the host of the Affiliate Buzz podcast. Moreover, he was ranked number 14 on top 25 influencers in Performance marketing for 2014.
In 1999, Martell discovered how to utilize affiliate marketing and it was the year he received his first cheque from online. In 2001, Martell started his first online marketing and wrote an ebook on online marketing. The book sold over 5500 copies. In 2003, he launched Affiliate Buzz Podcast. It was a new method of audio newsletter and this podcast had over 500 subscribers instantly. Martell believes podcast is an ability to build relationship with online audience.
“It started with a telephone conversation”
Martell shares the 10 reasons to start podcast.
Create an audience predisposed to buy
Strength relationship
Establish entrepreneurs as expert in their marketplace
Human voice is the most natural way to communicate
Easy to develop
Reach new market
Each episode works for entrepreneurs 24/7
Easy to start
Create huge impact with less than 1 hour
Podcast is the hottest
Martell shares his monetization strategy focuses on 5 major things: podcast, traffic, clear offer, email series and respond. Podcast focuses on the right clients. Martell will issue weekly episodes, which shows consistency. Quality production of the podcast is important.
Traffic comes from google search, email subscribers, social media. He will have podcast directories to direct clients to the right information. The offer must be easy to understand and easy to explain. The content should be useful, but incomplete because it can lead clients to larger sale. The key is the podcast must have high value for clients.
Email list is important for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs should collect addresses from subscribers. They will provide questions and testimonials. Entrepreneurs can respond to their clients by telephone calls, email inquiries, text message or even Facebook messages.
Martell reveals 5 killer tools for entrepreneurs to use for their podcasting.
Digital access pass
LeadPages
Spreaker
Basecamp
Upward
The number one mistake many entrepreneurs make is underestimating the work involved. Many entrepreneurs will quit after 7 episodes. Martell believes the solution is to have a virtual team that takes care of writer, graphic designer, voice talents, and editor. By hiring virtual assistant, entrepreneurs will manage to ensure all these task are done.
How to monetize videos
Many entrepreneurs refer Desmond Soon as the Pan Asian Serial Entrepreneurs. For over many years, Soon coaches many young entrepreneurs and professionals to develop profitable and sustainable businesses. With his mentorship, he is managed to shift them with his unique business lessons. Soon has appeared on many social medias. Many of his coaching revolve around his slogan of “Turning setbacks into comebacks”.
Many entrepreneurs have setbacks because they want to aim for perfection. Soon believes the first thing is to change the mindset of not aiming for perfection. The first step of monetization is to get OMNI presence. The key of the first step is to present offline and online as much as possible.
Soon believes every entrepreneurs will need 4 things: OMNI presence, sales, leadership and financial. Monetization starts off from OMNI presence.
Entrepreneurs can now upload their videos to market. Platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, SnapChat, Instagram, Twitter or Periscope, can be utilized for monetization. For YouTube, entrepreneurs need to follow the setup Youtube procedure to complete the monetization. The setup is easy, but it is competitive because there is no barrier of entry.
Soon reveals the blueprint of video monetization. Entrepreneurs need to build their celebrity status online and offline. This attracts sponsors for funding. The celebrity status can gain subscribers’ attention to their businesses. Afterwards, entrepreneurs can give offer or pitch. Entrepreneurs can also create advertising type videos to promote their products. This will lead subscribers to lead capture page, which entrepreneurs can present their offer or pitch to prospects.
People want to know more about entrepreneurs. Video can capture their attention. The more views entrepreneurs can capture, the more subscribers they can receive. This will attract advertising sponsors, offers, and sales.
To create views, Soon suggests entrepreneurs to put out contents that people are looking for. There are 5 types of videos that people love to see online.
How to videos
Funny videos
Information type videos
Motivational or inspirational videos
Interesting videos
Keyword planning is important. Content can be overwhelm, so keywords can capture the right audience.
Soon shares the tools and software entrepreneurs need for creating videos.
Name: Sunny Setia – Unleash your power in business and life
Presenter: Sunny Setia
There are certain elements in life that can unleash entrepreneurs’ power. Moreover, the power will overcome fear and rejection, and pursue higher self-image and freedom. Sunny Setia, the Founder of Entrepreneurs Academy Inc, will share his personal growth insight to help entrepreneurs overcome their obstacles. Personal growth is a continue journey for all entrepreneurs; therefore, Sunny Setia will provide several mindset strategies to bring entrepreneurs to their game. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will learn the techniques behind the mind of successful entrepreneur.
Sunny Setia is the Founder of Entrepreneurs Academy Inc. Setia has the passion to help entrepreneurs build their passion into career and monetize their career into success. Setia has successful open many personal growth programs, such as Life Transformation Coaching, Law of Attraction, and Greatest You. Setia has supported many young local entrepreneurs and mentored them to achieve their dreams.
All entrepreneurs will face these four factors during their journey: fear, rejection, self-worth, and freedom. Most of the time, they are struggled with them because of their inner voice. When entrepreneurs reach their goals, they feel they have no meaning to continue.
Setia came from Winnipeg. His lived in a standard home, where both of his parents worked hard for family. In the age of 8, he witnessed a tragic moment that the whole family was restricted to talk about it. He viewed the world as a violent place. In 2004, he met Dean Graziosi and his life changed. In 2007, he conquered that fear and continued to help others.
Setia shares his vision. His vision is to help entrepreneurs create a life of freedom by creating business around their passions, talents and skills. Entrepreneurs want more time, more money, and more freedom. The only way to do that is through business.
Entrepreneurs are either in growth or decay. Setia believes the level of life success will seldom exceed the level of personal development. This means success will increase if entrepreneurs increase their personal development. In this world, everything is slowly dying, but brain will not. Entrepreneurs have choice.
Alignment is important for entrepreneurs. Setia refers alignment only comes with entrepreneurs think, say, do, and feel are the same. Business is like relationship. Losing any of these 4 pillars will take entrepreneurs more energy to align it straight. If it is not aligned, entrepreneurs are in the wrong business. Moreover, entrepreneurs need to have a strong purpose that will make their heart beats every time.
Setia introduces 8 pillars of success.
Love
Health
Peace
Contribution
Personal Growth
Abundance
Legacy
spirituality
The level of 8 pillars of success is the reflection of the current stage for entrepreneurs. These pillars can be achieved when there is a plan in place for entrepreneurs.
Setia believes there are 3 reasons for procrastination.
Fear of success
Distraction
Other people’s opinions
People are afraid if they succeed because they believe they cannot retain or sustain the success. Many distractions, such as social media, can offset entrepreneurs’ goals. They need to change distraction into a tool. In average, entrepreneurs need to say “No” at least 6 times a day. Set believes when their hate ratio increases, their income will gradually increase because the hater ratio is related to income.
Insanity means doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Entrepreneurs need to change that mindset in order to get of their comfort zone. The best way is to find someone who can be accountable for their actions.
Setia performs a reality check in the presentation. The average expected monthly expense to have a good lifestyle is around $7,000. Based on statistic, the average monthly income is around $4,000. This means it will have a monthly deficit. Setia emphasizes people must start a business on the side to supplement the expense.
Statistically, the average retirement income in Canada is $28,000 per year. An extra $490 per month could have prevented 87% of bankruptcies. Canadian has the highest debt holders in the world. In addition, 43.1% of married couples will not make it to their 50th anniversary. Therefore, to get of this, people need to set at last 10% of their income to invest into personal development.
“Plans are one thing, but planning is everything”
There are 3 factors that helps entrepreneurs grow: attitude, knowledge, and skills. Attitude is considered to be the most valuable asset. Setia believes the freedom framework consists of 3 questions.
What comes naturally to entrepreneurs?
What friends and family often ask advice on or help with?
If entrepreneurs had to teach a room full of people about a particular topic, what would that topic be?
Entrepreneurs need these 6 elements to be drive them successful every morning. Setia calls them “Magical Morning”.
Silence
Affirmations
Oxygen
Education
Projection
Expression
Setia believes silence comes from meditation, education comes from reading positive, projection comes from visual success, and expression comes from journal.
Setia shares the 10 steps to a passionate life for all entrepreneurs.
Commit to the Magical Morning
Live the life in alignment
Mentor someone and pay it forward
Live the life with a “Giver gain” attitude
Crate plans the excite entrepreneurs
Make medication as a part of life
Follow the 3 laws of success
Associate with people entrepreneurs would like to be
Attend events that are not comfortable
Listen, and read books that will educate entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs need to take actions. When entrepreneurs can take actions with “relationship with themselves”, “abundance”, and “personal development”, they will be one step closer towards their ultimate lifestyle.
“It is not about how much money you make, it is about how you make it”
Name: ManTalks – Pro athletes and overcoming adversity
Presenters: Rob Friend, Shea Emry, and Manny Malhotra
Every successful leader will face uncertain adversity in their career lives. Moreover, when they overcome their obstacles, they will be on their way to the road of success in their respective industries. ManTalks invites Rob Friend, the former Major League Soccer player, Shea Emry, the all star middle linebacker in Canadian Football League, and Manny Malhotra, a Canadian professional ice hockey player, to discuss how they deal with adversity at the top peak of their athlete career. In this presentation, They will share their milestones of their journey and how they overcome fears. Leaders will learn the concepts and mindsets behind these successful athletes and transition to their business careers.
When things get bigger, leaders will face more stress. What makes up adversity is not the big things, it is the combination of all little things in life. Leaders need to step up and move forward. Leaders need to figure out what get in their ways. The question every leader needs to think about this main question.
“What centre you when you face adversity”
Journey of Rob Friend
Rob Friend, the former MLS player, started his athlete journey in Canada and moved to Europe playing for Moss Fotballklubb in Norway, Borussia, Monchengladbach. Later his career, he advanced to Major League Soccer club Los Angeles Galaxy. After his retirement, he started a foundation to support athletes who have retired and help them to start new career life.
Friend mentions when he was young, he was an average kid who loved to play all kind of sports. In his town, the odd of being a professional player was low. As a farm kid, Friend was grateful for every opportunity he had.
Friend took the path of being a professional soccer player because of a childhood incident. When he was 7 years old, he got injured from playing hockey. His mother forced him to stop playing hockey, so Friend decided to pursue soccer. In the age of 15, he felt stiff on his body. The doctor told him he was diagnosed with neuromuscular disease. Friend did not know what will happen to him. He got depressed at first, but he battled it by shifting his mindset. He wanted to be heathy again.
When Friend reformed his mindset, he started to take care of his body at highest level. The change of focus and started to take necessary steps. His career rise. During that phase of his life, there were only two things in his career: work harder and train harder. Friend wanted to be better than anyone else on the team. It was exhausted, but Friend never gave up.
Mentality is important. The injury made him think differently. When he met players who are young than him, two questions came to his mind.
How can I be better than them?
How can I beat them?
Both questions led to one answer, which is work harder than them. When he started to train to make up the missing time, he realized he is going up the ladder.
From outside, it is easy for people to criticize athletes. Friend states the result of game is a small percentage of work and majority is training. Friend believes athletes are always on 24-7. Stress and pressure come from 75,000 people who are on every action athlete makes. To overcome that, athletes must have thick skin.
Leaders need to learn to brush things off when pressure comes. Leader need to learn how to perform high performance on pressure. Friend emphasizes the best thing he had is his family. After a bad game, family will comfort his pressure. Friend realizes it is not just the sport.
“Expect having family will be stressful, but I am glad they are there”
During his peak, Friend’s mindset shifted to Finance, which led him to stress. Friend started to chase money because every action he had revolved around money decision. It killed his career. Chasing money was his biggest mistake in his career.
“As athlete, there is many voice going around”
Friend focuses on the value of family, health and career. He loves making money on the sport he loved in front of his fan. When 70,000 fans chanting, his life changes.
When he realized he had the opportunity to play the best league of the world, he took it. At the end, it did not turn out as he expected, but the memory was the best. The concussion took his career away. It was a dark time for Friend and he knew it was time to shut down. He felt he lost his identity overnight. Everything crumbled down on him.
Friend started a program for athletes to overcome these fears.
Friend suggests leaders not to put too much pressure on their kids. They must be rounded because each event is only a chapter of life. Leaders need to ensure that they are putting effort every single moment in their lives every day.
“Hard work every single night, success will come”
Journey of Shea Emry
Shea Emry is the All-star Middle Linebacker in the Canadian Football League. After his retirement from his injury, he founded the organization called “Wellmen” to help men to find their balance lifestyle. Emry also launched a fully mobile Axe Throwing Axe-perience called “Thrown”.
Many leaders refer to Shea Emry as the “Handsome Devil”. Emry was born in Richmond and played sports all his life. He had a wonderful childhood where he had many opportunity to succeed in life. Until one day, he realized he was not as great as he thought.
Emry pursued his dream of becoming professional football player. Emry mentions he had been wearing a mask. Everyone has adversity every time, and as a football player, he faced adversity every moment of his career. Adversity led him to depression, and he needed to take alcohol to relieve himself. He was not happy at all.
When he transitioned back home and tried for Canadian Football League, his career launched sky rocked. Later in his career, he got concussion and football had been taken away from his life. Emry knew he needed a change, so he started to read books and tried yoga.
Emry mentions during that moment, the only thing he needed was to talk to the right people. He realized it was easy to hide these emotions behind the football mask; until the stress appeared in his career, he needed to survive. Emry shares in his childhood, he was abused. It terrified him and it turned up his red flags when he was surrounded with people in the room. The question in his mind was “who is going to betraying and who got my back?”.
Emry managed to confront his trauma experience and it gave him the clarity of where he was going. Emry felt gifted by 4 important elements in his life.
Good looking
Good at football
Physical condition
Embrace the diversity
These 4 elements reframed his identify.
“When football was taken away from me, I started to see everything”
Emry found someone he could look up to and took him to a process. It was courage he learned from his journey and he was now able to share his story on stage. He was able to be real and became who he really was in life.
Emry believes how leaders show up in life will take away the adversity. He was given the gift of trauma, but now it became something he could share to people.
Emry reveals his hatchet. The hatchet is a symbol to cut the past and move forward. It is also the symbol for him to detach the limited beliefs in life. The company “Wellmen” is a place for men to find their voice. Many people could not do that because of their limited belief.
“When you put everything out there and take risk, you will succeed”
Journey of Manny Malhotra
Manny Malhotra is a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He played with many major NHL teams, such as Montreal Canadians, Carolina Hurricanes, Vancouver Canucks, San Jose Sharks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars and the New York Rangers. He also participated in AHL with the Lake Erie Monsters.
Manny Malhotra grew up in a Canadian household. In the age of 4, the only sport he knew was soccer, but he wanted to play hockey. His family was supportive and there was zero pressure from parents with his decision. His parents will only ask 2 questions after every practice.
Are you hungry?
Did you have fun?
Malhotra grew up in multicultural environment. He never saw colour was a problem and never though he was different. Until a couple games outside of his hometown, he started to notice some “N” words. These moments triggered Malhotra to a question of “Am I belong here?”. Because of his family support, he overcame the fear.
“When someone told me I cannot do something, it triggers me. You dare me to play now”
Malhotra mentions even though hockey was his dream, he wanted to be a professional soccer player. Eventually, he needed to make a decision. Being a Canadian, hockey was the top of his list. He attended the training camp when he was 16 years old and for the first time he felt he was playing with men’s league. He realized he was one step away of making to NHL. It made him focus even more.
“Without proper guidance, it can deter your path”
“I have to focus to craft my own path”
Malhotra shares a childhood memory. His family had a strict rules. His parents requested him to finish homework before any sports activities. Because of the rules, he learned that he needed to keep things in line with any distraction. If he is off track, he knows his family will remind him to go back on track.
Every team Malhotra played was grateful moments in his hockey career. Columbus Blue Jackets was the birth of his career. During that stage of his career, he felt isolation. It was a wakeup call for Malhotra because it was the moment he realized his dream would be dead if there was no change. He started to work on 3 things in his career.
Refocus
Diet
Training
After Columbus Blue Jackets, he got traded to San Jose Sharks. It was a winning team for Malhotra. He continued the same routine: train, play, and train again. When he got drafted to Vancouver Canucks, the team took him to the next level. The culture of Vancouver Canucks took care of players’ families, so players could focus on the game. Malhotra loved playing with Canucks because of family culture value.
From start of his career, he got his play time. As his career continued, the play time got smaller. After getting trade and putted on wavier list, he started to think it was a wake up call.
During 2011, Malhotra was injured from puck in the eye. The doctor said he could not play anymore. It was a dark time for Malhotra. If it was not for his family support, he could not make it.
He needed to focus on recovering. He had faith he will be back, but it would take him step by step. He changed his mindset by shifting “I want to play” to “I have to play”. With his determination, his career went up to another level.
“If you think you can or you can’t, you are right”
“I do not care who says, I am going to do it anyways”
Malhotra thinks as parents, they should not put limits on kids. Whenever obstacles occur, Malhotra wants leaders to think about these 2 questions.
Name: Dan Lok – How to get more referrals and attract more clients now
Presenter: Dan Lok
Referrals are important for successful entrepreneurs because they help them expand their business. Moreover, many entrepreneurs are struggling to get clients from referrals. Vancouver Entrepreneurs Group invites Dan Lok, the serial entrepreneur, to provide strategies for entrepreneurs to gain more referrals for their business. Dan Lok will discuss the hidden secrets behind referrals and he will provide strategies to help entrepreneurs overcome the fear of asking for referrals. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will be able to control their referral process and utilize the power of network to improve their business market.
Dan Lok is the Founder of Vancouver Entrepreneurs Group and also a multi-millionaire serial entrepreneur. Many entrepreneurs refer Dan Lok as the “Millionaire Mentor”. With over many years of experience, he managed to launch many successful internet companies and mentor many new young entrepreneurs to the top of their game. Dan Lok is a leadership speaker who owns many high profitable business venture. Moreover, he launched many best selling books, such as “FU Money” and “Secrets of Canadian Top Performers”.
Dan Lok believes often entrepreneurs think there is a external problem; in fact, there is not. The problem is in within. To search for the answer, entrepreneurs need to get out of the box ideas and apply massive actions.
Traditional techniques, such as coffee, BNI or business cards, do not work as well as used to. If these techniques are not working, why entrepreneurs are still applying in their business? Lok believes the answer is that these techniques occasionally work.
A majority of businesses come from referrals. The reality is entrepreneurs create referrals on purpose. The top 4 average strategy for common entrepreneurs when they could not get referrals are “hope”, “pray”, “do noting”, or “bitch and moan about the results”. Many entrepreneurs are not thinking about their problems deep enough. In fact, most business people do not get more referrals is because they do not believe they deserve referrals.
“Hope is not a strategy”
Lok shares the 4 common mental referrals barriers.
Fear of not providing enough value
Fear of hurting the relationship
Fear of looking unprofessional or needy
Fear of not knowing how to get out the conversation
Because of these 4 fears, entrepreneurs look for way out. This includes waiting for the best time, they want customers to read their mind, or even being too polite. Lok states people will no refer others to entrepreneurs if they are not confident the result is going to be positive. When people give referrals, they feel obligated on the result.
Giving referrals is like an actual purchase. People have the mentality that they rather take the lost instead of their friend take the lost. They do not want to refer because they do not want to take the risk.
“Be active because passive referrals is never work”
In order to get referrals, entrepreneurs need to b referable. In order be referable, they need to be reliable and able to deliver great services and products.
Refer-ability factor
The key question is can entrepreneurs really deliver what they say they will deliver. Entrepreneurs need to trust that no only can they provide great products and services, but they are consistent inlacing up to high business standards.
Lok suggests ideas to get entrepreneurs to be more referable.
Confidentiality
Living up to their branding
Consistency in follow-up a system of regular communication with clients
Consistent billing practices; ensuring clients get value and their pricing does not vary
100% satisfaction guarantee
How they communicate with their clients
When do they communicate with their clients
How they promote themselves
How they show up at the networking event
Entrepreneurs need to apply the principle of slight edge. This means entrepreneurs need to think all decisions are either being poorer or richer. Make quick decision will help entrepreneurs apply the slight edge.
Lok emphasizes consistency is key to everything. Entrepreneurs need to give consistent delivery value to clients. People will watch and observe. In this uncertain world, people are selling certainty. People are willing to buy certainty. Entrepreneurs do not get more referrals because they want it, demand it or desperately need it; moreover, they only can get referrals when they deserve it.
“Either you are high performer or not”
Lok mentions there are only 2 times clients will ever refer. The first time is right after they have a positive experience with entrepreneurs. The second time is when a friend express a need for a solution.
The number one key to get unlimited referrals is to have clients remember entrepreneurs when someone they know need them, and not when they decide they want a new client. Clients need to understand the solution entrepreneurs are delivering. If entrepreneurs can make that easy to recall, clients will remember them when they hear someone describe a need for what they do. People do not really want their clients to share with entrepreneurs the names of their friends. However, they want clients to share their name with their friends at the right time.
Lok shares the fundamental of referral marketing is being able to describe something unique that entrepreneurs can deliver to a specific kind of client. Lok suggests entrepreneurs to use the word “professional” in their pitch because the word “professional” is a powerful word. The pitch will follow what specific kind of clients they work with. Afterwards, they need to process and follow by the call to action.
8 proven referral strategies
Strategy #1: Move clients up the loyalty ladder as quickly as possible
In every business, there are 5 major stages in the loyalty ladder: prospect, customer, client, member, and raving fan. Entrepreneurs need to make sure not to people go up by themselves; instead, entrepreneurs need to pull them up by accelerate and proactive. Entrepreneurs need to be assertive and proactive in moving first-time buyer to customer to member.
Lok thinks the best way to have a member is to have them paid forward or on auto-charge, especially if there is pain of disconnect with the auto-charge. The key is to find the method to get them to pay repetitively.
Best members is the best client. People who are already clients are already giving money, so it is easier for them to give more money. Therefore, Lok suggests to get them on prepaid system. In any market, there will always have a segment that will go for premium.
Giving referrals deepens the commitment of client. It will extend the life and activity spending of that client in the business.
“The more clients refer, the longer they stay. The more money they spend”
Strategy #2: Give people an interesting story to tell and provide good tools to their referral partners
The key thing is that facts tell and stories sell. Entrepreneurs need to have stories they can tell about themselves. Simple and straightforward referring can be awkward or comfortable. However, if they use interesting stories, they can help others discover more about them. Entrepreneurs just need to provide easy tool for them to direct others to them.
Lok believes the easiest way to do this is to offer information that their customers or referral partners can give out,that allows them to control the story being told about them while being helpful to people receiving the information. Also, entrepreneurs need to give ideal prospect something they do not have before that will help them see more clearly.
Entrepreneurs must remember the important business philosophy, which is they create their own rules.
“If you hear you cannot do that, you are on the right track”
Strategy #3: Using powerful testimonials to generate more referrals
Entrepreneurs need to have a system to generate testimonials. Lok recommends 6 ways to do that.
Help them write testimonials
Use photos as much as possible
Use audio and video testimonials
Make them as specific as possible
Put them on the website
Use the actual letters
Strategy #4: Send other people referrals
Lok shares an interesting story in the presentation. He uses a website called Vancouver Trade exchange that provides the service to exchange service with another service. Dan sends referrals to Scott, the owner of that website. and Scott promotes him back. The important thing is that entrepreneurs should always deal with people that get referrals.
Entrepreneurs need to deliver an experience people want to pass along. The delivery is the prerequisite. The amount of things entrepreneurs do to demonstrate they are the best to handle clients’ problems is significant.
“Become a hub, a connector, or an influencer”
Strategy #5: Use reverse prospecting
Lok defines reverse prospecting as reverse engineering client’s network of contacts. Afterwards, entrepreneurs can present them with a list of people they know. Then ask them this question.
“I’d like to help more people in your group. Who on this list do you think we should send your gift to?”
Traditionally, entrepreneurs are taught to say “do you know anyone who needs the service?”. Clients do not know anyone who needs the service at that moment will respond back “No one comes to mind, but I will keep my eyes open”. This simply means no referrals.
Reverse prospecting is different than traditional referrals. Entrepreneurs have already done the homework for clients. Entrepreneurs have figured out who they might know, who is similar enough to them that might need their services.
Strategy #6: Let clients know they will be asked for referrals later on
Lok shares a proven script for entrepreneurs to use.
“Good morning, my name is ____ and I am the owner of this business. Before we get into that it is you require, I’d like to let you know how we work with our clients would that be ok?”
“We get about 80 percent of our business from referrals and I like working with people just like you. So, what I’d like to ask is that if you believe you get value from working with me, you’ll refer at least two people to me who are just like you. I’m not asking you for them now, but at some stage when you believe you’re received great value. Would that be OK?”
Entrepreneurs need to plant the seed so when they go back to them, they are not surprised. Based on the proven script, Lok suggests two people because it does not sound too threatening. 5 people might be too much.
When entrepreneurs are asking for referrals, they need to take it away so the want it even more.
“I’ve been giving it second thoughts, I’m beginning to think I may have been overly hasty in asking for a referral from you. You see, we have been inundated with referrals lately, and quite honestly, I only want to take on referrals if we can guarantee the same fantastic level of service that our current clients enjoy.”
“I’d hate to disappoint new clients by not being able to live up to their expectation”
Strategy #7: Make giving you a few referrals a condition of doing business with you
Lok suggests entrepreneurs to use a commitment statement. This is a document that sets out what entrepreneurs will do for clients in return for their making certain commitments for them. Entrepreneurs can also make a video that outlines how they want to work with clients and why they should give them referrals. Many places, such as The Vancouver Club, will only accept clients who are referred by current clients.
When entrepreneurs advertise this special offer, this gives them an air of exclusivity, which makes certain people want to do business with them.
Strategy #8: Use events to create referral opportunities
Sometimes talking is not enough because other parties might be distracted, time pressed or minding elsewhere. Entrepreneurs must give their clients a reason to talk about them and bring their referrals directly to them. When there is an event, they can introduce referrals directly to entrepreneurs.
Based on advanced human psychology insight, Lok believes if people look at the patterns for starting human relationships outside of business, they mostly begin with introduction in group setting because it is less pressure for people. Entrepreneurs should go after that because that is where the profit lives.
Allow them to now it is their best interest to see entrepreneurs succeed. Lok provides 9 areas for referrals to see entrepreneurs succeed.
Seminars
Luncheons
Book signing
Parties
Social activities
Sports activities
webinars and teleseminars
Google Hangout
Facebook livestream
Lastly, Lok wants entrepreneurs to embrace the referral mindset. They must believe that asking for referrals is a safe thing to do. They need to consistently give referrals to others and expect to get referrals as well.
Life is a full of opportunities for entrepreneurs. Moreover, nothing can stop entrepreneurs to pursue their ultimate lifestyle because life is filled with unlimited possibilities. Freedom Revolution invites Dan Clark, the International motivational speaker, to discuss his perspective of the entrepreneurship. Dan Clark will share his journey and he will reveal some life secrets for entrepreneurs. Dan Clark will also help entrepreneurs to explore their options and provide guidance for entrepreneurs to achieve their next level.
Dan Clark is a professional motivational speaker. He is the author of many international bestselling books, such as “Getting High – How to really do it” and “One Minute Messages”. Clark is one of the primary contributors to the book series of “Chicken Soup for the Soul”. Clark is also the CEO of Clark Success Systems and he is on the National Advisory Board for Operation Kids. Clark has inspired many entrepreneurs around the world with his speeches. His latest book, “The Art of Significance”, has changed many people’s lives.
In the early career, Dan Clark taught himself an important lesson of “paying big money to be someone he is not”. Clark realized people cannot do that because everyone needs to discover his or her own direction.
Clark believes life is like being a song writer. Everyone has the opportunity to consolidate into a 3 minute song. There is always a moment that can change people, especially entrepreneurs. Clark believes it does not matter the age because entrepreneurs can find ways to control what is coming next.
Clark wants to connect with people heart of heart. Entrepreneurs are based on the average of the 5 people they hangout the most. In life, people need to appreciate 3 main things: the significant, the influence, and the health. A moment of life can change anyone’s life forever and it is important to seek opportunities. Sometimes people lose their relationship from the conflict of finance. However, Clark emphasizes every moment in life matters as long as people focus on the right people and the right focus.
Clark illustrates an example for entrepreneurs. There was a time a person recognized Fonzie from Happy Days in the theatre. This person fainted because she was artist and Fonzie was her first character in her career. Clark wants entrepreneurs to believe in the power of association. Clark wants everyone in the room to imagine the room has written his or her name as one of the biggest positive influencer. Everyone will feel good, but what about the negatives? People cannot control it. People cannot control what others say behind their back. Therefore, as long as people associate with positive people, they will get positive image. This is called the law of attraction.
Clark defines the law of attraction as to attract what people believe they deserve. Clark asks entrepreneurs a simple question.
“Is your current situation going to attract what you deserve?”
If the answer is no, when are entrepreneurs going to change it? Clark believes sometimes entrepreneurs need someone who can say to them “it is wrong to quit”.
Clark played football for over 14 years. His dream shattered when someone crushed him at a full speed during a drill. He was injured and he cried himself to sleep. He was at rock bottom. The doctor had diagnosed his condition and the doctor said he had only 10% chance to be fully recovered.
The words matters and words can trigger. During his injury, the doctor gave him no hope. Clark indicates in life, entrepreneurs can come up with a list of “nay sayers” and these people in the list are actually closed to their lives. They must believe more possibilities. Everyone has a choice and everyone needs to take a step and make it deserve.
Entrepreneurs are continuous learners, but they often forget to concentrate on spirituality, which is focus on heart. There is more to life and it is important to connect to a deeper level. Clark mentions Zig Ziglar changed his life. His motivation tapes helped Clark to see the possibility of becoming a story teller. Clark believes each story resonates someone.
Clark illustrates another example for entrepreneurs. There was a person who was drilling oil at Western Texas. With many failures, people asked him to stop. He kept on going. On the last drill, he tapped into the biggest oil and became a millionaire. Clark shares the oil is always down there and people just need to take a chance to drill and get it. Entrepreneurs need to remember that no one knows everything they think and say. When people refuse them to say never, it does not mean it will never work.
Being depressed and being discouraged are different. Most people do not need medication on depression. The best solution on depression is to dream. No one can say to them that dream will not come true. Clark has a dream and he always believe bring value to others is important. He will continue to deliver until someone says to him that they like him and they would want to be with him. Instead of asking the question “why I should get better?”, ask the question “How I get better?”
Human brain has 2 sides: feeling and rational thoughts. It is hard to express the true feeling until people figure out their real “why”. Until they discover the real “why”, their bloods pump and muscles engaged. It connects their head to their heart. Clark believes the real “why” is the connector in any relationship.
“Figure out why, then there will be how to”
Clark mentions a long time ago people thought music only has 7 notes. Someone wanted more notes so he putted black keys on the piano. From that moment, every song plays from 12 notes. When there is passion in life, people will find answer. Extraordinary people bring passion. Entrepreneurs must commit to themselves of being the best they can. Seek the opportunities because sometimes opportunities will never come back.
Many people have the conception of thinking money is evil. Clark believes money is not evil because it is amazing what money can do to the world. Make a Wish Foundation is Clark’s favorite charity. The foundation provides fund for ill kids to complete their dream.
“Story of power of dream gives people the hope”
Clark defines sale is transfer of trust. How people grow? By first knowing where they are in mentally and physically first. The real “why” can make people see further without worry about their first step. If their “why” is bigger than “why not”, they will do it no matter what. Clark wants entrepreneurs to look at the mirror and ask themselves if they see failure or successor. Dreams can come true.
“Appreciate who we are, but not what is in our way”
Clark had the opportunity to visit the space. When he was in space, he felt he could touch the god. He witnessed the transition of blue turning black. He realized the world belongs to everyone. Clark believes it is about unconditional love from people. The goal is not to do business; instead, the goal is do with people who believe what they believe. Clark wants people to remember the real goal of life is to make sure their lives matter.
“Bring true joy is to help others”
“I reach down and lift you. I will raise with you”
During Clark’s physiotherapy, he learned three lessons.
People can stretch and go back to normal condition again
People need to stretch before they can be strengthen
People cannot stretch by themselves
For entrepreneurs, when they have passion, creativity and imagination, they can accomplish anything in life.
Presenters: Chris Brandt, Andrew Hall, Mike Tan, Phlipp Postrehovsky, and Wayne Webb
Spacekraft’s event, “Creating Genius”, invites two panels to share their business insights on their industries. In this presentation, both panels will inspire young entrepreneurs, small business owners and many start-up founders with their experience and advices. Moreover, both panels will share their unique stories to motivate future entrepreneurs to move forward their ideas into the right direction.
How to do good and make money at the same time
This panel includes Chris Brandt, the Executive Director of Music Heals, Andrew Hall, the Co-Founder of MealShare, and Mike Tan, the COO and Vice President of Product for ChangeHeroes
Brandt had been in the music industry for over 20 years. When Napster revolved the music industry, Brandt pursued his new passion of being a yoga instructor. The teaching directed his focus into charity. Brandt loved creating relationship and the charity aspect fulfilled his purpose. Hall mentions he and his brother left his job to pursue something greater. Hall believed the concept of appreciate the value and they corporate the concept into MealShare. The idea behind MealShare is “buy one, give on to other family”. Tan mentions the idea of ChangeHeroes is to build many schools as possible. ChangeHeroes focused on 3 keys: online campaign, social campaign, and corporate video. Tan wants to help other corporates to give back to community.
Brandt believes every new idea starts with the answer “Yes”. Hall suggests entrepreneurs to build their own job in an impactful way. Tan believes every social entrepreneur has the desire to let friends to be involved with the right movement.
“Consider your life as a story, by going with life, you fill with characters”
Motivation fuels entrepreneurs’ energy to continue their passion. Hall believes it is easy to start a nonprofit and nonprofit gives Hall the motivation on momentum. However, the model to start nonprofit can be difficult. The model needs to pay for itself in order to survive. Therefore, Hall appreciates every supporter. Brandt emphasizes the first year of business could be a challenge. Storytelling needs to be consistent until the idea is recognized in the community. The process can be long, but consistency will help entrepreneurs outperform other charities. Tan shares that the first year of ChangeHeroes was tough. There was no plan and only one goal. The Founder sold everything and put everything all in. Until people start to donate, the momentum starts. Tan believes when entrepreneurs do good or educate people, others will see and support.
“Follow your heart, good things will happen”
Hall recommends entrepreneurs to start their business with many co-founders. This will provide multiple skill sets into the business. Second, entrepreneurs need to be clear on their mission. When people believe in entrepreneurs’ mission, they will see themselves get there. Brandt recommends entrepreneurs to get used to caffeine. Entrepreneurs need to love what they are doing and willing to do whatever it takes. In addition, entrepreneurs need to surround themselves with strong and not weak. They need to be honest on what they are weak at. They need to focus on what they are good at. Lastly, they need to bring in people. Tan wants entrepreneurs to start with why. Business is not a sprint; in fact it is a marathon. If entrepreneurs want to go fast, they can go alone. If they want to go far, they need go together.
“Get advice, act on it, go back and get more advice”
Hall chooses to pursue nonprofit instead of for profit is because he believes nonprofit appears more audience to earn trust. Tan mentions for profit can attract better talent, but Brandt believes nonprofit can fulfill his life purpose.
Brandt believes how entrepreneurs do anything is how they do everything. Hall believes by setting the right values, entrepreneurs need to stick with it all the way. If entrepreneurs change too frequent, it will be difficult to change in future. Tan believes money is the energy and entrepreneurs need to look for the right intention.
“Shine light on others and let the light reflect on you”
How to grow your SAAS or Startup Company
The panel includes Philipp Postrehovsky, the COO and the Co-Founder of RentMoola, and Wayne Webb, the Director of Operations at Food.ee.
Postrehovsky is also the CEO of RentMoola. The idea behind RentMoola is to eliminate the hassle of preparing rent cheques. The mission is to address the pain point of writing rent cheques in global perspective. Webb shares the idea behind Food.ee is to help restaurants to deliver food to their customers. A friend of his introduced the business to Webb and Webb started to tackle the challenges in Food.ee. Currently the business is grown huge.
Seed money is important for every startup company. Webb would bootstrap the funding and ensure business only spends necessary expenses. Food.ee had angel investor and as the business grew, they needed to scale up the finance. Postrehovsky would also bootstrap the funding. Postrehovsky mentions the business started hard, but they got confident because the model was proven to be profitable. This attracted more investors. Entrepreneurs need to depend on how much they are willing to give up their equity. Postrehovsky suggests entrepreneurs to push as far as possible.
As the company grows, Postrehovsky wants the philosophy to remain the same. New features are added, but the company stays true to what the original pain point is. Webb shares Food.ee changed a couple of time. It started with a simple model and it got too complicated as the company grew. The model failed and it was forced to go back to original model.
Hiring can be a challenge for startups. Webb wants to hire for fit. Webb conducts many online interviews. Entrepreneurs must realize they can hire anybody, but they cannot train people to fit into culture. Postrehovsky spends a huge amount of time on Human Resources. 75% of hiring for RentMoola comes from referrals. The culture comes naturally. Entrepreneurs will discover the hiring process can be slow, but firing process can be fast. Culture fit is everything.
Postrehovsky believes employees need both sale skills and technology knowledge. RentMoola used to outsource, but Postrehovsky turned it to in house. Postrehovsky suggests entrepreneurs to hire a team that can accomplish and always be scalable. Webb points out the CEO of Food.ee was from sale. When sales increased, the company will keep pushing. Webb wants entrepreneurs to look carefully at the core mission of the company and understand where the momentum is.
Postrehovsky suggests entrepreneurs to hire someone who knows sales because it can save a lot of time in the future. Webb suggests entrepreneurs to look for partnership relationship. It can help them expand the market.
The equity crowdfunding is popular for startups. Postrehovsky suggests entrepreneurs to hire good lawyer who knows the space or to find partner who knows what to do. The biggest challenge for Postrehovsky is to find ways to fundraise faster and scale quicker. Webb needs to build a powerful developer.
