BoT's affordable solution for Training and Development

One of the biggest problems facing SMEs is the need to improve productivity and employee capabilities. Yet who has money or time for formal professional development courses?

I’m excited about a plan by the Toronto Board of Trade to address this problem for small business. And I'm taking part in a special webinar on Thursday, April 1 exploring how this can help your business upgrade its competencies, virtually for free, and in less time than you’d expect.

The Board of Trade has teamed up with Ryerson University’s Chang School of Continuing Education to create a new program, Fast-Track Online Learning, geared to the needs of small business. Result: professional courses on hot management topics, revised to meet the time constraints of small business – and available free of charge, any time, to most member firms of the Board.

If there’s a catch, I haven't found it yet.

Once you have completed one of the 8 to 10-hour Web-based courses, the BoT will even make it easy to network with other people who have taken that course – allowing you to reinforce your learnings and expand your personal network at the same time.

To celebrate the launch of the first six courses in the series, I’ll be taking part in a direct-to-your-computer webinar at 11 am (EDT) on April 1. We’ll talk about why businesses need to upgrade their employees’ knowledge base (the growing complexity of business, the demands of the knowledge-based economy, increasing competition and Canada’s productivity gap are a few reasons that come to mind). We'll also discuss the real, bottom-line benefits companies can gain by helping employees succeed.

Also speaking on the webinar will be Aviva Klein of the Board of Trade and Debra Newman, vice-president of “people” for Porter Airlines.

To register for the webinar or get more information, click here.

Board officials say they have received rave reviews from early adopters who have taken the new courses. Produced by academics at Ryerson, the courses emphasize interactivity and videos – no bulky textbooks here. You can access course material from any computer, at home, at work or on the road.

And they have been trimmed to manageable length (under 10 hours) to ensure even the busiest business people can get through them. You even get a certificate at the end.

Courses being offered include Management & Leadership, E-Marketing, Managerial Accounting, Communications in Career Advancement, Project Management Fundamentals, and Project Management Planning & Scheduling.

For more information on Fast-Track courses, click here.

Best Entrepreneurial Quotes, Week 7

“The truth is that big thinking is always, always worth the expenditure of energy… The cost of small thinking has skyrocketed.”

Sales guru Michael Port, in The Think Big Manifesto (Wiley, 2009)

With this book, Port is trying to create an influential movement of people willing to think big, in both the business and social spheres.

“With small thinking," he continues, "we cannot grow – intellectually, spiritually, creatively, emotionally, financially. And when we cannot grow, society cannot grow. It cannot advance. It cannot develop. Small thinking is an ultimately autodestructive path.”

For more information, see http://www.bigthinkrevolution.com/

Dragons' Den reels 'em in

It's not enough that the CBC's Dragons are ridiculously smart and rich. Now they're some kind of superstars.

The season finale of Dragons' Den on Wednesday night attracted almost two million (1.956 million) viewers.

The Dragons' heartwarming personal stories won the 8 pm time slot, with almost 4.1 million watching some part of the show.

The CBC says Dragons' Den achieved a season average of 1.75 million viewers per episode, reaching over one in three Canadians.

Pretty remarkable for a business show.

The US version, Shark Tank, rarely reached 5 million viewers in a country with 10 times the population. Although it's not very fair to compare a new show with one that's been building for four years.

What do you think? Are you eager for more of the Dragons? (There will be a full 20 shows next year - about as long a season as any show gets these days.) Do you think Canadians are learning anything from the Den? Please leave a comment below.

Don't forget, the Dragons are back auditioning for next season: click here for the remaining schedule. You can also apply online.

And watch Monday's Post (Mar 22) for my column on my day as a Deputy Dragon.

Why entrepreneurs should ask for help

One of the most important things that every entrepreneur (and human being) should learn is to ask for help when it’s needed. As I’ve said before, healthy wolves hunt in packs; lone wolves die alone in the cold.

My column in this week's Financial Post looks at one entrepreneur from Haliburton, Ont., who dared to seek help with a business that was just sort of going nowhere. Thanks to mentoring and consulting from the Innovation Synergy Centre in Markham, Gena Robertson’s “School’s Cool” program is now being sold by a major U.S. educational distributor, and she is now considering overseas deals.

Ms Robertson’s case is also interesting, as she has spent more than 20 years being a “social entrepreneur,” creating new programs and partnerships in the social-services sector. Adopting a for-profit mindset required some serious relearning for Robertson, some of which I tried to chronicle.

Excerpt:
To attract investors, Robertson had to figure out what the business would look like, and especially how it would source, warehouse and distribute its wares. It also meant preparing Robertson to pitch her business to potential angel investors. "That was painful," she admits. "When you work in social services, you play down what you do. You share the credit. When you pitch to investors, you have to say, 'This is what we do, this is how great we are.' "

For the full story, click here.

Play Ball!: Why Social Media isn't Working

I've been writing and thinking a lot lately about social media. And I think the reason is that, despite all the hype about Facebook and Twitter and blogging and YouTube, none of these things has come close to changing the way businesses market, sell or operate.

So are they just fancy new toys and timewasters? Or simply cluttered information media (the million-channel TV!!) rather than business tools?

I disagree. Social media offer a fundamental business advantage. It’s just that not everyone (in fact, almost nobody) is ready for what it means.

It’s as if everyone in Canada played hockey, and were suddenly handed a baseball bat. The bat would be too heavy, too short, and no good for slapshots. So everyone would say it was useless.

But then somebody announces, “You don't play hockey with a baseball bat. It’s for a different game.” Then they hand out the gloves, bases and balls, and suddenly you realize that baseball bats are pretty cool. They're just no good for hockey.

Social media is a whole new game. A new way of connecting businesses to customers. To succeed, you have to forget the old skills – slapshots, poke-checks and skating – and work on new ones, like hitting, fielding and base-running.

The old skills of marketing are things like advertising and promotion, one-to-one sales calls, and retail distribution. These competencies still matter, but with social media we need to learn new skills: how to create deeper relationships with customers and prospects; and how to engage them in an ongoing way, win their trust, and win their loyalty.

These tasks have always been doable, but not easily – like taking a penalty shot with a baseball bat. Possible, but not worth doing twice.

With social media, we have to approach our audience differently. Just think of the different meanings of “corporate” and “social.”

Now that you can interact with your customers and prospects one on one, they're not just a "market" any more – they are people who expect to be addressed as individuals. Now that it's possible to address them as friends and partners, they expect to be treated that way.

