Jun 17, 2010
Posted in Marketing Ideas
In May – as I often do – I awoke in the middle of the night with a crazy idea. I’m sure you get those thoughts that nag at you to the point that you either go insane or do something with them, right?
Well, my idea was to write a book to help local business owners improve the marketing of their Vancouver-based businesses. I immediately knew that the title was going to be Marketing in Vancouver: An Insider Guide to Successful Local Marketing. I checked and sure enough both the dot com and dot ca extensions were available for Marketing in Vancouver so I snagged them both.
Of course, this concept is nothing new but how I planned to promote the book and leverage it to generate sales leads for my various businesses was revolutionary.
Fast forward about six weeks and the Marketing in Vancouver site is ready and the book is about 90% written. The cover looks great and the feedback I’ve received from local business owners so far has been nothing short of awesome. It is really cool.
My point? How is it possible for objects so real and tangible – in this case a website, a book and paying customers – materialize so quickly from little more than a random thought? I guess when push comes to shove everything on this planet began as a thought inside of someone’s head.
I wonder how many more great ideas never come to fruition simply because the thinker isn’t paying attention or more likely, doesn’t think something is possible. I know that I’ve been guilty of both of these conditions on more than one occassion. Not this time though 
Jun 10, 2010
Posted in Fun and Inspiration
So I was watching the Stanley Cup Finals this evening and the Canadian icon Don Cherry interviewed legendary tough guy Dave “The Hammer” Shultz before the game.
If you’re not familiar with “The Hammer” he was the king bully back in the 70′s when the Flyers were known as the Broad Street Bullies. I was only about 7 years old when Dave ruled the roost but I do remember him always beating up on some poor sap from the Leafs. He was the toughest of the tough in an era of incredible tough dudes.
So Don Cherry is talking to him and the name Fred Shero comes up. Fred was another legend but for his coaching skills, not his fists. In fact, he was known to have ‘disliked’ fighting in hockey – all the while putting together a team that would give opponents nightmares.
In any event, Shultz mentioned something that Shero said once to get the lads revved up. It was something to the effect of, “If you’re worried about people criticizing you the solution is simple. Say nothing, do nothing and be nothing.”
Huh? Did I just pick up a great lesson from The Hammer himself? I guess I did. I have a number of half-completed projects on the go that I haven’t done anything with simply because they might not be well received. In other words, I’m breaking my own golden rule of marketing – test everything.
Who cares what others think?
Jun 2, 2010
Posted in Fun and Inspiration
I haven’t written anything just for fun for awhile so I thought I’d share this amusing little diddy.
I’m in Vancouver now where it has been raining for three weeks straight. I was in Calgary visiting my sister’s family on the weekend and it snowed there. Not just a light dusting but two days and about six inches of snow.
Back in Ontario on the same weekend, Mom tells me that it hit 39 degrees celsius! Even for Canada, that is a pretty crazy weather pattern.
In any event, here is the amusing part of the story. My Grandfather is 87 years old and don’t worry, he’ll remind you of that fact repeatedly. I guess Mom was taking Gramps over to a friend’s place to eat on that very hot weekend back in Ontario. As Gramps is getting into the car, she asks Gramps why he’s wearing a velour sweater when it is over 30 degrees out.
His answer was, “I just realized I can’t wear short sleeve shirts anymore. My arms are starting to look wrinkly.”
I guess the dinner on the deck was pretty funny. Everyone was in shorts and t-shirts sweating profusely while Gramps sat there stoically in his sweather and cordaroy pants not even mentioning the heat. Classic.
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