In any startups with software application, Postrehovsky think it is wise to spend time on hiring the right developer. It is important to stay local and try not to go over sea due to tax credit advantage. Entrepreneurs can hire co-op students and have someone mentor them.
Entrepreneurs need to look at a larger picture. Moreover, it is wise to test drive first before moving people up for more responsibility.
Name: 3 secrets to crushing competitors and doubling business value
Presenter: Cory Sterling
Many entrepreneurs believe they have the niche in the market; however, they could not find the right breakthrough strategy to enhance their business into the next level. Vancouver Business Network invites Cory Sterling, the Associate Lawyer at Altman & Company, to share his secrets to crush competitors and improve business value. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will learn the lawyer’s business perspective to add value on their businesses. In addition, the mindset behind these secrets will trigger entrepreneurs to look deeper into their businesses. Cory Sterling will also share some legal knowledge for early entrepreneurs.
Cory Sterling is one of the corporate and entertainment lawyers in Vancouver. Before he became a lawyer, Sterling worked as Press Manager and Content Provider for National Football League. He was also the Media Content Manager for the team Oakland Raiders. Aside from his practice in law, he is also a Group Cycling Instructor at Steve Nash Fitness World and Sports Club. Sterling is currently the Associate Lawyer at Altman & Company. His passions in law and fitness have balanced his lifestyle and he has the interest to help young entrepreneurs accomplish their dreams.
Traveling to Asia was one of important life experience for Cory Sterling. The trip helped him find the positive outlook in his life. It was the moment where he shifted from suit to casual. “Passion, Authenticity, and Service” are the three key factors in Sterling’s life. He has the passion to help his clients when they need him the most. Authenticity is the pillar of his life, and he is grateful to have the privilege to service law with others.
Sterling believes in quality repetition. By doing fundamental again and again will sharpen the necessary skill sets for entrepreneurs. By living passionately, Sterling has consistently achieving every goal he set.
Sterling shares 3 secrets that will help entrepreneurs double their business value.
Secret #1: Understanding
Sterling believes many entrepreneurs are doing things because they see other people are doing them. They do things just to do them. They usually are caught in the motions, such as social media trend. Entrepreneurs need to understand their true reasoning behind their vision. Sterling shares 3 steps.
Set a specific goal
Think about the why of the goal
Take action that can satisfy the why
Entrepreneurs can imagine a perfect business and associate the feeling of being in a perfect business. When they remember the feeling, they need to work backwards. Sterling suggests entrepreneurs to do informational interviews. These interviews will help them find ways to meet the right people. They need to pay attention to the details because it leads them to their idea clients. Entrepreneurs can use this opportunity to get advice from them. This teaches them how to get the right clients, but they should never start assuming them as clients.
Secret #2: Action and authenticity
Sterling defines authenticity is to find a way to truly be themselves in their business and their lives. Authenticity is the way for entrepreneurs to recognize themselves as unique. Expectation is the opposite of authenticity. It is the poison because it constraints entrepreneurs in certain ways.
Entrepreneurs must create authentic connections because that is the best way to lead them to ideal clients. Being authentic is to be honest of themselves and find their personal element. Sterling indicates authentic is simple, but no one is doing it because it is difficult and it takes a lot of work.
It is impossible to succeed without the 4 elements.
Unhindered self-belief
Trust the process
Patience
Self-love and celebration of achievement
“Believe everything is a part of a bigger picture”
When entrepreneurs start not to believe themselves, no one will step will. Every entrepreneur has a gift and every one of them is capable of sharing with the world that no one else could. Entrepreneurs need to use this seed and build and grow from it.
Sterling defines action as an intentional decision acted upon. Vision with direction is a critical aspect of action. No matter the size, momentum is everything for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs should recognize action as a piece of a bigger puzzle. Sterling suggests entrepreneurs to start networking. Networking can help entrepreneurs to set the frame and become more strategic.
“Doing, not thinking”
Secret #3: The law
When entrepreneurs utilize the law, they can crush competitors. Entrepreneurs need to think about the best corporate structure. Sole proprietorship or corporation can change entrepreneurs’ business direction. This includes the factor of cash flow, tax and liability.
Entrepreneurs should think about their intellectual property, such as trademark and copyright, to protect their businesses. Customized agreement is important because it gives the first impression. Words can reflect their brand; therefore, Sterling recommends entrepreneurs to write agreement in a tone of their client’s voice.
Entrepreneurs need to do it right at the start. This is the decision of either pay lawyer first or pays them later. When young entrepreneurs start their business, they need a lawyer. Pay the lawyer now can have the total control; nevertheless, by paying it later, young entrepreneurs are taking the risk because they will need to pay 10 times more later when headache comes. Lastly, entrepreneurs need to pay attention on the liability and waivers as well.
Many young male leaders are experiencing society barriers that prevent them to achieve greatness. They need to find their “brotherhood” because the current society is fading the true meaning of “brotherhood” away from the world of men. ManTalks invites Stephen Mansfield, the author of “Mansfield’s Book of Manly Men”, to discuss the evolution of brotherhood in the current society. Brotherhood provides truthful relationship and unconditional support for men. In this presentation, Stephen Mansfield will provide his insight and perspective on brotherhood. Moreover, this presentation will enlighten young male leaders. Female leaders will also explore the sensitive part of men that will drive their success to the next level.
Stephen Mansfield, a New York Times bestselling author, inspires many men around the world. He released the book, “Mansfield’s Book of Manly Men” that helps men to reclaim their true manhood. His book, “The Miracle of the Kurds” made a stand against the evils of ISIS in the Middle East. Stephen Mansfield is also a motivational speaker who is featured on many media, such as FOX and CNN. In addition, he speaks on leadership, the lessons of history, and faith that support leaders in different industries.
Stephen Mansfield shares his turning point story. He was once stuck at Damascus dessert hotel. He met an old man at the rooftop party. They could not speak the same language, but they were able to connect with the word “son”. The old man announced Mansfield a new nickname and gave him a celebration of being a father. The next day, Mansfield felt different because it was his first time that he was welcomed in the stage of manhood.
Mansfield states many young men, including him, do not learn manhood when they are young. Furthermore, there is never a heritage of manhood pass down.
The Damascus event changed Mansfield’s life. He started to study about manhood and he realized the topic of manhood is broad. However, he discovered there is no confirmation of navigate manhood in this generation. Mansfield knew there were many books about manhood, but the question is, is it useful for men?
Mansfield believes there is a guerrilla theory of man. Traditionally, men were needed for building. The society needed men back then. However, the current society left out the navigation, and it causes men to decline in any measure. Men could not fit in this society and women were breaking the glass ceiling. There is a problem, but men do not admit. Many people assume it was women who took away from men, but the study shows it was not. Mansfield believes the global problem of this change from men has to do with no mentoring of manhood.
The world is not giving what men want. When Mansfield interviews men, he senses fear. They do not know what to do because there is no pass down from their father.
“We are waiting for solution, but we need to know we can fix it together”
Mansfield believes there are 2 goals.
Men need to build a manly culture with proper culture
Bring the boys in
Men need to come together and commit. They must have a common goal. They also need to initiate the boys. Many boys are traumatized because they do not have manhood. The statistic shows women are ahead in high school, but men will catch up in college. Therefore, men need to build manhood to protect.
When his son was 13 years old, he wanted to test his manhood by doing danger actions on a guy. The guy was going to arrest him for his actions. His son and the whole family were freaked out. However, Mansfield and the guy laughed at the end. Mansfield laughed because he knew in the age of 12, every man would lose their mind on something. They, as men, understand what was going on because it was a part of phase that every man will go through. Mansfield shares that men need to walk along with boys. However, not everyone has that opportunity. This causes many misunderstanding for men in this society.
Men in this society need to change their lives because no one is walking with them. Mansfield wants men to know that men should not wait for anyone; in fact, they are the one who can change this.
Building the band of brothers
Mansfield suggests the idea of building the band of brothers. A ban of brothers is a band of man that is noble to manhood. In this society, most men walk alone and most men do not have good friend. Because of this, they feel there is a list of things they need to do alone.
The band of brothers is a way to help men to build or help each other so they do not walk alone. Men need other men’s perspectives. Many men do not see themselves internally and they do not see themselves well enough. Men need men around them that are not afraid to say anything. Mansfield describes it as “free fire zone”.
Free fire zone is a place where men have no excuse to hurt each other; instead, they just help each other. The band of brother helps create men’s movement, which leads to accountability.
“We sometime hide things, so we need men that are close and tell us the truth”
Mansfield mentions an incident happened to his group. One day, a closed brother was cheating on his wife. The band of brothers sits together and forced him to commit to change. His wife did not trust him anymore, but she trusted the band. She trusted them that they could change him and fix him. Therefore, he was not walking alone.
Mansfield emphasizes the band of brother is not a study group; in fact, it is just men who want to be support each other. In sports, men do not ask permission to coach each other. They understand each other. Mansfield believes if it works with sports, why not do the same in manhood to help men to become a better man.
There is a need of peer mentoring for most men. They like to figure out what man’s life really is. There is about 50% suicide rate for men in this society. This is all because of loneliness. The suicide rate for men is rising and they need other men to kick down the door and get away the feeling of pushy. Men are too polite in this world and the reality is that nobody cares about it. Men should learn to do their best when they are in the environment of manhood. Men need to know the damage and start to connect and watch out for each other.
Based on a study, the effort on boy who has a biological father that teach him manhood and boy who has other men watch out for him is the same. Men need to move manhood into the culture.
Questions and Answers
Mansfield mentions it is easy to explain manhood in church because they have the same common definition of manhood. However, it could be hard because some churches still have traditional boundary. This can be narrow and this is main reason why Mansfield hardly hosts his event in church. He usually hosts in bar because it sends the message the audience that it is different than church. Mansfield believes manhood is wildly defined than what is in church.
Mansfield mentions many father do not teach their son to shave because their father did not teach them either. Teaching other how to shave can be the first step of manhood for most boys. Mansfield calls this “indirect relationship”. Men should pour all the resources together and start teaching.
“It is the ‘doing’ that provides the connection”
Mansfield will spend some time after his talk in school to teach boys at school the value and respect of manhood. Many schools are inspired with this idea and they made it as a necessary school curriculum.
There are other programs, such as Big Brother system, that offer the same concept. Mansfield wants men to be careful. Mansfield suggests men to start a network with people they know.
The biggest change in manhood that impact on men is the ability to manage. The damage can heal and the loneliness will dissolve. Men will become healthier and rounded.
Mansfield believes men cannot be the best man of all by doing it alone. This is the truth that most men think it is false.
Mother plays a strong role in manhood. When boys are young, they are closed to mother. However, there is a transition to father. Mother will still need to encourage their kids to be involved in manhood.
Name: The Pacific Club – Andrew Reid, Founder & President of Vision Critical
Presenter: Andrew Reid
The main driver for many successful businesses is people. People matter and that is what drives business to the top. The Pacific Club invites Andrew Reid, the Founder and President of Vision Critical, to discuss his journey of building the top software companies in Canada. In addition, Andrew Reid will share his insight on customer intelligence and market research. Entrepreneurs will learn how to use customer research to influence the trend of their business today. Moreover, Andrew Reid will provide some of his leadership advice for entrepreneurs.
Andrew Reid is the Founder and President of Vision Critical. He was a Vancouver Film School student and Standard University Graduate School of Business. Over 16 years, he discovers new ways to leverage the power of social, mobile and web technologies. When he created Vision Critical, he redefined the meaning of customer intelligence. His passion motivates many young entrepreneurs in software industry. Andrew Reid is also a member of British Columbia chapter of the Young Presidents Organization and a Board of Director for the British Columbia Technology Industry Association.
Interview with Andrew Reid
Reid admits he is not a great morning person and he is more productive at night time. There is no right time for entrepreneurs as long as they enjoy what they do. Reid manages to fit work in his lifestyle.
Reid came from Winnipeg and he moved out in 1995. After Vancouver Film School, he was hired by a company named Blast Radius. He started his business in the year 2000, but he had had time reading financial statements. He managed to pick up the skill by attending Stanford University. Reid believes many entrepreneurs will discover the skills they need during their entrepreneur journey.
Reid did not follow his father’s footstep of becoming a professional Statistician. Reid was not into academic; instead, he approached to do something he understands. Because he lived in a family environment where everything was according to a same beat, it forced him to ignite his side of entrepreneur.
Reid believes there is a huge value in getting a Master of Business Administration. The education makes sense for Reid and he is able to take the recipe to business. Reid mentions many entrepreneurs might disagree with his perspective; however, he wants entrepreneurs to know that business schools normally do not teach passion.
Before he founded Vision Critical, he enjoyed working with graphic design. He loved talking to people. In 1999, his father asked Reid to work in his advertising department. Things were changing in 1999, and Reid was able to make traditional advertising to something innovative. Reid seek the opportunity of virtual shopping and started to understand customer behavior. He built a prototype project to test packaging, placement and price. In addition, the valuation was fairly accurate. The CFO pitched him to venture capital.
When the market was low, all the investors in his venture capital were exiting. His father suggested him to sell. Reid continued his passion and started his own business, which is Vision Critical. He mortgaged his house for rent and his father wanted him to shut down the business.
His big break was in 2002, where he accepted a project for Reebok. Reid created a simulation and Reebok decided to invest more. The simulation application was proven to work, so Reid started to sell it to other people. The application was repeatable. Vision Critical was able to go beyond the market in 2004.
“Do not let idea go if it can go beyond you”
Reid believes traditional method of market research is dead. Entrepreneurs need to have both brand and customers in order to build relationship to help others. Brands need to be close to customer. Entrepreneurs can use stories to connect with customers. Vision Critical is able to help entrepreneurs go far without hurting their brand. It is all about persona. People are exposed by many social media. Reid is able to help them understand with tactical questions. By getting ideas from them, Reid can validate them and create brand engagement for customers.
“It is about influence by your brand”
Reid is confident that Vision Critical does not have any real competitor other than themselves. Research is all about reactive. However, Reid mentions there is a limitation. Currently, there is no opt-out. The market needs to have a tool to prevent from people taking additional data. All data are stored in devices, which can make recommendation for customers. The market is now creating platform for people to upload data and reward them for figuring out the algorithm. The platform helps people to remind them to grow.
Reid believes every product has internal and external triggers. These triggers lead to action and eventually go to rewards. The hard part is to get people to work for it and show the community they are committed.
Reid states 5 reasons that matters people
Quantify themselves
Entertainment
Education
Sense of accomplishment
Social club
Vision Critical helps entrepreneurs to figure out the triggers for their customers. The average participation rate in Vision Critical is 45% in the community. Therefore, they can help entrepreneurs to impact their brand they care about.
Reid suggests entrepreneurs to take time asking themselves 2 questions.
How to become more transparent?
How to fit into the culture?
Customer is important and entrepreneurs need to have more intelligent conversation with customers. They can empower them from social, mobile and net. Vision Critical is considered as a technology company. As business grows, both products and services will compete with the matrix. Entrepreneurs need to focus one. For Vision Critical, Reid picked software. Reid believes all companies are now technology companies because it is the way of future and it is what drives what entrepreneurs do.
“Customer is important. Act on the value and create the dialogue”
The way research changes can impact future. Entrepreneurs need to think ahead. There will be the end of bias. The future technology will take the bottom 30% of the work today. However, there is still need of experts to come and navigate the water.
Reid believes he has the style of transparent leadership. He is honest on the journey. He motivates others together to have good time. Reid shares his best pitch. Reid once pitched to WestJet. He prepared a 45 minute pitch and it was sold to them after 16 minutes. However, he was still pitching after WestJet was sold. WestJet stopped him and said if he goes on for another minute, they will leave. After that comment, Reid shut up. Reid suggests entrepreneurs to get people excited before the start of the meeting, they will help them win because energy can be contiguous.
“In the effort of transparency, just go for it”
Reid restates the old way of doing market research is dead. The speed of data is huge and changes will impact every decision. Reid recommends entrepreneurs to speak up in the meeting. They also should have a list of things that could go wrong. Many entrepreneurs spend too much time on congratulation, and they should encourage others to say what they are wrong about. Entrepreneurs should have sense of purpose on growing their skills, making mistakes, and making their own decisions. Lastly, entrepreneurs should have a story that people can buy into.
Reid comments the virtual reality could stop people having two way conversations. Interact with people is important and entrepreneurs need to think how to take advantage of the change.
Name: Company of Rogue Academics – How to manage a career journey using principles of business strategy
Presenters: Kevin Eng, and Grace Lee
.. Hosted by Dr. Grace Lee, Company of Rogue Academics invites Kevin Eng, the former electrical engineer, to share his journey of pursuing his music career. Grace Lee will share her business principles to help young leaders find the right assets to drive their business growth. In this presentation, young leaders will discover their professional values and develop their business to the top.
Interview with Music Guest
Kevin Eng was an electrical engineer. He involved with many massive government projects. Until one day, Eng left his secure job and began his life of musician. His courage to make this important step of his life motivated many young leaders.
Eng mentions he has a strong fundamental of music background because his parents encouraged him to involve with music when he was young. The main reason he went into engineering is because of financial stability. He gave himself 12 years in engineering to accomplish his goal. After 12 years, Eng changed his life direction and decided to approach his passion of music for his life career.
Grace Lee asks Eng how he communicates his change to others. Eng believes it takes time to fill his commitment, so he tells everyone he is on a break, especially to his father. He worked out a 2 year business plan to clarify his direction with his family.
Many people discover Eng from word of mouth. Eng believes word of mouth takes patience, but it is worth it. Eng indicates the only fear during this transition is the fear of regret. By leaving the stable behind, he needs to stay motivated. Currently, Eng does not expect to get back into engineering. He overcomes the fear by having 6 months of income in advance. He updates his plan on where he expects to go next. In addition, he has accepted himself to be flexible.
“I really enjoy my work and have found my perfect fit”
Eng provides an advice for young leaders to deal the pressure on parents. As long as parents know there is a plan in place, they will understand the change. Most parents are concerned about the finance, so the plan must illustrate how the business looks in the next 5 years. Young leaders need to shape.
The fear of shame can be overwhelmed for young leaders. They need to exhaust all the possibilities first. If not, they need to keep exploring. Eng encourages young leaders to keep working and pursue their passion after work for the first couple of years.
Eng has completed the Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto degree. Eng mentions it is not necessary to have this degree to become a musician. Eng believes the logic and math skills from engineering have helped him in his music career. Many people assume the transition will waste the initial investment, but there are a lot of transitional skills, such as people skills, that can be beneficial. The courage comes from momentum of starting small. Eng finds happiness from building his career from the start. At first, Eng only mentions his change to his family and close friends. He was afraid. If he had the opportunity to change, he would have told everyone so they can help him along the way.
Business strategies in career management from Grace Lee
Lee believes there are 3 stages of people in business: grinders, minders and finders. The higher the stage, the cost and value in business go up. In business, there are 5 important elements to have growth and change.
Vision
Skills
Incentive
Resources
Action plan
Lee believes without vision, there will be confusion. Without out skills, there will be anxiety. Without incentive, there will be gradual change. Without resources, there will be frustration and without action plan, it will have false start.
Business Valuation Framework
Lee introduces the asset value model. Young leaders can evaluate their asset value by looking at their profit and times it by their industry multiplier. The profit is their net income, which is historical and measurable. Profits can be found in Balance Sheet, cash and retained earnings. Intangible assets also drive income. The industry multiplier means future profit. The multiplier includes the ratio of the total population over the employed subset.
Many people or companies only concentrate on profit and not multiplier because profit is measureable and actionable. Many people do not know how to measure the multiplier. In addition, they have short term pressure on performance.
Lee believes management looks for profit and investors or analysts look over multipliers. Therefore, people who have interest in the multiplier will want to invest in leaders, yet people who have interest in profit will look for management, not leadership. Both profit and multiplier are different language, but young leaders need to be bilingual. Based on the affect, when leaders are increasing both profit and multiplier, they can quadruple their value.
“Empower, inspiring”
Lee introduces her Valuation Framework. The framework has 3 different levels.
Growth component
Industry benchmark
Risk component
A majority of people compares themselves to the industry, and they often stay at the industry benchmark. In order to move up to growth component, Lee indicates they need to take these 5 steps.
Step #1: Culture, talent, and capability
Step #2: Innovation: system with products
Step #3: Product extension
Step #4: Channel extension
Step #5: Scale the brand
However, they will fall into the risk component level if they fail these 5 factors
Factor #1: Cost control
Factor #2: Revenue management
Factor #3: Asset management
Factor #4: Liabilities management
Factor #5: External factors: political, economic, social
When young leaders manage to control factor 2, 3 and 4, business can be profitable without their presence, which means they have built a sustainable system.
Lee wants young leaders to understand that there are 3 tings that do not make organizations great. The first thing is great people because great people can be sucked into a lousy organization. The second thing is great purpose because many organization set out to make the world better but later die. The last thing is efficiency because people can be efficient at doing things that do not work.
Lee shares her top 10 ways to work on the business.
Aspire to build an organization where people love coming to work
Maintain an outward focus on how to better serve customers
Work on personal transformation before organizational transformation
Communicate values and vision
Hold yourself and others to high standards
Experiment, evaluate, and adapt
Practice transparency with kindness
Connect with other leaders and industry experts
Overflow with gratitude
Make a profit
“Great organizations have leaders who work on the business, not just in it”
Name: Small Business BC – Local Leaders Fraser Valley
Presenters: Sandee and Alf Krause, Emma Jane Davison, Sam Waddington, Diane Morrison
The power of connection with local industry influencers is important for local entrepreneurs. Moreover, entrepreneurs have the opportunity to build meaningful business relationship with local communities. Local Leaders event, hosted by Small business BC, invites Sandee and Alf Krause, the Founders of Krause Berry Farms and Estate Winery, Emma Jane Davison, the Owner and the Marketing Director of Golden Ears Cheesecrafters, Sam Waddington, the Founder of Mt. Waddington’s Outdoors, and Diane Morrison, the Owner of Wendel’s True Foods. In this presentation, all presenters will share their valuable experience with all local entrepreneurs. In addition, entrepreneurs will gain inspiration from these top business frontrunners in the local community.
What makes a successful agri-tourism business?
Sandee and Alf Krause are the Founders of Krause Berry Farms and Estate Winery. They want to invite local communities to gain food experience in their farm.
In 1974, Krause started their raspberry farm with the U-Pick model. Over the time, their land had increased over 200 acres. In 1977, Krause had improved the ability of water system to grow more vegetables.
In 1981, Krause implemented the integrated PEST management system, which is the key system of their business growth. They are able to control the 95% shipping of processing planted food. In 1995, Krause build another small barn and introduced the concept of U-Pick to the community.
Within the next couple years, Krause included crop diversification into their farm business. They changed their business name and expanded another new service line involving with making product in the kitchen. Krause shifted the business to their desired direction by buying out their brothers’ shares. Krause started to tackle new market and extended the seasons.
“Know your strength, put passion into career”
In 2007, Krause enhanced the standard operating procedure. Other industries players, such as BC raspberry Council, BC Veg Board, and Strawberry Growers Associations, are involving more into the industry. In 2010, Krause announced the extension of seasons. Krause received the Top Farmer of the year award in 2011 and decided to diverse into new market. Krause invited community leaders to experience the procedure. Krause believes the business can be a fundamental for students to learn customer and ethic skills.
“Through challenges come great things”
In 2013, Krause opened the Estate Winery. Their continued commitment to sustainability and providing consulting to help others will never stop. Currently, they are expanding new area to encourage family to experience the farm. Krause believes people should not be in business for themselves. Every commitment leads to responsibility. Moreover, Krause suggests entrepreneurs to take care of themselves and find the balance between work and family life.
Strategies for marketing and promoting a local artisan products
Emma Jane Davison, the Owner of Golden Ears Cheesecrafters, mentions idea of cheese came from her mother. The company is owned by herself and her sister. By splitting the responsibility, Davison takes care of the marketing. Davison shares her perspective of the perfect marketing strategy.
Davison believes entrepreneurs need to know the importance of focus and what it means. Focus is the difference between business that grows profitability and on the does not gain momentum. Entrepreneurs must make their mark in their industry with focus. Focus stands for “Follow One Course until Success”.
By creating a clear and concise marketing strategy statement, Davison believes there are 4 questions entrepreneurs need to answer.
The first question is “Who is your narrowly defined target customer?” Entrepreneurs need to know who their target audiences are. Davison suggests entrepreneurs to use “plenty of fish” technique, which is to fill the form with questions that helps entrepreneurs to filter out the right crowds. The more narrow the search, the smaller the pond. Davison believes entrepreneurs need to narrow the market in 1-2 years and do not sell them that do not fit within.
“Do not take every sale”
“The more narrowly defined market, the more you can focus on best serving those that can best serve you; the more effective your business will be”
The second question is “What is your unique benefit?” Entrepreneurs need to list all the benefit that they can provide to their customers. They need to pick one or two features that are unique. Focus on these key features so customers can understand and remember.
The third question is “Who is your real competition?” Entrepreneurs need to find out what set them apart from competition. They need to define their real competition. Their customers are ready looking to solve problem, so entrepreneurs need to figure out the best option for their customers.
The forth question is “How are you clearly different from your competitors?” Davison believes entrepreneurs need to compare their company to what their real competitions have to offer. Entrepreneurs will need to select one or two things that are different that their customers are going to base their decision on.
Entrepreneurs can use the answers from all 4 questions to formulate their marketing strategy statement. Entrepreneurs need to be active and get noticed. They need to offer something to their customer that will create trust, loyalty and retention.
“Focusing on a clear marketing strategy is not what companies do after they get big; it is what small companies do to grow and get bigger in first place”
Stimulating local tourism and making a positive impact on community
When Sam Waddington, the Founder of Mt. Waddington’s Outdoors, was young, their parents fueled him with action and outdoor adventures. Waddington lived in an alternative lifestyle of sailing boat and traveling around the world. He got on a backpack and traveled over 35 countries to see many diverse things during his high school years. He learned an important concept, which was “how he should share the world with people”.
Waddington had a balanced life. He worked in tree plants and travel to different places. He even did some photography job in Africa. When he came home, he realized his home town Chilliwack was a wonderful backend for people. Everything he was looking for was already there. He then discovered his calling to open his very own outdoor store.
Waddington never worked in the retail, so he needed to start from scratch. He loved to sell and love to learn how to sell. Waddington wanted people to see what he loved. He set his goal and approached friends for help. Waddington mentions some of his business sponsors became good friends.
“Falling in my passion and hope dollar will follow”
Waddington believes Chilliwack is an authentic place for people. The importance is to know the strength and figure out how to channel that to the world. Moreover, people come to Chilliwack and get the outdoor experience. The reason behind Waddington’s work is to integrate the community and feed the people around the world. Waddington provides guiding course to view the community in a different way.
Waddington ran for City Council because Chilliwack is where his life lives the best. He believes business is a tool for change or to push. By accommodate in house adventures, Waddington can inspire people with his action. He wants people to see the real Chilliwack community.
Waddington suggests entrepreneurs need to do what they love and channel it through their businesses. Until they see their passion, they need to be proud of their community because the community creates who they are. Entrepreneurs can sacrifice everything for their business, so Waddington asks all entrepreneurs if they are ready to risk everything.
Listening to customers for new product development opportunities
Diane Morrison is the Owner of Wendel’s True Foods. Morrison started her first bookstore business from her passion of reading books. When she discovered everyone has a coffee in his or her hands while vising the bookstore, Morrison seek the opportunity of selling coffee in her bookstore. The bookstore started with 5 staffs and faced many difficult challenges.
Morrison indicates the bookstore evolved because customers ask for breakfast. Morrison began the gluten free business. Currently the business has over 100 people.
Morrison mentions she chooses gluten free because there was a boy standing and crying in front of her bookstore one day. Morrison gave him a cookie, but his parents rejected because of allergy. Morrison went back to the bookstore and found a recipe to make gluten free cookies for him. Morrison realized the need and began to sell.
Gluten free options are everywhere and customers want convenience. Morrison distributed her cookies to different stores, such as Urban Fair. As the business grew, Morrison decided to move out of Urban Fair and opened up another facility.
“We are listening to what customers want”
The business offered 3 types of cookies and clearly it was not enough. Morrison went back to the customers and tried to understand what they want. She discovered people want something the whole family can enjoy. Morrison identified the key that lead to her passion.
Morrison faced many challenges, especially the shipping due to preservative. Morrison suggests 3 kinds of method to reduce costs.
Buy large volume and sell the rest to local stores
Co-packing option to keep equipment busy
Automated process
The biggest mistake Morrison did was not having the plan to grow or do not have the plan to continue to grow. Another mistake was purchasing too much ingredients and the store does not have enough shelf space. Luckily, Morrison was able to buy out her neighbor’s space.
Morrison suggests entrepreneurs to have a business grow plan. Entrepreneurs need to analyze the problem and understand the capacity. Customer experience is the key. In every business, there must have a team. Without a team, success will be difficult. Service is the driver of business growth.
Entrepreneurs should not worry about mistakes because mistakes can be fixed. The important thing is to know if customers are satisfied with the service. Products give people hope and it is necessary to exceed the experience for customers.
Presenters: Bob Harrison, Bob Kittell, Allan Anderson, Keith Johnson, James Smith, Adam Ginsberg, Brian Nieves and Les Brown
In order to advance their success to the next level, entrepreneurs need to motivated and see the best of the best. Get Motivated Seminar invites many world’s leading experts to discuss the area of business, finance, personal development, sales, negotiation, motivation, communication and leadership. Bob Harrison, the International speaker, Bob Kittell, the America’s Top Communication and Memory Skills Expert, Allan Anderson, Keith Johnson, the World Renowned Authority on Selling, James Smith, the Real Estate expert, Adam Ginsberg, the Internet Marketing expert, Brian Nieves, the Missouri Senate and author, and Les Brown, the Motivation speaker, will join the stage with entrepreneurs to discuss their areas of expertise. In this conference, entrepreneurs will learn strategies to increase their sales and productivity; moreover, they will strengthen their management skills and achieve their goals faster.
Bob Harrison
Bob Harrison mentions Zig Ziglar taught him that if entrepreneurs do not like the output, they need to change the input. The term of the word “increase” actually is about “change”. Change can describe how entrepreneurs process the right information.
Harrison believes all entrepreneurs are pre-conditioned to think and feeling a certain way. In fact, 50 percent of what entrepreneurs think are formed and structured back when they were 5 years old. In order to change their belief system, they need new belief. The initial belief within them will fight back the new belief.
Harrison wants entrepreneurs to know increase thinkers need to “repeat”, “emotion”, and “action”. Increase thinkers have great things happen in their lives and Harrison encourages all entrepreneurs to be increase thinkers.
Entrepreneurs need to remember they have the option to say “no”. In the Jewish language, the meaning of “7” is synonymous with complete. The way entrepreneurs think, believe, dream, plan and act within the boundaries of their invisible fences reveal their level of success. The most important question entrepreneurs need to ask to reveal their belief system is “What comes out of their mouth when crisis comes”.
Bob Kittell
Bob Kittell believes entrepreneurs become what they think about most of the time. Sometimes entrepreneurs need to let it go. When they let it go, there are great things to come. Many entrepreneurs do not dream big enough. They misunderstand the word “dream” and “wish”. Entrepreneurs ask Kittell if whether wishing going to get them to their goal. Kittell replies it is taking action that makes all the difference in the world.
Kittell believes there are 3 types of people in the world: people who make things happen, people who watch things happen, and people who wonder what happen. Entrepreneurs have the power to change other people’s lives. Kittell wants entrepreneurs to remember that people will only do business with entrepreneurs if there is money, trust, or if they like them.
Entrepreneurs need to be grateful. They cannot give kindness away because it is always return. Entrepreneurs’ deepest fear is that they are powerful beyond measure. When they are liberated from their fears, their presence automatically liberates others. Therefore, all entrepreneurs are meant to shine and it is their obligation to change other people’s lives.
Kittell mentions many entrepreneurs have negative bias. They are used to say “it could be worst”. This prevents them from going forward. When they learn something new, they need to share with others. They need to have goals to see what other opportunities on their way. Two main attributes of successful person are persistence and fail. Kittell believes failure can help entrepreneurs’ success later in life.
It is better to get prepared than get opportunity. They need to work hard and others will open the doors for them. They need to stand on higher ground.
Kittell suggests entrepreneurs to use the power of pause. When entrepreneurs take a step back, they will see what bubbles up. First reaction might not be the best. Sometimes judgement can disconnect the relationship. Instead of judge first, entrepreneurs should step back and get new information.
Allan Anderson
Allan Anderson believes there is more than one type of investors in the world. Nevertheless, all investors come from the same fundamental, which are lifestyle, happiness and passion. Based on the history of stocks, there is a 10% increase within 100 years of history. However, if investors look carefully, all stocks are moving in volatile.
Anderson mentions the biggest negative is within themselves. They need to deal with it. Investors need to think about the effect of compound. Compound is the key for investors. However, the average investors only receive 3% instead of 11% return due to fees. Therefore, investors need to think about either they do it themselves or pay someone to do it.
Anderson states the percentage of American retired is decreasing. Experts are stating people are getting nothing from professional fund managers. Therefore, Anderson believes amateur investors now have advantage to outperform experts.
“Do not be the gambler of the stock market”
Anderson suggests investors to follow 5 steps to take advantage in the market.
Search the best stock
Before invest, is it a wonderful business?
Before invest, is it on sale?
Look for inside trading
Take advantage of the timing
Anderson wants investors to remember the statement of “margin of safety”. Investors need to know what the stock is worth and pay less. The line is 50%. If investors find stock with 50% on sale, they can buy it. Investors need to figure out who are doing the inside trading. They are their trails of clues. Investors should follow the big guys to take advantage on inside trading.
Investors can use cover-call option. Cover-call option gives other the right to pay for their stocks. Other investors need to pay rent to keep that stock available. Investors can create passive income from cover-call option.
There are two investing rules. The first rule is not to lose money and the second rule is not to forget about the first rule.
Keith Johnson
Keith Johnson believes potential shows what entrepreneurs could be and confidence will take entrepreneurs to the top. Moreover, life does not give entrepreneurs what they want; instead, it gives them what they demand.
Around 1/3 of people have major insecurity issues. Anderson considers them as confidence robbers. The top 3 confidence robbers are as follows.
Fear
Uncertainty
Doubt
Fear, uncertainty, and doubt have destroyed more dreams than others ever have. Based on Anderson, confidence is determines by these 3 points.
The quality of relationship
The size of the income
The achievement of the dream
Sometimes the quality of family’s relationship can influence the confidence. Entrepreneurs need to have more than one income stream to expand their size of their income. Confidence produces persistence. Anderson believes entrepreneurs need to take massive intelligent actions. Moreover, self-portrait determines the size of their future. Anderson wants entrepreneurs to ask themselves 2 main questions.
Do entrepreneurs have a successful coach who will stretch them toward their full potential?
Do their self-image quality the size of their dreams for the future?
“I believe with every cell in my body that I will be a success in life”
James Smith
When James Smith was 16 years old, he knew the importance of mentorship. 6 months later, the mentor saw his hunger and desire. The 5 people entrepreneurs spend the most time will either minimize or maximize them. Smith believes when entrepreneurs are not focused, things are going down. Where they spend their time is where their heart is.
Smith realizes in this generation, entrepreneurs can only be successful from real estate or business. Many entrepreneurs have ideas, but they do not ask for help. All entrepreneurs are smart enough to make their dreams come true.
“What is your legacy?”
Every minute of life is precious. People do not care what happened to them; instead, they only care what is going to happen to them. Everything is teachable and trainable, so entrepreneurs should not waste their time on things that are not relevant. The most important question is to understand who they are and what they need to do.
Canada is in crisis because of meager pay raises, low interest savings, paltry retirement plans, uncertain future, rigid lending and debt. Canadians are spending more time in working compare to previous years. Canadians are been told either they are too young or too old. Only 1/3 of people retired less than $2,000 per month.
Smith illustrates baseball players have batting average. If they have the batting average of 0.3, this means they have 70% of failing rate. There is no such thing as perfect, so entrepreneurs need to position themselves correctly. If they are not ok, they can help others.
“Only players win, fan watch”
Smith mentions where entrepreneurs spend their time is where their future at. When they do ordinary, they get ordinary. When they do exceptional, they get exceptional. Based on statistic, many people at the age of 50 do not have $40,000 in their bank. They do not have financial plan and the money is their number one cause of divorce. There are gender gap, no loyalty, no control over retirement, no security and have over 8 career moves. Money magnifies who they are.
Entrepreneurs need to know how much they need to accomplish what they want. The mistakes many people make are no financial path, procrastination, lazy money, pay too much tax, low rate of return, rent, one income stream, no asset protection, no credit knowledge, lack of knowledge, and take bad advice. Smith shows some financial self-defenses
Use the tax code
Start a business
Improve the credit
Self-directed RRSP
Tax liens and deeds
Real estate
Option trading
Asset protection
“Create wealth, grow wealth, and leave a legacy”
Adam Ginsberg
Adam Ginsberg believes success is a choice, so is failure. It is based on entrepreneurs’ selection. Many entrepreneurs use eBay to sell items online to gain income. Ginsberg discovers it does not matter how old they are as long as they can follow the system.
Online platform changes many entrepreneurs’ mindsets. It has the freedom to do what they want, when they want, whom they want and often as possible. Ginsberg provides the formula to utilize eBay.
Buy a few items on eBay
Find something to sell
List an item
People find them
A sale is made
They get paid
The item is shipped
Get feedback
Everything people own, includes bad, new, used, perfect, or broken, has cash value. However, if entrepreneurs do not list them, they will not sell. Ginsberg wants entrepreneurs to remember a statement.
“Take the money, ship it, and no question ask”
However, selling stuff from home is great until they ran out of stuff. Ginsberg believes eBay is the perfect place to sell treasure around the house. It is the ideal marketplace and it is a great addition to small business. This is the evolution of change.