This means you have to open the kimono: Expose your organization to other people’s scrutiny, reach out, make friends, tell your products’ stories, engage the feedback of your customers, create a user community.

Sounds like work? Nothing worthwhile is gained without effort. To create fans and pump up customer loyalty and repeat sales, you have to master these tools. Otherwise, when summer comes and the rinks are closed, you’ll have nobody to interact with, because your market will all be playing baseball with the cool kids.

It’s not just the ways you communicate that have to change. It’s your whole approach to business, customers, the market, and your employees. It’s a new era of openness, story-telling, relationships and trust. Whoever creates the highest engagement will earn the most loyalty.

How do you do that? So far, nobody’s really sure. So it’s wide open to experimentation, trial and error, innovation and creativity.

And join Twitter. Twitter is the Little League of social media – an easy place to get started and learn to reach out.

After all, how do you get to Yankee Stadium? Practice.

The complicated life of Brett Wilson

Lots of surprises in today’s profile of Brett Wilson, “the Dragon with a heart,” in the Toronto Star. Writer Jennifer Wells describes her interview with him as ”one part business, three parts psychoanalysis.”

• First she hints about a significant other* in his life.

• She explores his disdain for Toronto financiers when he was financing oil and gas deals in Calgary 20 years ago.

• Then she writes about his experience at an addiction research program. "There was no dependency on alcohol whatsoever," Wilson maintains. "What there was, was an inappropriate style of drinking."

• Then there’s his experience with depression. Says Wilson: “I joke about seeing a list of the 12 signs of clinical depression and going through the list and nine of them were clearly me and the other three, well, I was still in denial."

• Wilson stepped down from his company, FirstEnergy, in January, to focus on his philanthropy and private investments, which include a baseball club, a British soccer team, an ad agency, fitness franchise, real estate, and a divorce solutions company.

• He says he’s not as nice as he sometimes appears on Dragons’ Den, because the producers edit out the tough business questions he poses to pitchers. "I've never seen them use the core business question I ask."

• When he auditioned for the Den the CBC told him he wasn't mean enough. He said, “Look, if `mean' means being a prick, don't ask me back.”

• He also insisted on equality among the Dragons in the show’s promotions. "If you look at some of the advertising you'd think it was the Kevin O'Leary and friends show," says Wilson.

Lots more surprises in the story. No wonder The Star saved this profile for last. Click here for all the details.


* The girlfriend? Canadian songbird Sarah McLachlan. “"We spend time together," says Wilson. "Anyone who saw us at the Olympics would know that we spend time together."

Jousting with the Dragons

While we're talking Dragons' Den (see previous post re my summary of the tear-jerking season finale), the Toronto Star itself has gone Dragon-happy.

It's been running in-depth profiles of each of the 5 Dragons. The series kicked off last Saturday with Kevin O'Leary, probably since he is the best known and most controversial dragon.

Nobody's better than the Star's Jennifer Wells at digging up info and revealing character. In her March 13 O'Leary profile, she dug into the securities records to determine that he's probably not as rich as you think. When the CBC trumpets about selling his company to Mattel in a $4-billion deal, it doesn't tell you he was just a minority shareholder in what was then a public company.

She figures he owned about a million shares (about 1% of the total?), which would have meant a $33-million payout. Kevin says he owned more shares than that, and probably did. But that's still a long way from Billionaire Acres.

Wells' article concludes with this happy quote: "I have a very simple objective in life," says O'Leary, relaxing now into his second glass of Tignanello. "I want to go to bed richer than when I woke up. It's that simple."

Sunday's story on Arlene Dickinson reveals a little more about her working life, including the fact that three of her children work for her, that her firm Venture Communications has about $45 million in gross revenue, and that her business is based on telling brand stories.

The article also reveals the secret of the white streak in Aelene's hair. But you'll have to read the story itself for that.

In yesterday's article on Jim Treliving, we learn why this 68-year-old is still a babe magnet. Which this blog won't go into.

Today's story goes to town on "The Nice Dragon." Writer Francine Kopun probes some of the disparities between the growing legend of Robert Herjavec and the real story. What did he pay for his mansion? How much did he get for selling his first company? Does he really own his own island? Nice to see a celebrity story that doesn't skirt the tough questions.

Best moment? After probing Robert's $7.5-million purchase of his Bridle Path home with indoor pool, which marked him as a Torontonian to watch long before Dragons' Den, Kopun gets poor Robert to admit, "I'm nuts. Nobody is ever going to pay that kind of money again for this house."

Tomorrow: Brett Wilson gets the Star treatment.

Read these profiles yourself:
- O'Leary
- Dickinson
- Treliving
- Herjavec

Dragons' Den Season Finale - Exposed!

Okay, I am live-blogging a sneak preview of Wednesday night's season finale of Dragons' Den. Thanks to the CBC for the preview copy.

I am just going to write down my thoughts as the show goes by. This could be a long post.

Thought 1: It's a special flashback episode exploring the Dragons' roots. Sounds good. The title? The Road to Riches. Seems a little banal. Unless that's all their individual journeys were about - and I'm pretty sure that's not the case.

Brett Wilson: Energy Maverick: Starts out with Wilson's annual garden party for charity. Calgary's "creme de la creme" turn out - can't the CBC writers think in anything but cliches? Now Brett is showing off his "priceless" collection of Canadian art. Then we're off to his hometown of North Battleford, Sask. "We grew up in a province that was built by entrepreneurs," says Wilson. We meet his parents, and Brett chokes up as he tells how his dad gave up a lucrative job in the oil patch to stay closer to home with his young family.

Brett then shows us his dorm room at the University of Saskatchewan, where he was delighted to find a whole roomful of "geeky brain kids" like himself. There "he became a top student thanks to his knack for numbers." (Cue a clip of him ripping apart a hapless pitcher on Dragons' Den. ) Wilson took a job brokering oil properties in Calgary, where he says he and his partners were "in the catbird seat." He was soon making $150,000 -- a month.

But now Wilson admits he neglected his family in those early years, working all the time and pretending it was for them. "My father did it right," he says. "He was around for his family." In 2001 he and his wife divorced. And on the same day he learned he had prostate cancer.

Brett beat the cancer, but he says the diagnosis was his wake-up call to straighten out his priorities. Now a committed philanthropist, he says he's learned that wealth "can create opportunities to change people's lives."

Next, we go back to Zbjeg, Croatia with Robert Herjavec, east of Zagreb. We meet the aunt and uncle who raised him on a farm. "We were poor financially, but we were never devoid of spirit or love... what a great way to grow up."

