The title of this post is a play on the old book title, “Letters from a Nut” which may or may not have been written by Jerry Seinfeld. Either way, it was a great read. That, however, is not the point of this post.
This little furball to your right is. His name is Bobby McGee and he is Mom’s nearly one year old puppy. Having spent a couple of weeks with young Bobby McGee, I’m saddened to say that I’ve learned quite a bit.
First off, you need to know that Bobby is perhaps the most likeable creature on the planet. He isn’t hyper and he doesn’t make a lot of commotion but he is always there. I call him a little Plodder. He gets into everything (like the fridge in this picture) but he does it in such a way that it is impossible to get angry with him.
Last night I was babysitting, Mr. McGee and made the mistake of taking him out for a run. We’ve both beefed up a bit and could definitely use more time exercising and less time treating ourselves to un-deserved treats. The problem isn’t the run so much as the fact, that Bobby gets a little rambuncious upon his return from a run.
So last night I warmed up some chicken stir-fry and discovered that it was too hot to eat after nuking it. I placed it on the table and visited the washroom. Whilst in said washroom, I heard some commotion coming from the kitchen so I hiked up and hustled out to discover Bobby McGee had hopped up on my chair to the table. From there he had found a bag in which Mom keeps his treats and had pulled those out and dumped them on the floor. He had then lept off the table (presumably via the chair) and was about to tear into the bag o treats.
He may or may not have indulged in my stir-fry along the way but I skimmed the top layer off of it just to be safe.
You’ve seen him, it is impossible to get mad at him so I ate and left it at that. Ten minutes later I was on the computer and heard but yet another crashing sound. This time he had ventured up to Mom’s kitchen counter (again via a carelessly displaced chair), had dumped the butter tray on the floor and was chowing down on lard when I arrived on the scene.
Again, nobody could get mad at this face, right? Wrong.
Shortly afterwards, still irked by McGee’s behaviour I recieved a text from mom saying that she and her friends were ready to be picked up. I was putting on my boots alongside Bobby McGee when he took off downstairs. I called a few times before I begrudgingly removed my boots and went to see what was holding up the parade.
Bobby McGee had found my headphones and was finishing off the ear that he hadn’t already destroyed a few days earlier. Again, when I took them away, he looked at me like I was the one in the wrong. Like he was the parade and I was peeing on it.
Not a bad analogy, actually.
In any event, B-Mac’s behaviour got me to thinking. He isn’t obnoxious. He isn’t over zealous. He just does exactly what wants to do, regardless of what others think. He’s a Plodder and he can’t be stopped. He doesn’t hurt anyone. He just does what he wants.
One thing that drives me crazy is marketing consultants or gurus that haven’t done anything tangible or can’t prove that they’ve ever done anything tangible when it comes to their craft. At the end of the day, we can talk all we want about Google rankings, backlinks, videos, testimonials and everything else but business owners all want one thing. Results.
Those results can be defined differently however. Most of the small business owners I work with are looking for qualified sales leads to sell to and follow-up with. Sales leads are the result of a higher number of visitors to your website combined with a higher percentage of those visitors taking action once they get there. This action is most often the completion of a contact or Request for Quote form or a phone call.
In any event, I’ve finally gotten around to shooting a few videos showing some of the results I’ve been able to produce for cleints as well as for sites that I own. I realized that I have to work on my Camtasia skills (this is the program I use to shoot the videos) but I am still happy with the end result.
I’ve been working with the Sudbury Suomi (Finnish) Lions Club on an interesting project lately. They’re raising funds to produce a new trophy for the Finnish Under-20 Hockey League. The original cup (the Canada Bowl) was a joint effort between Canada, Finland and Sweden and the grandson of the man that spear-headed the original effort in 1950 has decided to take up the cause this time around.
It is a pretty ambitious effort but there is little doubt that the funds will be raised. Finnish hockey greats like Jari Kurri and Michael Granlund are behind the efforts as are a couple of very influencial Finnish-Canadian media moguls.
The site is now live at LegacyBowl.ca if you want to check it out. Various donation levels are available but if you don’t want to contribute, no worries. You can also visit the Legacy Bowl facebook page and click the “like” button. This would help the cause as well.
I’ve been back in Canada for two years now and I’m getting that old itch to hit the road again. Vancouver is great but the rain really is getting me down. So where is the destination this time?
Brazil!! Of course.
I still have a number of friends in Brazil that I haven’t seen for a long time and I’m itching to get somewhere warm. My game plan is pretty simple this time. Find a nice quiet beach, get into shape and build my consulting business as well as my other online interests..
I know that that might sound strange. How does one build a business helping local Canadian businesses while lounging on a beach somewhere in Brazil? Actually, thanks to the Internet, it is easier than one might think.
In the meantime, I’m still in Canada waiting for my new European passport to come through. It is nice to be back in Ontario. I’ve been getting out on an outdoor rink and playing some hockey. After a 15 year layoff I can tell you that the rust isn’t only on my skate blades. But it does feel great to get out playing again.
That’s about it for now. Nothing marketing-related this time. Just an update on what is going on. Talk soon.
I know I’m behind the times in my reading material but I’ve just started reading “Socialnomics” by Erik Qualman. So far it is a fascinating read and I suspect it will only get better.
Right out of the gate Qualman talks about the demise of traditional newspapers and media channels as we know them. I recently posted very similar thoughts on my post after the Vancouver riots a few days ago.
I haven’t read enough of the book yet to intelligently comment on it but I did want to mention one thing. Qualman cites Dancing Matt early on as an example of the potential power of social media and more importantly, the potential of social media to allow people to make a living doing what they love to do.
If you’re not familiar with Matt, he is a dude that was famous among his friends for a goofy dance that he did. He got sick of the rat race and started travelling for fun. One of his buddies asked him to do his dance “over there”, filmed it and eventually put it on YouTube.
Long story short, Matt’s videos became wildly successful and Stride gum approached him and now sponsors his travels. Matt is doing what he loves to do and Stride gum is getting MASSIVE exposure for very little costs. Last I checked the video below had nearly 38 million views. That is just one of Matt’s many videos. Amazing!!
The title of this post is a play on the old book title, “Letters from a Nut” which may or may not have been written by Jerry Seinfeld. Either way, it was a great read. That, however, is not the point of this post.
I’ve been back in Canada for two years now and I’m getting that old itch to hit the road again. Vancouver is great but the rain really is getting me down. So where is the destination this time?
I know I’m behind the times in my reading material but I’ve just started reading “Socialnomics” by Erik Qualman. So far it is a fascinating read and I suspect it will only get better.
Save yourself $10 by entering your email address below to receive my latest guide. Alternatively, you can buy it on Amazon.com.
Facebook
Twitter