Amazon dominates Canadian commerce and it is expected to increase 20 billion in next 2 years. Traditionally, people learn not to copy anything in school. Ginsberg suggests copycat is the way to success. Entrepreneurs need to find someone doing what they want and copy it. Entrepreneurs should not sell what they love; instead, they need to sell what people want to buy. By taking advantage of sales rank, they will discover what the bestselling item is.
Ginsberg has two options for entrepreneurs. The first option is to sell their own products online. They have the control the brand, they can set price, and they have no direct competition. The second option is to sell someone else’s products. There is no inventory, no overhead and it uses arbitrage profit model.
Ginsberg defines arbitrage as the simultaneous buying and selling of securities, currency or commodities in different markets or in derivative forms in order to take advantage of differing prices for the same assets. The arbitrage profit model has 5 steps. The first step is to find something on Amazon. The second step is to copy the picture from Amazon. The third step is to sell the item on eBay. The forth step is to get paid by PayPal from eBay customer. The last step is to ship with Amazon to eBay customer.
“If you do not try, how do you know if you can do it?”
Brian Nieves
Brian Nieves believes everyone has a story to tell. Entrepreneurs can use book to leverage the edge of entrepreneurship.
Nieves indicates when the world see entrepreneurs as author, people will look them differently. Book is a way to leave a legacy. The story is the gift to humanity because it motivates others. Nieves believes entrepreneurs have obligation to write a book because it can catapult them to the next level of success.
“Ain’t nobody gonna write your book”
Book is effective because it gives entrepreneurs the instant differentiation. It also gives them authority and speaking engagement. Moreover, book is never thrown away. Entrepreneurs must focus more than the book sale. It is not just the royalties; in fact, it is what the book sold them. So what stops people from writing a book? The answer is fear.
Nieves provides 8 steps to publish a book.
Primary objective
Write the right content
Design an awesome cover
Capture leads
Use it to boost the sale
Get free publicity globally
Get others to pay for everything
Decide
“Wealthy people decide quickly, and poor people make slow decision”
Les Brown
Les Brown did not show up in the conference. The conference shows a pre-recorded video from Les Brown.
Les Brown states knowledge is the new currency. Entrepreneurs need to think about their big dreams, their financial freedom number, contribution and what they can make a difference. Entrepreneurs must always remember someone’s option cannot determine their reality because they have greatness within.
The reason why entrepreneurs are in this world is because they are branches in the same tree of giving. Entrepreneurs have 3 goals: personal, financial, and social contribution. They need to commit themselves to do something big in their lives. The have the right mindset when they repeat all their goals 3 times a day.
When entrepreneurs do not use their power to change others’ lives, they become the victim of distraction. There are too many people get drain by negative people. Brown suggests entrepreneurs to ask 3 questions.
Is it positive?
Is it purposeful?
Is it profitable?
“Garbage in, garbage stays”
The most important factor is what entrepreneurs believe. There are two different kind of voice: the voice of themselves, and the voice given by the world. Brown suggests entrepreneurs to train their mind to serve themselves by reading 30 pages per day. Entrepreneurs must believe themselves first and let the “how” to god.
Entrepreneurs must not live small because they have the ability to do big. They have greatness in themselves. They can pour motivation quotes in their mind consistently. Brown encourages entrepreneurs to surround by OQP, which stands for only quality people. If there is something in them that says “this ain’t for me”, they are hungry.
Passion leads to something they love. Entrepreneurs are destined for wealth. They need failure for success. Brown believes if others can do it, they can do it as well. They are born to be rich, which is in their DNA. The greatest revenge to other people is to have massive success. Brown wants entrepreneurs to work on communication and let go things they have been dragging in their lives.
Entrepreneurs need to be the go-to person. People do business with people they like or trust. When there is a calling in life, take it.
Name: Company of Young Professionals – From ideas to actions
Presenter: Mia Maki
Many young leaders have ideas to change the world. However, a majority of them seems to have difficulty to turn ideas into the next level. Company of Young Professionals invites Mia Maki, the Principal of Quimper Consulting Inc, to explore tips for young leaders to expand their innovative ideas. In this presentation, Mia Maki will help young leader s to unleash their inner creativity. Young leaders will understand how and where to get their next big idea. Moreover, Mia Maki will provide strategies for young leaders to turn ideas into actions.
Mia Maki is a University of Victoria professor in the Faculty of Business. She is also the Principal of Quimper Consulting Inc. she has been involved CMA British Columbia as a board member and Board Adjudicator for over 10 years. Maki has been mentoring many entrepreneurs and early stage startup companies. In addition, she has been invited to speak on the topic of innovation at many professional platforms.
Mia Maki believes many young leaders understand the theory and practice behind creativity and innovation; however, they often forget the idea behind intrapreneurship. Maki defines intrapreneurship as leader who acts like an entrepreneur within a large organization. Currently, a majority of young leaders are considered as craft people, who care about services and products. There are some freedom fighters, who want to create lifestyle, and hardly any achievers. To become achievers, young leaders need to practice negotiation and listening skills.
Maki believes effectuation is a lost art in this generation. The effectuation is the logical that heavily used in the initial stage of venture creation and new service. The logic helps young leaders to determine their affordable loss, strategize their mindset to shaping the world, and understand what others are willing to commit.
Overall, young leaders need to leverage their means and goals. This will create new interactions and lead to new commitments. New commitments will find new means and new goals. Therefore, new products will produce. This whole cycle is the formula of effectuation.
Maki engages an interactive activity to all young leaders in the audience. She wants all young leaders to imagine a scenario of the ice sculptor event. The day before the event was raining hard and all ice sculptors were melting. Maki asks all young leaders to come up with creative solutions.
Maki reveals this was a real case happened at Sweden. Because of the rain, all ice sculptors were moved into all the room in the residents. Since all ice sculptors occupied all the visitors’ room, the visitors were invited to stay with the ice sculptors. Later, the idea turned into the famous “Ice Hotel”.
Takeaways
Maki believes intrapreneurship starts with resources or means. Young leaders must know what they have and work on what they have. Young leaders are encouraged to have conversations and experiences that are cross-discipline. They also need to foster relationships outside of their departments.
Maki suggests young leaders to walk across the floor, building or buildings to gain new ideas. Sometimes, they might bump into other people and chat. This chatter would yield something useful, and one of the participants would head back to his or her desks with a new idea.
Maki encourages young leaders to ask questions. Asking the right questions can help young leaders to be more innovative and creative. Two main questions young leaders need to ask to themselves.
What would make a customer’s life easier?
What would make a customer’s transaction easier?
“Process innovations are long-lasting and value creating”
Young leaders must calculate their affordable lost. Affordable cost is deciding what it would cost for young leaders to confirm there is a market or prove technically it can be done, or another unknown. If there is no market, young leaders must forfeit and move on.
“Failure is an option, mistakes are expected”
Maki recommends young leaders to do these 5 things if they are in charge of developing new products or services.
Name: How to make obscene profits with joint ventures without customers or experience
Presenter: Dan Lok
Successful entrepreneurs leverage Joint Venture strategy to create additional income streams for their businesses. Moreover, many entrepreneurs are limited to the usage of Joint Ventures due to the lack of understanding. Vancouver Entrepreneurs Group invites Dan Lok, the serial entrepreneur, to discuss the true perspective of Joint Ventures. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will learn the structure behind the true meaning of Joint Ventures. They will discover how to use Joint Ventures to position them in the market for maximum success. In addition, Dan Lok will reveal strategies to give entrepreneurs the unfair advantage using Joint Ventures.
Dan Lok is a multi-millionaire and an international best-selling author. With hard work and strong determination, Dan Lok managed to become a respected figure in the Internet Marketing world. He launched many successful internet companies. In addition, he is a keynote speaker and a business mentor that support many young entrepreneurs. Moreover, he is also the Founder of Vancouver Entrepreneurs Group.
Dan Lok believes Joint Venture is the world’s most powerful strategy. In boxing, there are four types of punches: jab, cross, hook and uppercut. In the world of boxing, Joint Venture is like the jab in boxing. Joint Venture can reduce entrepreneurs’ expense and risk. Joint Venture is a like an out of the box strategy that many entrepreneurs are not aware of. In fact, Joint Venture is a type of strategy that raises the most capital using other people’s money.
“If you do not know how to make money without money, you probably cannot make money with money”
Lok wants entrepreneurs to remember that they need to live in their lives as if they are rich, but they should run their businesses as if they are poor. Entrepreneurs need to have abundance. They need to have gratitude.
In business, in order to get things done without writing a single cheque, entrepreneurs need to know how to manage their profit and manage their money. As profit increases, their money starts to decrease. This happens to many entrepreneurs because they get loosing up when they see their profit increases. They start to focus on revenue and lose focus of money they receive.
Dan defines Joint Venture is an agreement of mutual benefit between two or more people or business who have complimentary resources. Resource refers to any business asset that has relationship with the owner that can be leveraged for minimum cost. For example, many chocolate companies will co-brand with public figures to maximize their sales. The ingredients of making the chocolate are the same, but by leveraging the public figures, they are able to increase sales significantly.
Joint Venture is everywhere; however, less than 5% of all business owners are able to use Joint Venture properly. In fact, most business owners do not even know how to use it at all because of their egos. Lok believes instead of crushing the competitors, entrepreneurs should think about how to profit from the competitors.
Lok emphasizes client database is the most valuable asset in any business. The relationship between a business owner and customers is the valuable asset that can be leveraged; however, most small business owners are intimated from Joint Venture.
Joint Venture is very simple. All entrepreneurs need to do is to ask a simple question of “Wanna do a deal?” Real Joint Ventures do not need lawyers or long drawn negotiation. Real Joint Venture should be natural. Lok believes when other party is making things complicated, entrepreneurs should not do Joint Venture with them.
Joint Venture is not just for business. It could be in other forms as well. When entrepreneurs are buying Groupon, sharing resources or carpooling, they are forming Joint Ventures with others.
“When in doubt, Joint Venture”
There are 3 major reasons why entrepreneurs should do Joint Venture.
Gain time
Leverage “piggyback effect”
High net profit for both parties – conversion with no risk
The key element in Joint Venture is to be resourceful. Lok shares a business story happened in January 2013. He was overseeing a medical company that produces hearing aid. The company was in a bad shape. Lok needed to find a way to be resourceful by implementing three kinds of Joint Venture strategy. The first strategy is to collaborate with the largest direct mail company in the medical industry. The second strategy is offer VIP buying groups and bonus by collaborating with suppliers. The last strategy is to launch appointment maximizer by joining force with another software company. The company was able to turn around with huge profit and savings. The key thing is to be resourceful.
Lok encourages entrepreneurs to joint venture with authors. This is considered as the ultimate business card strategy. Entrepreneurs are able to leverage authors’ list and creditability. Many entrepreneurs are afraid to ask. In fact, many authors are likely to join force with entrepreneurs.
Lok suggests entrepreneurs to become the Joint Venture broker, where entrepreneurs are the middle person to profit from Joint Venture from different businesses. Joint Ventures partners might not always want money. Therefore, it is important to figure out what others needs and wants. Entrepreneurs need to ask questions and find the core issue.
“You cannot do a good deal with bad partner”
It is important to make sure both parties benefit from the deal so they can continue to do deals in the future. Other than that, Lok indicates there are no rules – the type of deal entrepreneurs make are limited only by their creativity.
Lok reveals 6 types of Joint Ventures Entrepreneurs can leverage.
The simple affiliate
The list building
The content
The co-marketing
The platform
The backend
The simple affiliate refers to the mailing, product reviews or referrals of existing customers. Lok illustrates a strategy of list building. Entrepreneurs can create a virtual summit and ask experts to promote the event. Entrepreneurs can upsell on their products. At the end, entrepreneurs will build a list based on the attendance of the virtual summit. The cost of building that list is zero. After the list is build, entrepreneurs can go back to all experts for future Joint Venture.
Lok believes the main question entrepreneurs need to ask themselves is “who already has my customers?”
The content refers to blogging or finds contributors for blogs. The co-marketing is to put resource together with many entrepreneurs to do marketing. The platform is using a directory to find someone to market or find others and make money. The backend ties in with the list building. When entrepreneurs have a list, they are able to build trust with customers. They can sell them advance package. The benefit of the backend is that entrepreneurs are able to keep all the profit because the list is theirs. The bigger the list, the more negotiation power entrepreneurs have.
It is important for entrepreneurs to find the reason for others to do Joint Venture with them. Again, entrepreneurs just need to ask and they are able to initiate Joint Venture. Entrepreneurs can find qualified Joint Venture almost everywhere as long as they are dealing with the decision maker.
“Do Joint Venture with people, not business”
Lok shares 15 places to look for potential Joint Venture partners.
Entrepreneurs’ own customer list
Networking events and training seminars
Industry association and trade shows
High level mastermind groups
Article publishing site
Launch leaderboards
Niche specific blogs
Newsletter publishers
Top sites
Google an Facebook ads
LinkedIn and Facebook group owners
Clickbank market place
Podcast, video channel, and radio show owners
Authors in entrepreneurs’ niche
Software and app publishers
Lok believes there are 7 important questions entrepreneurs need to ask potential Joint Venture.
Is your mailing list composed of buyers or visitors / leads?
How big is your mailing list?
How often do you contact your mailing list?
Do customers buy from you often and, if so, how often on average?
What is the percentage of clients who bought more than once from you?
How much did customers pay per product on average in the past?
How often (and what type of) promotion do you send to your list on regular basis?
Many entrepreneurs are using the wrong strategy to approach their future Joint Venture partners. Lok shares 6 simple tips for entrepreneurs to improve their approach.
Tip #1: Keep it personal
Entrepreneurs should not use templates emails when they are approaching their future Joint Venture partners. Emails that have generic subject heading will turn off the interest of Joint Venture.
Tip #2: Do not approach by asking for something
Entrepreneurs should only approach with a favor when they have absolute positive relationship with them. They are not obligate to read the emails if they know entrepreneurs have not done anything to warrant respect or justify their attention.
“The best way to get heavy hitter is either send them sales or become their clients
Tip #3: Do not take rejection personally
Entrepreneurs must understand people have the option to reject the offer. However, many entrepreneurs will take it personal and burn the bridge. Perhaps, it could be timing is wrong. In addition, entrepreneurs should never send back angry emails.
Tip #4: Start by making friends
When entrepreneurs go in cold, they will get cold response. It is suggested for entrepreneurs to know each other as much as they can to have them at least listen to them. It is important to attend their events. Personal time spent with them is the best way to get personal connection.
Tip #5: Do favors first to invoke the law of reciprocity
Entrepreneurs must realize reciprocity is a huge motivator. People will remember how others make them feel. Eventually, they will do the same in the future. Therefore, the best way to get someone to at least consider the Joint Venture offer is to promote their product and help them make sales.
Tip #6: Have a great offer
The offer must be something in the interest of other parties. Many entrepreneurs have their future Joint Venture partners’ attention, but they fail to provide the right offer. Lok emphasizes entrepreneurs should not use Joint Venture partners as guinea pigs.
Lok wants entrepreneurs to ask these questions before approaching the Joint Venture partners. These questions will guide entrepreneurs if they are ready for Joint Venture.
Are you on top of customer support?
Do you have a quality follow-up process to convert prospects into customers?
Is your sales page tested and converting well?
Do you have proof of your own results?
Do you have proof of results from the people you have helped?
Are you capable of presenting your ideas and over delivering value regardless of what you get in return?
Is your intention first to help others, not just to make more sales of your product?
Lok believes good Joint Venture is a result of entrepreneurs being on top of their game and understanding the nature of relationship. If they want to benefit from this superior form of marketing, they need to come from a place of strength and awareness of how things are done. Few entrepreneurs can do Joint Venture well. People will see the result and they will grow. Therefore, entrepreneurs just do what they supposed to do and do well.
Presenters: Connor Beaton, Ryan Holmes, and Lewis Howes
All leaders have their own definition of the word “Greatness” in their life journey. Moreover, leaders who are able to live a life of greatness are the true visionaries everyone should look upon. ManTalks invites Connor Beaton, the Founder of ManTalks, Ryan Holmes, the Founder of Hootsuite, and Lewis Howes, the lifestyle entrepreneur and the author of “The School of Greatness”, to share their experiences and challenges that lead to their life of greatness. The presentation is hosted by Riaz Meghji. In this presentation, leaders will learn the value of different perspectives. All presenters will inspire leaders with their stories. In addition, this presentation is for leaders who are on their ways to search for their life purpose and legacy they wish to leave this world with.
The story of Connor Beaton
Connor Beaton mentions the idea behind ManTalks is to create a space for positive masculinity. It focuses on creating quality of personal life. Based on statistic, the suicide rate for men over 45 years has increased over 60%. This means men are 4 times more likely to suicide. Another statistic Beaton mentions is that 50% of men do not have a true best friend in their lives. ManTalks is a place for men to have great conversation.
Many people think greatness is a checklist. They believe by completing the checklist, they will be able to lead extraordinary life. However, Beaton disagrees. In order to achieve greatness, people need to know who they want to be first.
“If you want a great life, it is not what you get, it is what you give”
People need to ignite their passion and give freely to the world. Everyone has the gift of seeing what people want. For example, Richard Branson has provided a great working environment for his team. One day, one of his VP decided to leave. The reason of leaving was to give more to the world. Richard Branson understood the reason and created “Virgin Unite Charity Foundation” to give back to the world.
“Start thinking about giving, it is a purpose”
It is important for people to figure out their life purpose. Purpose can lead people to the right direction. Purpose can understand the inner self and the purpose can fuel people’s lives. Beaton shares his past. Before he got accepted in University of British Columbia, he was lost. He felt there was no meaning in life. Drinking and motorcycling were his form of escape of reality.
He got himself into street racing. It was illegal, but every time when he accelerated, he was able to unleash himself away from his life. He was living in this lifestyle day by day. When he realized he was about to leave everything behind, his body was torn.
Beaton remembers a day that changed everything. He was street racing in a pouring raining. When he was accelerating, he got hit by a jeep. Everything started to slow down and he saw the fear in the driver’s eyes. The bike slid and had a road rash. He got injured and unconscious. When he woke up, he popped back his shoulder. He stopped. He realized he was terrified in new chapter of life. Now he survived and he began to realize he is here for something. He continued to follow the passion and continued to move forward.
“We have deep scar inside, but we choose not to let others to know”
Beaton believes passion and purpose go hand in hand. Passion and purpose are the steps to greatness. Many people have the fear of not being good enough. There are 3 types of fear: lose, process and outcome. For leaders, the biggest fear is outcome. They are afraid the outcome is not what they expect to be. Beaton illustrates another example. When Jim Carrey was 15, he already had standup session, but he got bombed. He continued his passion and wrote a cheque for himself that he would cash this cheque one day. He never gave up on pursuing his passion. Finally, he was able to cash that cheque. However, he is now pursing money. He lost his original passion and afraid to lose what he had built.
Beaton shares during one of the mastermind session, he spoke to a person who worked with kids. This person shared with Beaton his map to change his life. Beaton asked him what is stopping him. He replied that he does not have the right tool. Reality is, he did not believe in himself the map will lead to what he wanted. Leaders need a compass. Compass is their guts. When they are off course, they need a compass to get back on track. Wisdom is different than knowledge. Leaders might have the knowledge, but wisdom takes them to success.
“Success without fulfillment is failure”
Beaton believes busyness is a choice. Busyness is a sign of success in society, but it is also an excuse. Leaders can commit to their excuses or they can commit to their dreams; however, they cannot commit to both. People do not judge what leaders say, yet they judge them by action. Talents can lead leaders to a destination, but determination can lead leaders to the end.
Beaton wants leaders to protect their most important asset, which is their health. Researchers conducted an experiment on a group of Navy Seals Snippers. With 8 hours of sleep, they maintained good accuracy. When researchers reduced their hours of sleep to 5 hours, their accuracy decreased. Researchers noticed they have 0.01 blood alcohol level when they have less than 5 hours of sleep.
To achieve greatness, people need to let go something, especially their wired belief. Beaton considers this as the art of letting go. Leaders are often have “sunk cost bias”, which means they tend to hold on something because they have it. Leaders associate more on things they already have. It is important to know that leaders can measure what they lost, but they cannot measure what they gain. Leaders need to build their tribe by letting go people who are weighting them down. Beaton indicates greatness might not able to have all the right answers in life, but it can have all the right questions in life.
Questions and Answers
Beaton believes the best way for leaders to build their tribe is to present their vision of way to the society. Building the community was a breakthrough moment for Beaton. It is like a “hockey stick moment”, where things can exponentially increases. The most important thing is to deliver the right message to the community.
Beaton notices sometime leaders will fail because they think too much. They need to be conscious on the impact of their lives. Many leaders forget to schedule themselves in their plan. To make the right choice, leaders need to believe in their strength of their internal compass. Keep everything simple. Reflection is leader’s best friend.
The story of Ryan Holmes
There are good hustle and bad hustle. Nevertheless, Ryan Holmes believes as long as leaders understand the core value of their hustle, they will direct themselves to the right hustle. Everyone is busy and it is easy to use that as excuse. Holmes wants leaders to be conscious on it and learn to say “no”.
Holmes creates Hootsuite because he wanted to create the space for entrepreneurs to fight affordability. Holmes defines greatness is passion. What gests Holmes passion is “legacy”. He sees the future of technology and he wants to build 10 more Hootsuite around the world. Holmes continued to pursue his passion. He built a hub for entrepreneurs and a place for entrepreneurs to learn how to build business. He saw many people go out and started their startups.
Holmes believes the element of any good pitch is the person. Holmes is able to sense if the person has what it takes to smash through any walls. He looks for problem solvers who will deal with the wall. Size and opportunity are also important element in good pitch. He believes ideas can grow.
“Entrepreneur first, idea second”
Holmes talks about the market that is currently underserved is Artificial Intelligence. He foresees the world of opportunity in Artificial Intelligence. Holmes mentions leaders get to learn so much more by owning small business. They get to know little bit of everything. Eventually, they will discover things they do not like and they will find the team to balance it out. The evolution of things leaders do is constantly changing.
Holmes shares the 3 core values for entrepreneurs to strive in business. The first core value is hustle. The second core value is passion, and the third core value is communication. Holmes wants leaders to remember to hustle with good reason, do not let passion run out and easy to start small but harder as it gets bigger.
One of the business failures Holmes experienced was managing people. In average, leaders can only manage 10 people max. As business increases to 100 or more, Holmes needs to build another layer of management. It requires new skill set on every layer. Holmes witnessed many great people in the team have decided to depart separate ways. However, Holmes gets to bring new talent to the team.
When it comes to distinguish many talent people, Holmes looks for culture fit. Leaders need to understand their sparks and patient and discover who they really are. The deal breaker is poor feedback from other companies. Therefore, leaders need to be persistent. At the end of every interview, Holmes will ask what he can do for others. Holmes looks for people with proactive attitude to strive and curiosity. In leadership, Holmes wants the best people in his team. In addition, he would still want to bring growth internally.
Holmes comments that Facebook Live is a unique tool to have because everyone has a television broadcast. Holmes still believes content is more relevant. He will try to find deep articles.
The biggest mistake people make online is to do the wrong action at the wrong time. The humor element is important, but good content can take care itself. Holmes hopes people would stop sharing dark and politics exposure. People should spend more investment on education.
To control emotion in business, Holmes will balance it with outdoor sports. In Holmes’ perspective, it is good to do things on the edge because it makes leaders think about the moment and forget everything else. It is great for people to step out and talk about social media. Smart people will attract the right tools to make their time wise. However, social media can disconnect the face to face conversation. Holmes believes this can be a detox even though social media can still have huge benefit.
To build the tribe, Holmes suggests leaders to find the balance from different skill set on partners. Leaders need to provide the right culture and excitement. It is never the case to motivate on money.
The story of Lewis Howes
Lewis Howes is the Founder of the school of greatness. He looks for way to achieve win-win for the audience. He shares his story of chasing fame that leads to his greatness.
In his young age, Howes always have the passion to become a famous guy in America. He told his father he would be a famous athlete, and his father encouraged him to chase his dream. In his school year, he got bullied. He was skinny and weak and people made fun of him, which made him feel pain, anger and frustration. Howes started to believe he was not good enough.
Every horrible moment in school was building up the message of “not good enough” for Howes. He was always at the bottom company with the school peers. He felt challenged, but he continued to chase his dream to prove others they are wrong. This fuel was powerful and it accelerated him to achieve everything. After he achieved his dream, he still felt angry and frustrated. He asked himself, “Why am I not fulfilled?”
He managed to play in national football league, but he was not satisfied. Until one day, his dream shattered. He was able to stand up and get everything back, but the feeling of “not good enough” still remained. He could not figure out what was missing.
Until these recent years, Howes realized he was doing it for the wrong reason. With the help from external source, he discovered the inner pain when he was a kid. He created the belief system to protect himself when he was young, which was a form of escape.
Many leaders chase money to become the king of wealth, but importantly, Howes wants to become the king of heart. Howes starts to realize his purpose has changed to how to make others feel.
Howes shares another past story. When he was playing basketball one day and he got the anger out. He blew up and destroyed the other player physically. It woke him up. He was terrified and he ran home like a coward. He looked himself at the mirror and asked, “Who am I? And why am I doing this?”. Before the realization, the thing driving him forward was holding him back. After the realization, the thing gave him the most pain had given him the most freedom.
Howes believes the secret to achieve greatness is generosity. Leaders need to be generous with their heart and generous with a smile. They will never know what kind of connection they will have with a smile on their face.
Howes wants the audience to do a staring exercise. Everyone will need to find a partner and start each other for 60 seconds. Afterwards, everyone will have the chance to talk about how they feel, what is their biggest lesson and what commit them to move forward. The purpose of the staring exercise is to give generosity with the most basic form of communication.
Name: Speaker Series – Shannon & Sarah of PlentyOfFish
Presenters: Shannon Smith, and Sarah Frew
Talent is considered to be one of the most valuable assets in any organization. Moreover, many entrepreneurs do not realize the key success behind any innovative company relates to retention strategy. Brainstation invites Shannon Smith, the Public Relations and Communication Manager of PlentyOfFish, and Sarah Frew, the Human Resources Coordinator of PlentyOfFish, to share the strategy behind the success of PlentyOfFish. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will learn how PlentyOfFish attracts and retains top tech talent. In addition, they will discover the strategy on how PlentyOfFish become a thought leader in the Vancouver tech sector.
Shannon Smith is the Public Relations and Communication Manager at PlentyOfFish. Within short 6 years, she managed to help turning idea into one of the top dating site in the industry. To engage with clients, Shannon Smith started her blog on process of online dating. Sarah Frew is the Human Resources Coordinator at PlentyOfFish. She has the passion to help organization to attract top talent. Moreover, she managed to turn her passion into career in PlentyOfFish.
Shannon Smith shares the history of PlentyOfFish. The idea of PlentyOfFish came from the Founder, Markus Frind. He started the website to help young singles to find happiness in life. In 2008, Frind hired his first employee after the members reach to 10 million users. In 2010, the site had modest employee base with a strong customer base. PlentyOfFish site was monetized through self-serve advertisement platform and Adwords. In 2011, PlentyOfFish released its first mobile app for iOS and Android smartphone.
Currently, PlentyOfFish has reached the team of 75 serving over 100 million users. PlentyOfFish is now available over many platforms, such as iPhone, iPad, and other Android platform devices. With over 4 million active daily users and 5 different languages, PlentyOfFish changes the way they monetize their product. PlentyOfFish was acquired by the Match Group in July 2015. The acquisition provides PlentyOfFish a new General Manager and valuable information sharing to serve users a better experience.
Sarah Frew mentions the culture of PlentyOfFish focuses on “Fun and casual”. The organization integrates the philosophy of “Work hard and play hard”. Frew believes the success of the culture environment comes from collaboration, which is the number one priority in PlentyOfFish culture.
Frew states 3 important keys in hiring process.
People
Scale
Product
PlentyOfFish looks for staff members with multiple talent skills and strong passion with their work. Since the scale is over 100 million users, staff members must have the ability to turn these million users to million stories. Stories are considered as product in PlentOfFish. They expect to send stories out to the world to enhance the existing culture.
PlentyOfFish invests in many company retreats and team building activities. Smith emphasizes company retreat is an important annual tradition since beginning. It is an opportunity for staff members to strength team bonds outside of office. PlentyOfFish puts effort into team building activities, such as Escape Room, scavenger hunt and solve murder mysteries.
PlentyOfFish was relatively unknown in Vancouver tech sector. To become leaders in Vancouver, PlentyOfFish involves in charity. For example, PlentyOfFish hosts “Tech’s got talent” fundraising to attract 19 tech companies together and over 600 attendee. The event is able to raise over 50 thousand dollar donation. PlentyOfFish hosts a speaker panel called “Levelup Vancouver” featuring Bruce Croxon from Dragon’s Den. The event attracts over 400 attendees.
PlentyOfFish also hosts a game show. For example, PlentyOfFish hosts an event called “Tech Jeopardy”. It attracts over 200 attendees and collaborates over 9 different tech companies. Lastly, PlentyOfFish gives back to community. PlentyOfFish provides different industry meetups. PlentyOfFish gives staff members places for their host gathering events. PlenetyOfFish staff members volunteer in many community activities, such as Belkin House or servants of hope over the holidays.
“The innovation drives in dating”
To collaborate with other tech companies, Frew explains the company involvement with the “Hackathons” event. Team members will partner with a developer and build whatever they dream up. Successful ideas that have successful result are able to make it to production. For those who do not have programing experience, PlentyOfFish creates “unhackathons” event to solve people’s problem for business idea.
Frew shares the retention strategy behind PlentyOfFish. During the hiring process, each candidate will have 15 minutes interview. All candidates can meet with the Chief Operating Officer. The purpose behind this strategy is to allow all candidates to meet many of members as much as possible. Each candidate will be provided with challenges. Challenges would able to help organization to find the right fit. PlentyOfFish utilizes new hiring tool, such as video tools, to attract attention from people out in the world.
Smith shares PlentyOfFish retention strategy. Staff members are encouraged to take professional development courses. They are promoted a work life balance. Many retreats and team bonding activities are able to gather clients together. The Environment for PlentyOfFish has open door policy that allows all members to connect with upper management. Members are encouraged to utilize all resources, so they can be proactive in the market.
Legends from athletes empower many successful leaders. Moreover, successful leaders with passion and persistence will create their legacy. The TYL Society invites Yolanda Hughes, the two times Ms. International and the runner up for Ms. Olympia, to share her story in professional bodybuilding. In this presentation, Yolanda Hughes will take leaders through her journey and share her secrets to success in health and wellness. In addition, Yolanda Hughes will reveal her strategy on how to develop success in the fitness industry.
Yolanda Hughes is a professional bodybuilder. In the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness, she was placed in 1st in the Ms. International competition in 1997 and 1998. She completed 6 times in the Ms. Olympia competition and came in 2nd in 1998. Her success was featured in many media and magazines, such as Muscle and Fitness, and Flex and Female Bodybuilding. Her passion motivates many young female bodybuilders. Yolanda Hughes retired from bodybuilding after she came in 3rd place in 1999 at the Ms. International competition; however, her legacy remains strong in the fitness industry.
Unleash your beast within
Yolanda Hughes believes the path of an athlete is not easy, especially the mindset. She is grateful for stepping into the life of a professional in International Federation of Bodybuilding fitness, where she received the amateur and national status recongitions.
Hughes was born in Tennessee. Her parents passed away when she was young, so she grew up with her grandmother. Hughes shares she was competitive when she was young. She always competed with her brother. Her grandmother encouraged her to take part in gymnastics to expand her interests. A coach saw her potential and decided to work with her to compete.
While she was attending high school, she wanted to become the first black athlete in the Olympics. However, her coach quit and her life of fitness started to go downhill. Her grandmother wanted her to pursue a normal life, but she insisted on becoming a professional athlete.
Hughes believes weight resistant training can keep people young. As people age, their muscles tend to decrease and their metabolism will also decrease. By going to the gym consistently, Hughes is able to maintain her physical looks and improve energy levels.
Hughes got accepted in Western Kentucky University with full scholarships. She took the opportunity to be on the track team. During her weight training sessions, she got spotted by a local bodybuilder named Hillbilly Jim. He changed the way she eats. She could not stand the diet for 2 weeks and cheated on the diet. Hughes felt bad for cheating and decided to stick with the program Jim prepared for her to continue her dream. With determination, she got 2nd place in her first competition.
Hughes mentions the reason she was able to win 2 consecutive years is that she was hungry and she would not stop until she got the 2nd win. However, due to politics, she was not invited to the competition after her 2nd consecutive wins. That did not stop her from continue her dream, so she continued to get better. She got stronger and proved to be in the game. The judges had nothing to say her.
Hughes then moved to Germany for 7 years. She was able to compete in Europe and qualified in the Nationals. She was featured in many magazines and got the chance to compete in Spain. Eventually, she earned her pro card by winning the World Amateur Championship.
Hughes emphasizes her determination outruns distraction. She will stay late just to go that extra mile.
“Complete, desire, and marry to discipline”
Mentorship plays a huge role for Hughes. Mentorship helped Hughes to focus on her passion and figure out her purpose early on in life.
Back in the old days, GMO was not a big concern for Hughes because she had the access to good natural foods. However today, food is more than meet the eyes. Hughes believes in the next 30 years, health issues will start to appear even more frequently. There are other options, such as organic food. Since organic food is not affordable for many people, they will continue to eat food with unknown side effects.
Hughes always has the personality to excel in life. She wants to be better and do better. Hughes mentions she was once struggling with the fact that when she did not achieve the expectation, she would decide to quit. She took the responsibility and created the two options of whether or not she should eat a candy bar. A candy bar can make a big difference for bodybuilders because it will affect the mindset.
Hughes suggests people not to eat too much rice. Vegetables are the best choice to keep people in natural state. People should eat 4 times a day. Hughes believes people are taught to have only breakfast, lunch and dinner, but it is not enough to maintain high metabolism. Instead, they should eat in 2 and a half hour intervals to increase metabolism.
Many people have the misconception that eating less will reduce fat. Hughes mentions eating less will result in a lower metabolism, which converts food into fat in the body. When people stop eating and eat again later, they are creating more room for more fat in their body. In addition, people should not eat too much carbs at night because it could cause disruption in the body. It is suggested to eat less on processed food because press food provides less nutrients compared with natural food.
“If you eat and you are tired afterwards, that food is not working for your body”
People can get better body density by doing physical activities in the gym. This will create high metabolism. The key is to get out there and burn. People might not eat a lot, but the choices they pick, such as dressing on salad, will influence their bodies.
Eating organic does not include all the nutrients. Therefore, people will seek for supplements. However, supplements do not all absorb in the system. With trial and error, some pre-work out supplements can make Hughes tingle and fired up. Hughes stopped taking those because of how they made her feel. The marketing for some supplements are overrated. People have the tendency to believe what people say in the store. With one on one, even if it has sufficient research, people will not buy it.
“If it is on the market, it does not mean it is the best thing”
Hughes recommends kale. It has the right nutrients. Hughes was not a big fan of synthetic supplements, such as energy drinks. Many people have approached her wanting her to try their products, but she has always shown no interest because she has many clients currently that train with her and she needs to be careful of what she recommends them.
Hughes is now training clients as a personal trainer and fitness coach. 6 years ago, she had a pole fitness studio and taught pole fitness. Now people invite her to be the judge on fitness shows. Currently she is also building her own business as an independent distributor with Zija. She wants to help others to become healthier and wants to see her clients to lose weights naturally.
“You do not live to eat, you eat to live”
Hughes believes in her purpose. She is able to connect with her spirit and tap into her inner spirit to achieve what she wants. As people get closer to their goals, the harder the challenges they will face. Hughes recommends people to focus on visualizsation. They should write down their goals and read it every morning to remind themselves. It is important to hang out OQP, which is “Only the Qualified People”. Either people will pull you up or they will pull you down.
“When you connect to your inner self, you can do anything”
Name: How to build your million dollar personal brand
Presenter: Dan Lok
Many entrepreneurs understand the importance of technical application, but they still fail because they underestimate the power of personal branding. Vancouver Entrepreneurs Group invites Dan Lok, the serial entrepreneur, to help entrepreneurs build and promote their personal brand. Dan Lok will share his strategies to help entrepreneurs create their desire image in their market. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will learn how to become well-respected influencer, how to leverage their brand for new business opportunities, and how to communicate their ideas to brand value.
Dan Lok is a multi-millionaire and a serial entrepreneur. Lok has published many bestselling books for business, especially in the field of internet marketing. With determination and hard work, Lok establishes his knowledge and influence in the world of internet marketing. Lok appears in many social media, including his own YouTube channel, “Shoulders of Titans”. Moreover, he is also an international motivation speaker and a business mentor for many young entrepreneurs.
How to build your million dollar personal brand
The term “personal brand” originally started in 1997 from an article by Tom Peters. Peters defined the term with the following statement.
“To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called YOU”
Dan Lok indicates the worst any business owner can have is to obtain a personal brand that they hate because they have to fake the whole life to sustain that personal brand.
There is a huge difference between branding, marketing and sales.
Sales is convincing
Marketing is generating business
Branding is influencing
Sales come from the words entrepreneurs use to overcome objections, negotiate deals, and persuade clients. Marketing highlights a product or services that generate revenue for entrepreneurs. Branding touches desire and emotion. Lok defines the goal of branding is to emotionally predispose clients into entering business relationship. Moreover, it can position a product or service for people to feel irresistible urge to purchase.
However, the biggest challenge for entrepreneurs is to become the first thing people thought of before they actually need the service, and branding can help entrepreneurs achieve that. There are many people know how to sale. Only some know how to market, but only a small percentage of people know how to brand. The reason why branding only obtain by small portion is because most owners do not think they are the brand.
Personal image versus personal brand
Lok emphasizes personal brand is not the same as personal image. Entrepreneurs can only have personal image without proper strategies. Personal image comes from short term feeling from others, yet personal brand comes from long term emotion from what others feel.
Personal brand is not a person; in fact, it is the public projection of certain aspects of entrepreneurs’ personality, skills or values. In addition, personal brand is considered the perception of the entrepreneur.