At 8, his family fled to Italy, then to Canada. We see Robert tear up at seeing his childhood apartment again in Rexdale - a place his wife has never seen. "This country is a great place," he sniffs. "You really can be anything you want. It's incredible."

As we visit his Bridle Path mansion, he says that "my favourite part of being wealthy is the sense of worth and self-confidence it gives me - not just for me, but for my mom and dad, for the sacrifices they made. I feel good about what my dad went through to get to this country." Then the family plays a game of Monopoly.

Part III: Jim Treliving, "Franchise Baron." The ex-Mountie head of Boston Pizza got to the top through hard work, and shows us he still knows how to make a pizza. We go back to Virden, Man., where his father was a barber, and "being a cop is about as big as a boy could dream."

We also visit the house he grew up, where he used to sneak out the back window at night and come back in the same way. At 19 he joined the RCMP: "For nine years Jim moved constantly, policing gritty small towns in the West." (Cue clips of Jim thowing pitchers out of the DD studio for crimes against business.)

Then one day Jim ate at an Edmonton restaurant called Boston Pizza, where he watched young people throw money around and figured the owner earned more in a week than he did in a year. He told his dad he needed a hand to buy into the restaurant; his dad said "No you don't, you need a psychiatrist." We then visit the site of his first restaurant, in Penticton, BC. "After we closed at 3 in the morning, I scrubbed the floor... we never had a day off for two and a half years."

Jim was still living hand to mouth when he met local accountant George Melville , who brought "needed financial discipline" to Boston Pizza. They've now been partners for 40 years. And they still share the same office. "George and Jim eventually bought the entire company and turned it into a billion-dollar empire," says the CBC narrator.

It was no overnight success, says Jim from his two-story penthouse with the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Vancouver's North Shore mountains. "It took us probably 10 years to get to where we started to see some actual money that we could hang onto."

"You have to jump onto an opportunity when you see it. Take a ride and see what happens."

Part IV: Arlene Dickinson, "Marketing Maven." We meet Arlene by the pool at sunset at Casa Dickinson, overlooking the ocean in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. "It's a lifetime away from Arlene's frugal days as a single mother," says the narrator.

Arlene was born in Germiston, South Africa, near Johannesburg. Her father moved the family to Canada for a better life, but she says they grew up poor. "We had absolutely no money because my parents had given up everything that they possessed in order to emigrate to this country." She takes an emotional trip back to her parents' first home in Calgary, where she lived till she left home at 16.

Dickinson says she bought into the 60s notion of husband, house and kids. "I really did believe it was all about getting married and having children, which was really a goal for me. It was all I really ever wanted." She married at 19, had four kids by 27, and then became a single working mom following her divorce. With no formal education and few skills, she took on a series of menial jobs.

"There's a lot of despair when you're a single mom and you're trying to take care of your children and take care of yourself, and you don't really know how you're going to do that.... How am I going to be able to manage this?"

Her big break came from getting a marketing job with Venture Comunications, later becoming a partner, then sole owner. "Material things are wonderful to have," she says now, "but at the end of the day, nothing matters more than the people you love. Nothing."

"Money is so not the solution to everything," she says. "Knowing who you are, that's the solution to everything."

Part Last: The Dragon King, Kevin O'Leary.
How did Kevin O’Leary become the fearsome dragon? We see his childhood home in a middle-class Montreal suburb, and home movies of his mom and a birthday cake. After his father died, his mother married a management expert who took the family all over the world – to Cambodia, Tunisia, Cyprus, Switzerland.

The stepfather also urged the teenage Kevin to put down his guitar and pick up a book. “Kevin was unpredictable when he was a teenager,” he says now. “We spent many sleepless nights thinking about his future.” Great picture of his mom’s car after Kevin totaled it.

We also visit a shopping centre where O’Leary got his first job scooping ice cream. And where he was fired for refusing to scrape the gum from the floor. “I could buy this place now and bulldoze it if I wanted,” he says. And he means it.

“I have never ever in my life worked for someone again,” he says. “No one has ever had control over me, ever, and never will.” He reaches for a Kleenex to dry his eyes.

Then we see the Toronto basement where Kevin started his first software company – Softkey – with a $10,000 loan from his mother. That journey ended by selling the resulting company to Mattel for $3.7 billion. (By then I had already put O’Leary and his then-partner on the cover of PROFIT Magazine in 1992, kicking off his rise to media superstar, but that somehow got overlooked on the show.)

Finally, we get to see Kevin’s giant Muskoka cottage as he purrs, “Welcome to Fantasy Island.” We visit his wine cellar and see him climb into the hot tub overlooking Lake Joseph. “You have to find a business you fall in love with,” he says. “Because I don't believe entrepreneurs ever do things they don't want to do.”

The show ends with Kevin opining that money gives him freedom, and freedom is power.

Verdict on the show: Fascinating gossipy stuff. Not much about how they achieved their business success, but “Must” viewing if you want to understand where these Dragons are coming from every day.

Few multi-millionaires (or any Canadian TV personalities) tolerate the personal media exposure that Dragons’ Den requires, so the five Dragons have probably become Canada’s most famous and best-known rich folks, ever. (What did any of us know about E.P Taylor beyond his racehorses?)

The Dragons are human enough to fuel any emotion you want: envy, contempt, respect and pride. What you think about the Dragons probably says more about who you are than who they are. And knowing who you are is the solution to everything.

Cheers to next season! Auditions are now open.

Best Entrepreneurial Quotes, Week 6

"It takes courage to stand up and speak. But it also takes courage to sit down and listen."

Winston Churchill

Sir Winston wasn't always a very good listener; while others were speaking he, like many of us, tended to be planning what he was going to say next. Still, this quote is appropriate for all leaders, in business or otherwise.

Listening honours others. It helps us understand their hopes and their needs. Listening offers unique potential for resolving disputes and creating consenus for moving head.

When would you be better served by speaking less and listening more?

Young Canadians for Haiti

Yes, it came out a bit late, but here are the Young (Canadian) Artists for Haiti performing their song for Haiti: Wavin' Flag. The song was recorded last month in Vancouver.

Great to see young artists getting into the awareness and hope business for their generation - hopefully they have also donated a lot of money as well. (Proceeds go to War Child Canada, Free The Children, and World Vision.)



I recognized Drake (my kids would be so impressed), Avril Lavigne, Nikki Yanofsky, Justin Bieber, Nelly Furtado and Sam Roberts. That's about it. How many can you identify?