In business, many clients do not know the real life entrepreneur, and they only know the personal brand of the entrepreneur. Lok wants entrepreneurs to understand that they are not the brand and they are human beings who project the brand. Furthermore, they need to apply the personal brand to their companies.
Personal brand means create the unique identity around a leading attribute. Personal brand can manage the perception that allows clients to feel certain way about the entrepreneurs and the product they offer. Personal brand can also pre-sell entrepreneur. It allows clients to aware of their characteristic. Therefore, the purpose of personal brand is not to attract sales, but attracts power.
“A personal brand gives the power to influence the decisions, attitudes and action of an audience”
Lok mentions one of the best assets entrepreneurs can gain from personal brand is reputation capital, which is when clients give referrals without selling. Personal brand opens more door than just a company name.
“Who I work with is secondary, who I am is primary”
Everything entrepreneurs do can affect their personal brand. Even the way entrepreneurs act can impact personal brand in the long run.
Lok reveals the 3 million dollar personal branding strategy.
Strategy #1: Being known as
Lok believes the last thing entrepreneurs want to appear to others is another business they already familiar with. The name is a part of the brand. Entrepreneurs need to create more memorable moments for others. It is important not to wait for others for their permission to claim their spot in the market. Moreover, entrepreneurs should start as expert at the beginning and then get backup support along the way.
Lok believes it is important for entrepreneurs to get their domain name as soon as possible. To make the name more memorable, Lok suggests to take two different words and combine them for extraordinary effects.
Strategy #2: Specialization
Personal brand can grow by specialization. The term “specialization” refers to a specific target market with specific product or services that can meet their needs. Entrepreneurs understand the more presentations they deliver the more sales they close. However, marketing and branding are the opposite. The more focus their clients, the more energy and more business they can generate. This also means when entrepreneurs try to brand all people, they will end up being nothing to anyone.
“The more often you reject the clients you do not really want, you will attract the clients you really want”.
Lok shares 7 ways to specialize a personal brand to target an audience.
Specialize by ability
Specialize by behavior
Specialize by lifestyle
Specialize by mission
Specialize by product
Specialize by profession
Specialize by service
When entrepreneurs specialize their abilities in their personal brand, they can outrank their competitors. Lok suggest awards, testimonials, or proof can become a powerful differentiator. Specialize by behavior shows certain personality and the ability to listen. The dominant behavior will attracts the market and produce positive reaction. Lifestyle can be used to draw a certain future perspective for specific audience. When personal branding includes specific mission, it separates from other general organizations. It will also create a niche or community. Products can also impact personal branding. Moreover, products can limit certain market sector.
Many entrepreneurs attach their profession with their personal branding. This sends the message that entrepreneurs want to own a piece of that specific market through personal brand development. Lastly, when entrepreneurs specialize their services in their personal brand, it narrows down the market to the most compelling target market.
Lok believes the wealth is indirect proportion to the knowledge of the market. Entrepreneurs should at least specialize 1 out of 7 ways for their personal brand.
Strategy #3: Attributes
Personal branding is all about attributes. Attribute can attract or benefit target market. Every entrepreneur should have one leading attribute that can used as core message to drive all their branding collateral.
Lok wants entrepreneurs to think about these two statements.
“What do you want to be known for”
“What do you want to be known as”
With the right attributes in place, people will remember and come back for more services. It is entrepreneurs’ obligation to ensure clients know about their attributes. Additionally, entrepreneurs need to think if their actions congruent to what they known for.
Lok thinks the way entrepreneurs cultivate their characteristic that makes them famous is through tribe. Seth Godin defines a tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader and connected to an idea. Lok believes in business, the group should also connect to character. It is important to be famous in the niche that nobody heard of.
People who stay with particular entrepreneurs because of they provide certain clarity, breakthrough ideas, and curiosity.
“Clients may come to you because of what you do. They stay with you because of who you are”
A way for new members in the tribe to promote their personal branding is to have a backstory. The backstory can reveal who they are, where they are from, and what they are doing. Backstory is entrepreneurs’ mythology, legend and life story. Entrepreneurs need to keep repeating their backstory with different ways to use as their foundation.
Lok shares the 5 elements for crafting a character in the tribe. Each element must be carefully craft to match the desired outcome.
Backstory
Beliefs and values
Magic power
Parables
Secret language
The keys to the effectiveness of personal brand are in the character in the storyline. People remember characters when they can relate to them. Stories can create eager for people to wait for the next installment. Moreover, stories create the effect of curiosity for entrepreneurs. The good character stands for a belief with recognizable backstory.
When entrepreneurs are able to create characteristic that stands out, memorable and passion, they have developed the uniform of personal brand.
3 examples of types of characters
Lok explains 3 types of characters entrepreneurs can use for their storyline: the reluctant hero, the exceptional man or woman who overcomes huge challenges, and us versus them.
The reluctant hero consists of the storyline that transforms from a regular person to someone who is trying to make a difference. The storyline will show how the person stumbled through something and change at the end. Spiderman is a perfect example of reluctant hero.
The exceptional man or woman who overcomes huge challenges comes from the storyline where people are intrigued by the characters who are good at what they do. The process of overcoming the challenge and triumphs against all odds, handicaps, and skepticism can win really demonstrates who they have become. Tony Robbins is the best example.
The us versus them character works well since most people like to blame others for their problem. When the storyline represents them to be on their side can greatly improve reputation and followers. The formula for this character comes with 3 steps. The first step is to discover a secret that proves there is a problem in the market. The second step is to unite together and solve the problem. The third step is to emphasize the product so others can become one of them.
Lok emphasizes all character crafting requires flaws and disclosure. Nobody likes a perfect character because there is no such thing as perfect human being. They must show the willingness to be transparent.
Magic power is also important element to craft character. Nobody likes to follow a boring character. Entrepreneurs need to identify the character with special or exceptional abilities that leads to exceptional result. When crafting the character, entrepreneurs need to remember to tie in what they are selling and the end result of the product or services they provide.
The forth element is the parables. Lok explains the best way to teach or convey information to others is by telling a story. The parables must support the character’s identity. Entrepreneurs should have an inventory of stories. Each story should make a strong point.
The fifth element is the secret language. All tribes have their unique secret language. When the character attach with secret language, people who want to bond with the character must learn the language. This enhances the relationship between the character and entrepreneurs.
Secret element: create your own technology
Entrepreneurs can create their own ideas or concept that can help their clients to achieve their needs. When entrepreneurs discover the problem that everyone wants to solve, the technology should take care of that. This means entrepreneurs can revamp the solution into something unique that only they can offer that solution.
Lok shares 3 sites that can help entrepreneurs build their personal branding.
Google.com/alerts
Socialmention.com
Imageraider.com
Google alerts can search any brand name that is mentioned in the internet. Social mention is similar to Google alerts, but it is for social media. Image raider is to reverse the image search and discover websites that are talking about the brand or the image. This can be used to track people who are stealing or distorting pictures.
Here are the 8 primary marketing channels that can help entrepreneurs to launch their personal brand.
Client referrals
Direct mail
Networking
Joint Ventures
Seminar
Public relations
Warm calling
Internet
Lastly, Lok believes entrepreneurs in this generation are living in the time where they are given a chance to become a thought leader or influencer without others’ permission. Not everyone is entitled to have personal brand and made money from doing what they love. Building a brand takes hard work. With the tools and strategies, everyone has a chance to develop their own personal branding.
Name: Company of Young Professionals Success Series – CYPx
Presenters: Daniel Dubois, Natasha Jung, and Jason Leo Carvalho
Stories behind successful leaders can influence other leaders, especially young professionals. Moreover, stories can lead to new motivation and inspiration for young leaders in Vancouver. Company of Young Professionals invites Daniel Dubois, the Founder and CEO of ShareShed, Natasha Jung, the Senior Marketing and Event Manager of Vision Critical, and Jason Leo Carvalho, the Vice President of Growth in Voleo Inc, to share their leadership insights. In this presentation, young leaders will learn the “why” from these outstanding emerging leaders. In addition, the stories behind these 3 successful leaders will benefit young leaders in their career industries.
Value based leadership in the sharing economy
Daniel Dubois had the opportunity to visit Australia to experience the value of sharing economy. Dubois redefined his wealth from a new definition of “from what you own to what you have access to”.
Young leaders must realize they are in a tight community. Many people have things others want. The assets people do not use can empower to us it by others. Dubois shares his experience from the great pacific garbage patch and believes there will be a shift in the current society. The shift will benefit the economy.
Dubois introduces the idea of ownership to access. In this business world, young leaders do not buy mobile anymore; instead, they purchase mobility. The idea of AirBnB also comes from this similar concept.
“Wealth is not ownership; it is access”
Dubois believes the true wealth is freedom. It is the degree of love each other in the community. Moreover, it is the right message to share with the community.
Sharing economy involves the triple bottom line. There will be more people moving into the local economy. There will be more community connections. Definitely, there will be empowerment and decentralized wealth in the society. Sharing economy can reduce waste and increase the access to nature, such as provide cause and effect and develop relationship.
Dubois realizes young leaders are in the community where everything is on their clock. People are afraid the change will destroy the culture they are holding on; however, they need to look at a higher view. There is a need of new measurement of success, which is to align with purpose.
Dubois wants young leaders to use these two strategies to change the society.
Vote with their money
Use business as a tool to make a difference
When young leaders are able to develop awareness and define their values, they will see a brighter future and use business as force for good. The movement is to empower the next generation, and sharing economy will become the next economy of tomorrow.
Hustle and Heart
Young leaders will experience the time when they say they will have everything figured out by the age of 30. This creates pressure for young leaders to develop a plan for themselves. Natasha Jung reminds young leaders that if they do not consistency hustle every day, other young leaders can come and over them. However, Jung believes when they hustle, their heart should be in it.
At the age of 17, people supposed to have a plan of their direction, but as they approach to 30, they have to ask themselves if they are going to the right direction.
In the age of 17, Jung got a feedback from a student that she is not qualified to have the title of student council. Jung thought the hard work was not enough. She made the perception of only someone who works the hardest deserves to be a leader. This changed her life and changed the way she hustled. In reality, Jung is hustling without notice. Jung thought her hustle was making her feel good, but in reality, was she?
“Hustle beats talent when talent does not hustle”
Intention is important for hustle. Jung indicates hustle without purpose is just a busy work. Everyone has choices. The problem is that people have too many choices and it is difficult to make the choice. Jung believes future behaviors come from past behaviors. It is all about traits.
During Jung’s school year, she had a chance to work in many broadcast activities. In fact, these activities lead Jung to burnout. The hustle was driving her to the ground. Jung emphasizes all passion projects are great, but the question is, are those project good for her?
It was time for Jung to take things seriously. She was waiting for a sign. There was a moment when she accepted the event planning role for a conference, she was almost destroyed. A friend of Jung sent her a message of “Dare to dream”. “Dare to dream” was a letter she wrote to her future self. Jung felt bad because she had not done what she really wanted to do.
Jung reached out to her network and sought the opportunity to become a TV producer. Jung explains she is now doing what she really wants to do. Everything she has done before is just preparation. When she received the letter to extent her contract, she feels that is her validation. She is now happy and now the hustle and the heart are now as one.
Jung wants young leaders to remember that the most important thing to have by the time they are 30 is the clarity and confidence to live their values to the best of their ability.
Recession
Jason Leo Carvalho defines recession as a period of temporary economic decline during which trade and industrial activity are reduced, generally identified by a fall in GDP in two successive quarters.
The economy is in growth and the trend of Canada unemployment rate is steady, but the household debt to income ratio is rising. The house debt ratio has increase over 163.7% for a past couple of years. Carvalho believes it is not the housing market that should be worried; in fact, it should be other facts, such as the rise of credit card, mortgage and personal line.
Carvalho was raised in Kitimat. Kitimat’s economy made up of 10% growth of GDP in Canada. Even though Carvalho’s father travelled a lot, and his mother worked at Royal Bank, his family has consistency. Carvalho had a great life and had the opportunity to learn to public speaking at a young age.
In his teen, Carvalho was inspired by a movie called “Dead Poets Society”. There is a powerful phrase that resonated Carvalho.
“The powerful play goes on and you may contribute your verse”
Carvalho questioned himself, “what is his verse?”
Carvalho attended university to study psychology and worked in a psychology firm in Vancouver. Going through 9/11 and the burse of Dot.com bubble, Carvalho exposed to the meaning of recession. His belief changed and witnessed the first time the evolution of technology takes place in the market
During the stock market crash at 2000 to 2002, many people lost their saving and many families are crushed. He realized there is nothing important has ever build without irrational exuberance.
“Dig your wall before you are thirsty”
Forget about university, Carvalho needed to know what he was going to do. Carvalho started to go to business competitions and got hired as a business developer. Carvalho asked the owner of C-Fax Radio to be his mentor and started his social entrepreneur journey. Carvalho went to Oxford and attend the Skoll World Forum. He met many world leaders. He took the initiative to become the educator and formed a foundation. Carvalho felt everything he experienced evolved around social economy. Currently, he is writing a book called “The First Employee”.
Carvalho suggests young leaders to always put themselves out there to get action. Lastly, Carvalho provides 7 tips for young leaders.
Name: Achieving your way to entrepreneurial success
Presenter: Desmond Soon
A distinct trait from all successful entrepreneurs is whenever they face fear, they never give up. Moreover, successful entrepreneurs will continue no matter what happens. Vancouver Social Entrepreneurs meetup invites Desmond Soon, a Pan Asian Serial Entrepreneur, to share his entrepreneur journey experience. In this presentation, Desmond Soon will provide his valuable lessons from his path to success and the common mistakes from entrepreneurs today. Moreover, Desmond Soon will explain the proper way to keep a right mentor and the action steps for entrepreneurs to take their success to another level.
Many entrepreneurs called Desmond Soon “the Pan Asian Serial Entrepreneur”. Soon helps many entrepreneurs develop profitable and sustainable businesses. Soon is also a qualified commercial pilot before his path of entrepreneurship. With over many years of experience working in major Fortune 500 firms, he is able to gain trust and support from major business players. Moreover, Soon appears in many social media platform, which influences many new entrepreneurs in this generation.
How to be successful as an entrepreneur
Soon believes to be qualified as entrepreneur, people need to have a business. Soon was born in Singapore. He spend 12 years there and immigrated to Vancouver after. He completed the qualification to become a commercial pilot, but the ambition of becoming an entrepreneur remains in his heart. Soon was the middle of 3 children in his family, and he considered himself as the black sheep and the entrepreneur of the family.
In his early age, Soon involved in many illegal activities. In the age of 14, he thought it was cleaver to sell drugs through wholesale system for business, but he never thought it was illegal. He got himself into trouble with the law. Soon broke into school to steal computers and got caught by the police.
When he watched his father cry with disappointment, it was a wakeup call for Soon. He started to realize the importance of getting a proper mentor and be successful. In his teenage years, he surrounded himself with mentors. He joined Amway and learned the value of reading business and motivation books. He used business knowledge for something more productive, such as picking up girls.
Soon believes it is important for entrepreneurs to find the edge. The edge is what makes the difference between any entrepreneurs.
After gained some small success, Soon decided to travel to Japan because he felt in love with Japanese culture and the business city of Tokyo. In his 12 years in Japan, he worked from corporate world to startup own companies. He managed to raise 1/2 million dollars of investors’ money at the age of 28 by sell Jewelry brand to elite and celebrities. He started to socialize and party; eventually, he ran out of the money.
He got bailed out by a Korean girl and eventually got married. Both of them worked in high end Fortune 500 corporate jobs while opening a restaurant. Soon shares he made a biggest mistake of not paying attention to cash flow and did not understand the restaurant’s break-even point.
“If you are not making money, you are not an entrepreneur”
While the restaurant was in survival mode, he had 2 babies and spend over 1/2 million dollars on restaurant. He launched a talent booking agency business to gain more cash flow, but the stress from the restaurant almost ended him marriage.
Soon emphasizes during that moment, he looked fancy from the outside, but he was living in poverty. He was far away from happiness. He was stressed, lack of money, and lying to his spouse. With endless fighting with his wife, he was exhausted and stressed.
He declared bankruptcy due to a Ponzi scheme. He borrowed from Yakuza in order to maintain his life style and pride. Furthermore, he had to steal diapers from the supermarket because he was so far in debt.
That moment Soon felt such a loser. He needed to sort things out to become a hero for his family once again.
“Take 100% responsibility everything happened in your life”
Soon called his mentor and his mentor said something he will never forget.
“Desmond, I am not going to give you a fish, but I am going to teach you how to fish”
His mentor gave him hope. He swallowed the pride and asked his network for help. People lend him the money to pay back to Yakuza, but at the end, he got evicted.
Soon moved back to Vancouver as a single father. He took his mentor’s suggestion to start internet marketing. He became humble and rebuild his career. He shared his story on video to inspire others. Now, he is earning 6 figure income and willing to help people to find ways to get back on their feet.
“Turning setbacks into comebacks”
Common mistakes from entrepreneurs
Soon believes many entrepreneurs have the problem of analysis paralysis. When they are lacking capital, they are trying to do things the wrong way. Pride and ego can make entrepreneurs think they know it all.
Mentors can be in different forms. Books and audios count as a form of mentors. Many entrepreneurs fail because they are trying to be perfect. In addition, many entrepreneurs are not willing to invest in themselves or their businesses. The amount of investment entrepreneurs invest in their businesses equals the amount of value created in their businesses.
“It is not what you know, but who you know; most importantly who knows you”
Soon reveals the top 4 evils that will screw up entrepreneurs.
Health
Emotional
Financial
Time
When entrepreneurs have poor health, they will stop pursuing their success. Instead, entrepreneurs must keep in balance with health and work because it will motivate them to get their message out. When entrepreneurs have emotional issues, their decisions will be interfered. Soon suggests all entrepreneurs when any decision is made, they must stick with it all the way. Business can fail with financial problem; therefore, entrepreneurs need to keep seeking opportunities to gain stable cash flow. Many entrepreneurs think they do not have time. In fact, time is based on the priority. When entrepreneurs do not have time, it usually means they do not have the priority to be successful.
Business starts like a baby, and it takes time to feed the baby to growth. When entrepreneurs make money from business, it is advised to reinvest back into business.
How to find and keep a right mentor
Soon believes mentors must be someone who has been where entrepreneurs are and where they want to be. Mentors must have financial interest in entrepreneurs. When working with mentors, entrepreneurs should be in joy. Mentors like entrepreneurs who take massive action. They must integrate everything mentors are teaching, training or doing. Most importantly, entrepreneurs must be coachable.
Soon wants entrepreneurs to know that mentorship is earned. When entrepreneurs find the mentors who has what they want and where they been, they need to follow these mentors, both virtually and the real world. Entrepreneurs must pay attention and implement their teaching. When entrepreneurs generate enough results, mentors will contact them personally.
Soon creates a 5 main action steps for entrepreneurs to accelerate their success. First, entrepreneurs must know their “why”. Second, entrepreneurs need to be clear on what they really want. Third, they must commit on willing to make mistakes. Fourth, entrepreneurs need to find the right associations, inner circle, mentors, books and other personal development materials. Fifth, entrepreneurs need to plan their actions, understand their numbers and start take actions.
Successful entrepreneur journey can reveal many successful traits. When entrepreneurs follow their traits, they can expand their vision beyond their expectation. TiE Vancouver Organization invites Drew Green, the CEO of Indochino, to share his entrepreneurial journey and his valuable business lessons. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will discover Drew Green’s success mindset. Moreover, Drew Green will explain his definition of becoming a successful entrepreneur.
Drew Green is the CEO of Indochino, one of the largest made to measure menswear brands on the market. In the market, Green earns the title of “Iconic Internet Entrepreneur”. He is also the Founder of SHOP.ca. With over many years of experience in online retail industry, Green establishes many strong relationships. His leadership impacts in many well-known corporations, such as Flonetwork, and DoubleClick. He is also the Founder of Katapult Internet, a holding company that operates over 20 companies in web and retails. Green is also the member of Scarborough Hospital Foundation.
Fireside chat with Drew Green
Green considers himself as a proud Canadian. In his childhood, he lived in Scarborough, Ontario and raised by a single parent. Green mentions his family never had a lot of money. Even though his family moved over 17 times, there was sustainability. As a kid, Green always wanted to start his own business. Green explains his first business involved around measuring fences for apartment building, but due to a lack of business planning, his first business failed.
Green developed the passion to help others when he discovered there was no funding going through the Scarborough Hospital. Until that moment, he set a focus to make Scarborough the 2nd biggest city in the world.
Athletics played a big role in his school years. Green established the importance of building relationship. He had the chance to come to University of British Columbia, but he selected University of York to take care of his mother. He sold his personal training business during his post education school year.
“In business, relationship is the most rewarding”
In his path of entrepreneurship, Green never thinks there is a difference between working in Startup and working with corporation. Green believes in any career path, people are leading their own path, which defines his definition of entrepreneurship. There are two things Green look for in his path of entrepreneurship: learning and being terrified. Green believes in any journey, entrepreneurs need to be challenged all the time to grow.
Green is always searching for valuable partners. In every circumstance, entrepreneurs should always find someone to work with. Green believes every success takes more than one person.
Green had the privilege to see the world outside of Scarborough because he had no debt after selling all his businesses. He traveled to Australia and lived there for one year. He met a girl who worked at Singapore and had the opportunity to experience different cultures in different countries.
Learning is the most important element in Green’s journey. The biggest adventure is to seek out and learn from others. Green started a software business related to email marketing. He agreed the tradeoff on equity for the employment opportunity. When the market crashed, the business got acquired by other company.
Green never thought about outdoing himself. He loved Canada and always wanted to come back. This was one of the reasons he founded SHOP.ca. During that stage of his life, he was overwhelmed with work and personal responsibilities.
Green indicates there is so much change in the online retail space. However, Canada is still in the early stage. Green anticipates the online retail space will grow significantly in Canada.
During the first year of SHOP.ca, Green needed to drive from Toronto to United States for 8 hours every week. The work was tough, but within 2 to 5 years later, SHOP.ca raised over 80 million dollars. Green believes in any business, it takes massive focus. However, the offset is that entrepreneurs will eventually lose attention to family. Green made the decision to give up his CEO role when he turned 40.
Green’s passion is in business. It is something he loves to do. He loves to help other entrepreneurs to build their businesses. Green believes as successful entrepreneurs, they need to provide unique experience to new and old customers. Vancouver is the capital of business in North America and Vancouver is filled with talents.
“Any success comes from the team, and Vancouver can find the team you need”
Currently, Indochino has reshaped the management. The major external challenge Indochino is facing is the cost of living in Vancouver. As a part of CEO’s responsibility, Green needs to take care of his team.
Green mentions the secret behind Indochino’s success is the ability to provide personal style in global scale. With the help of the current CFO, the executive team is able to build a 5 year strategic plan. By taking advantage of raising strategic capital, Indochio is able to lower the cost of fabric.
Green once believed when entrepreneurs gain enough success, they will not reach out to mentor as much because they might change the current procedure. That is a mistake Green made because mentor is a great way to enhance business applications.
Green is looking for long term transformational opportunities. Green trusts more in personal connection because with personal connections, he is able to see others grow. Passion is important. Green’s passion is to build business with people and this passion can go across everything. Green looks at the future of 2016 and anticipates there will be many companies build in Vancouver and target other countries.
Green suggests entrepreneurs to set goals. Green states 8 out of 10 entrepreneurs do not set goals for themselves. Green always set goals and he always review them every day to ensure he is on track. Goals need to have rhythm and transparency.
“Review, change, and update. Ensure I set goals high enough”
Now, a majority of decision making evolves around his kids and family. Green believes that is his legacy. There are 3 kinds of inspiration from Green.
Develop journey inspires Green
Work for great people inspires Green
Create wonderful experience inspires Green
When it comes to managing balance life for entrepreneurs, Green believes self-realization is important. Green wants entrepreneurs to know that they do have a choice. They will always find the way.
Green does not considered himself as a transformational entrepreneur. He believes transformational comes from the team by work the best out of them. Green is not a big fan of the power of networking events. He rather wants organic referrals from his personal connections.
To get his team on the same page, Green inspires teams by central mission. He paints a big picture that includes everyone in the team. Green wants entrepreneurs to know that just because they feel success, it does not justify them to force others to work like them. Moreover, it is important not to burn people out.
When it comes to settle down ideas, Green suggests entrepreneurs not to overdo the due diligent. Many entrepreneurs will over analyze the idea. Sometimes entrepreneurs need to burn the rope and find the right team. Sometimes people will say no to ideas, but it could be a test for entrepreneurs so do not be blind.
“Choose your conversation wisely because not everyone wants you succeed”
There is no regret from Green’s entrepreneur’s journey. In fact, he made a lot of failures over his journey, but it is a part of journey that makes his success today.
Name: How to transform your daily decisions into golden opportunities
Presenters: Victor Liu and Emily Lim
Many young entrepreneurs feel overwhelmed with decision they have to make. In fact, they tend to miss out the best opportunities in front of them. GetLeadUp meetup invites Victor Liu, the Owner of Ink Saints and the Business Operations Consultant for crème De La Crumb, to share his strategy on reframing successful mindset. Young entrepreneurs will learn how to use the right mindset to setup their next golden opportunities. Emily Lim, the Founder of GetLeadUp meetup, will reveal the practical application to apply the mindsets into effective decision making.
Victor Liu was the Special Projects Coordinator from Organika Health Products. Until one day his mindset shifted, he took the leap of faith to discover his golden opportunities. He pursued the opportunity to become the Business Operations Consultant at Crème De La Crumb. His journey did not stop there. Victor Liu found the company of Ink Saints, provides meaningful tattoo for people, and took on the role of Chief Financial Officer.
Liu will share the 7 important mindsets to effective decision making.
Mindset #1: You can always make more money, but you can never make more time
It is common to hear from people that they do not have enough time. However, the truth is that it is not that they do not have enough time, yet it is what they value or prioritize certain things over others. Everyone has 24 hours and the difference is how people choose to spend it. When a company vision is large enough that it cannot accomplish by one person, the company will hire people to trade their time for money to help them accomplish the vision.
Liu wants young entrepreneurs to think if their time is spend on the value they require; otherwise, they need to rethink about their priorities
Mindset #2: Create new daily habits for yourself
Liu believes it is important for all young entrepreneurs to visualize where they will be in the next 5 or 10 years. Every step they take today will determine if they are one step closer to their goals. Therefore, young entrepreneurs should create little habits to ensure they are on moving in the right direction. Little habits can add up and it can create huge impact at the end
Liu wants young entrepreneurs to write down at least 5 habits a day. Whenever they are lost, they can refer back to the notes to get back on track again.
Mindset #3: Mistakes teach you how not to do something
Everyone makes mistakes and that is why there are erasers on pencils. People tend to stress over because they want to aim for the perfect solution. There is no such thing as the perfect decisions. Mistake is a way to signal people if they are going to the right direction. Without mistake, people will not know if they are closer or further away from their goals. Liu indicates successful people do not always make the right decisions; instead, they make decisions and then they make them right.
Mindset #4: Be clear, be focused, and be deliberate
Liu does not believe practice makes perfect; instead, perfect practice makes perfect. Young entrepreneurs will receive what they focus on. For instance, there are two basketball players. One player focuses on the goal of shooting 1000 times. In fact, the other player focuses on scoring 1000 times. At the end, the second player has a better chance to be picked on a team because the first player only has a general goal and the second player has a focused goal.
Mindset #5: Do not overthink, act
When young entrepreneurs overthink a situation, their minds tend to create limitless amount of “what ifs”. They are overwhelming their mind with negative instead of positive. Usually, this comes from fear. Fear is irrational, and Liu wants young entrepreneurs to act on fear. Act is the abbreviation of “Action Conquers Terror”. When young entrepreneurs act, they choose to face their fears.
“I chose the possibility of having a different result”
Mindset# 6: There is almost always another solution
In business, young entrepreneurs will face “either or” situation. However, they do not realize they have the choice to choose alternative solution. Young entrepreneurs should not limit their options because other people say so; instead, they need to discover the alternative option.
Liu shares a story. A sneaky loan shark is forcing a father to pay the debt. If the father is not paying, he will go to prison. When the loan shark discovers the father has a beautiful daughter, he provides a solution for them. He will pick a black and a white pebble on the ground and put it in the bag. If she picks a black pebble out of the bag, the father will be debt free, but the daughter will have to marry to him. If she picks a white pebble, the father will be debt free.
The daughter discovers the loan shark purposely put two black pebbles in the bag. She has three options.
Refuse to take the pebble
Try to expose the loan shark as a cheater
Pick the black pebble and sacrifice herself.
If the daughter chooses the first option, her father will go to prison. If the daughter chooses the second option, the loan shark will ignore it. If the daughter chooses the third option, she will sacrifice her life.
The best option is the forth option. The forth option is to pick the pebble out of the bag and accidently drop it on the ground. She will tell the loan shark and say the color she picks is the opposite of the color that is remaining in the bag.
In business, young entrepreneurs should always take a step back and find the alternative option.
Mindset #7: Today, I am one day closer to…
Every young entrepreneur has a different answer to that statement. Nevertheless, the answer should always be positive. That phrase is telling them the situation they are in currently is temporary. Struggling through certain periods of life is part of being human. The positive side to it is to help young entrepreneurs to focus on hopes, dreams and accomplishments.
Liu believes young entrepreneurs need to learn how to focus on mindset. Based on statistic, only 6% of people will keep their New Year resolution because they are based on action and not on mindset. It is easy to talk about behavior, but it is difficult to change mindset.
“When you change your thinking, you change your beliefs. When you change your beliefs, you change your expectations. When you change your expectations, you change your attitude. When you change your attitude, you change your behavior. When you change your behavior, you change your life”
Confident decision making
After making any decision, most people will question if they are making the right decision. Emily Lim believes when people are having doubts, they are giving power away to doubts.
Young entrepreneurs must trust their instincts. People tend to have the habit to get second opinion before purchasing. They do that because they have doubts. While dining out, most people will ask others what they want to eat. They do that because they fear their ideas will get shutdown. Lim considers that as the fear of rejection. This fear will allow others to speak up for them.
When young entrepreneurs do not have inner voice, they cannot confront others. Most of time people feel by complaining to others will solve their problems. Nevertheless, they are fear of facing the problem itself. In addition, most people have fear of joining something new. They will feel they will get judged. They will ask others to join with them. This leads to the fear of alone time. This is the fear of making personal decisions.
Why people have problem of having their own voice? Lim believes it is because gut feeling is not sufficient for any backup evidence. People are willing to make decision when they have enough support reasons, and gut feeling does not have any. To avoid this problem, people need to build instincts to have quick decisions.
For young entrepreneurs, the path of entrepreneurship will be a torture if they do not find their inner voice. Most of time, they will realize their original endpoint might be different. Moreover, they should not feel afraid to make mistakes; in fact, they should keep going and it will eventually out at the end
Young entrepreneurs should stop second guess themselves and always go with their instinct. They need to recognize their bias and start changing their decision making. Bias come from inexperience, and going through life will gain experience. Therefore, if they do not trust themselves, they do not have enough experience.
Most young entrepreneurs rely on their logical side to make decisions. Lim wants young entrepreneurs to stick with their decisions and make it work to maximize the values.
“Guts first, then other considerations come second”
“Follow the fruit” is phrase young entrepreneurs need to ask themselves. It means every decision they make need to be aligned with their desire outcome. Fruit is the outcome and there is always a way to self-access. Young entrepreneurs need to seek more opportunities and stop being insanity. Insanity means doing something over and over and expects new result.
When young entrepreneurs discover they are happy with the life they are living, they need to figure out what they need to do and follow the fruit.
Collaboration is an important skill for young leaders. Moreover, there is an increase trend of young leaders who are taking responsibility to make their community a better place for their generation. The Company of Young Professionals provides Leadership Café event for young leaders to suggest recommendations for industry experts. The event invites Tim Savoie, the VP of Transportation, Planning and Policy for TransLink. In this presentation, leaders will develop project management skills, growth strategies, and creativity to assist Tim Savoie to address the community transportation issue. They will contribute their meaningful ideas to TransLink and build connections with other young leaders.
Tim Savoie is the Vice President of Transportation, Planning and Policy for TransLink. He is also the member of the Canadian Institute of Planners (MCIP) and a registered professional planner. He worked as the Director of Planning and Development Services, Engineering and Operations at the City of Port Moody. In addition, Tim Savoie is serving as chair of the Professional Practice Review Committee. He has practiced in New Brunswick under the Atlantic Planners Institute. Moreover, he has many years of experience in municipal planning and led many interactive public consultation processes.
TransLink is recognized as the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority. Savoie highlights for the last year. TransLink hired new CEO, Cathy McLay, to the executive team. The compass card is now in operation for public and the failure of funding referendum.
Savoie believes the vision of TransLink is still in good stand. TransLink is still considered the main transportation for citizens in Lower Mainland; however, the public still questions where the funding source for the transportation. Savoie indicates TransLink is the first North American transportation authority responsible for both roads and transit. This includes bus, ferry, cycling, HandyDART, Transit, West Coast Rail, bridges, shuttles, and Transit Police Forces.
There were approximately 234 million transit trips in 2014. The usage has increased over 25% last 4 years. There are more than 1 million transit boarding each weekday and there are over 2,100 vehicles used. TransLink has the total 68 Kilometer for the Skytrain to provide transportation for people, which makes the longest transportation in Canada. For the past years, TransLink has raised over 1 billion capital investments and has committed over 145 million dollar of infrastructure last year.
Savoie emphasizes TransLink is not just transit, it supports people moving as well. Savoie provides the Plebiscite result showing over 51% of voters turnout.
The Mayor’s vision is still the blue print. The vision advances the objectives of the Regional Transportation Strategy. Broad government supports by the Mayors’ council, TransLink Board and Province. However, the broad public did not.
The total revenue of 2014 for TransLink is 1.45 billion.
34% on transit
24% on fuel tax
22% on property and replacement tax
10% on government transfer, interests and amortization
4% on parking tax
3% on Goldean Ear Tolls
2% on others
Savoie explains the future planning for TransLink continues to develop strategies and policies on fare policy review, transit ridership growth strategy, mobility pricing, Transportation Demand Management, and Goods movement. The structure has not changed since 1984, and Savoie believes people attitude are changing in the current economy.
Savoie also explains the future for TransLink will focus on the area transport plan, Evergreen extension, bus integration, and transit network consultation. Major projects include Broadway subway, surrey Light rail and Pattullo bridge replacement. In addition, TransLink will look at the option to secure senior funding.
Savoie wants young leaders to provide suggestions for the following two questions.
Funding transportation in the region is a challenge. How do young leaders think TransLink can best build the case for public support for additional funding for transit and transportation projects and plans in the future?
Transpiration needs have changed vastly since young leaders’ parents used to get around 20 to 30 years ago. What are the needs as a young busy professional with transportation in general or specific to transit? What needs to change?
Young leaders think TransLink has a lack of excitement. They need a place to feel they are outside of the corporate space. If TransLink includes excitement, such as hip-pop music in the transit, young leaders will be motivated to use TransLink.
Another way of looking at it is to humanize the process. TransLink is lacking on the marketing to tell a positive story for the community. They need to show how they can impact people’s lives. In addition, the more transparency will generate more confidence from young leaders. When TransLink integrates human element (emotion) into marketing campaign, young leaders will move forward.
Young leaders suggest TransLink to target different marketing campaign to different demographic. Instead of leveraging only one campaign to fit the whole region, TransLink needs to research deeper on different sectors.
“Different perspective, more trust”
Young leaders expect downloadable application for their smartphone. TransLink can build phone application that allows young leaders to view different routes. The application will provide alerts for live update. TransLink needs to find a way to connect young leaders with their daily activities. For example, TransLink can partner with different local coffee shop so young leaders can use compass card to pay for their coffees.
TransLink can have WIFI on every SkyTrain. TransLink needs to look at the punctuality and flexibility. If TransLink combines the necessity from young leaders, they will discover they are one more step closer with the new generation.
Inspiration is the driving factor for young entrepreneurs. Moreover, inspiration can also trigger young entrepreneurs’ motivation to go forward. Brainstation Vancouver invites Sean Clark, the co-Founder of Shoes.com, to share his experience of entrepreneur journey. Sean Clark will reveal his turning points in his startup. In this presentation, young entrepreneurs will learn the mindset behind this leader of e-commerce industry in this generation.
Sean Clark is the co-Founder and the Chief Revenue Officer of Shoes.com. In addition, he is also the co-Founder of Shoeme.ca. Sean Clark left the position at Coastal Contacts to pursue his dream in e-commerce industry. Sean Clark is the first successful entrepreneur who operates premium shoe retailer in Canada online. In addition, many young entrepreneurs consider Sean Clark to be the new role model in e-commerce in this generation.
Sean Clark’s dream started in his parents’ basement. He considers his root of success all begins in the basement. In fact, he believes he is only half way there.
In his 20s, comparing with other places, Vancouver was not an exciting city. Clark had the thought that Vancouver does not have the ecosystem that will afford to compete with other cities. Clark decided to travel everywhere and this had opened many new perspectives. Clark considered travel experience is the best way to build up his education. Until he met his soulmate, who lives in Richmond, he decided to set root in Vancouver. This choice changed everything for him.
While pursuing his Master, Clark had the eyes set on the e-commerce industry. Clark believed e-commerce is the frontier of innovation. He knew where he wanted to go. He sought the opportunity to meet with Roger Hardy, the current CEO of Clearly Contacts, to gain the opportunity to work in the Corporate Development team for his internship. After completing his master, Roger Hardy reconnected Clark and hired him to work in Costal Contact as the Regional Manager in Sydney. In this position, Clark learned the structure of e-commerce. He also got the opportunity to look at the whole e-commerce in a larger scale.
In 2011, Zappos announced the company will officially exit the Canadian market. Clark realized his opportunity has finally arrived. He resigned his position in Coastal Contact and moved back to Vancouver to pursue his dream.
Clark admits he did not know anything about shoes, but he knew there was a huge demand of shoes. Based on statistic, it was a 7 billion dollar market and only 2% were purchased online. Until Canada is caught up the market, Clark bet online shoe business will eventually drive up to 10%.
With the help of his friends, Clark managed to retrieve the list using API from other online sources. Clark was able to provide shoes options online for buyers and sell them in advance. The online traffic showed many places are sold, and the system was working. Clark would buy the retail products from other places, send and package in the basement, and mail it to buyers.
Clark mentions he tried to promote his company in many trade shows; however, no one signed up and also got kicked out of the show. Eventually, he figured out the reason.
“Brand A is needed for brand B and brand C”
Clark changed his strategy. He uploaded the brand B and brand C products on the webpage and showed to brand A. He convinced brand A that brand B and C are in the business, which forced brand A to be part of the system. He took down brand B and C products from the website and upload brand A products. He went over to the brand B and C and convinced them brand A is already in the system. He successfully got brand B and C to sign up with his company.
“Influencer is important”
Clark only picked certain brands because he had confidence that other brands will eventually join. Even though many major brands signed up the company, the company was facing the problem of insufficient cash flow. Instead of going with traditional purchase order routine, Clark convinced all suppliers to adapt distribution landscape strategy, which is pay after selling. Clark had the vision of all brands to go direct online, which would take down all the barriers of entry.
Sales were increasing, and company did not purchase anything. However, Clark was experiencing many personal challenges, such as health. Whenever there was obstacle, Clark would push through it. Life style had been changed dramatically for Clark.
Two years later, the company was running out of cash. Clark needed to fire a half of his staff members. He was done. Because of ego, he did not want to listen to anyone. He got kicked out and lost his family and friends. He called it his rock bottom moment. His brother took him in and He decided to change. He called his life coach and started to seek for support. He wanted his life back. After He surrendered, the company sales went up. When he sold his business, he started to try Icon Man competition.
Clark believes the challenges have been changed and the culture has differences. It does not matter how much he struggles because life is a path. People need to go through life the best they can.
“3 steps forward, 2 steps back. Success has no short cut”
Questions and Answers
To face Amazon, Clark believes the company needs to differentiate from United States. The company needs to give people the reason to come back. The company provides a story for people and Shoes.com is still remained one of the biggest buyers in Amazon.
The Iron Man training helps Clark to release pressure. It reminds him the important values he has. Clark indicates the company was facing the insufficient cash flow was caused by underestimating the rate of cash burn and overestimating the flow of income revenue.
Clark mentions he is lucky to meet Roger as his mentor. There is a pattern in e-commerce and Roger is the one who shows him the pattern. Young entrepreneurs cannot do everything on their own. Clark suggests young entrepreneurs to be in a mastermind group.
Whenever there was IT issue, Clark would call Shopify customer support. In this age, resources are everywhere. Clark believes sometimes young entrepreneurs need to have the confidence to convince them things people do not believe. This is a sales skill. Young entrepreneurs should promise the moon and sell the dream.
Shoes.com will open a retail store in Vancouver in the future. They are not opening the store to sell shoes; in fact, this is a marketing strategy for Shoes.com to share the brand story every month.
The logistic has changed from basement to warehouse. Clark emphasizes “Light assets” is the key. The company will leverage the dropship and sell products before they pay for it. Many competitors are throwing the company under the bus. The competitor advantage Shoes.com has is that they are outspending every competitor. Speed and capital are the key to success for Shoes.com.
Originally, Clark only has Shoeme.com as the domain. Shoes.com was owned by a big shoe company. Because of acquisition, the company acquired the domain.
MBA helps Clark to present in a group effectively and efficiently. The social capital is what MBA brings him in business. Clark reveals the company’s return of customer is 40%. Shoes.com uses Twitter and Facebook for social media. Both generate significant amount of organic traffic to help the company’s organic result.
“From basement to a billion, and we are only half way there”
Name: How to think like an unconventional millionaire
Presenter: Dan Lok
To create maximum wealth, mindset is the key element for successful entrepreneurs. Skills can only reach a limit, but success philosophies, beliefs, and thinking will go beyond the limitation. Vancouver Entrepreneurs Group invites Dan Lok, the serial entrepreneur, will reveal the ultimate truth for entrepreneurs to reach the millionaire level. Dan Lok will cover the system behind the millionaire thinking and the hidden secret of the definition of money. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will transform their beliefs; moreover, entrepreneurs will learn how to manage their business in a more powerful way.
Dan Lok is the Founder of Vancouver Entrepreneurs Group. Many entrepreneurs consider him as the “Millionaire Mentor” in the internet marketing world. Lok had launched many successful internet companies and written many bestselling books. With his guidance and leadership, Lok helps many young entrepreneurs to lead their success in the right direction. Furthermore, Lok is a keynote speaker that motivates many entrepreneurs in this generation.
Dan Lok strongly believes the way entrepreneurs think can change their beliefs in business. Lok will share his personal philosophies and business practices that help him achieve extraordinary entrepreneurial and financial success. Therefore, Lok will reveal the harsh reality of business mindset.
Within 100 people, if entrepreneurs follow them for 40 years, they will discover only 1 will be wealthy, 4 will be financial secure, 5 will continue working, 36 will be deceased, and rest will be broke. Based on statistic, 5% will be successful and 95% will be unsuccessful. This means in order to be successful, entrepreneurs should do the opposite of what other people are doing.
Lok believes success is ultimately and fundamentally about behavior, and not about attitude, education, skill, and even luck. When entrepreneurs behave incongruent with their goals, they will have difficulty achieving them.
There are too many entrepreneurs focus on the management of their business instead of themselves. Therefore, Lok shares the top 4 common inner conflicts that hold them back from improvement.
Conflict #1: Negative association with money and wealth
When entrepreneurs associate negative thoughts about money, the universe will not attract money to them. Lok reveals the top 10 money limiting beliefs.
If I am successful people will hate me
If I make a million dollars, I might lose it
There is not enough money to go around
If I have a little more than I need to get by, somebody else would have to go without
If I have a lot more than I need to get by, a lot of people will have to go without
It is better to take less than to be responsible for someone else’s hardship
Democrats punish the rich
Republicans punish the poor
If I make a lot of money, I will be betraying my father who never made much money
The main reason why people associate these money limiting beliefs is to be a good person in front of the society. These beliefs come from 95% of the people. To become successful, entrepreneurs need to do the opposite to become the remaining 5%.
Money limiting beliefs are considered to be defensive statement. Defensive statement is build when people have no clue how to get money. How do entrepreneurs know they are on the right track? If entrepreneurs are successful, people will hate them.
Conflict #2: Overly sensitive to others’ opinions and perceptions, criticism, and gossip, outright attacks
When people attack with their opinions, usually they are afraid because they are witnessing things that are not aligned with their beliefs. Then, entrepreneurs will give in and lost focus. Successful entrepreneurs will not take others’ negative opinion and influence their beliefs. When beliefs are strong, nothing can change their direction.
Conflict #3: Fear of changes required or caused by higher level of success
When people acquire success, they will discover they are facing many unfamiliar emotional obstacles. When the belief of “not good enough” appears in their mind, they will stop thrive for more success. The fear of change will make entrepreneurs question their beliefs.
Conflict #4: Realization of unwillingness to pay the price, but equally dominant unwillingness to admit it
Success has a price and entrepreneurs need to pay in advance. When entrepreneurs receive success, they know they pay enough. Many entrepreneurs are not willing to pay for the price. That is the difference between average and successful entrepreneurs. Lok mentions there is never a right age to achieve success. Mentor can make entrepreneurs do the tasks that they do not want to do so they can become what they want to be.
Lok believes low 6-figures earners can operate with relatively high levels of unresolved inner conflicts about money and wealth. Therefore, millionaires have no margin for these weaknesses.
“Money is the amplifier of who you are”
Lok wants entrepreneurs to remember the 3 levels of earning money
Make it
Keep it
Multiple it
Many entrepreneurs can make the money, but successful entrepreneurs will have strategy to keep it in business, and millionaire will have the strategy to multiple it with investment.
Lok shares the 15 millionaire mindset wealth principle that will shift entrepreneurs’ beliefs and thinking.
Principle #1: Think abundance, not scarcity
Many people do not know how to handle large amount of money. Based on statistic, people who won the jackpot will go bankrupt within 3 years. The reason is because they do not know how to make the money. When people buy lotto tickets, they are sending the message of “relying on luck” or “hoping to win” to their sub-conscious mind. Subsequently, they are adapting that belief in their lives.
Millionaires do not put “luck” in their sub-conscious mind. Lok believes when people believe wealth is limited, they will view it as a zero-sum game. When people believe each dollar they make comes from other people’s expense or other people’s loss, the universe will keep their power of wealth attraction low.
Instead of putting bills on the fridge or in the drawers like everyone else, Lok suggests entrepreneurs to put cash. They will reframe their mindset with money instead of payable. This will help entrepreneurs to obtain wealth triggers. Entrepreneurs should pay their bills immediately and put it away. They should only spend 5 minutes on it; otherwise, they will keep on thinking about it.
“Whatever you think on, expands”
It is important to adapt good and positive into the mind. Entrepreneurs should take as much as they can, so the universe will make more for them.
“Your wealth is addition for you, but subtraction for no one else”
Principle #2: Think needs, not money
When people chase money, they usually will not receive it. This statement illustrates the way people thinking can influence the result. Lok emphasizes if entrepreneurs want to donate and make a difference, they should make more money so they can donate more.
Elon Musk’s first wife, Justine Musk, mentions in order to be successful, entrepreneurs need to find innovative ways from fusing two different worlds.
Lok defines the law of attraction as people become who they think and their conscious and unconscious thoughts will make their reality. However, thinking alone will never make anyone rich unless that thinking manifests itself. Consistent action is the key for entrepreneurs.
Scale creates millionaire. Magnitude creates millionaire. Therefore, scale and magnitude create billionaire. Making money is easy if entrepreneurs know scale and magnitude, but keeping and multiplying are difficult.
“If you want to be billionaire, you need to impact billion people”
Instead of believing the law of attraction, entrepreneurs should believe in the law of effection. The more lives entrepreneurs affect in an entity they control, in scale or magnitude the richer they will become.
Principle #3: Think process, not event
Many people do not realize the method behind successful entrepreneurs’ success. Millionaires are forged by process, and not by event. All self-millionaire create their wealth by carefully orchestrated process. To obtain wealth, entrepreneurs need to learn successful entrepreneurs’ process. Process makes millionaire and events are by-product of process.
Lok believes when entrepreneurs try to skip the process, they will never experience the events. When they try to skip the process, they will usually make bad investment.
Mentor is important. Mentors can help entrepreneurs to correct their practice of business. Entrepreneurs will go nowhere if they keep doing incorrect practice. When entrepreneurs are doing the same thing over and over, they will not improve until someone corrects them.
So what holds people back from getting a mentor? The answer is pride.
Principle #4: Think simultaneous, not sequential
In early childhood, people are conditioned to learn progress in strict linear fashion from sequential steps. Business has no steps; instead, entrepreneurs can learn from the progress. However, most entrepreneurs are trapped by a limiting belief that everything should have a local order.
Millionaires know that is not how things are done. They take massive action and juggle things simultaneously.
There is no law of sequential. Lok indicates what entrepreneurs want to do is drag the future toward them in the present and not waiting to catch up to it at some distant time and place.
When entrepreneurs feel overwhelm with business activities, Lok recommends entrepreneurs to make overwhelm their friend.
“Overwhelm can help you grow. Aim for process, not perfection”
Principle #5: Think environment, not will power
Willpower can be highly overrated. Entrepreneurs must realize they are a product of their environment. It is important to choose the right environment that will best develop them towards their objectives. When entrepreneurs analyze their environment, they should be aware what things are helping them toward success or holding them back from success.
The people entrepreneurs hang with the most and the books they read will determine their next 5 years of success.
“Rich people have big library and poor people have big TV”
Lok shares some of his wealth triggers in his office environment.
Clock
Time is valuable
Art of War statue
Think strategically
Horse
High energy
Family Protrait
Family value
Books
Author, think and write
Name blocks
Personal brand
Lok wants entrepreneurs to remember that if they do not alter the environment, there will be no implementation. Nothing gets done without a deadline and entrepreneurs should not start something new until they finish the current.
Principle #6: Think accomplishments, not activities
When people are busy, it does not mean they have accomplished a lot. Entrepreneurs should stop being “I gotta” person. Results are all that matters. Lok defines productivity as the use of time, talent, energy, and resources in a manner calculated to move people progressively closer to worthwhile goals.
“Priorities should govern schedule, and schedule should not govern priorities”
Money loves clarity, money loves speed, and money loves circulating. Therefore, most entrepreneurs are producing 90% of their wealth from only 10% of their time. With a slight adjustment in time, wealth can change significantly.
Lok always question himself with these two questions every day in business.
Are we making money today?
How can we make more money?
Few entrepreneurs will take the time to analyze or study their current customers or accounts for contribution to net profit; Moreover, only few entrepreneurs will analyze their activities and time usage the same way.
“Making splash in water does not mean you are swimming”
Many people like to multitask. Lok thinks multitask is not productive in business. Multitask is waste of energy. Successful entrepreneurs will focus their energy to complete one task and continue to the next.
Principle #7: Think assets, not income
The skill of leverage is extremely important for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs who are earning less than 6-figures receive their all income from work. Anyone above mid 6-figures has some portion of income from leverage. To achieve 7-figures, entrepreneurs will need to leverage 25 to 30% of their work. Moreover, to sustain 7-figures, entrepreneurs need to leverage 60% of their work.
Robert Kiyosaki mentions rich people acquire assets and the poor middle class require liabilities that they think are assets. In this generation, there are only few entrepreneurs get to sustain their millionaire status purely through work. Lok suggests entrepreneurs to own income-producing assets.
The biggest income-producing asset any entrepreneurs can have is their name brand. Usually, entrepreneurs can also obtain these 3 kinds of assets.
Other people’s money (OPM)
Other people’s resource (OPR)
Other people’s connection (OPC)
Principle #8: Think global, not local
It is important for entrepreneurs to think international. They should always think about how they can serve a bigger market place. Many entrepreneurs will only focus on their industry’s news. They never suspect all industries are linked in the same economy.
Lok recommends entrepreneurs to travel to obtain different perspective from different countries.
Principle #9: Think investment, not expense
Many people refuse to invest themselves because of “worth”. They do not believe they will receive the value. Instead, entrepreneurs should think about Return on Investment (ROI). Successful entrepreneurs will not think how much it costs, yet they will think how much it can make them. Rich people will tie the negation first then worry about money later.
Principle #10: Think resourceful, not resources
Entrepreneurs should always think how they can use the resource instead of just acquiring the resource. Most people will wait for things to come along, such as the right time or right resources). There is no such thing as the right time. People will also wait for other factors, such as permission or experience. Most of the time, people will lose the opportunity.
Lok defines resourcefulness as to drive by a constant desire and process of self-help and information gathering. When unexpected events happen, people will think, “There is nothing I can do”; however, unconventional millionaire will think, “There is always something I can do”. This is resourceful thinking.
Principle #11: Think collaboration, not isolation
In this generation, entrepreneurs, who go solo, will have lower chance to be successful. In business, entrepreneurs should always ask these two questions.
Who is backing me up?
Who is my network?
Entrepreneurs should always aim for the win without a fight. They must know who they can work with. Entrepreneurs should hang around with people who are more successful than them.
“I teach you everything you know, but I did not teach you everything I know”
Principle #12: Think pragmatic, not idealistic
Entrepreneurs need to remember the Murphy’s Law. In business, whatever can go wrong, it will go wrong. It will go wrong at the worst possible time. It will go wrong on the worst component, and it will all be remembered as entrepreneurs’ fault.
When a negative situation happens, entrepreneurs can treat it as the opportunity of preparation. There are 3 types of people.
People who make things happen
People who watch things happen
People who wonder what happened
Lok believes there is a forth type of people, which is people who anticipate what may happen and act before it does. Millionaires have the aggressive and anticipatory attitude to response to threats.
Things can go wrong in business. Entrepreneurs should always remember to think before and have a backup plan.
Principle #13: Think big, not small
Lok wants entrepreneurs to think about this important question.
What is your legacy you want to leave?
Death is something everyone terrifies. Entrepreneurs should always have the sense of urgency. Life is short and time is precious. Therefore, entrepreneurs should always think about the big picture. If they think big, they can change the way they operate.
Lok suggests entrepreneurs to write their goals every morning with present tense. This will help remind entrepreneurs their directions.
“Big goals? It is ok, I have my whole life working on it”
Principle #14: Think fast, not slow
Fast is the new big. Because of internet, people can access knowledge almost anywhere. In business, it is not how much entrepreneurs know, it is how fast they can implement.
“Fast fish eats slow fish, not big fish east small fish anymore”
Principle #15: Think innovation, not invention
The major difference between innovation and invention is to take something exist and make it better.
Lok defines innovation is creating new value and capturing value in a new way. Innovation is something new to business that fills an untapped customer need. In Hollywood, there is little money made from true creativity, but a whole lot of money is made from putting old wine in a new bottle.
For unconventional millionaires, innovation actually means innovative transfer of proven methods or strategies from outside their field into their field.
Lok wants to give entrepreneurs a statement of advice.
“The universe does not give a damn about you”
Whatever is holding entrepreneurs back, it is not a big deal. Everyone will keep getting older and everyone will eventually die in the future. Everything people experience will only last for a brief moment in universe. Therefore, entrepreneurs should stop wondering what it all means, and how they can do and what other people think. Entrepreneurs’ objective is just go out and do something epic.
All entrepreneurs have amazing journey they want to share. Moreover, future entrepreneurs model them as their foundation for their businesses. Vancouver Entrepreneurs Group and Vancouver Business Network invite Matt Barrie, the CEO of Freelancer.com, to discuss his journey of building successful online business. In this presentation, Matt Barrie will provide valuable business advice for entrepreneurs; in addition, he will deliver many actionable insights to inspire entrepreneurs. The presentation will include an interview panel with Matt Barrie and Chris Koch, the CFO of Freelancer.com. The interview will be moderated by Dan Lok, the Founder of Vancouver Entrepreneurs Group, and Roger Killen, the Co-Organizer of Vancouver Business Network.
Matt Barrie is the CEO of Freelancer.com and also the President of Escrow.com. He was named the inaugural BRW entrepreneur of the year 2011. Aside from his business, Barrie is also the Adjunct Associate Professor for Cryptography at the University of Sydney. For over many years, Barrie has appeared on many Summit Series, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journey and the Economist. He is considered as the serial entrepreneur in Australia and has inspired many future entrepreneurs.
World domination on a shoe string budget
Matt Barrie started his first business in Stanford. With the background of computer science major, he discovered many problems, such as the selling strategy, with the current business model. Because of a lack of experience, the business was facing problem with venture capitals. After 6 years, Barrie decided to walk out.
It was tough to raise money. Barrie decided to change his strategy by concentrating on small projects. When he was trying to build a website for his mother’s wholesale business, he realized marketing strategy did not excite his interest. He outsourced the task to other inexperience consultants. However, there was no job site website existed in the market for him to outsource. Eventually, he found the “Get a Freelancer” website. The design was not appealing, but it did the job Barrie wanted. Barrie was fascinated with the business model and decided to build a similar website.
“If Amazon is the marketplace for books, how come there is no marketplace for tasks?”
He purchased Biditout.com and set his 1 million dollar revenue for his business. He needed to have traffic for A/B testing, understand the prospect, and construct the operating structure. Barrie later realized there were over 100 or more competitors, so he changed his business strategy to “buy, instead of build”. Barrie acquired Getafreelancer.com. However, Barrie was experiencing difficulty to focus because he was going in solo. He hired a team to delegate his tasks and able to figure out the core problem.
“As team of one, it is tough; as team of 2 or 3, you get someone to push you forward”
The website had some basic graphic. He decided to get some support. Barrie integrated dashboard to measure the visitor of the site, revenue, and the membership. The dashboard gave Barrie the sense of the business direction. Barrie needed to work on cash flow, so he hired someone smarter than him to address the issue. Barrie gave them the permission to hire their friends. Suddenly, Barrie gathered a group of talent people in his company.
“Hire A, and they will attract A. Hire B or C, they will be cockroach and you cannot get rid of them”
Barrie needed to change the logo, so he auctioned the task in a competition method. He managed to purchase the domain of Freelancer.com for over $324,000. It was Barrie’s best decision he ever made. The SEO took off because of keyword. With the new logo of the humming bird, the company is sustaining in the industry. The team eventually moved into a bigger office. The team began to test new feature for better conversion rate. By breaking down the tasks into many simple steps, Barrie was able to see some light in the business.
Barrie suggests entrepreneurs to only have one call to action on the website. People prefer the color orange button. While in business, Barrie was teaching lectures to seek new potential team members. To increase brand recognition, Barrie spend money on bus and taxi banners for business exposure. Journalists and writers were promoting Barrie. Barrie received the award for entrepreneur of the year and many others. Barrie emphasizes when entrepreneurs win the first award, they will be on the roll to receive more. Barrie suggests entrepreneurs to apply for small awards, build up the momentum, and people will put them on the short list for future awards. When Barrie needed a speech, he posted the job on Freelancer.
The company was now full of teams. Barrie consolidated the industry by buy out many small competitors. He purposely selected small competitors because they are easy to tear and repair.
The company was now operating in many different currencies. Barrie hired international PR to help the company promote. He then launched a regional office in Vancouver. Barrie was inspired with the company because the value of company is changing people’s lives. Barrie managed to get Freelancer on IPO and the company is now worth 1 billion dollar.
Barrie acquired Warrior Forum. The website has a 60 second guarantee. The company is now working with NASA and currently it has 18 million users today.
Questions and Answers
As an entrepreneur, work excites Barrie. An advice for future entrepreneurs from Barrie is to work on the communication skill. The more define of what people want, the easier it gets. Maintaining communication comes from proper follow up. Barrie suggests entrepreneurs to build recruiter team.
Chris Koch mentions the finance team in Freelancer.com is the core support in the company. Finance team requires transparency and needs to be articular.
Barrie shares he makes mistakes all the time, but he will not make the same mistake twice. The biggest mistake he made is acquiring business in bad match. When business starts with the wrong people and the wrong culture, stress will appear. Entrepreneurs should always start business with interest. Barrie regrets he should of start business at earlier age.
Koch is proud of the core matrix in the company. He shares he is excited when he sees the change from people’s expression during the explanation of the company’s business model.
Barrie mentions the true reason for starting the company is because he was unemployed and he needed to create a job for himself. When a problem occurs, Barrie suggests entrepreneurs to learn the skills first and hire others who understand more to solve the problem. When the company is using A/B testing, entrepreneurs need to ensure the split is random and independent. Timing can change the result.
Barrie indicates US government does not like bitcoin concept. In business, Barrie does not like users to go through too much currency exchange. The company uses mix signals to analyze their rating system. The team will look at the history to measure performance. To mitigate fees from complex transactions, Koch opens over 100 different bank accounts. He will pay attention to different countries’ currency change and look for the lowest cost in the local country. The strategy is to build up the fund and transfer in one batch.
Barrie suggests young entrepreneurs to take as much risks as possible. Young entrepreneurs should work for a startup company for at least 2 years to understand the business policy and procedure before starting their own company. Young entrepreneurs should start talking to prospects to understand what they think and what they want. Barrie mentions 3D printing is the newest and fastest growing market.
Elon Musk is Barrie’s role model. He fascinates his vision and his work. When he is looking for partner, Barrie will look for people who have technology background and good at their industries. Barrie will hire people who are poor, hungry and highly driven. The candidates should take charge, have ambition and believe they can make a difference.
The revenue model for Freelancer.com is 10% commission. Users will get additional features when they upgrade their subscription. Barrie believes instead of monthly subscription, the conversion rate is better if users are in annually subscription. The profit margin is 88%, which is close to the average benchmark of the industry standard.
5 years from now, Freelancer.com will be considered the early stage of the new workforce for business. As a CEO, Barrie will delegate his tasks to the team. The final advice from Barrie for entrepreneurs is to find a way to measure everything because statistic will tell.
“CEO without technology background is good; but CEO with technology background will be better”
Presenters: Denis Waitley, Marci Shimoff, Karen McGregor, Harvey Mackay, Colin Sprake, Dean Graziosi, and Brendon Burchard
Entrepreneurs need to identify and develop leadership qualities from within. Moreover, they can discover their skills from other successful entrepreneurs. Power of Success is a conference for entrepreneurs to change life and change the world. When entrepreneurs look inside their bags, they will discover they have unique and valuable items that could share to the world. Many entrepreneurs are afraid to get judge by others. Only they can take things out of the bag; otherwise, no one will know. As entrepreneurs get further to their journey, they look further away and further back. They look at regrets and accomplishments, but they never live in the present. In this conference, entrepreneurs will reveal their purposes and improve their success in business, even in life.
Denis Waitley
Denis Waitley, the American’s motivational speaker and the author of many bestselling books, such as “Seeds of Greatness” and “Empires of the Mind”, believes money is knowledge. It is only good if entrepreneurs share it. Success is not a status; instead, it is a process.
Waitley trains many Olympic athletes to reach their peak potentials. Waitley uses his Olympic analogy to test world class leaders. Moreover, he discovers it is not always have to beat someone’s record; in fact, it is to be lived in that moment. Business is similar to Olympic. Waitley shares his insight of his 5 rings in business world to can help entrepreneurs to reach success.
Ring #1: Self-awareness
Waitley’s definition of MBA is “My Brain Awareness”. Waitley believes 70% of what entrepreneurs hear from outside world is negative. Brain is not designed to determine the difference between emotions. Brain will process everything like facts because brain is like the extension of neuropathway to compensate what has been lost. Brain can learn talents by reorganizing.
Thoughts are made up of visual and emotion, and worlds can affect thoughts. When entrepreneurs act out, the chemistry will change in the body. Therefore, entrepreneurs need to put positive stuff in their brain. Waitley experiences the paper bag self-awareness experiment. The experiment concludes brain takes things people learn in automatic. They will stumble first to train their brain, and eventually it will adapt. Waitley emphasizes memory is like a music video that constantly editing to fit in to comfort zone. People will edit out what is not pleasant or correct. Memory will look back in the history to see what makes sense. In addition, memory is like imagination.
Ring #2: Self-esteem
Waitley indicates self-esteem comes from believing entrepreneurs have the potential to be out of the comfort zone. Value is internal and entrepreneurs must have value and love internalize before express to external. This will result net worth is always lead to self-worth. When entrepreneurs have the feeling of no ceiling, they usually discover they can do more than they can do. Waitley calls it motivation. Motivation is the motive with action. In business, expectation is motivation.
Mind talks and listens. Words can impact mind. Entrepreneurs need to understand that what they say, their body will respond. Entrepreneurs can be hooked by thoughts and what matter is the way they speak to themselves. Waitley wants entrepreneurs to be caution of the language they say to themselves. Entrepreneurs can take control of their mind. When they do, they can project their goal to their desire outcome.
“Demonstrate your words with actions”
Ring #3: Self-determination
Entrepreneurs need to take control using high moral standard. They can screen out the noise and go for their dominant thoughts. The little voice inside their mind is the technique to screen out things that are not important. Waitley believes success comes from observation, imitation, repetition, and then reflection.
Ring #4: Self-direction
Idea of goal setting comes from image, words, and put it in present tense. When entrepreneurs focus on the target, their mind will take them to their desire results. Waitley shares the GPS (Goal Positioning System). GPS is a way for entrepreneurs to be more specific on their goals. The more specific it is, the more they can define it. This will improve the chance they can achieve it. GPS can tell entrepreneurs what they need and what they can experience. Failure is target redirection and procrastination is the fear of success. GPS can guide entrepreneurs to control their self-talk and imagination.
Discipline comes from doing within. Imagination is like a muscle memory. Entrepreneurs should always be specific on material goals and not characteristic goals.
Ring #5: Self-dimension
Waitley suggests entrepreneurs to be the bargain. To determine if the vision is real, Waitley believes the secret is to focus everything out there and put the past behind.
Marci Shimoff
Marci Shimoff is the number one New York Times bestselling author. Shimoff believes nobody wakes up want to be unhappy. Based on statistic, 1/4 of adults are experiencing anti-depression. Good news is that science has managed to crack the happy code. Moreover, Shimoff emphasizes happy entrepreneurs are likely to be more successful in business.
Entrepreneurs are not happy because of stress. Stress is something people will never get rid of. There are 5 types of stress in life.
Stress of work
Stress of kids
Stress of communicating
Stress of body
Stress of money
In history, people assume they can exchange money for happiness, but they conclude it is wrong. However, Shimoff believes it is possible to be happy by changing habits.
Shimoff shares she was born depressed. She had a happy mentor, her father. The advice he gave her is to be happy. Some people are born happy, which questioned Shimoff if happy is genetic. In her 20s, she was overweight and doing a job she hates. One day, she cried at the beach and determined to change. She made her road of happiness with 5 simple goals in her life. In 1998, she managed to achieve most of them, but she still felt upset and empty. She started to do interview to find the answer, and she realized it was happy habits.
Shimoff believes everyone has a happiness set point. Despite the activities or events happening to people, they will always return to the set point. The set point is made up of 50% genetic, 10% circumstances, and 40% habits. The problem is that people tend to focus on circumstances instead of habits.
There are two types of success. The first type is to build up the ego, and the second is to align with the soul. When people change habits, they can change genetic. The starting place is to take responsibility for happiness. Shimoff mentions there are 2 kinds of people: victim or victor. Victim is the fast track to unhappy.
Habit #1: Develop a kind mind
Entrepreneurs need to switch out the negativity. Attitude in mind is important. Everyone has the average of 60,000 thoughts per day and 95% are the same thoughts he or she had yesterday and the day before. Moreover, 80% of those are happiness robbing thoughts. Shimoff provides the arm experiment. The experiment concludes happy thoughts will strengthen people’s mind and body. For neuropathway of happiness, entrepreneurs should look for the goods, savior it for over 20 seconds, and go for a 3:1 ratio.
“The only difference is you can see my handicap, but I cannot see yours”
Habit #2: Live from your heart
Entrepreneurs should create always forgive others easily. It is important to be kind to everyone. Heart is more powerful than brain because emotion and heart are linked. Water can be affected by feelings. Since 70% of body contains water, feeling can affect significantly. When there is more appreciation, there will be more peace in life. In reality, appreciation is always higher than salary wage in business.
Habit #3: Make your cells happy
Entrepreneurs need to move their body as much as they can. Shimoff provides the experiment that by moving body can increase the excitement and passion within the body. This leads to happiness and smile on the face.
Habit #4: Live your soul passions
There are two types of energy: expansion and contraction. Expansion is the soul and contraction is ego. Shimoff indicates entrepreneurs should move in the direction of their soul. Usually people will decease quickly within 2 years after retirement. Therefore, people should go approach passion after retirement. Soul passion can help entrepreneurs to find something they can do that makes them alive.
Habit #5: Harness the power of those around you
Shimoff believes it is important for entrepreneurs to find people who will inspire them. There are too many people who have thoughts that are not supportive. It is entrepreneurs’ job to find the right people.
“We cannot create miracle, but we can create the condition that makes miracle”
Habit #6: Keep on laughing
In average, adults only laugh 15 times per day. Shimoff believes laughing can lead to more happiness. When entrepreneurs smile, they are sending happy messages to their mind.
Karen McGregor
Karen McGregor is the international speaker and Founder of Rock the Stage. McGregor believes every entrepreneur has a message to show the world. However, entrepreneurs never realize they often listen to their other voice, which keeps them silent.
“Life ends when we become silent about things that matters”
Entrepreneurs should not choose to be silent over time. Connection is equivalent to influence. McGregor wants entrepreneurs to leave the voice behind and make a difference on stage. McGregor will share the 5 keys to connect to group of people.
“Connection is the commitment to move beyond self-preservation toward contribution”
Key #1: A group is a collection of individuals
McGregor wants entrepreneurs to see the audience as individuals, not group.
Key #2: Discover the real challenge
The greatest way to connect to audience is to ask more questions. Questions can lead to the true problem that entrepreneurs can help them solve.
Key #3: Tell stories
It is important to be a person who gone from challenge and decide to work through it. A story is the love language of universe. The power of story can draw people to their project.
Key #4: Sell your idea or product
McGregor emphasizes selling is an invitation. The invitation is to invite people to solve their problems. This will result to make a difference in people’s lives. If entrepreneurs cannot sell, they cannot really solve the problem in deeper level. Motivation can only last for short period. It is entrepreneurs’ job to give people the message.
“Share, communicate, and begin today”
Harvey Mackay
Harvey Mackay is the author of many New York Times bestsellers, such as “Swim with the Sharks without Being Eaten Alive” and “Beware the Naked Man who Offers you his shirt”. Mackay states America is changing more than ever. There are only 75% of companies remaining. However, in future 2020, more companies will raise again. Customers are more knowledgeable and they want more for less.
Mackay defines success as follows.
Predetermine the plan
Follow the plan
Improve the plan
Mackay reveals the idea of people look outside of the window. Organizations have people who have big vision. They are big thinker. Entrepreneurs need to encourage them. There is no correlation between IQ and creativity. Mackay believes when doing something for a long time is a sign of doing something in the wrong way. Entrepreneurs should always think flexible and think global.
“It is risky not to take a risk”
Mackay states vision is to find new or improved way to do anything. Losing eye sight is not as tough as losing vision. Creativity is the key to survive in business. Entrepreneurs should always remember that little things in life mean everything. They need to look outside of the box.
Another idea Mackay raise is if practice makes perfect. Mackay believes practice does not make perfect; in fact, perfect practice makes perfect. Entrepreneurs should start with practice and end with practice. Breakthrough will eventually come. Always make decision and follow through. It might take a bit longer for entrepreneurs to get there, but they will eventually get there.
Mackay has many coaches. Mackay knows he is born with one gift. Mackay hires coach to invest himself to obtain other gifts.
“Even in biggest room in the world, there is always room for improvement”
Mackay brings the idea that entrepreneurs should believe themselves even nobody else would. Entrepreneurs never quit. In history, many people assume the maximum time to run a mile is 4 minutes. When miracle happens, someone start to break that belief and achieve more than they can imagine. Nobody should say to entrepreneurs that they cannot accomplish their goals. All it matters is they said it themselves. Goal is a dream with a deadline. Entrepreneurs should always write their goals down.
Mackay believes the idea of proceed what people see. The world is changing perception. Women are getting more in the workforce. Within 3 to 5 years later, women business traveler will increase significantly and there will be more business women than business men.
It is important to act like when people are watching. Ethic is important in business because it can lead to everything. If entrepreneurs have integrity, nothing else matters. People only matters when ideas are proven to work. In communication, the best sound in life is the sound of people’s name comes out from other people’s lips.
Entrepreneurs should never rely on computers. They should always perform and then build relationship. Entrepreneurs need to add values to others; eventually, they will get values from others. There is no such thing as cold calling because in business, entrepreneurs are always prepared. The information entrepreneurs prepared, the more chance to connect relationship to sale. Mackay suggests entrepreneurs to know more about their suppliers and customers.
In life, there are only two moments entrepreneurs are alone. The first one is when they die, and the second one is 5 minutes before their speech. Other than that, entrepreneurs are selling every moment. Everyone is a sales person because everyone is negotiating every day.
Mackay suggests entrepreneurs to humanize their strategy. They should always take time to find out about others. They should never judge the book by the cover. Mackay mentions the last idea of dig the well when entrepreneurs are thirsty. Entrepreneurs need to find creative ways to keep in touch with their connections. There are two ways people can change. The first way is people they meet and the second way is the book they read. It is important to put creativity in life and never ever be boring or predictable.
Colin Sprake
Colin Sprake, the author of “Entrepreneur Success Recipe” and the Founder of Make Your Mark Training and Consulting Inc, takes audience into a journey of growth. When entrepreneurs are learning, they will get discomfort and then they will grow. Sprake helps people to climb their success. Sprake believes without family, entrepreneurs do have a successful business.
Sprake reveals 7 steps to maximize growth, sales and profit.
Step #1: Set a goal you resonate with
When entrepreneurs are not resonating with their goals, they will go off track. They need to visualize and feel the outcome. Sprake wants entrepreneurs to reverse engineer their plans to understand what they need to do today in order to get the future they want.
Step #2: Link head and heart
When entrepreneurs think rich but feel poor, they will be poor because what they feel will show up.
Step #3: Habits and addictions
Successful entrepreneurs have habits of success. Sprake wants entrepreneurs to identify the habits that are not allowing them to be successful. Successful entrepreneurs listen to motivation audiobooks. Entrepreneurs need to change habits because they can be addicted to habits that are not serving them any purpose.
Step #4: No pain, no gain
Replacing habits can take work. However, entrepreneurs need to go through pain to change. It is important for entrepreneurs to get addicted to good habits from the break through.
Step #5: Do things never done and never had
People are in control of habits. Sprake emphasizes by keeping bad habits, bad outcomes will occur.
Step #6: Pay upfront and in full
Entrepreneurs must realize they need to do all the work before receive the reward, and not other way around.
Step #7: I to T to F to A results of R
When entrepreneurs have influence in their lives, they will change their thoughts. Their feelings will begin to change, which leads to different actions. Actions will reveal the results. Sprake believes entrepreneurs should change their influence first.
“When you change, your life changes, takes only one choice, so do it differently”
Dean Graziosi
Dean Graziosi is a well-known American real estate investor, New York Times bestselling author and an inspirational speaker. Graziosi states in 2004 to 2006, American made the mistake in real estate and the market was crashed. Opportunity was there, but people are afraid to commit.
Many people are living day by day, but inside, they are screaming for the next level. Sometimes all they need is a little shift. Graziosi discovers many people are potential big future thinker, but they will go back to original life.
To anchor or improve that peak potential, Graziosi suggests 3 simple tasks.