Here's the full list of contributors, according to the Young Artists' Facebook page:
K'naan (who wrote the song), Nelly Furtado, Avril Lavigne, Sam Roberts, Pierre Bouvier (Simple Plan), Tyler Connolly (Theory Of A Deadman), Kardinal Offishall, Jully Black, Josh Ramsay (Marianas Trench), Jay Malinowski (Bedouin Soundclash), Chin Injeti, Jacob Hoggard (Hedley), Red 1 (Rascalz), Lights, Deryck Whibley (Sum 41), Serena Ryder, Emily Haines (Metric), James Shaw (Metric), Hawksley Workman, Drake, Ima, Elisapie Isaac, Pierre Lapointe, Esthero, Corb Lund, Fefe Dobson, Jim Creeggan (Barenaked Ladies), Tom Cochrane, Kevin Parent, Lamar Ashe, Colin James, Nikki Yanofsky, Suzie McNeil, Stephan Moccio, Aoin Clarke, Kathleen Edwards, Jim Cuddy, Shiloh, Stacey McKitrick, Jessie Farrell, Colin MacDonald, Justin Nozuka, Hayley Sales, Matt Mays, City & Colour, Arkells, Pat Kordyback (Stereos), Dave Faber, Brandon Lehti, The Canadian Tenors, Justin Bieber, Torquil Campbell (Stars), Broken Social Scene.

(Some are not so young...)

Kudos to producer Bob Ezrin, legendary Canadian-born music producer known for his work with Alice Cooper, Kiss and Pink Floyd.

You can order the song from here for $1.29: http://www.youngartistsforhaiti.net/

Flirt with RickAlert!

I just sent out a copy of my weekly RickAlert, and was delighted to get a BlackBerry-powered fan letter from a subscriber a few minutes later saying: "Hi Rick! I just love your news letter!!!"

It's sad, but writers live for this type of spontaneity and passion.

Since I haven't been very good at promoting the RickAlert, I thought I would mention again in case you want to love it, too.

The RickAlert is a free weekly summary of my column in the National/Financial Post (and syndicated across Canada by the Canwest newspaper chain). Each newsletter contains just enough details for you to decide whether you want to click through to the Post site to read the full column.

So it's a great way to stay in touch with the Canadian entrepreneurial/business scene without the hassle of actually subscribing to a newspaper.

I also occasionally plug my other writing, such as my columns in PROFIT Magazine. But there's no advertising, and the mailing list is shared with nobody.

If you would like to subscribe, just sent me an email and I'll sign you up. ( rick (at) rickspence.ca Or let me know if you'd rather see a sample first.
Please put RickAlert in the subject line so I know it's you.

Startup Advice: "Commit to Making Decisions"

I'm working my way through ReWork, a book about no-frills startups. It’s by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, the founders of 37Signals (which developed Basecamp, Backpack and other no-frills software).

You can download excerpts from the book here.

I’m now halfway through the book, and a bit disappointed that it reads like a primer on startups. Some of it contradicts conventional wisdom (“Learning from mistakes is overrated”; “Why grow?”; “Embrace constraints”), and some of it is insightful and motivating (“Planning is guessing”; “Make a dent in the universe”). But not a lot of meat on these bones.

Still, here’s one part I really liked. “When you put off decisions, they pile up. And piles end up ignored, dealt with in haste, or thrown out.”

The authors’ solution? “Commit to making decisions,” they write. “Don't wait for the perfect solution. Decide and move forward.”

I have met many entrepreneurs who got hung up on non-essential details – the company name, someone’s title, the color of the prototype. You can't know what works best until you try. So make the best decision you can, and move on - staying prepared to fix it later, if necessary and when convenient.

“Long projects zap morale,” say the authors. “The longer it takes to develop, the less likely it is to launch. Make the call, make progress, and get something out now – while you've got the motivation and momentum to do so.”

Now that’s pure gold. And not just for startups, but for any business that aspires to innovate, change or lead.

What decisions are holding you back?

How to get my staff to do what i need

A visitor from Fairfield, Ct. (not far from my mom's family's old home in Westport) found their way to this blog yesterday by searching for information on the topic, "get my staff to do what i need." I find something sad about that question, including the writer's insecurity about capitalizing the "I".

Anyway, a post on this blog from August 2008 popped up as the second result in the visitor's Yahoo search. It linked to an article at the PROFIT magazine website (now called CB Online, but I still call it PROFITguide), in which a handful of people answered a similar question from a Canadian business owner on "How can I encourage my team to be more entrepreneurial?"

I reread the post and found it pretty good, so why not take a look? If you'd like your employees to go the extra mile for you, check out my 2008 post here.
Or visit the original PROFITguide article here.

A quick excerpt to wet your appetite:
To get your people to be more entrepreneurial, you need to answer a simple question for them: “What’s in it for me?” Sounds harsh, but it’s true. If you expect your people to stay late to get the job done, they need to share in the success.

Best Entrepreneurship Quotes, Week 5

No one is in greater need of discipline than an entrepreneur. The discipline to continually do the right things; and the discipline to stop doing the wrong things. Only will can help you.

"Habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it every day, and at last we cannot break it."
Horace Mann, 1796 – 1859

What habits should you start breaking now?

---
Horace Mann was a Massachusetts politician and lifelong education reformer. As a child he paid his own way through school by braiding straw, never attending more than six weeks a year; yet he was named class valedictorian upon graduation from Brown University. In 1837, as secretary of the first Board of Education in the United States, he became a forceful champion for public schooling, non-sectarian education, and professional teachers.

As president of Ohio's Antioch College, he urged the graduating class of 1859 to "Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity." That message has been repeated to every graduating class since.

Dragons Sighted Over Canada (again!)

I'm looking forward to auditioning Dragons’ Den prospects tomorrow. Auditions for next season (being tape this spring) began earlier this week in Saskatoon, and continue till April 17 in Ottawa. This year the producers will hit 40 cities in their search for wacky inventors and doable deals, so click here for the audition schedule.

The first of two Toronto auditions goes tomorrow, at CBC Toronto, from 10 till 6. You can register online here, or just show up sign in and wait around. There will also be a second Toronto audition on April 10.

The CBC’s expecting a big crowd tomorrow, so get there early or come in the afternoon. In past years, the line has been pretty much gone by 3 pm.

I will be helping out with auditions for the fourth year in a row. I’m no Kevin O’Leary, but I would be glad to harangue you on his behalf if you drop by.