One week of no news
Work on the weakness
Avoid bad advice
When people watch news, news can rob their confidence. As a matter of fact, people need confidence and courage. Weakness can also rob confidence. People put labels on their weakness. When people have attention deficit disorder, Graziosi believes it is like a Ferrari engine with an ordinary car. When people work on their weakness, they can discover their strength. Entrepreneurs will focus on what they good at and pay someone to do their weakness.
Graziosi mentions people should never listen to rich advice from broke friends. There are too many people taking advice who are doing things wrong. Therefore, Graziosi will hire people who will help him engage to the right advice.
Graziosi introduces 7 levels Deep Exercise. This exercise helps entrepreneurs to discover their true “why”. Typically, the true why comes from their head, but they can only remember 3. When it is over 4, they will realize their true why is all about their heart and feeling. When entrepreneurs reach to 7, their true why will reveal. Graziosi shares his true why is to control his life. Without his past, he will not be here. True why will take people further than they imagine.
There are 3 things entrepreneurs need to be successful in real estate.
Opportunity
Knowledge
Action
Opportunity is important because entrepreneurs cannot control the stock market. Many people hope other factors will change, but in reality, entrepreneurs cannot buy stock at discount. In Canadian real estate market, the real estate is increasing because Canadian put regulations. However, it is difficult to get cash flow. Comparing with US real estate, the market is still low, but it is rebounding slowly. Cash will come into real estate very soon.
2007 was when people invest the most money into real estate. When market crashed in 2012, people started to leave. After 2012, the opportunity raised again. Graziosi wants entrepreneurs to concentrate on cash flow from rental. In 2007, the market price of the property was in average 300K, the rental is $1,100 per month. When the market crashed in 2012, the property price went down to 90K; however the rental is still $1,100 per month. Many people think they are making money when they sell, but Graziosi believes money is made from rental. Money is made below the market.
Many people want to do real estate and go for the cheap house. Graziosi shares 3 unfair advantage people can use to overcome everyone else.
The first unfair advantage is the ratio of 25 to 1. Graziosi recommends people to ask for investors in the real estate agency. They need to ask for starter home for flip and fix. They should notify them that they only send property listing that is “as is”, “price reduction”, or “vacancy”. In another words, they need to find a property that people want to get rid of.
The second unfair advantage is post cards. It is important to know who they mail out the information. Graziosi recommends people to mail out to people who own the property, they are clear with the property, and they do not live in the property.
The third unfair advantage is the bandit signs. Graziosi recommends people to flood the city with yellow bandit sings. The calls will start ringing. People will call because most people do not trust real estate agent anymore. When market starts to go up, people want more on the deal, so take the advantage.
Graziosi reveals 3 quick strategies to real estate.
Strategy #1: Wholesale
People need to find a deal a bit cheaper. They will sell the property to the end users and they can get the slice in the middle. The market is flood with buyers. There is no money down on this strategy and the best time to execute this strategy is when the market is at the bottom.
Strategy #2: Fix and flip
The best time to fix and flip is when the market starts to recover. That is when the market has more supply than demand.
Strategy #3: Buy and hold
The best time to buy and hold is also when the market starts to recover. People need to find the deal a bit cheaper, and they will hold it for their portfolio.
There are 4 criteria for buy and hold. First, the unemployment needs to be low and not high. Second, the migration is in and not out. Third, rent is going up. Last, the property price has not gone crazy.
To invest in real estate, Graziosi suggests people to build power team. The team must fulfil these 6 areas.
Real estate agent
Rehab team
Title
Insurance agent
Wholesaler
Property management
People need to find the “A” player in each different area. The power team can fight for investors because that is how they get paid. Investors need to gain the knowledge to make smart investment. Having the right team can focus their success. They need to buy in the right area at the right price. Lastly, investors are doing this all remotely with confidence.
Graziosi believes to be successful in business, the most important element is to be honest. The changes will only start when people are honest to themselves. Graziosi wants to ask 2 questions.
Where are you?
Where do you want to go?
“Most people know what they do not want, but not everyone knows what they want”
The secret is to pretend a year from now and it is the best year of life, what does it look like? When entrepreneurs can answer that question, they will do great things and tap into their true potential. Nothing can stop entrepreneurs.
Brendon Burchard
Brendon Burchard is an international personal development trainer and the Number one New York Times, Number one Wall Street Journal, and number One USA Today bestselling author. His books include “The Motivation Manifesto”, “The Charge” and “The Millionaire Messenger”. Many people have good days, but in the back end, they can do better and want to achieve to the next level. Worry can be good thing because it is a signal that people are in transition. Burchard will share his 5 personal secrets that will keep people away from hitting the walls.
Secret #1: I must raise my ambitions and refuse to settle
Burchard thinks common sense is not equivalent to common practice. Ambition is set by individual and not by others. No matter what, there is always more to achieve.
Burchard was born in a tough town in Montana with 2 parents and 3 siblings. A memorable experience was when the heat was down and temperature was below 30 degrees, his parents made the experience like camping in the house. His parents gave him a good life. Burchard explains he grew up with nothing, but they have abundance. When abundance is set from others, people need to look around it. Abundance relates to what people want. People will achieve what they set for their abundance.
When people cannot see beyond, they cannot achieve it. Therefore, people need to believe. Many people think anyone in his town cannot meet famous people, but Burchard believed he could, and he achieved it. Anything can be possible.
“You can settle there, it is your choice”
Burchard believes there are 3 kinds of life. The first kind is called Cage life. This is when people feel they are trap by other’s expectation. In fact, they feel trap by themselves. Burchard was living in Cage life when his relationship ended in high school. It was a life Burchard never want to go back. Cage life is like when people put an active animal in the steel cage. They will fight back, but eventually back off. They will feel pain and shallow because they feel no one understands them.
Burchard emphasizes the ultimate caging is the Ego cage. Ego can change people. However, there are over billions of people in the world and there are many people suffer the same problem. When people think they are the only one who is going through the problem, they will not ask for help. Burchard believes the only person who can get out of the cage life is him or herself.
There are two things can change life. Either something new steps into life or something new comes from within. Burchard think reconnect is everything. When people are reconnected, they will find a way to shake the cage.
“Every cage has a door, you need to find it”
The second kind of life is called Comfortable life. This kind of life is better than Cage life. Things are going well and they receive some success. Usually people will deep skills will trap into Comfortable life. They feel restless and realize something is missing. They default answer is “Fine”. Burchard believes they are lying most of time because deep down there is something greater.
The third kind of life is Charge life. Burchard defines it as the life style where people find their missing spark. The energy is spontaneous. In Charge life, people will fulfill these three qualities.
The quality of engagement
The quality of energy
The quality of enthusiasm
People can be comfortable when they know they are in peace; however, to bring the best out of people, they need to bring joy in life. Burchard shares the way people can sustain their energy is to constantly be at high performance.
“Successful people choose to be in Charge life”
Burchard wants people to raise their expectation and do not go for cage or comfortable life. Success counts when people get to give back to their families and heroes. People will do it because the people around them care. The world needs role model and people do not need to be great to start the charge life.
Secret #2: I must live each day with more intention
When people choose to be charged, they have no exception but intention. Burchard’s life story is his intention. Burchard shares after the end of his relationship in high school, he moved out the city. When he was driving down along with his friends, he had a car accident. He experienced a feeling that he could not explain. He asked himself, “Did I live?”, “Did I live in my life?” and “Am I living in right now?”. Burchard had been taking his life, not living it. He saw himself in his own perspective with people he will miss in his life. Another question popped up, “Did I love?”, “Did I love the people around me?”.
When people are in cage life, they tend to build a wall to block off good people. Burchard suddenly faced mortality and wondered what his purpose in life was. When he was granted second chance in life, he wanted to change. Lie is precious and many people will evaluate themselves at the end of their lives. Burchard wants to make sure they can answer the question when they get there.
Burchard considers every morning is the second chance. Successful people are more intentional than the rest. Remember to bring more intention each day and the life will be awesome.
To gain high performance, Burchard uncovers 4 boxes: psychology, physiology, productivity, and persuasion.
Psychology consists of mindset and attitude. With the right psychology, people can become a better person because it can flip negativity to positivity. Physiology consists of health. People need to be consistently moving. Moving and breath can help people achieve high performance. By bouncing and take deep breath, people can feel relax and perform better.
Productivity consists of getting things done. There are too many distractions in life and people need to get time back. People tend to feel bad when their calendars are empty. People tend to check email in the morning. However, email is considered someone’s calendar. Burchard suggests people to use their first 60 minutes to be productive before jump into email inbox. Persuasion consists of knowing how people think.
Secret #3: I must no longer fear rejection
When people receive 5 good comments and 1 negative comment, they tend to feel rejected. Burchard believes when people are still feel rejected, they are not good at statistic. Imagine 10 people in life that bother them, but there are over 1000 people in life love them. Those 10 people are freaks because there are 1000 people behind their back. People should not be scared of rejection. People are only scared by themselves. People need to take control of their lives from other people. People need to give credits for themselves.
“I believe in ability to figure things out”
Secret #4: I must face my fear and jump in
Burchard wants people to face their own fear. They should stop living in the life of avoidance because they are actually hurting others. Avoidance is a good for short term, but it can suffer for long term.
Burchard suggests people to star asking people who have done it before for advice. Mentor can help people’s struggles. People will give advice unless they ask.
“Who is in your corner when you are struggling?”
Secret #5: I must reforced and be committed
When Burchard was broke, he saw his lady sleeping under the bills. He committed to himself he will never see this scene ever again. It is something he believed that was worth fighting for. People need to reconnect to someone they love so they know who they are fighting for; otherwise, they will always be in the distraction. Burchard wants people to know that when they find it, they will change.
Presenters: Jason Butcher, Chris Biasutti, and Dan Harrison
Many entrepreneurs tend to believe wealth is direct related to money. However, they tend to not realize the true wealth will also focus on relationship, experience and freedom. Mantalks invites Jason Butcher, the Founder of Kickstart Business Catalyst, Chris Biasutti, the Managing Partner of Bluewater Investments, and Dan Harrison, the coach and Financial Strategist in FS Financial, to share their personal experience with their true wealth relationship. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will understand how true wealth can influence people’s perspective. Moreover, they will discover how to attract their wealth to achieve their financial freedom. The purpose of this event is to help entrepreneurs to discover ways to generate abundance in their journey.
“Success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure”
Journey of Jason Butcher
It was not easy for Jason Butcher to discover his true wealth in his life journey. Butcher was living in fear when he was young. In the age of 5, the memory of his sister screaming terrified his childhood of not trusting anyone. He moved in with his mother after his parents got divorced. His life was in a bad shape.
Butcher explains in the age of 12, he needed to protect his sister. He stole a bike for food, but got beat up by his mother. He sought attention from violence because he did not want to be alone. Butcher shares he would sleep by a neighbor tree just to feel a bit closer like a family. During his teenager’s age, he did what he needs to survive. He filled his life with work because he felt work was the only way to connect until he lost his immune system from overwork. The employment insurance supported him to attend design course for further education. He asked his uncle to be his business partner, but failed again.
Butcher was unable to face himself anymore. He started to avoid everything in his life. He tried to work in car sales, but end up unfulfilled and dissatisfied. The car sales leaded to another business opportunity, but failed miserable. Later he found out he got his girlfriend pregnant. However, they relationship started to go apart, which lead him to depression once again. He started another company, but he tied in with too many bad people. He was selling his soul thinking they are his friends.
Pressure had pushed Butcher to a point where he could not handle anymore. Butcher says during that moment, he was not true to himself and he needed help. He attended a course that frees his mind without the distraction of technology. He was not love the one who he was and money was not the answer. When he discovered he has no attachment with money, he spent everything he had and started a new business called “Kickstart Business Catalyst”, a place for startups to support and make their ideas to dream.
Butcher believes everything he did before was fear, such as the fear of being alone, the fear of having friendship, fear of love, fear of commitment, and fear of supportive. By opening himself to being love can help him fully committed to what he do. Butcher discovers his true wealth to love himself again.
Journey of Chris Biasutti
When Chris Biasutti was a kid, his idea of freedom was to become a fighter pilot. In school, Biasutti had hard time making friends. When his mother told everyone that Biasutti would buy her a Porsche after Biasutti made his first million, his mind was wired with money pressure. Every decision he made was tied in with his mother’s statement.
During Biasutti’s college years, he was trying to figure out what he wanted to do. He studied history and pursued his post-secondary education in University of British Columbia. Nevertheless, the dream of fighter pilot was gone.
In the university, he discovered all his friends were doing well in Finance. His mother’s statement triggered and he wanted to pursue money as well. He believed his purpose of life was making money. After attending wealth workshop, he created his first vision board with 10 million dollars as his goal. After 5 years, he applied his knowledge and started to make his wealth in real estate. He was achieving his goals in his vision board.
There was only one problem. He felt miserable. He sabotaged everything but making money. He kept going because money to him was the direction of happiness. He felt insecure and depressed. He would pay other people money to make him happy. Later, he was invited to be a speaker at a conference called “One Last Talk”. When he was put on the spot, he could not able to say anything. He felt so ashamed to pretend to live the life he was in. He was literally killing himself slowly and He knew he was not fine. He began to cry.
“Never go to your mind unsupervised”
Biasutti began to realize he was pretending to be someone else. He needed to be honest to himself. Biasutti explains he needed to listen to his intuition. He clarified his why with his girlfriend. He was miserable because he was craving love and connection, but in order to have love, he needed to let go.
Biasutti believes wealth is to measure how much people can give to the world. The true wealth is to follow the true intuition. Biasutti emphasizes his life contains the purpose of helping other to discover their why. Moreover, the real question Biasutti wants to ask entrepreneurs is what is controlling them. By having real conversations with friends, entrepreneurs will be able to inspire others with their true wealth.
Journey of Dan Harrison
Being the person today from all life experience and the learning from different perspective in life, Dan Harrison is grateful to people who come in to his life. He would like to share his three moments of true wealth.
The first moment was when he discovered he exists. Exist is the perspective and foundation of wealth. In 2008, Harrison was in debt. He did not know how money works. After attending many seminars and reading different business books, he learned how conscious mind can influence people in the mind of wealth. He also discovered how the past has formed his paradigm. Relationship was his greatest growth and money was his greatest master. While working as financial consultant, his bank account was in deficit. Every time when he hit a plateau, he would repeat his decoration of wealth over and over again to regain his control in his thinking.
Until one day he lost everything, his life was falling apart. Everything he hoped for was not aligned with his mind. Harrison explains a new ways of thinking had released his mind. He moved to different city and started to work in FS Financial. He found a pattern from entrepreneurs. The pattern of “If I have money, I will be happy”. As these entrepreneurs moved forward, they were still trapped in the same position. They were not changing even if they wanted to
The second moment was when he was addicted to drugs, alcohol, and gambling. Harrison emphasizes guilt, shame and pretending were overwhelming his life. Later, he found 2 empowerment habits.
Reading
Meditation
Harrison fell in love with reading. He even started a book club to help accountable to a group of remarkable human beings that has different perspective. When he was meditating, his value shifted from hiding and escaping to learning and engaging. There was not time for him to continue his addiction.
The shift changed Harrison’s life. He got rid of everything and started to recognize in life to live align with values and integrity to be simple and organize.
“I value purpose, purpose to help people”
Harrison recommends a mobile application called Mint. It helps entrepreneurs to display their dashboard of their value system. It can discover their true self and it can start to shift their finance based on different values.
The last moment was a discovery to change the world. There is a muscle every entrepreneurs need to develop. It needs commitment because it provides creativity and empathy to the world. The muscle is called the charity of give.
Harrison is thankful to have this model in his life. His mentor believes in him and resonates his values. When culture puts in charitable spirit, it grows. For the last 4 years, Harrison is happy to be in this culture.
Questions and Answers
The definition of wealth will change as technology advances. Connor Beaton, the Founder of Mantalks, believes companies will focus more on triple bottom line. Butcher believes youth will incorporate more health, mind and conscious in their lives. Biasutti believes the purpose of their identity will shift and there will be a wave of entrepreneurs looking for change. Harrison believes the responsibility and awareness will change on companies.
Harrison suggests entrepreneurs to re-read the book “Think and Grow Rich”. Butcher recommends entrepreneurs to attend the Business Mastery’s Power in You seminar. Biasutti suggests entrepreneurs not to read, but go out and do something.
Name: Travel Hacks – Do not let the lack of funds clip your wings
Presenters: Allen Chao and Emily Lim
Many entrepreneurs have the dream of travelling across countries on business or first class. However, the price range can be a factor for entrepreneurs. LEADUP meetup invites Allen Chao, the Travel Hacker, to share his strategy to travel at a fraction of the cost. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will discover the hidden secrets from the travel industry and utilize the advantage from their point system. Moreover, Emily Lim, the Founder of LEADUP, will share her insight of the book called “The Magic of Tidying up”.
Allen Chao is the Category Business Manager in BuildDirect Technologies. Regularly, he hosts “Travel Tips with Chao” seminars to educate his co-workers with travelling strategy. Many people called him “The Travel Hacker”. Allen Chao is also one of the speakers at The First All-Canadian Points & Miles Conference from Points University. Moreover, his passion to help friends to save money on travel encourages many entrepreneurs to think outside of the box.
Allen Chao mentions his first travel hack discovery was in his fourth year in Simon Fraser University. During that year, he traveled over 12,000 miles each trip to Finland and realized the incentive from general airline travel system is poorly designed. After his 5th round trip, he discovered the point system strategy from credit cards. He managed to collect 500,000 points per mile a year with less than 10% accrued from flying. With the total of over 117,000 miles, he figured out the travel hack.
Cathay Pacific, one of the International airline companies, offers one trip from Vancouver to Hong Kong in economy class for $500. For business class, it will be $2500 and for first class, it will be $5,000. Chao manages to reduce it down to $350 for business class and $500 for first class with a simple strategy of transferring points.
The strategy is in 3 steps:
Open Alaska Airline mileage plan and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) card
Accumulate points and transfer to Alaska Airline mileage plan
Purchase tickets from Cathay Pacific from Alaska Airline mileage plan
Chao suggests Alaska Airline mileage plan because it only requires 50,000 points for business class and 70,000 points for first class. Comparing with other Asia mileage plans, Alaska Airline has more flexibility. Many entrepreneurs has the misconception that they have to use the same travel mileage system from the airline they purchase the flights; in fact, there are other companies that offer higher incentives.
Chao recommends entrepreneurs to take advantage of the MBNA Alaska MasterCard. They can take the advantage of the sign up bonus of 25,000 Alaska mile points. The annual fee is $75 and the rebate is $60. The total cost of is actually only $15.
Chao also wants entrepreneurs to get the American Express SPG card. Entrepreneurs can receive 20,000 SPG points, which converts to 25,000 Alaska mile points. The annual fee is $120 and the rebate from referral link is $30. The total cost is only $90.
For one way business class, Alaska Airline mileage plan requires 50,000 points. Entrepreneurs can transfer the 25,000 points from MBNA Alaska MasterCard and 25,000 points from American Express SPG card to Alaska Airline mileage plan. The total cost for entrepreneurs is $105.
For one way first class, Alaska Airline requires 75,000 points. Entrepreneurs can sign up another MBNA Alaska MasterCard and transfer the points to Alaska Airline. The total cost will increase to $120.
Think outside of the box
For business class round trip, Alaska Airline requires 100,000 points. Chao suggests entrepreneurs to ask their spouse to sign up another SPG card. The advantage of SPG card is that they are able to transfer the points to spouse. When entrepreneurs can use the points from two MBNA Alaska MasterCard and the points from two SPG cards, the total cost will come up to $210.
Chao shares a couple of tips from using Alaska Airline mileage plan. The plan allows entrepreneurs to have one stop over for free with the limit of booking only one career and no other places Alaska Airline does not apply.
Another tip is for Canadian residents. Chao explains when Canadian residents fly to New York, the airline can stop over for one month. Entrepreneurs can utilize this advantage to leverage on one ticket.
Credit cards
Chao illustrates credit cards have 4 different levels: sweet fruit, bulk of fruit, low-hanging fruit, and ground fruit. TD Aero Plan Visa Card is considered to be sweet fruit. It earns the most mile points. The American Express Silver and Royal Bank Avion Visa Card are considered to be bulk of fruit. The low-hanging fruit would be the SPG and American Express Gold card. These are considered to be the hybrid type. Other cash back cards are in the category of ground fruit. Entrepreneurs are encouraged to get low-hanging fruit.
Credit scores are affected by different factors.
35% on payment history
30% on the amount owed
15% on length of credit history
10% on new credit
10% on the types of credit card used
It is important for entrepreneur to keep one card with good payment history for their portfolio. Sign up for new card will hit 5 points on credit score, but after 3 months, the credit score will bounce back.
“Reward yourself with good credits”
Question and Answer
Chao emphasizes when entrepreneurs sign up the credit card and do not activate it, it will still affect the credit card. Entrepreneurs need to wait at least 6 months before cancelling the card. Before entrepreneurs change the card, they need to ask for the old card to transfer to non-annual fee card.
MBNA card uses the 3rd party mile reward system. Depends on the type of the card, entrepreneurs need to see if the system is integrate with the bank or the 3rd party companies. Moreover, entrepreneurs can transfer the points early and strategically.
Chao suggests entrepreneurs to wait 90 days minimum to reapply new card for bonus. Otherwise, they can open business card.
Chao mentions there are other sites that provide similar travel tips.
Canadian Kilometers
Canadian blog – “Don’t Call the Airline!”
Pointshogger
The magic of tidying up
Emily Lim recommends a book called “The magic of tidying up” by Marie Kondo. Every entrepreneur has a closet that fills of things. As years gone by, things are growing. It is important for entrepreneurs to clear the space and only keep the things they enjoy.
“Ask the dress, do you bring me joy? If not, why are you in my closet?”
Lim applies this theory in her life. Many experts use point system to evaluate their stress level. However, Lim believes the system has flaws. A suggested system is the hassles and uplifts scale. Hassles are things people that are annoyed or bothered. Uplifts are events that make people joy. With a scale, entrepreneurs can rate their items or events in their lives. The scale and provide awareness for entrepreneurs to improve their stress level in general.
There are 6 lessons Lim learn from the book.
Lesson #1: Do not tackle the whole house
Entrepreneurs should tackle the category and not by room. In life, entrepreneurs should only change one thing at a time and no all at once.
Lesson #2: Respect your belonging
Entrepreneurs must understand things have feelings. They will not feel happy if they are squashed in a corner of the closet. In life, entrepreneurs should look at different perspective and understand why they exist in their lives.
The ultimate tip to success is not to do it alone. Lim believes it is important for entrepreneurs to list all the people they can help them achieve their goals.
“Why do alone if you can do it with others?”
Lesson #3: Nostalgia is not your friend
Entrepreneurs need to know items are sentimental. When the items serve their purpose, entrepreneurs should set them free. In life, entrepreneurs should not hold anger. They can release them out of their lives and open up the space for joy.
Lesson #4: Purging feels so good
Entrepreneurs must realize one experience does not mean other experiences are the same. Every experience is different. In life, it is important to change the mindset and allow different experience to fill the joy.
Lesson #5: Fall in love with your closet
Entrepreneurs must fill their closets with things they love, and then they will fall in love. In life, entrepreneurs should fall in love of their life. Entrepreneurs will meet many different people in life. If people they meet are toxic, they should cut them out of their personal life. It is not necessary to be friends for life and entrepreneurs have the permission to fire their friends.
“I want to love my life and the circle of friends; I love my life because I let love into my life”
Lesson #6: Rediscover life you love
Life can be different for all entrepreneurs. They should have their own personal style. In life, after getting rid of bad stuff, entrepreneurs get to discover new things in life.
Communities are noticing the changes in the world of education. Moreover, it is important to reshape the education system in the communities to align what is relevant in the society for future generation. The theme of TEDxLangleyED 2016 conference is “The Future of Education: Innovation and Inspiration”. This event invites the moderator, Maria Lerose, the Program Manager at Dalai Lama Centre for Peace and Education, to engage the audience. The conference invites many professionals to share their personal vision of how new education can incorporate students to enhance their growth and perspective. In addition, all speakers come from different background, which makes this presentation to be more diverse and inspired.
Are you ready to disrupt?
Holly Clark, the technology and innovation specialist from San Diego and the National Board-certified teacher, invites the audience to two different classrooms. The first classroom involves with non-traditional thinking and the second classroom involves with content based learning. As the audience gets closer, Clark reveals the first classroom integrates IPad to capture student’s learning and growth; however, the other classroom insists of same content, same methods, and avoids technology. The students in the first classroom are using computers to connect with outside world. The instructors are encouraging students to blog and learn from different perspectives around the world. Nevertheless, the teachers from the second classroom are expecting solutions. When students are getting bored and tired, teachers treat it as disrespect mattes and send them to principal office or detention. The atmosphere in the second classroom is a non-stop and fast pace environment. In order to keep up the technology, they adapt the technology without implementing in students’ perspectives. Clark asks people which classroom is suitable for the new generation.
Clark believes many schools thought new technology is the solution; in fact, they should stop talking about technology and focus on learning. In this society, there are many disruptions. However, school oversees these disruptions and they needs to learn from disruptions.
“Instead of bench watching, it should be bench learning”
Clark suggests 3 solutions to help school to change. The first solution is to encourage students to ask questions differently, which allows students to think and learn. The second solution is to capture learning by reframing the existing information. The last solution is to improve literacy. It is important for students to be able to tell story in new platforms.
“Be connected and become the roadmap”
“Make learning contagious”
Harnessing the power of geek in the classroom
Ryan Radford, a teacher at Walnut Grove Secondary, believes the definition of the word “community” is changing. Traditionally, community means class, school, sports, work, and clubs. However, there is new type of community and it is called “the community of geek”. This community harnesses the power of geek in the classroom.
Many students agree the concept of being cool is important, but they are doing it with the wrong reason. They tend to take themselves a little too serious, but generally, everyone has an inner geek that inspires others to be geek. The word geek means change. Geek resonates with passion. Radford believes being passion is being geek. It is cool to be geeks. If school is not for geeks, something needs to change.
As working in the computer facility, Radford discovers school can provide opportunities that specialize in passion. This allows students to walk in with inspiration.
When school provides guidance, independence, and choices, they are offering personalize learning. It makes school work to be more of tangible products. They share with the world with the creation they build. Radford realizes the biggest challenge is to keep up with the growth of geeks.
Radford believes the community of geek can bridge the gap of high school and industries. It gives students the chance to create stories, wow moments, and growth. They will be prepared to expand other opportunities in professional world.
“Be passionate, be excited, be a geek”
How schools can save companies from collapsing
Dan Pontefract, the author of Flat Army and The Purpose Effect”, and the Chief Envisioner of Telus Transformation office, shares a situation happened at work. During the first day of work, the new employee asked his mother to help setting up his cubical. There is a problem and the problem is that many people in the new generation cannot deal with setbacks with the new culture.
People are required to think outside of the box. Many key traits from previous successful people are not appearing in the new generation. In addition, Pontefract believes it is important for parents not to confine their children to their own learning.
In average, a half of companies in Fortune 500 will not survive pass 5 years. In addition, about one third of companies in Fortune 500 will survive over 10 years. Jobs are disappearing due to technology advancement. Many jobs could be replaced by robots, but the issue is that it is lacking of job creation.
People need concrete and well-defined tasks. However, due to distraction and entitlement expectations, people are becoming inflexible and lacking imagination. The new generation is not comfortable of figure out what to do.
Pontefract believes there are 3 things companies need from new graduates.
Resilient
Open to change
Creative
These 3 needs can help companies to thrive. Resilient is the new key. Openness and effort can be the biggest influence factors of success for new generation. When there is a disruption, people tend to reduce creativity at the beginning. When people struggle through to post disruption, their productivity will improve beyond their original point.
“With creativity, it starts with disruption, but it will create profitability in the long run”
Sometimes it is not about technology. In fact, what is important is to encourage failure for it ensures the real world learning. When people are being open to change, creative and resilient will open up new ways of thinking. Pontefract emphasizes the purpose of any organization is to service community. Therefore, people need to start changing.
Youth in sport: Keeping kids in the game
Hugh McDonald, an intermediate educator with the Surrey School District, loves sports. In his childhood, sports matters. McDonald does not believe early sports specialization. Children love the sports when they are playing it, but as a teacher, McDonald is witnessing children are stop playing them. The question of keeping them longer has become an issue for teachers.
Based on expert, it takes 10,000 hours of practice to define key in success. This leads children to sign up for drills and tournaments. They will specialize in one sport. When they get injured, they will stop playing. McDonald believes this strategy is a bust.
Based on stats, over 70% are done playing before high school starts. They focus on win or lose instead of enjoying the game. McDonald asks parents a simple question.
“Am I giving my children enough options to feel success?”
Another problem is that people know more about everyone else. This results the focus on quiet competition, which is not helping. Children feel afraid they are not doing enough; eventually, they will quit.
It is important to create the mindset. McDonald suggests 3 ways to keep children in the game.
Support multi-sport athlete
Race to no where
Nurture heart and mind
When people start from heart, fun and listen, they can see the change.
“Happiness begins where selfishness ends”
“It comes from kids own the moment, experience, encouragement, and huddle before and after the game”
The secret to unlocking a child’s potential
Samantha Ettus, the bestselling author, a writer for Forbes, and the host of a call-in show, believes the importance of mentoring children when they are young. A message that resonates for Ettus is that the only limit to the success is the own imagination. Ettus focuses on helping children to reach their potentials.
Everyone is the champions of potential, but people seem to failure of two colors: pink and blue. There is an issue of gender stereotype, which leads to limiting the potentials. This has to stop.
For example, female children tend to lead to beauty and male children tend to seek building. In media diet, only one forth in media is female. The problem exists and people need to address it. In history, the color pink is strong and blue is weak. However, the generation is changing due to media influence.
In a toy shop, it seems normal to ask male to science and female to arts. However, children are missing out what potentially good for them. People fail to cultivate and set limits to believe male is good with thoughts and female is good with feeling.
Ettus believes the educator is playing a big role. Teachers spend more than 2/3 of the time with male students. The words we choose to express can ultimately impact children’s potential.
Ettus suggests 2 solutions. The first is not afraid to point out the stereotype and complement each other. The second is to open up the scope for children when they decide to go beyond the pink and blue boxes.
“I can do anything”
Bring out the best in people start with strengths
Chris Wejr, the principal of James Hill Elementary in Langley, is excited for Amy, one of his students. Amy became the leader of dance in her community, but her story at school is completing different. Dance studio is considered Amy’s second home, but in school, she wants to be invisible. Wejr questions the audience that if it is worth it for Amy to go through school. As a matter of fact, Amy is everywhere around the world.
Wejr believes schools are not seeing the strengths from students. School is good at dealing with struggle, but not the strengths. Sometimes people lost focus of what they can actually do.
Wejr wants school to start with strength. It is a movement and people should acknowledge strength. People need connections and connection is through strengths. Students build the strength of character. Instead of focusing on miserable, people should focus on human wellbeing.
“Small strength leads to less miserable”
People need to show courage and care. Children have the strength of curiosity and it is important for people to endorse it. Strength of skills is important. It brings out the best. Children can build up strength against struggle. Wejr believes people cannot be resilient without experience; therefore, real success is required for children.
When people could not able to connect with students, they should stop and discover what they are good at. When they see the passion through their heartbeat, they are able to build the connection. Connections make relationship. When children focus on strength, their performance will increase 36.4%. When children focus on weakness, their performance will decrease 26.8%.
Wejr encourages school to initiate Strength-based education.
Start with one
Connect through strengths
Create the condition to bring out the strength
“Bring forth what is within, find that gift and nurture them”
Bridging the gap
Alexander Magnussen has autism and he is willing to share his school life to inspire and support students with similar condition. Magnussen had a hard time at school, but he had passion with EA. He considered himself as the “moving quotes”.
Magnussen was bullied since kindergarten. Until grade 11, he discovered his strength in physical activities. When people recognized his passion, he was starting to get notice and making a difference. Magnussen mentions he was good at running. He was always moving and very physical. His teacher brought out his potential and reconnected his relationship.
Magnussen suggests school should help students find their strength. By holding one skill, people will learn the life skill experience.
Under the table
Shelley Moore, a PhD student at University of British Columbia, has many interactive stories that inspire the needs of special education. Moore discovers the importance of inclusion education and she is going to share her story of “Daniel the student”.
When Moore was completing her practicum teaching experience, she got the opportunity to teach a classroom with autism. Moore noticed a student, Daniel, was hiding under the table. The classroom was challenging her to get him out of the table.
Moore discovered Daniel has Down syndrome, deaf blind and autism. Her first strategy was using a flashy item to grab his attention, but the strategy failed. Her second strategy was finding common interest. Daniel had passion for dictionary, but instead of reading it, he was feeling it. The third strategy was getting interaction. Daniel showed he has passion in math. Whenever a question came up, Daniel would flip pages and smacked Moore in the face. Even though he was quiet, he pointed at the page number that showed the right answer to the math problem.
This was a connection. When Daniel felt the connection, he followed Moore out of the table.
Moore believes in reality, sometimes people can be too ignorant and unmindful assuming. They are the one who are not listening. In order for people to be competent, they need connection, inclusion, contribution and ability. Sometimes people need to connect by learning. It is important to believe people and trust their competence.
“What is the dictionary you need to make the connection?”
“If I do not presume competence, I am being disabled”
Against the grain creating opportunities for creativity
Nancy Crawford, the Founder of Personal Renaissance Coaching, believes education needs creativity. Creativity is a hot topic. People need to foster creativity to help others express ideas. When people are influenced by creativity, they can impact the whole, which can witness the greatness.
Crawford defines creativity is a series of attitude. Everyone has a Mount Everest. They might not get there, but they will get the experience and satisfaction in progress. Many people tend to confess. Confession is a way to release secrets. In addition, people tend to do well at the end when their secrets are out of their mind.
Intention is important, but many people are leaving it to others. It is time to make a decision because everything starts with the right intention. Crawford believes the greatest danger for most people is not setting their aim too high, but it is setting the aim too low and achieving it. Creativity can be foster with the right intention.
Attention is also important, but people are failing it. Students are failing to meet the quality of work. They are failing to enjoy the process. They need to learn how to create quality without distraction. Crawford believes students should reconnect with nature and nurture the ability to express life. Creativity is listening to the senses. Everyone has unique take of the world, and they need to connect with their moments.
Invention is important, but people are ignoring it. People need to use the information to develop system to help in life. Creativity comes from consistency, so people should set aside time for creation. Crawford suggests people not to wait for things to happen; in fact, they should start making things happen.
“Intention with attention and invention can produce creative possibilities”
A daughters journey of understanding residential schools and reconiliation
Cecelia Reekie, a member of Haisla First Nation and a cultural presenter with Aboriginal Program for Langley School District, is willing to share a personal life story. Reekie was born in a town of Butedale. Her dad was aboriginal. Her mother gave her up for adoption and she never saw her, touched her, and hugged her. After 6 weeks in foster home, an aboriginal family adopted her. Reekie became good friends with Sue and Tom, who are the children of Aunt Louis.
When adoption question was raised, her adopted family supported her to find her real family. When her adopted family’s child was born, Reekie felt the connection. She felt she deserves to know the truth. In 1989, she found her mother. Surprisingly, her mother was only 40 minutes away from her. Her mother did not have any child after Reekie, which signified she did not forget about Reekie.
Eventually, she found out her real father’s name. She shared the information with her adopted family. However, she never thought Aunt Louis was related to her real father. Reekie figured out Sue and Tom was her real cousins.
The connection was powerful and the whole relationship was safe. She met her dad in 1989 and she realized she belonged to aboriginal family. Her parents did what was best for her. Her father was send to Alberni Residential School when he was 10 years old. His life changed, and he lost connect with family for over 4 years. In 2008, the federal government apologized for the cause. Reekie and her dad both joined TRC, the Truth and Reconciliation, in Vancouver 2013 to share and testify their stories.
“You are doing this so we will not forget”
Reekie believes her dad is no longer alone. In 2015, Reekie got the opportunity to visit Ottawa to express the TRC. It was the moment she will never forget. TRC has recommendation. The recommendation is that people need to know the truth. People need to understand every child has a story. It is important to take the time to recognise their stories, so they do not walk alone.
I am sword: turning passion into a calling
Vikram Vij, the chef and owner of Vij’s Restaurant, shares his journey of inspiration. Vij always have the vision of bringing Indian cuisine into Canadian’s culture. Vij’s cooking started in India. When he moved to Canada, he wanted to bring awareness of India that he left behind. He wanted to make Indian cuisine to have the same respect as other cuisine.
Vij mentions it is difficult to make Indian cuisine neat, but what he can do with Indian food comes from love and care. When he was opening his first restaurant, his dad told him Canadian will not understand the culture. Instead, his dad wanted him to serve cheap. Vij refused the suggestion. Eventually, he developed a dish called “Lamb Popsicle”. The dish has been served over 8 years. However, he is still looking for way to create something new.
Vij describes his food feels like French cuisine with Indian style. Vij wants people to understand that everyone has ideas, but execution requires hard work. One day, Vij saw a bruised tomato in the whole food section that was not on sale. He felt it was wasteful. He insisted to purchase that tomato with the discount of 10%.
“Stay what is true is important”
Indian cuisine can be difficult to make. There is no proper way to prepare the cuisine. Because of difficulty, people do not take the time to explain it and they never want to change it. Vij moves from line cook to CEO, and then to Dragon’s Den. He discovers a hidden truth. The truth is that idea is like steel with focus, just like a sword. People need to have patient, and patient is required in business. Vij wants people to understand that patient is the key element of who they are. Sword can be a weapon or a protector. Anyone can be a sword by following the right principle. It is up to them to decide what to do with the sword.
“To be a sword, you should not be scared of failure”
Many entrepreneurs are struggling to reach their sales; in fact, most entrepreneurs do not realize how to use different price points as advantage to reach their sales goals. Vancouver Entrepreneurs Group invites Dan Lok, the multi-millionaire and serial entrepreneur, to discuss the mindset and strategies to provide excellent values to clients at a premium price. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will understand the theory behind selling high-priced products. Moreover, Dan Lok will help entrepreneurs to build confidence and attract the right clients for their businesses.
Dan Lok, the Founder of Vancouver Entrepreneurs Group, is one of the world’s leading experts in internet marketing. Many entrepreneurs refer him as Million Mentor. Recently, Dan Lok has successfully launched “Shoulders of Titans” podcast to entrepreneurs who are looking for ways to breakthrough their business limitations. Dan Lok also published many bestselling books, such as F.U. Money, to educate young leaders about the true entrepreneurial skills.
7 Reasons to sell high-priced products
Dan Lok believes the psychology behind selling products at different price point is the same. However, many entrepreneurs cannot see the connection behind that theory. Therefore, Lok shares the top 7 reasons why entrepreneurs should only sell high-priced products.
Reason #1: More profit and less hassle
The key to generate high profit comes from profit margins. In the business world, there are only a small percentage of companies that are able to sustain their business using low price positioning strategy. In fact, low price positioning leads to large customer infrastructure. Lok emphasizes competing on price is not sustainable competitive advantage.Competitors will purposely lower the price to grab market share and drive others out of business.
“Business is a game of margin, not volume”
The transaction size does matter in any business. Lok provides a chart that entrepreneurs can achieve same outcome by changing different price points and transaction sizes.
$25 product x 40,000 customers = $1,000,000
$50 product x 20,000 customers = $1,000,000
$100 product x 10,000 customers = $1,000,000
$1,000 product x 1,000 customers = $1,000,000
$10,000 product x 100 customers = $1,000,000
Reason #2: Better customers
Different types of customers have different expectation. Comparing with customers who purchase Audi with customers who purchase Honda Civic, they both have different mindsets and they both focus on different things. Therefore, Lok believes it is important to value the expertise. The more money it costs, less complaints from customers. When entrepreneurs offer higher price, they will receive better customers.
Reason #3: Psychology of price
In business, Lok believes customers get what they pay for. Customers receive higher value when they purchase high price products. Price can be a shortcut to buying decisions and price can open the door for different customers.
In 2012, there was a wine tasting research done by Stanford University to test people their preference without knowing the real price. The research concluded that people preferred wine with higher price; in fact, the true price was significantly lower. Price can fool people’s brain unconscious chemical level.
Lok states customers enjoy paying for the things they value, and it seems more they pay, the more they enjoy. Therefore, entrepreneurs should not interfere they are receiving the simple pleasure of paying premium rate.
“You cannot get rich by looking poor”
Reason #4: Can deliver more value
High priced products contain massive value. Entrepreneurs must have the adding value mindset. When entrepreneurs are selling high priced products, they are creating extraordinary experience for the customers. When customers realize the value, they will appreciate and accept the price.
Reason #5: Some buyers only buy premium products
Different customers have different needs and wants. An example will be Nordstrom buyers and Walmart buyers. Lok believes some people want to immediately jump to the top of the heap. Unless they have something for them, they will never buy.
Reason #6: Create big pay days
When there is a big product launch from successful entrepreneurs, they usually are selling high priced products to a few people. They only need to target small quantity of customers, and they will achieve their goals.
Lok considers this as the customer-funded business model. It is important for entrepreneurs to know that the best people to fund their businesses are selling to their customers.
Reason #7: You own the marketplace
High priced products can help entrepreneurs to gain market share faster. Lok indicates there are three methods to expand marketplace. The first method is affiliate payout, which means to attract top affiliate’s attention. The third method is advertising or marketing spending, which means to spend the most resources to acquire the customers. The last method is hire best people, which means entrepreneurs can pay better to hire more productive and loyal employees.
Many entrepreneurs are slow at raising their prices. Entrepreneurs need to understand it is more about confidence self-image than the actual value delivered. Entrepreneurs must know that competitors do not set their price and they do not need to get competitors permission other than themselves. If they raise the price and no one is purchasing, it is the marketing issue because it requires more people in the sales funnel.
There are 4 types of clients. The first type is cheap, and they only buy products based on price. They usually very are demanding. The second type is difficult, and they are hard to work with. They usually ask irrelevant questions. The third type is sophisticate, and they know what they want. They will research in advance and ask many talent questions. The last type is affluent, and they will only buy based on their feelings.
The problem for most entrepreneurs is that they are selling to wrong type of people with wrong type of strategies. Lok believes successful entrepreneurs should target only at sophisticate and affluent, but not cheap and difficult.
The 5 biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make when selling high-priced products
In order for entrepreneurs to maximize the result of selling high-priced products, entrepreneurs need to ensure they are staying away these top 5 mistakes.
The first mistake is selling a premium offer at a low price. Lok mentions people are skeptical, and they usually will think the price is sounds too be true. The second mistake is selling a low-valued offer to a premium crowd. Premium buyers are based on feeling; therefore, they have stronger feeling towards high-priced over low-valued products. The third mistake is making a premium offer in a low-value setting. Environment is important and entrepreneurs should create the perception before the deal breaker.
“Close the deal at a high-end environment”
The forth mistake is making a premium offer to a low-valued crowd. Sometimes entrepreneurs need to know that it is not their problems and it is because the group of clients cannot afford it. The last mistake is making a premium offer with a low-valued mindset. There is a difference between scarcity and abundance. Furthermore, entrepreneurs should not project their values to their clients.
Lok believes when entrepreneurs are afraid to buy, they are afraid to sell. Lok suggests entrepreneurs to practice get comfortable asking in that environment. Body language can give it away, so practice as much as possible.
Entrepreneurs are recommended to read the Robb report. Average millionaires read Robb report. Entrepreneurs can read the Robb report to expand their comfort zone, change their concept of money and know what language they use. Hence, the secret to making a great income from business is to stop selling to poor people.
“Volume does not matter as much as profit margin”
All price resistance is in the mind of the business owner. Lok emphasizes price cutting is a self-inflicted wound. Nobody can lower the price for entrepreneurs themselves. Lok indicates entrepreneurs should not set their price based on market rate. To set price, entrepreneurs can based the price on the values that customers pay for. Price can change due to amount of pain customers feel. Return on Investment is also another factor to set price, and contrast pricing can be good strategy to lead customers to a desire price range.
“If you are charging the market rate, you are letting the customers to set your price”
There are other factors, such as payment terms and guarantees, which can affect pricing. In addition, customers might pay after certain outcome is reached. Therefore, people will afford what they want to afford. Entrepreneurs should stop discounting prices and start adding values.
There are 3 tiers entrepreneurs should be aware of. The first tier is DIY (Do it yourself), the second tier is DWT (Do it with them), and the third tier is DFY (Done for them). Entrepreneurs can charge higher price as they move up the tiers. Entrepreneurs should always aim for the third tier for high-priced products.
7 psychological triggers for high-priced products
Lok shares 7 psychological triggers that can use on business strategies to increase customers to buy high-priced products. Entrepreneurs should use these triggers in good ways; otherwise, they will backfire miserably.
Scarcity
Rarity / Collection
Exclusivity
Ego appeal
Part of group
Experience
Takeaway selling
People can be motivated by the fear of lose instead of gain. When products are rare, people will value more. When products are market with premium standard, people will treat them premium as well. People are willing to wait when products are expensive. People want to belong to something, so when people are a part of the group, they feel proud. People will pay to be entertained and they will pay for premium experience. Lastly, people will want something if they know someone else has it.
Entrepreneurs should always ask these 3 questions:
How can I increase the level of perception?
How can I increase the level of service?
How can I increase the level of experience?
Lok provides two strategies that can help entrepreneurs to improve their businesses. The first strategy is to figure out what is next. Entrepreneurs can create funnel to allow different choices for their premium clients. The second is the tier pricing strategy. By providing 3 different tiers, clients will pick the most optimal or appealing option.
“The quality of your business is directly related to the quality of your clients”
“Low prices attract disloyal, unfaithful clients, and those clients cannot build a business on it”
Name: How to find and use images to boost your social marketing results
Presenter: Bob Garlick
Many entrepreneurs do not realize how powerful images can resonate with their audience. Moreover, with the right images, entrepreneurs can capture their focus on the messages they want to present. Vancouver Business Network invites Bob Garlick, the Chief Strategist and Creative Director of Garlick Marketing, to discuss the methods to choose the right images for entrepreneurs. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will learn the secrets of using photography on their blogs. Moreover, they will discover the best way to collaborate with professional photographers or art directors.
Bob Garlick is the Chief Strategist and Creative Director of Garlick Marketing. Garlick is also the owner of DB Communications and the CEO of Raventech Consulting. With over 35 years of photography experience, Garlick has created his unique method of using photograph to communicate with people. In addition, Garlick has published his own Podcast, such as Crazy TV Talk and Business Book Review. Garlick also involved with volunteering in the communities. His passion in photographic communication has motivated many young entrepreneurs and become a strong business model for the new generation.
Garlick believes there are 3 major advantages that entrepreneurs can use photos to resonate with their clients.
Relevance
Stopping power
Illustration of concept
Traditionally, the power of image can stop clients’ attention and lead them to read headlines. Entrepreneurs can build their brand recognition with the power of image. In the generation, entrepreneurs are experiencing many difficulties due to too many irrelevance pictures from the trend of social media.
Garlick suggests entrepreneurs to use images instead of words to comment on Facebook posts. Images capture attention better than words, which makes entrepreneurs to be standout from other people on the post. This is an example of utilizing the stopping power from photographs. Therefore, stopping power is to make people stop and read, and illustration of concept is to add values to people.
Entrepreneurs should choose pictures creativity. Garlick empathizes entrepreneurs to spend less time on content and more time on pictures.
There are many online marketplace for entrepreneurs to purchase the usage of stock images. Due to competition, people are charging cheaper in difficult stock image companies. Therefore, this is an advantage for entrepreneurs.
Garlick shares a list of free stock images companies for entrepreneurs.
Death to Stock Photos
New Old Stock
Getrefe
Picjumbo
Gratisography
Snapwire Snaps
IM Free
Splitshire
Jay Mantri
StockSnap
Life of Pix
Superfamous Studios
Lock & Stock Photos
Tookapic Stock
Negative Space
Unsplash
Since there are over million of pictures to select from a single topic, entrepreneurs are spending too much time searching for the perfect picture. Garlick recommends entrepreneurs to choose the picture that works and move on. In stock images, Garlick suggests entrepreneurs not to pick pictures in the popular section because since many people are using it, entrepreneurs should pick other pictures to differentiate from others.
People visit blog posts because they have problems or pains and they are searching for solutions. Many people will click on the blog post and see if the picture is relevant to them. Garlick states there is a 15-20 seconds time frame to grab attention. Therefore, picture grabs the attention and the content will add value for solutions.
Garlick provides a 4 step approach for entrepreneurs to choose the right images that enhance their blogs. The first step is to simplify the search. Entrepreneurs should not use any terms that is too vague or general. The second step is to choose from gut reaction. The third step is do not look for too long. Entrepreneurs should only take 2 to 3 seconds to a minutes. The last step is to buy the smallest size. The size should be only 400 pixel because the larger picture will cost more and 400 pixel picture is enough for a simple blog post. Entrepreneurs should only purchase large picture if there is something in the picture background that is useful.
Many entrepreneurs choose to take their own photos. Garlick provides 3 rules entrepreneurs.
Do entrepreneurs have the skills?
Can entrepreneurs shoot the image fast?
Will it keep the entrepreneurs’ post original?
The 3rd rule is the main reason why entrepreneurs choose not to use stock image. They want the picture to be standout and catch attention from other competitors.
When entrepreneurs want to collaborate with a photographer or art director, there are 4 simple approach entrepreneurs should follow.
Find an amateur photographer
Be organized and have clear idea
Do all the work so they come back
Credit the photographer
It is important for entrepreneurs to do as much preparation as possible before the photo shooting because they do not want to make photographers feel they are taking advantage of them. Moreover, entrepreneurs should always credit the photographer for their work.
The most engaging photo should be between crazy and perfect. The photo should be entertaining.
“If the picture is too perfect, it is dead”
Garlick shares 3 tips for entrepreneurs to choose images for their online advertisement headline.
Tip #1: Who are they targeting
All images have to reflect the target audience. Entrepreneurs should discover audience’s attitude and be consistent on talking about them through images. This will allow audience to stick with the images.
Tip #2: Simple is better than busy
When image has too much detail, audience will loose focus. Therefore, entrepreneurs should crop out the unnecessary details and filter out the pictures that are too busy.
Tip #3: Compliment the headline
The wording in the pictures must be relevant to the message. The word choice can act as the focus point for the advertisement.
When entrepreneurs want to test images for the best results, Garlick recommends them to post 2 advertisements with 2 different images. They will need to change the image every week and track the result daily. Afterwords, they can select the new image based on the result.
Entrepreneurs should always testing their pictures to discover the current trend in the communities. The best time frame of testing is at least 6 months. The goal is to get consistency and understand what communication resonate with the audience.
Put something out-> Get feedback-> Change it or do something else
It is important for entrepreneurs to show as an expert. Photograph can persuade the audience to get to know them.
“To produce a great advertisement is the ability to get other to trust them”
“Know how to take a great shot? know the limitation first”
Question and Answers
Garlick believes people tend to comment on social media than the blog; therefore, it is important to push blog posts into social media. The best way to organize photos is to select the right filenames. Entrepreneurs can use acronym, the name of the photo shot or the name of the colour to categorize the photo files.
Name: Crush your competitors with Intellectual Property secrets
Presenter: Andrei Mincov
Brand is one of the most valuable assets for entrepreneurs to create their business legacy. However, most entrepreneurs do not know how to protect their brands. Vancouver Business Network Meetup invites Andrei Mincov, the Founder of Trademark Factory, to discuss how to utilize intellectual property to protect entrepreneurs’ businesses.In this presentation, Andrei Mincov will share his business experience to help entrepreneurs understand how trademarks work in business. He will also provide trademark strategies to protect business brands. Moreover, entrepreneurs will discover the deeper meaning of using trademark to maximize their recognition in their business industries.
Andrei Mincov is the Founder of Trademark Factory. Mincov was an intellectual property lawyer for over 20 years. His lawyer experience eventually leads to business when he believes helping entrepreneurs to protect their assets is his passion. From Russia to Canada, Mincov’s vision of helping entrepreneurs never stops. Mincov is the bestselling author of book called “the Ultimate Insider’s Guide to Intellectual Property”. In addition, Mincov is also an international speaker who inspires and support young entrepreneurs.
Andrei Mincov shares his business journey started at Russia. Mincov had a strong interest of pursuing music industry as profession until Soviet Union collapsed. Aside from music, Mincov loved to argue, so he pursued lawyer instead. However, he hated it. When his father, a famous composer, discovered his music was stolen from someone, Mincov was asked for legal advice, but he realized he had no idea of Intellectual Property, no experience in court room and there is no internet to research the information. Although he won the case, he was determined to focus on intellectual property.
Even though Mincov worked in the biggest lawyer firms in Russia, he realized Russia is not the best place for him. He moved to Canada and it took him 3 years to re-certify his license because of different law regulations. He later influenced by the book called “Rich Dad Poor Dad” to start his own law firm. Furthermore, he realized his success in business is not in the ability as a lawyer, so he started his own business company called “Trademark Factory”. Trademark Factory is a business that revolutionizes the trademark property. Mincov gave up his license to serve better service and product for the future in worldwide.
Mincov mentions when he was been asked what he do, he would response “I do trademark, and nothing else”.
Discover the secrets of intellectual property
Mincov defines Intellectual property is an umbrella term and it can protect business in many different ways. Intellectual property can categorize into 6 major areas.
The first area is called Copyright. Mincov defines copyright as how to protect business content. Entrepreneurs must understand that copyright can only protect how their words in their branding are expressed. In addition, the sequence of words is the perfect example of using copyright to protect entrepreneurs’ branding. Copyright protection can last to 50 to 60 years after entrepreneurs are passed away.
The second area is called Trademark. Mincov defines trademark as which service identify from competitors. Trademark can protect almost everything. The four major categories for trademark are product line, services, logo, and tagline. Entrepreneurs can renew their trademark infinite time. Mincov believes the success of using trademark is based on two factors.
The trademark must connect to successful business
Trademark must act as a protection from competitors
The third area is called Patent. Mincov defines patent as what content is protected. Entrepreneurs can use patent to protect their underline products, ideas, methods, or even functions. Patent can only use for 20 years. Mincov mentions patent can cost a lot.
The forth area is called Industrial Design. Mincov defines industrial design as the expression of “wow”.Industrial design focuses on the protection of the look of the design. Mincov recommends entrepreneurs to use this protection if they could not get anything else.
The fifth area is called Trade Secrets. Mincov defines trade secrets as the expression of “hush”. Entrepreneurs can use trade secrets to protect anything that has commercial value to competitors. Based on the range of trade secrets, it can almost cover anything. However, trade secrets can be a good addition until other competitors figure out the secrets on their own.
The last area is called Contracts. Mincov defines contracts as the expression of “whatever”. Contract is what entrepreneurs agree they will do with the intellectual property. Mincov wants entrepreneurs to take extremely caution because most entrepreneurs might not realize what they sign can potentially damage their intellectual property without extra care.
Mincov creates a procedure that can help entrepreneurs understand more about their intellectual property. Importantly, the procedure can also support entrepreneurs to review their business strategies.
Intellectual Property Strategies Review
The structure is made up of 4 parts.
Who
What
In
Out
The “Who” part focuses on who owns the business. The “What” part focuses on what is in the business. The “In” part focuses on the content from external parties inputs into the business, and the “Out” part focuses on the content business created for external parties. A majority of entrepreneurs only think about the “Out” part; in fact, Mincov believes the other 3 parts are important because the other 3 parts make up the last part.
During the presentation, Mincov demonstrates the Intellectual Property Strategies Review on a couple of entrepreneurs. Mincov provides some sample questions to help entrepreneurs to understand how the procedure works.
Who
Is the business a startup?
Is the business an early stage?
Is it sole proprietorship, partnership or corporate?
Does the business have employees?
Is the business under the umbrella?
Does the business have any one in contracts?
What do the contractors do?
What
What does the business do?
What is the future plan?
Is it licensing or making?
How are people going to find out about the business?
How do other people market the business?
Do people know or remember the business brand?
In
How is it documented?
Is there any current signed contracts?
Who wrote the script?
Who did the content?
“Brand is your successful business”
“If a brand is not ringing a bell in the market, the brand is not good”
“Worst fight comes from good friends”
“The more competitors in the market, the more stronger the brand”
Questions and Answers
Mincov emphasizes trademark is country specific. Entrepreneurs should trademark their brand in the country where their market is located. When a brand has a “TM” beside it, it means the brand is unregistered trademark. Unregistered trademark is a way to show the market that the brand is under the process of trademark.
When someone has the existing domain name of other people’s brand, Mincov suggests entrepreneurs to try register for the trademark. It is important to know that entrepreneurs cannot take away the domain if they do not have the trademark in place; however, if entrepreneurs have the trademark, they can get the domain from other owners. In another words, when entrepreneurs register the trademark, it will force the existing domain to be unsellable to other buyers.
Mincov believes trademark will not give entrepreneurs the monopoly of the market; moreover, it will only give the mind link of the service in the market.
Name: Discover how a 27 year old woman went from waitress to millionaire in 2 years
Presenter: Carey Ren
Many successful entrepreneurs have the key skills of building mindset, identifying market and attracting business partners. However, many entrepreneurs do not realize the path to get there. Vancouver Social Entrepreneurs Meetup invites Carey Ren, the Director of Jeuneese, to share her life journey in the business world. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will discover their inner path that drives their passion into business. In addition, Carey Ren will reveal her methods to transform her dream into career and how she impacts the people she loves.
Carey Ren is the Director of a leading network marketing corporation called Jeuneese. Ren has established a well recognition in Canada and mainland China. Her path inspires many young leaders to gain their financial confidence. She lives in a life of financially independence, and she gives speeches around the world to educate people who are looking for system beyond the traditional ways. Moreover, her passion in supporting charity influences her in a positive way.
Carey Ren always had a dream of becoming an entrepreneur when she was little; however, she was taught to believe the traditional education system will provide her financial sustainability. She established her first software company with other 3 partners. However, the result was not pleased. Ren shares her main downfall was over confident. She underestimated the marketing component and the company went apart. She was broke and she started to work in pub as waitress to survive. She remembered in the New Year’s Eve, everyone will be celebrating and she will be working for double pay.
The dream of becoming an entrepreneur was still in her mind. Eventually, she took the opportunity to improve the POV system in local restaurants and began her journey once again. She managed to be a part of a well network marketing company that turned her life around.
Ren believes the drive that forces her to go for that extra mile is desperation. When she was broke, she was desperate to make her life better. When people are in desperation mode, they will not care about anything beside their goals to survive. Entrepreneurs need to be bold and clear of what they really want.
Ren emphasizes a similar trait from all entrepreneurs is that they like to go out and connect with people. It is important to develop deep relationship with successful people. Entrepreneurship is like a continue learning course; entrepreneurs will learn as they go and they will never stop learning.
Ren realizes as a successful entrepreneur, it is important to know how to empty the tight schedule. When situation is critical, Ren will focus on spiritual route. Nevertheless, when situation is less critical, Ren will improve her business negotiation skills. Therefore, there is always consistent learning every single day. In Ren’s point of view, the fastest way for entrepreneurs to build that habit is to push themselves and go out there to test their stress.
Many successful entrepreneurs are able to identify the market trend and take advantage from the market. Ren will connect and follow other successful people who are at the top. Ren mentions she follows Dr. Paul Zane Pizer. His book, “Wellness Evolution”, helped her understand the future trend of Information Technology, which helped her achieving her success today. Ren recommends entrepreneurs to look at “Future Timeline” website to identify possible future trends. Picking the right trend is important. The growth of any business is depended on the generation needs. By looking at the analysis, what people want in life is basically the centre of successful business.
The key of financial success for entrepreneurs is to be at the right place at the right time. This means entrepreneurs need to leverage the wave and take advantage of existing opportunities. Many entrepreneurs will follow experts in trends; however, successful entrepreneurs will think outside of the box and get into a trend before it is out in the market.
Ren shares 5 major trends that will impact in 2016.
Consumers are shifting to customization
The domination of online business over retail business
Partnership with entrepreneurs
Eliminating the inventory method
Utilize online platforms
Ren is currently using network marketing to add value to consumers. This method is transitional from other traditional industries and it can be creative. Many young and hungry entrepreneurs are utilizing network marketing because this platform has been revolutionized.
Ren was mentored by many different people in different countries. The key is to ask many questions. Aside from financial gain, Ren discovers she is able to meet many giants with open minded. Mentorship can be a way to execute new talents.
Questions and Answers
There are 5 important skills every entrepreneur needs to master.
Learn how to hustle
Learn how to sell
Learn how to communicate
Learn how to believe
Learn how to be open-minded
Entrepreneurs need a desire to push them out of procrastination. Entrepreneurs need to solve people’s problems. Moreover, entrepreneurs need to choose the right communication tools to connect the right people. They need to believe themselves even though they cannot see the future. Moreover, they cannot stop and always moving into new markets.
Many entrepreneurs do not like to talk about their challenges because they understand challenges are a part of their journey. Ren shares that she felt life was compressed. There were many sleepless nights and there were many rejection and self-doubt. The difficult part was to convince others about her vision. Many friends and family members did not support her. However, Ren wants entrepreneurs to keep pursing their dreams because at the end, friends and family will come back and support them.
In the future, Ren will expand into new markets in developing countries, push her team to new level, learn the skills she lost, and involve charity work by giving back to the communities.
When people are criticizing, she will handle it by proving them wrong. Ren always believe it is good to say “No”. To develop her team culture, she tends to have 15 minute of think tank activity every day with the team to improve their states. The priority for Ren is to find the right people and lead them to the right resource.
“Focus on now, seize the moments, act, and just do it”
Name: Powerup – Take command of a room, how to talk to anyone, anywhere, at anytime
Presenters: Henry Liu and Emily Lim
Many young future leaders are struggling their ways to the top, especially in the field of communication. Moreover, great leaders will take advantage of every situation and communicate their way to the top. GetLeadUp meetup invites Henry Liu, the Director of NxWave Marketin Solutions, to discuss his view of strategic communication. Henry Liu will also provide key elements to help young future leaders on their communication skills. In addition, Emily Lim, the Founder of GetLeadUp, will discuss the importance of goal setting. In this presentation, young leaders will learn the key aspects of creating strong communication skills and learn the application of goal setting to prepare for 2016.
Henry Liu is the Director of NxWave Marketing Solutions. In his entrepreneur journey, Liu has been involved with raising capital for many early stage companies. Liu was recognized as top 1% of $12 billion company at the age of 21. Aside from business, Liu is a competitive musician and holds a pilot’s license. Liu is currently involved in brand awareness initiatives, such as marketing advertising, and strategic expansion strategies for a company in the nutraceutical and technology sectors, also taking the lead in a special project called BC2020 Vision Initiative.
How to take control in the room
Young leaders tend to get nervous in meetings. Henry Liu explains this is caused by young leaders with high expectation of wanting to get attention from successful people. Young leaders can reduce their nervousness with personal development, such as listening to audiobooks or reading books. It will take time to build up. Liu believes the most important key is to build character. Young leaders must anticipate what they want. This will allow them to commend themselves and create the confidence.
It is important for young leaders to ask themselves the following question.
“How other people feel when you leave their presence?”
Liu believes it is necessary to leave with happiness. Many young leaders want others to accept them. However, they are focusing on the wrong question. They should ask themselves what they can do for others. Young leaders should always give before receive. This will build up the trust and allows others to go out of the way for them. Sometimes mood and feelings can influence decisions, but young leaders need to keep in mind that they have to go for it no matter what.
Liu believes leadership is the art of influencing other people. Leadership will give young leaders the ability to lead others what they do. By just showing up in an event, young leaders will have the opportunity to lead others. They will never know what will happen next.
Liu shares his business trip story in Philippines. When he arrived at conference meeting at Philippine, he was underdressed. His mind had a strong sense that he should skip the meeting because he feels he was not dressed property. However, he ignored that feeling and went into the meeting. From that meeting, Liu learned the skill of acquisition. He was able to reach more network and exposure. He would not able to learn and receive these if he did not show up.
“Show up is the only way”
In order for young leaders to develop themselves, they need to reach out and serve others. Liu emphasizes people will not give leadership to young leaders, yet they need to earn it first. Mindset is the biggest barrier for young leaders. If they can break the barrier, they can achieve anything. Young leaders must always have motivation mindset, which can help them identify their success.
Successful people have successful patterns. Liu suggests young leaders to pick 3 people in their life and do the 3 steps.
Discover their common
Define that pattern
Follow it
Young leaders must have resistance in motivation. Without resistance, it is not worth going for it. Young leaders should surround themselves with people who are better than them. When young leaders become the poorest in the group, they will discover their weakness and start to learn from others.
Action speaks louder than words. When young leaders do right actions, people will notice and recognize it. People will only want to follow people who are taking actions. The best way to show actions is to serve others. Young leaders must remember that small things really matters. When young leaders watch their mentors’ actions, they will realize the more success people are, the more they will help others.
“The way help you live is in a way that is worth following”
Leadership is a habit and young leaders need to follow it. Young leaders must realize they can make mistakes. What happens in between is journey and experience. Journey and experience shape who they are. Every challenge story is worth remembering and sharing.
When young leaders change the way they see, they will change the way of the situation. It is important to convert everything to positive. In life, no one can tell them what to do and they are the only one who really knows what they are capable of. When young leaders go through challenges, people will know the story and people want to hear their stories. Therefore, leadership is the experience from stories.
Young leaders should always move forward, absorb other’s stories and become their own experiences. Eventually, people will be around them.
“Talent is not the issue, hard work will outwork the talent”
“Hard work beats talent when talent will not work hard”
Liu suggests young leaders to utilize the power of effectuation. They should always talk about others and not themselves. When they introduce others, they connect. Moreover, when they serve others, they are in control of the room.
“People do not want to know you, they want to know who you know and serve others”
Practical leadership application and training
Based on statistic, when people think about their vision and goals, their chance of achieving increases up to 30%. When they write it down, the chance of achieving the goals will increase to 70%.
Emily Lim believes having goals and having ideas are different. Many successful people will write it own and keep it with them all the time. When young leaders take actions, they will lead themselves towards their goals. Therefore, they need to breakdown the goals as specific as possible. When young leaders are able to breakdown into a unit per time, they will discover how much they can lose.
There are too many people who are doing multi-tasking; in fact, successful people will need to be laser focus. Time can pass quickly, so young leaders must be proactive. They should put all their time into activities that will help them achieve their goals.
Lim emphasizes when people who cannot say their goals out loud, they do not own it. Therefore it is recommended to share goals with friends. All intention should focus on the goals.
All successful people have great goal setting skills. Lim suggests young leaders should keep track of their satisfaction scorecard to ensure their goals are align with their daily activities. Young leaders should take time to identify their goals. When they define their goals, they will know what direction they should go.
A good exercise for young leader is to imagine who will be attending their funnel, what they will say, and what they will remember. This exercise will help young leaders to discover if their current situation is leading towards their desire future.
Name: How to maximize your profits in minimum time with Dan Lok
Presenter: Dan Lok
Many entrepreneurs often forget to master the key of understanding financial statements. Moreover, entrepreneurs make mistake of leaving resources behind that could their business around. Vancouver Entrepreneurs Group invites Dan Lok, the serial entrepreneur, to discuss the important skill of reading and using financial statements. Since this is not an accounting course, Dan Lok will reveal simplest ways to use financial statements to make strategic business and investment decisions. This presentation will help entrepreneurs to clarify their business financial position and mitigate the fear of numbers.
Dan Lok is a multi-millionaire entrepreneur and an international author. His studies and strategies help many entrepreneurs to break their business barriers. Lok is also a keynote speakers for many businesses. Many entrepreneurs respect him as a business mentor. Moreover, he is the founder of the Vancouver Entrepreneurs Group, the owner of Charm Junction, and the author of FU Money.
Money and time are two major assets for entrepreneurs. Dan Lok believes these two assets can distinguish between successful and average entrepreneurs. Many entrepreneurs are losing money without even know why; in fact, Lok believes successful entrepreneurs will understand it, take it and use it. Lok mentions Keith Cunningham, the real rich dad in Rich Dad Poor Dad from Robert Kiyosaki. Cunningham created over 100 million dollars, but lost by the age of 40. He recovered back quickly. Lok takes the best lessons from Keith Cunningham and he would like to share the 8 profit maximizers that will help entrepreneurs to explode their businesses.
Maximizer #1: Strategic thinking versus tactical thinking
Lok states many entrepreneurs are strategic thinking. There is a difference between strategy and tactics. Strategy is done above the shoulders and tactics are done below the shoulders. A strategy is a plan that overcomes the obstacles and the only job as an entrepreneurs is to understand the obstacles. Lok shares a philosophy from Sun Tzu, the creator of The Art of War, is that strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory and tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
Lok provides a list that shows the difference between strategic thinking and tactical thinking.
Strategic
Tactical
Direction
Implementation
Strategy Statement
Annual Plans
Broad
Specific Detailed
Unstructured
Structured
Creativity
Analytical
External Focus
Internal Focus
Irregular
Regular
Long Term
Short Term
Difficult to Evaluate
Easy to Evaluate
Senior Management
Middle-level Management
“How much time you spend on each?”
Many entrepreneurs will delegate or outsource the tactics. However, Lok suggests entrepreneurs must know within first. The more they know, the more understand of the result they want to achieve because in business world, there is nobody cares more than themselves.
“What you think might not what you need”
Maximizer #2: Financial literacy is the key to life long financial success
Many entrepreneurs do not look at financial. Lok emphasizes in entrepreneurship, it is not how much entrepreneurs make, and it is how much they keep. Accounting is the language of business and if entrepreneurs do not speak the language, it will be difficult to win the game of business.
Financial statements can help entrepreneurs to guide back their direction when their business is off course. Entrepreneurs cannot improve their business when they cannot measure. Therefore, Lok believes the goal of business is not to get rich, but to stay rich.
“Sustainability always comes from knowing what you are doing and measuring your progress”
Lok has a philosophy. Instead of knowing how much he can make, he needs to know how much he can afford to lose. In any business cycle, entrepreneurs will make money and lose money. It is important to make money and minimize the lost. Usually, many entrepreneurs will feel invincible when they are making money. They tend to gamble and lost more at the end. Lok wants entrepreneurs to look at downsize risk. The problem entrepreneurs are having today is not that they do not have enough opportunities to make money; instead, the problem is that they have too many opportunities to lose it.
“Are you taking too much risk?”
When entrepreneurs do not understand the scoreboard, it is hard to tell who is winning. Accounting is not the scoreboard; in fact, it is the report card. Many banks will loan money to entrepreneurs when they do not need money. Therefore, Lok will explain and simplify how to read financial statements.
Balance Sheet is like the snapshot of the business. The asset section is all the resources that company has. Liability section is the stuff company owes and the equity section is the stuff company owns. Balance sheet shows the snapshot in time and it also shows what company owns and owes.
Income statement is the theory of the business. The difference between sales and cost of good sold is the gross profit. By deducing the expenses from gross profit, it shows the net income, which is the profit. Entrepreneurs must understand that they cannot deposit profit. Income statement can be very helpful, but it can also be very dangerous. The number at the bottom can be misleading. Company can have high profitability with no cash or high deficit with significant amount of cash. By just looking at the profit, it is hard to determine if business is doing well or not. Therefore, entrepreneurs should not make business decision on net income or profit.
Entrepreneurs must know the story behind the number. Lok believes it is a poor way to run business or determine the financial health of business by running the business out of a check book, tax return or looking at the net income.
Cash flow is the fact of the business. Cash is real money and it is the only thing that hits the bank account. However, not all cash is created equally. There are 3 types of cash.
Operating cash flow (OCF)
Investing cash flow (ICF)
Financing cash flow (FCF)
OCF is to generate or used by operation. ICF is to generate or used in buying or selling fix assets. Finally, the FCF is to generate or used from lenders or investors.
To calculate FCF, entrepreneurs can take ICF and minus the OCF. In addition, when entrepreneurs want to calculate free cash flow, they can take the OCF and minus ICF.
There are 3 ways of OCF tests entrepreneurs can use to determine the health of their businesses. The first way is to see if the OCF is positive. If OCF is negative, there is a problem. The second way is to see if OCF is greater than profits. If not, there is a problem in accounts receivable, inventory or accounts payable. The third way is to see if OCF is growing faster than profits. If not, it means the business is becoming less and less productive.
Lok wants entrepreneurs to remember that rich people get paid before they do the work, and poor people get paid after they do the work. Lok shares a strategy to change clients to pay up front is to say “The way all my clients always pay me up front”.
“You can operate a long time without a profit, but you cannot survive a week without cash”
“Ignorance is not a bliss; fact do not cease to exist just because you ignore them”
Lok believes the number one key to long term business success is to avoid bad assumptions. Entrepreneurs need to verify the assumptions. Lok provides a scenario that helps entrepreneurs to read financial statement.
Tips to read financial statements
Figure out the trend from past history years
Determine the increase or decrease from different accounts in financial statements
Exam the accounts receivable for cash that are collected
Review the liability for irregular expense not paid or outstanding loans
Pay attention to the level of inventory
Look at the change from expenses to see where cash spend
Watch the gross profit percentage to understand the changes of revenue and cost of good sold
Review cash flow statement to track where cash went
“How much more money would you still have if you did not make those bad investment or bad business decisions?”
Maximizer #3: Think time
Lok believes business is an intellectual sport. Many entrepreneurs have the misconception of thinking they can do what they love and money will follow. Entrepreneurs cannot just believe in something and it will make it true.
There are 3 most powerful question entrepreneurs can ask themselves.
What could go wrong?
What don’t I know?
What don’t I see?
Smart entrepreneurs have good answers and genius entrepreneurs have good questions. Lok suggests entrepreneurs to schedule their think time once per day. The process of think time is to write down a question and think as much answers as possible. When they are stuck, they can ask themselves what assumptions they are making that they are not aware or they are making what gives them what they see.
Maximizer #4: You must get owner compensation right to know what your true pretax profit is
Most entrepreneurs misunderstand the relationship between their salary and the return on what they own. In fact, many entrepreneurs should get paid a salary for what they do and they should get a return on what they own. Therefore, entrepreneurs must pay themselves at a market wage. Many entrepreneurs think they are overpaying themselves, but in reality, over 90% of them are underpaying.
Lok wants entrepreneurs to imagine if they got run by a bus today and their families decide to keep the business going in their absence, how much do they need to pay.
Lok indicates business is like a cow. Until they paid themselves a market-based wage and make a profit on top of that, they have a sick ow on their hands. Therefore, entrepreneurs should not focus on paying taxes; instead, they should focus on increasing their profits.
Maximizer #5: Master the wealth cycle
The purpose of business is to provide future profit streams. The wealth cycle is made up of 4 parts.
Assets
Sales
Profits
Cashflow
The primary reason to have assets in business is to produce and serve revenue. Entrepreneurs need to be effective at acquiring assets that maximize and serve revenue. They need to be efficient at converting those revenue into profit. They need to be productive at converting profits into cash. As an entrepreneur, it is important to have as few assets as possible to produce the maximum amount of revenue.
Maximizer #6: bigger is not always better
Entrepreneurs must understand that the goal is not to get big, yet the goal is to create sustainable success. For example, entrepreneurs would rather own a 2 million a year business that is making 15% than a 5 million a year business that is making only 5%.
Maximizer #7: No overhead growth
When entrepreneurs think about every dollar they spend as money they are investing in their business, all their investments will produce a return. Lok suggests all entrepreneurs to read “Berkshire Hathaway” to understand his way of operating business with few investments.