As always, prospective pitchers are encouraged to: explain your business plan in 20 seconds, know the size of your target market, and be able to sum up your competitive edge in a comprehensible, compelling way. If your product or business idea already has sales, let us know first thing. That’s what separates the dreamers from the doers.

Oh, and there’s still two episodes to go for this season. Watch for cool deals on March 10, and then for the season finale on March 17, which will focus on the background stories of the ever-loving Dragons themselves. Sounds like must-see TV. I have been given an advance peek, and I will blog about it soon.

How to Build a Personal Brand

Everyone knows how important it is to manage their personal brand, but how do you do it and where do you start?

You’ll find seven great approaches from the pros in a new article by Dan Schawbel at Bnet.com.
Here’s the gist:

• Own Your Google Results, says author David Meerman Scott. (He did it by using his middle name.)
• Stand Out from the Pack, says marketing guru Seth Godin. Champion unexpected ideas and insights.

• Get People Talking About You, says Tim Ferriss (author of The 4-Hour Workweek). Learn to create buzz, online and off. Online content never disappears!
• Attach Yourself to a Bigger Brand, says Steve Rubel. As a senior VP for Edelman Digital, he leveraged that brand to become a prominent media pundit.

• Focus, Focus, Focus, says John Jantsch, who stuck his Duct Tape Marketing brand on all of his blogs, books, columns, and workshops.
• Be Nice to Everyone, says Gary Vaynerchuk of video blog Wine Library TV. His personal credo, Be kind to everyone, has generated a large following.

• Give Before You Receive, says Keith Ferrazzi, author of the networking book Never Eat Alone. Instead of asking people for favors, ask, “What can I do for you?”

Read the full story here.

I would add a few more points. Don't push your brand too explicitly. Share. Give other people plenty of credit. Network and cross-promote with other people and aspiring brands, but don't compromise your quality or your principles. People will judge you by the company you keep.

Want to know more? Dan Schawbel publishes on online periodical called Personal Branding Magazine. http://personalbrandingmag.com/

Innovation Nations: It's a Smart World After All

The Christian Science Monitor has published a cool article on how 5 countries are encouraging innovation. It of course views this phenomenon through an American lens - omigosh, more competition for America!

But even the Monitor recognizes that competition in trade is good for America - which is mighty good for Canada and the rest of the world.

Dartmouth College business prof Vijay Govindarajan notes that "The United States can be competitive in the next 25 years only if we embrace globalization 150 percent... Globalization is like gravity. You can deny it only at your peril."

Here's a preview of the startup action in 5 countries.

BRAZIL: A major government-backed effort to support start-ups includes a growing array of university-based incubator programs. Entrepreneur Andre Averbug, who develops software for mass-transit services, notes that, "A few years ago, Brazil was seen as a commodity country," he says. (Sound like any other country you know?)

SINGAPORE: Its startup experiments run from subsidies for ventures involving targeted technologies to putting up public money alongside venture investors who come to the city-state.

INDIA: If anyone doubts India's ability to innovate, consider the build-it-yourself automobile. At a price below $3,000, the Tata Nano is providing affordable wheels and generating jobs for people who specialize in assembling the boxed parts into vehicles.

ISRAEL: The military is a huge stimulus for innovation, says Saul Singer, coauthor of "Start-up Nation." "The Israeli military is smaller at the top than most, and it forces more authority down," he says. "The sense of improvisation comes from being stressed and short on resources."

CHINA: Besides leveraging its huge market potential to lure technology partners from overseas, China is expanding its ability to generate new ideas using a self-created array of research universities. "China's blend of sheer demographic scale, bottom-up commercial drive, and top-down planning may be rewriting the development rule book."

Check out the full story here.

The Art of Marketing is all about You

Today I’ll be at The Art of Marketing conference all day – six cool speakers, and 1500 eager marketers hanging on their every word.

If you can't make it, enjoy my column in this week's Financial Post, which covers my interview last week with marketing guru Seth Godin, the keynote speaker at today’s conference. Godin was his usual whirlwind self, pulling together different threads from all over to create a tapestry of new insights into marketing and business – which he sees as essentially the same thing. Your business, your career: it’s all about marketing, and it’s all about building your brand.

Excerpt:

Succeeding at work today isn't about following rules; it's about leading with heart.

Similarly, marketing isn't just what you say about your product any more; it's wrapped up in what you want your business to stand for. (Look at Apple, Godin says, where the company's rebel designer chic persona is the company.)

Both these strategies can easily lead to failure. If your company represents itself as something that it's not (let's say you're a car manufacturer that's found to be less committed to safety than it claimed), social media can chew you up. If you mistake leeway for licence and merely confound your colleagues, you won't last long in the workplace.

But embracing these opportunities is the best way to stand out, and discover where your future awaits.

Read the full story here.

Best Entrepreneurial Quotes, Week 4

"The goal of many leaders is to get people to think more highly of the leader. The goal of a great leader is to help people to think more highly of themselves."

J. Carla Northcutt.
professor and curriculum developer, Marietta, George

(Personally, I think there's a crisis of leadership in Canada. We have no shortage of people who like to tell others where to go, but too few leaders who get out and push.)

Final Olympics notes on Closing Ceremonies

My sporadic coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Winter-ish Olympics concludes tonight with a few thoughts on the closing ceremonies.

I loved the mime hauling up that reluctant fourth leg of the Olympic flame, Catriona Le May Doan’s welcome redo on lighting the torch, Neil Young’s solo rendition of Long May You Run as the torch expired, and even the speech by VANOC ceo John Furlong (Was there ever a worse public speaker? And his French is a national disgrace!). I also liked that he subtly, quietly, thanked Jack Poole.

By the way, I was pleased there was a much higher Quebec and French-language presence in this event than in the Opening Ceremeonies. The Olympics aren't just about BC.

I also loved the artistic and technological boldness of the Russian tribute, and even the giant Mounties, table hockey players and flying moose of Michael Buble’s big Busby Berkeley number.

There was big thinking there, and a tremendous sense of humour and irony. Although using O Canada over and over in an over-the-top takeoff seemed out of place.

The comics, however, from Bill Shatner to Michael J. Fox, were woefully underscripted (as Dragons’ Den stalwart W. Brett Wilson, at left wearing his moose hat, noted in his Twitter feed). They were painfully un-funny. (Is Canada really the ‘Final Frontier”?)

Besides, I was hoping the comedy would address and respect the global audience that waited up so long to watch – not just dig up old in-jokes that only Canadians would care about. (NBC signed off at 10:30 and shifted to Jerry Seinfeld.)

And the random bands getting one song each – I dunno. Not enough for those who love them, and too much for those who don't care for rock and rap. And why no boffo, emotional ending? Suddenly there were fireworks and it was all over.

It would also have been nice if a few members of the Canadian men’s hockey team could have made it to BC Place to join their fellow Olympians. According to CTV commentators, they were celebrating “quietly,” “with their families.” (Although they did say captain Scott Niedermayer tried to make it to BC Place, but no one seemed able to spot him.)

A few random remarks from folks on my Twitter feed:
startupcoach: RT @AdeleMcAlear: After the high of winning hockey gold, I hang my head in shame at the worst closing ceremonies ever. I'm so sorry ...

startupcoach: Agreed! RT @DavidLutzy: Ohhh yah! ... Closing ceremonies are over! .. we all deserve a gold medal for watching!
KevinGaudet: so much for a big ending.

MFBazzo: Il est temps que Stephen Harper proroge la cérémonie de clôture des JO!
KevinGaudet: There are audience members over 30, right?! country fans too...

WBrettWilson: Energy in the stands is slipping to the point people are leaving early. I was the biggest fan of the show until it became a random showcase.
derekhat: RT @gresco: This closing ceremony is why Canadians drink so much.

SusanDelacourt: Ok. Bring out Harper, let him play another Beatles tune and let's be done with this.
derekhat: I get the impression that a thirtysomething middle manager was given the job of selecting the performers for #van2010 closing ceremonies.

SusanDelacourt: Cdn host rules: hog good stuff, play music meaningful to only us, do comedy only ironic if you live here. And force ppl to eat seal.
rayluk: Oh no! Nickelback. Those poor Llamas

Overall, the Olympics were a huge success, and the performance of Canada’s athletes should make us all proud.
But I believe the city and people of Vancouver were the real stars. Friendly, efficient, world-class, and smiling through the rain.
Congratulations from a jealous Torontonian.

Movie contest ends tonight (tomorrow morning in Newfoundland)

Congrats on the gold-medal win for Canada's national men's hockey team.
(How cool is it that we don't just say "Canada's national hockey team" any more?)

You can be a winner too! Enter the contest for 2 free tickets to the premiere of the Young Entrepreneurs Movie in Toronto on Friday, March 5. Contest closes tonight at midnight, Pacific time.

Details are two posts below, or click here.

Clara Hughes: Grace Under Pressure

We interrupt this business blog to bring you this breaking sports story.

Congratulations to Clara Hughes, the Canadian flagbearer in the Vancouver Olympics, who just won the bronze medal in the 5,000 metres speed-skating event - at the age of 37.

As mentioned Monday, when the indomitable cyclist-turned-speed-skater was featured in our Quote of the Week feature, Clara is one of very few Olympians to win in both the Summer and Winter Games - and apparently the only athlete ever to win multiple medals (i.e., more than one) in both.

Earlier this week we praised Clara for her can-do attitude - she competes with herself, not her opponents. Today, let us praise her for her graciousness in victory (yes, I think 3d place is a win). When she won her medal, she credited the Canadians watching her for the victory:

“It’s such an amazing feeling,” Hughes told CTV. “I want to say thank you to this amazing crowd once again. You gave me wings.”

Surely all business peope could learn from that kind of grace under pressure.

Hughes actually set the course record for the Richmond Oval in today's race, although it was eclipsed by a skater who followed.

The QMI Agency story at the Toronto Sun website makes the case that Hughes is "arguably the greatest Olympian in Canadian history."

Great job, Clara!

Join me at Young Entrepreneurs: The Movie

“Rebel millionaires at the cutting edge of every industry .. rather than following the conventional path created centuries ago, these modern day nonconformists had an idea, trusted their instincts, took a risk – and that risk paid off big!”

Yes, there is now a movie about the hot young (mainly American) entrepreneurs who are redfining business and success today. The Canadian premiere of The YES Movie (YES stands for Young Entrepreneur Society) is being held in Toronto on Friday, March 5. Read on for how you can win two tickets to the premiere!

"Individually and collectively, they are helping to create a paradigm shift of personal consciousness in what is possible for your life today!”

Louis Lautman is the young film-maker who interviewed 50 top business pundits and young new business leaders to find out how you make it in business today. It promises to be fast and frenetic and full of counter-intuitive advice, such as not just going out and building your product: sell it first, then build it.

"The YES Movie isn't fiction," says Lauter. "It's real and the experts are living luminaries of enthusiasm and ambition."

It may all be hype - Lautman is also trying to build a for-profit training and sales organization called the Young Entrepreneur Society. But real entrepreneurs don't write things off till they check them out, so I'll be at the Bloor Cinema at 7 pm on March 5 to see the movie for myself. And Lautman will be there too, to do a post-film Q&A.

(If you don't want to wait to see the movie, you can also order the DVD for US$29.95.)

Here's info on how to attend the premiere: http://yesmoviecanada.eventbrite.com/

If you'd like a chance to win two tickets to the premiere, here's what you do. Send me an email and tell me the name of the famous sculpture seen in the middle of the movie trailer (and no, not the big green statue). I will draw one name randomly from those who email me by midnight Sunday night, Feb. 28. And we will see you at the show!

Click below to watch the trailer. Or click here for the link.

The Champions' Way

While we’re talking about the Olympics (see previous post on Clara Hughes), my column today in the Financial Post looks at another aspect of the Olympic experience: Life After the Games.

Roman Hatashita, a three-time Canadian judo champion who competed in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, today runs Hatashita International, which may be Canada’s biggest distributor of martial arts clothing and equipment. And he’s full of ideas for expanding web sales and moving into the U.S. market.

And he credits much of his success to the lessons he learned in his athletic training:
• Passion
• Identifying competitors' weaknesses
• Hard work
• Persistence

"You don't always win," says Hatashita. In sports, "you lose most of the time. It makes you stronger."

Read his complete story here.

Best Entrepreneurial Quotes: Week 3

Clara Hughes of Winnipeg is the dynamic Canadian flag-bearer in this month’s Vancouver Olympics who made history as the first Canadian to win a medal in both the summer and winter games. She won two bronze medals in cycling in 1996 before earning two bronze, silver and gold in speed skating in 2002 and 2006.

Hughes, now 37 (pretty ancient for an Olympian), finished fifth last week in the 3,000 metres. She competes in the 5,000 metre speed skating event in Richmond on Wednesday.

Here’s a great quote from Clara that speaks to the need for athletes, entrepreneurs and other competitors to avoid complaining about the conditions of the competition and focus on your own personal performance:

“I'll skate on concrete if I have to. I'm not worried about how fast the ice is. I'm worried about how fast I can go on the ice.”

And here’s why she became flag bearer and was awarded the Order of Canada. After giving up cycling to focus on skating, and then coming back from the middle of the pack to win her gold medal in the 5,000 metres in Torino in 2006, she said, “If you dream and you allow yourself to dream you can do anything. And that's what this Olympic medal represents.”

A great competitor, and a wonderful role model. Good luck, Clara!

Keep Your Clients Coming Back for More

Following up on the “customer first” theme of the previous post, I found an interesting article today called, “Seven Tips to Keep Your Clients Coming Back for More.” While it’s written primarily for freelancers, I think any meeting-oriented business could benefit from its ideas.

Author Lexi Rodrigo, creator of The Savvy Freelancer blog, advises that it’s easier to get more business from existing clients than from new ones. She offers seven tips to increase repeat business:

1. Offer packages for recurring work.
2. Give your best clients special treatment.

3. Revive “zombie clients.” (Nudge a client today whom you haven't heard from in a while.)
4. Mark important dates (e.g., send a card [not an e-card] on clients’ birthdays. Include a coupon or offer.)

5. Foster a feeling of belonging in an exclusive club (e.g., create an email list and send regular tips).
6. Create promos throughout the year.

7. Ask for referrals (having a client refer a prospect to you increases her loyalty to you).

“As a general rule in life,” writes Rodrigo, “it’s always worthwhile to show your appreciation to people who have treated you well.”

Read her full article here.

Putting the Customer First

My column in this week’s Financial Post picks up on a theme that has been emerging in my work over the past year: the growing need for companies to become “customer-first” organizations.

By putting customers’ needs ahead of your own, your organization can build deeper relationships with your best clients and greater trust. And technology has come along just in time to make sure you can do that in powerful new and cost-effective ways.

Excerpt: “For years, businesses have talked about getting closer to their customers. That's not enough: You have to put them first. Customers like being in charge and prefer to do business with companies that make them feel like they are.”

The column explores the strategies a few companies – from small businesses to Bank of Montreal – are using to put their customers first. And it ends with a request for readers to write back with examples of what they are doing to put customers at the centre of their business. I hope you will take the opportunity to write in, too. Or leave a comment below.

Click here to read the full story.

Art for Business's Sake

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the need for businesses to embrace design and design thinking as a tool in solving nagging problems of identity, marketing and innovation.

(At a Chapters bookstore I recently saw a whole display of business-by-design books, presumably inspired by the release of U of T academic Roger Martin’s book, The Design of Business.)
I totally agree that business people should round out their left-brain tendencies by learning more about art, and how design can solve problems in addition to addressing esthetic issues. Still, I have worked with enough off-the-wall designers to understand that undisciplined estheticism can be as much hindrance as help. (“Why are you proposing this design?” “Because I like it. I don't have to explain it.”)

(If nothing else, you need some familiarity with art in order to push back with your designers.)

As a timely start to your art education, I recommend a recent article from BC Business magazine on the history of Olympic logos. Designer David Allison of Braun/Allison starts by examining the esthetics of the Vancouver Olympics logo, and then goes on to look at the designs from previous Olympic Games. It’s a fun walk down memory lane (I love that Barcelona logo. at left), but also a useful and very readable introduction to theories of commercial art.

Imagine how surprised your company’s designers will be when you use phrases like “wins the gold for minimalism,” “embraces the precepts of op art,” and “a Matisse-like quality.”

Allison also offers this useful observation about corporate logos: “A good logo not only stands apart from that crowd; it also effectively represents, in graphic form, the essential elements of a brand. It’s the brand’s flag, capturing all the feelings and experiences that a company or organization bundles together to form its persona.”

Read the full story here.
Then marvel at the excesses of the logo for the 2012 London games:

Best Entrepreneurial Quotes, Week 2

Bob Young is the Canadian co-founder of Red Hat Inc., the open-source pioneer that helped break Microsoft's grip on the software industry.

He gave up his role as CEO in 1999 and the title of chairman in 2002. In 2005 he stepped down as a director of Red Hat because he thought he could no longer contribute sufficiently to the operations of the company.

Instead, he went to work full-time on Lulu.com, a personal publishing service that he knew would take time to grow and succeed. Here's how he justified his decision and in doing so, explained his M.O. as an entrepreneur:

"I don't do today or next month well. I do five years from now well."

As an entrepreneur, you must know what you're good at.

Canada is the “what” in “what’s new"

I'm pretty "meh" about the Winter Olympics, but I loved last night's Opening Ceremony in Vancouver last night. It was a wonderfully eclectic combination of art, music, design, celebrity, dance, acrobatics, native culture, high culture and low culture, with some truly breathtaking moments (whales? in BC Place?).

Seeing Bobby Orr and Donald Sutherland and Barbara Ann Scott and Anne Murray and Betty Fox and Romeo Dallaire carrying the five-ring flag was pretty exciting for any fan of Canadian culture and history. And Bryan Adams and Nelly Furtado?

But the highlight for me was that the organizers found a place in this primarily visual spectacle for the spoken word. They made a hero of a bespectacled "slam poet" from Yellowknife named Shane Koyczan, whose poem "We Are More" summed up Canada and the Canadian spirit better than any other single moment of the $30-million opening event.

Kudos to the organizers for a brave move. Based on the Internet chatter I have read today, it was a popular choice.

Commissioned by the Canadian Tourism Commission, "We Are More" talks about the people and promise of Canada. It contains some wonderfully evocative images:

* "Canada is the “what” in “what’s new"

* We are an experiment going right for a change

* we are hammers and nails building bridges
towards those who are willing to walk across
we are the lost-and-found for all those who might find themselves at a loss

* we are more
than genteel or civilized
we are an idea in the process
of being realized

* we reforest what we clear
because we believe in generations beyond our own.

Beautiful, beautiful stuff. Poetry for the people - what a concept.

If you want to read the full poem, click here (Shane's website).

Click here for a Youtube video of Shane reciting his poem on Vancouver's waterfront. But he was better last night. If I find a video, I'll post it here.

Check out RIM's new Small Business Webinars

A little Canadian company named Research in Motion is about to launch a four-part Small Business Webinar Series this month. Great speakers with lots of great information, and it’s all delivered free, live to your computer.

I’m proud to be a part of this lineup:

Tues. Feb. 16, 1 pm Eastern Time
Tools and Tactics for Connecting with Today's Customers
Presenter: Brent Leary, partner with CRM Essentials, and co-author of Barack 2.0

Thurs. Feb. 18, 1 pm Eastern Time
Building a "Customer-First" Company
Presenter: Rick Spence, Canadian Entrepreneur Communications

Tues. Feb. 23, 1 pm Eastern Time
How to Get Found Online in Your Town
Presenter: John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing

Thursday, February 25, 1 pm Eastern Time
Moving Your Business Forward Even When the Economy Won't Cooperate
Presenter: Anita Campbell, CEO and Editor-in-Chief, Small Business Trends

The organizers promise you’ll get “practical information and strategies to improve your bottom line.” This is the group that will deliver.

To register for any or all sessions, click here.

Saying "No thanks" to social responsibility

My Financial Post column this week takes a look at the notion of corporate social responsibility, and in particular the growing feeling that business owners have an obligation to “give back” to society and help create a better world.

I don't agree. I think business owners have their own problems to face first, and that “giving back” to the community – while appropriate, satisfying and always needed – is and must always remain optional.

Having said that, I think that companies that don't give back will face a growing disadvantage as customers, employees and suppliers increasingly demand that companies they deal with reveal more and more about their track record on environmental and social issues.

(Look at the two US retailers that this week announced they won't buy petroleum sourced from dirty sources such as Alberta’s oil sands. The pressure is just beginning.)

As if business wasn't tough enough already.

Read the full story here.

Why do I need a business plan?

How do you write a business plan? What should be in it? How can it give you a competitive edge? Why do plans have to be so detailed?

And what’s the worst that can happen if you blow off the plan and just start your business sooner?

These are just a few of the questions answered by Steve Stunt and myself in a new “webinar” on business planning produced by TD Canada Trust. The 50-minute program looks at the role of planning, why you need a plan, and how to make sure that every moment you spend on planning (before your startup) will pay you back several times over.

I know lots of entrepreneurs who despise planning and want nothing to do with business plans. I hope luck continues to be with them, because that attitude is about as mature as driving to Gimli, Manitoba without a map.

Steve Stunt is a consultant, broadcaster and business advisor for the Business Development Centre at Niagara College. Rick Spence has been poring over business plans for 20 years. Irene Law is the MC who tries her best to get these guys to offer brief answers to her questions.
If you're working on a business plan, or starting a business without one, grab some popcorn, curl up to the computer and watch this webinar. You have nothing to lose, and a world to win.

Check out the program at http://events-dev.slidecast.com/tdbank/20100112/?referral=0009

Free registration is required. As far as I know, no salesman will call.

And feel free to click on "Comments," below, to let us know if you found a business plan useful in your business.

Best Entrepreneurial Quotes, Week 1

Persistence. Desire. Will.

Here’s the secret to success in one sentence, courtesy of the champ himself, Muhammad Ali:

"I discovered that all I had to do to become the greatest was to go to the gym when I wanted to, and to go to the gym when I didn't want to."

What activities are you putting off that could make you stronger?

Happy Birthday, Five-Year-Old!

This week marks the fifth anniversary of Canadian Entrepreneur. Thank you for supporting this blog over the years.

We're still in growth mode. Traffic last month was up almost 100% over January 2009. Coincidentally, yesterday also produced our highest traffic ever (other than the day in 2008 when I won the CBC show “Test the Nation”). We had over 200 visitors yesterday, not counting those who follow this blog using their preferred website readers.

So, now that we have been dating for five years, it’s time to kick things up to the next level. This site needs more feedback!

From now on, every post on Canadian Entrepreneur will ask you to comment. And this time, the person with the best comment of the quarter will receive a free copy of my book, Secrets of Success from Canada's Fastest-Growing Companies. The current quarter will end on April 30, 2010, so get your comments in!

Because as I said way back in my very first post, business is a team sport.

And as one more salute to our fifth anniversary, Canadian Entrepreneur is bringing back the most popular feature of this blog, from away back in 2007: our Quote of the Week. These “Best Entrepreneurial Quotes” will move you, bring a smile to your face, and inspire you to achieve even more.

The future starts now!

P.S.: Please feel free to leave a comment telling us how Canadian Entrepreneur has helped you. You could win a free out-of-print book!

How to profit from your business blog

Blogging evangelist Grant Griffiths, founder of BlogforProfit.com, posted a recent article on “44 Ways To Use a Blog as a Small Business Owner.”

He believes so firmly in the power of blogging for business that he now runs a business helping companies maximize their R.O.B. (Return on Blogging).

How can your business benefit from blogging? In his article Griffiths breaks the benefits of blogging down into four categories:

1. Build Trust, Authority and Credibility: This includes discussing issues in your marketplace, answering common questions about your business or product, celebrating your accomplishments and noting upcoming events (e.g. awards you've won, speaking engagements). I also like another tactic Griffiths suggests: Promote your competitors when they have earned it and deserve it. A great way to show off your confidence and professionalism!

2. Market Your Business or Firm: This includes explaining what your company does and how it does it, profiling deserving team members, talking about new initiatives, offering discounts, soliciting referrals, etc. Griffiths also suggests publishing testimonials on your blog. (All I ask is that you keep the hard sell to a minimum.)

3. Listen to and Engage With Your Customers and Readers: Encourage reader comments, write about what is working and not working for you and your products, ask readers for their opinions, and invite readers and customers to write “guest posts.”

4. Grow Your Online Presence and Network: Link your blog to your other online presences, such as your Twitter stream, your Linkedn profile or your Facebook Fan Page. Ask readers to follow you on Twitter – that way you don't have to wait for them to visit your site before you talk to them again.

It’s a great article that will get you thinking. Read the full story here.

Fixing Entrepreneurship for Women

My column in this week’s Financial Post looks at specific problems facing women entrepreneurs.

A symposium hosted last week by the Women Entrepreneurs of Canada association brought together leaders of women’s business groups from across half the country (mainly Ontario and east). The goal: to identify the common problems facing those groups and their members, and to see how they could work together, through WEC, to solve some of those problems.

Among the problems they identified: a financial system more geared to the needs of male-owned businesses; a reluctance to collaborate among women entrepreneurs; the need for more gender-specific government policies that address the needs of different groups; and the overlap and duplication of the support and recognition programs that do exist.

To see how the participants intend to move forward, check out the full story here.