The reason most entrepreneurs want better office, car or computer equipments for business is because they let their emotions and ego dictate their expenditures. Entrepreneurs should ask themselves if the investment in expenditures will generate additional revenue. Better expenditures and high overhead do not define success. Spending money to look like a big deal is not the same as being a big deal. Therefore, how entrepreneurs run their business during the good time is a great indicator of how well they will survive the bad times. Lok recommends entrepreneurs to generate money as much as possible in the bank when the business is good.
Lok believes the fastest path to profit maximization is to reduce the drag of expenses and not building a bigger sales engine or pushing the growth expenses. The focus should be how to grow top line revenue and maintain or reduce expenses.
“Always pick the low-hanging fruit”
Maximizer 8: Meet with an accounting professional and review your financial every month
The business process consists of 4 steps.
Management
Decisions
Activities
Results
Entrepreneurs can utilize their accountants to monitor, review and measure the step from activities to results. Furthermore, it is entrepreneur’s job to take the result and put it back to activities.
The goal of TEDxSFU is to create a community for leaders from many industries to meet and connect. The conference is to help leaders to take from ordinary to extraordinary. The success from leaders are incomplete without the support from each individual. Therefore, the theme of this year is “Connecting the Dots”, which represents leaders to reconnect, communicate, and engaging with other successful local leaders.
The moderator, Idris Hudson, will be taking leaders to four parts conversation.
Singular becomes communal
Engaging a dialogue
Bridging originality and innovation
Ambitions of collective future
Leaders will learn the valuable lessons from the speakers experiences. In addition, leaders will help leaders to connect their dots.
Ryan D’arcy – Brain Hope
Ryan D’arcy is a neuroscientist that specializes brain imaging health care impacts. He introduces the Brain Hope concept that will inspire leaders in the health industry. The concept consists of hope, help and inspiration. It brings together with love, hope and survival.
D’arcy shares the concept comes from the Green Family. Trevor Green, the Journalist, took the opportunity to visit the Afghanistan village. However, one of the villagers attacked and caused him the brain injury that would change his life forever. Many doctors provided false hope to Green Family.
One day, Green woke up and with strong determination and focus, he worked hard to walk again. He forgave the attacker and concentrated on his recovery. Along with rehabs and research, Green was diagnosed wrong. D’arcy reveals the brain can rewire and reorganize. With brain plasticity technology, it shows Green has the ability to move again. The progress ignites the research and D’arcy discovers the brain can rewire every 10 minutes.
In the Remembrance Day, the community raises the fund to give him the new skeleton. This project is called “Iron Soldier, Mission to Everest”. This project inspires people with brain surgery that there is hope. In addition, it symbolizes the difference of false hope and brain hope. D’arcy believes Brain Hope concept will help people to provide new hopes for patients with brain surgery.
Bryce Evans – How photography saved my life
Bryce Evans is the award-winning artist of social change. At the beginning of his journey, he felt disconnected and unable to communicate with himself. He always wanted to be an artist, but the reality pushed him away. He questioned himself that why is he always different from everyone else. To avoid the pain, he build himself the wall with the message “I am fine”. Evans felt no one understands his inner world. The feeling of outcast was leading him to the feeling of suicide and depression.
Evans later discovered photography can express more than just verbal conversation. Photo can speak more than words. Evans believes there are many people in the world are still suffering the similar mental health issue. A simple photograph can change people. Photo can connect with people in different level. Introducing photos into conversation can be the new lens to break the narrow view of the society. Instead of caught up the thoughts in people’s mind, they can connect the lights in a new way with photos. Evans starts to express himself and starts to get his voice back.
Photograph opens up Evan’s life and it triggers Evans to shift. Photograph can also open up new views to the community. Each photo has a unique story. Each story contains fear; however, when people are touched with the story, the fear becomes the dream.
Greatest values come from photographs. Evans announces his depression is cured.
“You are the most important project of your life”
Zoya Jiwa – What weaves the fabrics of our lives
Zoya Jiwa is the Founder of As We Are. Jiwa lives in a disease called “Lupus”. Lupus is a disease that creates wrong information with all organ. In her whole life, Jiwa was exhausted and confused with future because she felt there was a distance in her life. In 2014, she started her treatment. However, in December 2014, she got diagnosed with another disease called fibromyalgia. Because of this disease, she was struggling to find the right clothes and caused her to lose the sense of fashion.
Jiwa wanted to redefine herself. She discovered there are many people in the community with different disabilities. They all had their own story and emotion moments. By reconnecting the impact with the community, she realized creativity can create self confidence. Jiwa started a project called “As We Are”, which supported people with disability conditions. The project goal was to give opportunity for them to find confidence on mental health wellness through fashion.
Jiwa believes people are sick and tired of them saying they are fine. Words can be disconnected and can be negative. Jiwa wants to shift that dialogue because everyone needs to be love, care and patient. Jiwa learns to treat her body as her friend. This means she needs to be kind to herself. With the help from community, the project As We Are can relate stories to others. With the help from community, the project can empower people. Moreover, with the help from community, the project can help others to feel extraordinary.
“Sometimes, it takes a breakdown to make a breakthrough”
“For every obstacle, there is an opportunity”
Dan Pontefract – The Purpose Effect
Dan Pontefract is the author of the book “The Purpose Effect”. Pontefract shares a story that he got requests from his staffs to fired them because they found their life purpose. When people were young, they were encouraged to become whatever they want. In school, they were taught to think outside of the box. However, when people are in the workforce, they are lost their real purpose.
Pontefract states the percentage of job satisfaction has increased significantly. The dissatisfaction can impact negatively on employee retention. Around 87% of people at work are disengage with their job. 52% of people are checkout t work and only 28% of people have purpose mindset at work.
Many people believe the key reason behind job satisfaction is that many companies are focusing to much on the profit. Companies give too much power from top and the job roles are too linear. The consumers have more demands but they are not paid enough to achieve those demands. The performance is bell curve that is against one and another. However, Pontefract believes the problem is each individual. They need to find their purpose and there are 3 steps to do that.
Define the personal purpose
Need new path way in organization
Role that leads to change
When people complete these 3 steps, they will find their sweet spot, which is their purpose.
Personal purpose requires define, decide and develop. The organization purpose requires engage, ethical, deliver, serve, and delight. The role purpose requires career, purpose and job.
Pontefract believes when people discover their purpose, they can help community. Purpose fuels people, people fuels organization, and organization and people fuel society.
Erin Ireland – Is there a bias in our food media
Erin Ireland is a small business owner and a food reporter. Ireland believes back in the days as food reporter, everything was about food trend. The more time she spend in the industry, the more knowledge she received. Ireland focused on the positive of food and people were engaging her content to decide what and where they ate. However, Ireland wanted to do more than that.
Ireland felt she was just a small fish because big food critics are creating the most influence in the industry. A simple media and trigger people’s craving. Food advertising is all over the food entertainment. In 2000, new food shows were born and food blogging are trending. Ireland realized cooking was not just education, it was entertainment. However, food media still have bias that leads to unhealthy facts.
In the food media, Ireland believes meat content are way over the plants content. People are not realized that the plant resources are taking more to make meat. Consumers are not aware that consuming more meat can give more diseases. Lastly, there are over 56 billion animals are killed for food each year. Food media has bias on meat over plants.
Ireland conducts a research that most entree in cooking shows are either pork, chicken and beef, but not vegetable. 89% of food content in the past contain all meat. Over 600 recipes, there are 568 of them contains meat only. This is not inspiring.
Ireland mentions if animals are the biggest contributor to world problem, they should cut it down. Food media can use it in a positive way because the world needs more this kind of energy. The new generation needs new innovation and creative content. They also need deeper responsibility. In order for them to make mindful decision, they need to be conscious on the food they consume. People have the power to change.
“The best against bullshit is vigilance”
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughts from committed citizens can change the world”
Daniel Dubois – Power of consumerism
Daniel Dubois is a passionate social entrepreneur. Dubois shares his view of world consumption. As a part of the community, people are taking too much extra space. In addition, Dubois has the idea that the world can access anything. Dubois wants to create an impact with the movement of shifting the society forward with the concept of sharing.
When people are educated ownership to access. This will help people redefine the word of wealth. Dubois believes the word of wealth is not ownership, it is access. After travelling to San Francisco, Dubois learned sharing the economy can change the economy. Sharing economy is a piece of bigger picture and it can arise the power of consumer. It also shifts the mindset.
Ownership leads to take actions. Spending can change the world. Every action requires re-action. Dubois believes it is not too late to make the difference.
Dubois introduces 4 steps to create the sustainable world. The first step is to define the value. The way people spend money connects to happy life. By identifying the right values, it can use it as to filter for decision making. The second step is to set the intention. By shifting the buying habits, people will not be afraid they are lost. The third step is to develop the awareness. Actions impact the world, which aligns the value and responsibilities. The fourth step is to shift the habits. People are what they do. By changing their daily routines, they can change the world.
“Pioneers choose struggles”
“Power of choices; we choose how we live in our life”
Manny Bahia – Filter your truth
Manny Bahia is the Co-Founder of Vancity Buzz. Bahia shares when he was young, he wanted to change the world. People are informed from more understanding and empathy. Headlines relate to nationality and stereotype. With the power of media, it can shape people’s mind and decisions.
Bahia mentions the headline from Olympic 2010 create impact to tourism. The world issues and conflicts exist due to the lack of disconnect and love between humans. The job of media has changed. Media must be informative. The society is empowered by media that create positive reactions.
Bahia questions the media that if media information is bias or not. The pubic advertisement is losing trust. People are moving towards digital media, which is the primary source of news in this generation. Bahia believes when people are putting in the box, they will never see other perspectives. Therefore, public needs to be notice the source.
The society is aware of the media change. Finding the truth is important. People need to crate the cage to allow everyone to love even more.
Lindsay Dixon – Settle me down
Lindsay Dixon is a singer-songwriter from Chlliwack. Dixon believes talking is not easy. Music is a way for Dixon to express her feeling. When her life moves away from music, she feels depressed. Dixon mentions an important person came to her life and released her negativity.
By listening to her songs, it helps people to get through the tough time. Dixon plays a song called “Settle me Down”, which is written by her. The music moves people and allows people to understand the deeper feeling of themselves.
Aidan Scott – Restoring emotional authority
Aidan Scott is a system architect and the Founder of SpeakBOX. Scott is curious of 3 life questions.
Who am I?
Who do you think I am?
Who are you?
Scott believes people ask others “Who are you?” too often. Who in people’s lives has authority of like and drive. People have their own story and experience. Personal experience through their own stories. Scott shares his story. His story felt like German Concentration Camp. At the age of 6, his parents were separated. In high school, Scott was physically, mentally and sexually abused. There were always battles between himself and his parents everyday, which limited his energy.
Scott encountered a Victor Franklin’s book and felt someone cared about him. He learned what hero is. Scott believed to become a hero, the hero needed to create space. When someone says they are busy, they are closing their space. When people are busy, they really need connection.
Emotional intelligence is more important than Intelligence quotient. The book is important, but taking actions is more important. The book was from his school counsellor. Because of this book, he discovered the importance of connection. The counsellor was his first hero because the counsellor listened and believed him.
Many people learned from physical, but mental takes them further. Scott was trying to be different person in difference situation. However, Scott wants people to understand what society they want to be citizen of. It is important to be confidence in life.
“Life can be vulnerable”
“Start with an authentic conversation; have the space to create emotional conversation”
Richard Tuck – How graduate employment metrics cause graduate underemployment
Richard Tuck is the CEO of Riipen. Tuck mentions students have the conception that when they do well, they will get good jobs. That is a myth. As of now, many people with that concept are still looking for jobs. Most recent graduates are still working part time to pay for their student loans. They are not alone, and the society are creating more and more.
Traditional education is corrupted because they are lying to students. Tuck believes the youth unemployment is generation jobless and it is a big and complex problem. 44% of the jobs in the market do not require the necessary education. Based on stats, one will get the job, one will go back for more eduction and 3 will be unemployed.
Tuck believes the reason behind the unemployment rate is the skill gap. 19% of companies believe school has already prepared students for work, but students are not ready. This causes the employment turnover. In average of 50% recruitment is failure. Companies cannot take that risk anymore and it forces economy to stop recruitment. It is easier now to search for job. Recruiters look for buzz words in resume. Schools have resume clinic to teach students to write resume. The system is allowing more people to apply with wrong criteria. Schools want people to get any kind of job because they are pressured on their own statistics. Schools encourage student to be freelancer so they will have a job after graduation to improve the graduate employment rate.
Graduate employment rate is feeding to unemployment. It is considered to be the systemic issue. Tuck wants school to understand if students are happy with their jobs. Companies should stop using buzz words and start being more authentic. Tuck suggests a solution of combine outside and inside by validating students’ skills. The industries need to rethink their recruiting systems or procedures. Schools should stop using the resume clinic methods and start understanding students’ personalities. This will build their strengths and able to know where they fit in.
“Finding the right fit, engage students early, concentrate on career”
“Do not settle for it, look for quality”
Craig Cerhit – Exploring the environmental school
Craig Cerhit is a veteran television producer, editor, and photographer. In 2011, Cerhit needed to make the decision for his kid to attend the right kindergarten. Cerhit discovered the environmental school, but he felt it was different from ordinary, which was a reflection from his own education.
The environmental school focused on ecological. There were no buildings, no textbooks and no exams. Cerhit felt school would work for some students because the experience of learning was missing. In fact, Cerhit realized there was learning component, and it taught students the ability to survive.
Textbooks can be great, but it is not meaningful because it separates people. Furthermore, Cerhit decided to record the students experience in the environmental school.
Simple learning can lead to deep learning. The school is a natural world that fills with space and the sound of the river. It is beautiful that calms people down. Students get to witness the nature and experience the cycle of the wild life. They are able to engage the nature skills.
The environmental school do not need textbooks. The forest is great for learning science. Nature is full of mathematic, such as how fast the river is moving and how many rocks on the beach. The nature uses simple ways to teach students to calculate and exam the patterns. Most of the time, students are not aware they are learning math. There is no bell or discipline.
Cerhit understands everything can be learned in nature experience. The environmental school does not septette students by age. It provides confidence to older students and take the advantage of learning opportunity. The place becomes educator and the school creates outdoor contacts for students. When students are biking, they can observe the result and make the learning fun. When students are building forts, they can learn construction, leadership, and business interactions. The ecological system creates the relationship with natural world and build the foundation to future generation. It helps students to become leaders and better decision makers.
Cerhit wants to challenge the current education system. Cerhit believes his kid is now preparing outdoor experience.
Mandy Catron – What we do not talk about when we talk about love
Mandy Catron is an English and creative writing instructor in University of British Columbia. The world recognizes the experience of love as “falling”. Catron believes the word of “falling” is accidental because it is the way to start relationship. Catron emphasizes most metaphor of love can be changed, such as fall, struck, crushed, sworn, burn, sick and crazy. These words can be aggressive, but people use them all the time.
Madness is another word people use to describe love. Catron chooses that word to describe her love in the age of 22. When she was in 22, her boyfriend left her. She felt devastated, but her love was based on that metaphor, she was ignored it. When her boyfriend came back, she felt bad and great at the same time.
Many people experience mad is normal. It is hard to distinguish between love and mad. Therefore, love can change people’s mood and emotions. People can be absessive thinking when they are in love. When her boyfriend left her again, she took a trip. After returned from the trip, she waited for her love to return. She felt is was her job to be miserable to prove her way of love. She thought great suffering leads to great reward.
Experience in love is linked with language. Love can be powerful. In society, people want both ways. People need to change their expectation and be more open minded.
Catron suggests the society to change the metaphors. Love is collective work of art and it works well with any kind of relationship. Love is creative and unpredicted. It requires communication and discipline. People need to reframe the word love. Love is not about winning or losing, yet it is about trusting. People should stop thinking about themselves and know what they can offer. The new definition of love is still beautiful, which allows people to know what it looks like.
Name: Kitsilano Business Leaders – What really goes on in back office of lucrative million business
Presenter: Dan Lok
Many entrepreneurs are curious about what goes on in the back office of lucrative million dollar business; in fact, the reality is tougher than they imagine. Kitsilano Business Leaders Meetup invites Dan Lok, the multi-millionaire and serial entrepreneur, to discuss his secrets behind his business mindset. Entrepreneurs will learn to master his impressive business skills and have the opportunity to learn from his entrepreneurship. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will discover the true potential attitude behind the mind of a multi millionaire empire.
Dan Lok is known as the multi-millionaire and the serial entrepreneur in this century. He is also an international best selling author and business mentor for many high profitable business venture. With his powerful leadership, he manages to generate many companies with over 10 million in sales revenue in few years. Dan Lok helps entrepreneurs to reveal their true potential and opportunities.
Growing up in a different country can be difficult. Dan Lok immigrated to Canada when he was a child. Due to a lack of confidence, Lok had a tough high school years. Eventually, Lok received confidence and managed to be a part of 20 companies. The transformation was not easy for Lok, especially the mindset. Therefore, Lok wants to share his 7 lessons that pushed him from being a nobody to somebody.
Lesson 1: Your adversity is your advantage
Lok believes his adversity is the greatest gift. Because of his dad’s bankruptcy, he was forced to push his limits to another level. Lok explains this is similar to building muscles. When trainers want to develop their muscle strength, they need to put stress. When their muscles are teared down, they will rebuild the muscles and become stronger and tougher.
Lok failed over 13 businesses before his first success. Everything comes down to a statement.
“How bad do you want it?”
Based on statistic, only 4 percent of startup businesses will survive. Lok believes business is not for the weak and it is not for everyone. When entrepreneurs overcome business obstacles, they will receive tremendous outcome that other will never receive.
“I lost more money and make more mistakes than anyone, but I still keep learning”
Lesson 2: It is not do what you love, it is love what you do
Many entrepreneurs believe the statement of doing what they love and the money will follow. Lok disagrees with that statement. It is important to remember that entrepreneurs must do what they love and make sure that passion of theirs will solve problems in the market. Otherwise, it will just be a hobby.
Lok believes entrepreneurship is not about money, it is about lifestyle. It makes no sense if entrepreneurs do the handwork and still struggling to be successful. Lok emphasizes money earn is a byproduct of creation. It can be either impact or volume. The secret is that most successful entrepreneurs deliver great values to other people. Therefore, the true meaning of leadership is to be a server to many people.
Money is important in business, and money is meant for two things:
Give comfort
Do more goods beyond physical presence
Lok shares that when entrepreneurs learn how to make money, they will be obligated to make even more.
Lesson #3: Save yourself before you try to help the world
Lok believes knowledge and time are the two most valuable commodities for entrepreneurs. For example, when people will donate blood to help patients; however, successful entrepreneurs will build hospital to help even more patients. Entrepreneurs will only give when they have abundance.
Lesson #4: Promotion over creation
Many companies are not successful because they do not create enough attention. Lok believes attention is the new currency and in this generation, entrepreneurs must obtain as much attention as possible. There are many unnecessary noises in the market, and it is entrepreneurs’ responsibility to cut through those noise.
Money follows attention and if entrepreneurs are not able to let their clients know they exist, they will eventually fail.
It is important to create attention. Lok suggestions entrepreneurs to do 10 times more than everyone else. The reason behind this is to increase the possibility of getting successful results.
Entrepreneurs tend to wait until things are perfect to launch their business. Lok wants entrepreneurs to understand that they should not let perfection get in the way that is possible. Do not wait for permission to claim their spot in the market.
Lok believes elevator pitch is not effective because it is impossible to get someone’s referral within 10 seconds. What really works is to build meaningful relationship. Lok uses his book as his business card because he believes people do not throw away books. Books help Lok promote his message in the market.
“If you know what others do, do the opposite”
“What should you be doing?”
Constantly push entrepreneurs’ marketing and promotion. Entrepreneurs should not do their marketing when they are desperate. People will do business with entrepreneurs who show competence.
Lesson #5: Stop pretending and start asking
Lok experiences many entrepreneurs love to tell him their stories, but they do not ask. Many entrepreneurs have the conception that asking is for the weak. Based on statistic, about 5% of the audience will come up and talk to the presenter. However, only 1% will follow up.
Entrepreneurs must understand the their network is equivalent to their net worth. Lok shares 3 secret tips that will help entrepreneurs to develop high quality connections.
The first tip is not to pitch or sell services in front of high quality people. High quality people are busy and they will never remember that moment. The second tip is not to give them their business cards. Lok wants entrepreneurs to realize that it is not high quality people’s job to remember, it is entrepreneurs’ job to remind them. The last tip is to ask for other people’s contact information and actually follow up.
When entrepreneurs discover they are not receiving their response, they need to contact them constantly.
“Only one email? How bad do you want it?”
When entrepreneurs write their email, they should include two main questions:
How can I learn more from you?
What is the most important project you are working right now and how can I add value to it?
It is easy to develop relationship with people. Lok suggests entrepreneurs to remember one statement:
“Add value way beyond the core product or service”
It is important to know the audience. If entrepreneurs give enough, they will eventually get some return. When entrepreneurs say their business are fine, it really means they are freak out, in debt, not making enough money, and emotionally stressed out.
“It is ok to ask for help”
Lesson #6: Master, do not dabble
Entrepreneurs must master one step at a time. They should always stay focus and not have shiny object syndrome.
Lesson #7: You do not have to get it right, you just have to get it going
Perfection is alway the enemy of progress. When entrepreneurs are not embarrassed by their first version of their product, they are already launch too late. This is why Microsoft have the style of “make it, sell it, and fix it”. Nevertheless, Lok wants entrepreneurs to stop being perfect and start creating attention to the market.
Name: LEADUP – PowerUP: How to kick fear in the face and live the life of your dreams
Presenters: Byron Cheung and Emily Lim
Many leaders are lacking the right soft skills to break their limitation; moreover, hard skills will cover the technical aspects, but soft skills will approach the vision. LEADUP is a community founded by Emily Lim, the Pastor of New Joy Church, to help young leaders to train, teach, grow and inspire their leadership skills. The community is to allow young leaders to break through their limitation and discover their potentials. LEADUP invites Byron Cheung, the winner of the Golden Voice Award, to share his leadership lessons from his singing journey. The presentation will follow by Emily Lim’s energy presentation to discuss the importance of energy management.
Byron Cheung
Byron Cheung asked a simple question that most people are afraid to face. The question is “Am I happy with my job?” and most people’s answer is no, but they are afraid to deal with it. Based on statistic, most employees are not satisfied with their salary and the percentage of them who love their current job and the percentage of them who think their career is meaningful is significantly low. However, Facebook has managed to increase the employee satisfaction of over 90%. Byron believes the difference is that they discover their purpose and have the right mindset to achieve their purpose.
GO FAR
Cheung learned many new valuable lessons from different jobs he had. He believes every job is a stepping stone to another job. However, his journey is not as easy as what people think.
In 2012, He received second place in the New Talent Singing Awards Competition. Even though he won the best vocal award, but Cheung still feel defeated. He was disappointed when he discovered one of the judge is the champion’s teacher. In addition, he started to give up.
In 2013, he was invited to another Hong Kong Sining competition and he could not past the second round. The result was a big hit for Cheung. In 2014, he graduated from the Art Institution and his academic path helped his music passion reunite. He learned he had the mindset of competing others, which limited his ability. He decided to change.
In 2015, he started his own recording studio and an expected opportunity came by for Cheung. He was invited to compete the Golden Voice Award in Hong Kong. He was hesitated to join because of his previous failure, but with the support from his friends and family, he overcame the obstacles. With his new mindset, he won the competition and received the singing contract.
“No success is self made”
Leaders are living in the culture that working alone is necessary to be successful. However, Cheung disagrees. He believes working as a team is important. He develops the GO FAR system to help leaders to overcome fear.
GO stands for “Goal Oriented”. Cheung believes it is good to be competitive, but leaders should compete themselves, not others. F stands for “Focus”. Leaders need to stay on track with the goals. Leaders must continuously practice to ensure they are laser focused on their goals. A stands for “Attitude”. Leaders should not let any circumstances to control their direction. If the odds are not in favour of leaders, it is their obligation to change the odds. R stands for “Reason”. Facebook is successful because they know their “why”. Leaders must discover their “why”. Cheung wants to influence the society. He discovers Hong Kong music industry is dying and he believes he can change it. Therefore, it is important to know why leaders are achieving their goals.
“Do not live by fear”
Emily Lim
Emily Lim is the Pastor of the New Joy Church. She founded the LEADUP community to help young leaders to laser focus their goals and passion. The community will help young leaders to focus and unleash their purpose within. It will also empower the better vision of them and it creates the driving force to their fullest potential. Lim is also a motivational speaker who has the passion of developing soft skills for young leaders. Moreover, her voice and messages have encourage many young leaders to reach their maximum potential.
Lim believes the major resource is not time, and it is energy. Lim provides the saw mill example. A worker works hard in his saw mill job. The harder he works, the lower his productivity. At the end, he realizes the reason he could not improve his productivity is because he did not sharpen the saw.
Leaders need to focus on emotional energy. When leaders manage their emotion, they can leverage their success. Emotions can either be good or bad because it depends on how leader harness the emotion. More importantly, Lim wants leaders to focus their goal with the right emotions.
Lim believes leaders must use their emotions to blow past the inertia of procrastination. Success comes from long term perspective. With the right decision making, leaders can launch their vision. Lim shares 3 surprising energy drawing saying for leaders to discover their limitation.
Saying #1: I am a hard worker
Leaders will say that they are hard worker. However, this is misconception because the universe do not reward hard work, it rewards recognized results. Leaders should not focus on hard work. Lim shares the Sisyphus story. Sisyphus has one job, and the job is to work the stone up to the mountain. He is considered to be a hard worker, but he is not rewarded with the work. If he changes his thinking and breaks the stone, he will be able to use the small pieces of the stone to build houses. He will then feel empowered because he is building a community.
“Hard work is not your goal, it is simply a likely by-product of a worthy mission accomplished”
Saying #2: I do not have time
When leaders say they do not have time, the truth is that they do not want to face the reality. Everyone has 24 hours and many leaders waste their time to procrastinate. Lim indicates when leaders say they do not have time, it means the time is managing them. Instead of that statement, Lim suggests leaders to say “I choose not to make that a priority”. This will allow leaders to manage their time. If leaders cannot control their time management, they do not have guilt. When leaders make priority, they will know what is important.
Saying #3: Someone made me
Sometimes leaders believe happiness comes from other people’s actions. However, Lim believes it is their responsibility to be in charge of their happiness. It is important for leaders to know that it is not right to allow other people’s to control leaders’ own happiness. Therefore, leaders should say “this person did this and I choose to be mad”. This statement will allow leaders to take back the power so they can move on. This statement will also change leaders’ emotions.
“We do not want to be thermometer, we want to be thermostats”
Leaders might have unlimited resources, but they have limited energy. Lim suggests leaders to put their energy in the right place.
Lim provides 3 interesting tips to take control energy and emotions.
The first tip is to get rid of the old letters. When leaders receive the letters, it serves the purpose to provide the emotion. When the purpose is met, leaders should thank the letter and throw away. The second tip is to have a capsule closet. Leaders can limit their clothes so they do not need to use the energy to choose their clothes in the morning. Based on statistic, when people make too many choices, their judgement will reduce. The third tip is to know their emotion energy tank. Leaders need to know when their emotion energy tank fill up. This will give themselves the permission to be themselves and control their emotions.
Wheels of life
Lim provides the wheel of life chart. The chart contains attitude, career, finance, personal growth, health, family, relationship, and social life. When leaders rate their wheel of life, they will discover the strong and weak elements.
In order to improve the wheel of life, Lim shares the formula.
E + R = O
E is events, R is responses, and O is the outcome. Leaders cannot control the events, but they can control their responses. When leaders should always put their energy they value the most. Their actions must be congruent to their vision. They need to develop their own personal mission statement and always self assess all the time.
Presenter: Mike Kao
Bank is business and most young entrepreneurs tend to forget about that. Moreover, it is important for young entrepreneurs to know the other side of the equation. Mike Kao, the Investment Fund Advisor at Portfolio Strategies Corporation, invites entrepreneurs to discuss about the things bank would never tell young entrepreneurs. In this presentation, young entrepreneurs will learn the business model behind banks. In addition, Mike Kao will share his insights of what young entrepreneurs need to pay attention to when they are in business relationship with banks.
Mike Kao is the Investment Fund Advisor for Portfolio Strategies Corporation. He worked in many top banks, this includes Financial Services Manager for Bank of Montreal Financial Group (BMO), Premium Banker for Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), and Financial Services Manager for Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC). His expertise helped many young entrepreneurs with mortgage and financial planning. Moreover, he volunteers in Tzu Chi Foundation Canada as Audio/Video Coordinator for over 17 years.
As technology improves in the banking industry, bankers are looking for ways to change their services that integrates with new technology. This overwhelms many people with additional banking information. The problem young entrepreneurs are facing is that they do not know how to integrate with new banking information. Young entrepreneurs are living in the “reverse pyramid” society. Kao states the life expectancy for women is 81 years old and men is 79 years old. When there is money crisis, people look for bankers; in fact, they are relying on them for financial solutions.
Banker’s expectation not always equivalent with everyone’s expectation. Kao refers to this as “asymmetric information”. This leads to dissatisfaction for people. People feels overwhelmed because they believe there is no other options available.
“When you understand, there is hope”
How does bank make money? First of all, people need to understand that the expectation for bankers from outside world is not the same as the reality. The image of the bankers is not as glory as what market says in the outside world. In fact, they are overwhelming with paperwork and sales.
The business model for bank is very simple. When people deposit money to the bank, the bank will lend out money to others and charge interest. The bank will charge additional fees for the services they provide to customers. Bank only put a small portion of money for reserves and the rest are lending out for borrowing. The more people borrow, the more interests and fees generate. Kao believes their mentality is to find ways to charge as much as they can.
On the bank’s statement of income, 44% or more of the total revenue comes from interest and fees.
For most banks, the account monthly fee comes from the number of transactions occur in the bank account. When there is money out of the bank account, it generates a certain fee. The more transactions create, the more fees generate. Kao states typically account fee is between $3.95 to $30 per month, bank draft is $7.50 per draft, statement fee is $2.00 per statement and other transaction is between $1.25 to $5.00 per transaction. There are many unexpected charges and these are the bread and butter for bank’s operation. Nevertheless, it is legal for bank to increase charges and many people refer those as “hidden fees”.
Kao wants young entrepreneurs to know that without these fees, bank cannot operate. Moreover, customers will always be the last to know. To counteract bank fees, young entrepreneurs should change their spending habits. Kao suggests young entrepreneurs to use credit card instead of debit card to eliminate the number of transactions. By minimizing the number of debit transactions and cash withdraw from ATM, bankers will reduce the transaction fees. Young entrepreneurs should use online banking or online statement regularly. Also, they should use electronic fund transfer instead of cheques to reduce fees. When young entrepreneurs use other bank’s ATM to withdraw cash, they will get charged with a fee for using other bank’s ATM and another transaction fee from their own bank for the transaction. It is important to keep the bank balance over the hold fund limit. Young entrepreneurs can ask their bank for their hold fund limit. If their bank balance is under the limit for just one day, the bank can charge them additional fee. This is critical when young entrepreneurs use preauthorized payments. Kao suggests young entrepreneurs to ask for overdraft protection. NSF fees is compound interest, which can be very heavy.
Bankers will never sell “one” account; they will sell packaged product. This includes the chequing, saving, foreign exchange, and overdraft. This is a way for bankers to increase their sales unit counts and product penetration. Their target on consumers is to sell premium plan with highest fee. Each bank has its revenue projection on customers; moreover, bankers are forced to sell people premium plans to meet their quotas. To counteract selling, young entrepreneurs should always state clearly what they really need. Kao explains there is no such thing as the best bank plan. Each plan depends on spending habit, personal preference, emotional tide, rates, and promotional offer.
How cheque deposit? Kao explains when payer writes a cheque to Bank A and payee deposits the cheque to Bank B, Bank B will send the cheque to the processing center. The processing center notify Bank A to withdraw and Bank A will withdraw from payer’s account to the processing center. Lastly, Bank B receive the fund from the processing center and deposit the fund to payee’s account. Depends on bank, young entrepreneurs can hold cheques for 5 days if it is a new account. 4 days if they go through person and it takes up to 30 days for foreign currency cheque. There is no hold for government cheque. Bank can hold after $1,500 if it is a payroll cheque. For ATM deposit, bank can hold after the first $100. To counteract cheque hold, young entrepreneurs should give themselves time with cheque deposits. They can ask for preauthorized deposit, internet wire transfer, or bank draft, but these will have fees. They can also ask for certified cheque and cash instead. Young entrepreneurs can ask their banks to increase hold limit.
There are two types of bank lending: installment loan and revolving loan. The major difference is the amount, terms, rates, usage, amortization, and payment schedule. The rate is what bank uses to generate interest. It can be variable or fixed. The term is the contracted time frame and the amortization is how long will it be fully repaid. These all determine the payment amount.
To process the bank lending, bankers will ask for these items:
Presenter: Mike Kao
Bank is business and most young entrepreneurs tend to forget about that. Moreover, it is important for young entrepreneurs to know the other side of the equation. Mike Kao, the Investment Fund Advisor at Portfolio Strategies Corporation, invites entrepreneurs to discuss about the things bank would never tell young entrepreneurs. In this presentation, young entrepreneurs will learn the business model behind banks. In addition, Mike Kao will share his insights of what young entrepreneurs need to pay attention to when they are in business relationship with banks.
Mike Kao is the Investment Fund Advisor for Portfolio Strategies Corporation. He worked in many top banks, this includes Financial Services Manager for Bank of Montreal Financial Group (BMO), Premium Banker for Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), and Financial Services Manager for Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC). His expertise helped many young entrepreneurs with mortgage and financial planning. Moreover, he volunteers in Tzu Chi Foundation Canada as Audio/Video Coordinator for over 17 years.
As technology improves in the banking industry, bankers are looking for ways to change their services that integrates with new technology. This overwhelms many people with additional banking information. The problem young entrepreneurs are facing is that they do not know how to integrate with new banking information. Young entrepreneurs are living in the “reverse pyramid” society. Kao states the life expectancy for women is 81 years old and men is 79 years old. When there is money crisis, people look for bankers; in fact, they are relying on them for financial solutions.
Banker’s expectation not always equivalent with everyone’s expectation. Kao refers to this as “asymmetric information”. This leads to dissatisfaction for people. People feels overwhelmed because they believe there is no other options available.
“When you understand, there is hope”
How does bank make money? First of all, people need to understand that the expectation for bankers from outside world is not the same as the reality. The image of the bankers is not as glory as what market says in the outside world. In fact, they are overwhelming with paperwork and sales.
The business model for bank is very simple. When people deposit money to the bank, the bank will lend out money to others and charge interest. The bank will charge additional fees for the services they provide to customers. Bank only put a small portion of money for reserves and the rest are lending out for borrowing. The more people borrow, the more interests and fees generate. Kao believes their mentality is to find ways to charge as much as they can.
On the bank’s statement of income, 44% or more of the total revenue comes from interest and fees.
For most banks, the account monthly fee comes from the number of transactions occur in the bank account. When there is money out of the bank account, it generates a certain fee. The more transactions create, the more fees generate. Kao states typically account fee is between $3.95 to $30 per month, bank draft is $7.50 per draft, statement fee is $2.00 per statement and other transaction is between $1.25 to $5.00 per transaction. There are many unexpected charges and these are the bread and butter for bank’s operation. Nevertheless, it is legal for bank to increase charges and many people refer those as “hidden fees”.
Kao wants young entrepreneurs to know that without these fees, bank cannot operate. Moreover, customers will always be the last to know. To counteract bank fees, young entrepreneurs should change their spending habits. Kao suggests young entrepreneurs to use credit card instead of debit card to eliminate the number of transactions. By minimizing the number of debit transactions and cash withdraw from ATM, bankers will reduce the transaction fees. Young entrepreneurs should use online banking or online statement regularly. Also, they should use electronic fund transfer instead of cheques to reduce fees. When young entrepreneurs use other bank’s ATM to withdraw cash, they will get charged with a fee for using other bank’s ATM and another transaction fee from their own bank for the transaction. It is important to keep the bank balance over the hold fund limit. Young entrepreneurs can ask their bank for their hold fund limit. If their bank balance is under the limit for just one day, the bank can charge them additional fee. This is critical when young entrepreneurs use preauthorized payments. Kao suggests young entrepreneurs to ask for overdraft protection. NSF fees is compound interest, which can be very heavy.
Bankers will never sell “one” account; they will sell packaged product. This includes the chequing, saving, foreign exchange, and overdraft. This is a way for bankers to increase their sales unit counts and product penetration. Their target on consumers is to sell premium plan with highest fee. Each bank has its revenue projection on customers; moreover, bankers are forced to sell people premium plans to meet their quotas. To counteract selling, young entrepreneurs should always state clearly what they really need. Kao explains there is no such thing as the best bank plan. Each plan depends on spending habit, personal preference, emotional tide, rates, and promotional offer.
How cheque deposit? Kao explains when payer writes a cheque to Bank A and payee deposits the cheque to Bank B, Bank B will send the cheque to the processing center. The processing center notify Bank A to withdraw and Bank A will withdraw from payer’s account to the processing center. Lastly, Bank B receive the fund from the processing center and deposit the fund to payee’s account. Depends on bank, young entrepreneurs can hold cheques for 5 days if it is a new account. 4 days if they go through person and it takes up to 30 days for foreign currency cheque. There is no hold for government cheque. Bank can hold after $1,500 if it is a payroll cheque. For ATM deposit, bank can hold after the first $100. To counteract cheque hold, young entrepreneurs should give themselves time with cheque deposits. They can ask for preauthorized deposit, internet wire transfer, or bank draft, but these will have fees. They can also ask for certified cheque and cash instead. Young entrepreneurs can ask their banks to increase hold limit.
There are two types of bank lending: installment loan and revolving loan. The major difference is the amount, terms, rates, usage, amortization, and payment schedule. The rate is what bank uses to generate interest. It can be variable or fixed. The term is the contracted time frame and the amortization is how long will it be fully repaid. These all determine the payment amount.
To process the bank lending, bankers will ask for these items:
