Photo by Mike at Inspire54

Thanks to everyone that came out to the Chamber Social Media Strategy luncheon. I remember when I spoke to Sam at the Chamber a few months ago about doing the event …I wondered it we could get 30 people to attend.

Photo by Mike at Inspire54

Furthermore, since being in business now for over 13 years, what I know for sure (oh so Oprah!)… is that no matter how seasoned we think we are, we always need to be reminded about the fundamentals.

Questions? Ask away…

In a “what we can envision for Prince George” (daydreaming) session, Will Cadell of SparkGeo (@geo_will) and I talked about a start up community… A community of web and mobile technologists that meet up for drinks to just see who’s out there in PG.

But we want this event not just for those that call themselves Tech Geeks… but for those that also are lovers of tech! For example, I am a user (and lover) of tech… but definitely not a programmer or creator of tech products. As a marketer (gosh that sounds a bit slimy!) and business person that sees how everything that is going to have a reach in the world is connected to tech…Well… we are a valuable piece of the conversation too! That and I want an excuse to head out to Nancy O’s.

So this is a call out to all tech geeks and tech lovers to come out and share a pint with us.

If you are unsure whether you fit in this group… come anyways… we are friendly!

There is in fact already an existing group out there called Start Up Drinks Canada.

This is what the Startupdrinks.ca website says about the event:

“Startup Drinks is a monthly freestyle networking event hosted in pubs and bars by startup community instigators from coast to coast.  We keep it a presentation free and sponsor free because the point is to make connections over drinks and…..relax a little.  You can talk shop, geek out or just shoot the breeze. ”

We hope you’ll join us. Come on.. it’s PG… if nothing else, you can bet that we are friendly!

• Date:April 24, 2012 (TUESDAY)
• Place: Nancy O’s in Prince George (1261 Third Ave)
• Time: 7pm until we go home
• RSVP: Eventbrite (sign up so we know it just isn’t us!)
• Twitter Contact: @geo_will or @shaunaharper
• Twitter Conversation tag: #startupdrinksPG
• Cash Bar

Now, if this doesn’t speak to you… no worries… just help us spread the word by Tweeting, G+ or Facebook sharing this. We know there is an underground community here in PG. It is time to connect us all.

I am often asked… “So Why do you mentor? Aren’t you busy enough?”

As I pick myself up off the ground rolling in laughter…

Let’s just say, with a sick 3 year old at home today and a pile of work to do before my vacation next week… “not being busy enough” is not one of the reasons I mentor.

For over 6 years with Women’s Enterprise Centre, more recently the Youth Mean Business Community Futures Program and the United Way Mentor Me Program in Prince George, I mentor to of course give back…

You might be thinking, that is great and all… but what do you REALLY get out of mentoring?

When I sat and asked myself this question seriously, I realized that I mentor because of what mentoring gives to me:

A fresh pair of eyes on the world, an optimism and energy behind a new idea (and business)…all of this is a contagious feeling that I love being a part of.

Often times when you are a seasoned entrepreneur you can be jaded at the possibilities that still lay before us in a world that is constantly finding ways to improve and grow.

I mentor to see possibilities through the eyes of young adults that have yet set up the obstacles or road blocks in their thinking.

I know this is late notice, but tomorrow at CNC at 12:15pm, come join me get inspired by the energy of youth in our community and to listen to entrepreneurs share their journey. This is all a part of the continued effort to promote the Youth Mean Business Program in Prince George. It’s free and you’re welcome to join us.

Contact: Vera Beerling, Youth Mean Business Coordinator
Phone:(250) 562-9622, Ext 112
Email:verab@cfdc.bc.ca

As I work with more and more companies here in Prince George, I realize there is a fear many businesses have about social media.

It isn’t that they don’t know how to set up a Facebook business page or create a profile on Twitter… it isn’t even about how to actually use these platforms to speak (tweet or post). It is that they aren’t sure what they should be actually saying, when they should be saying it and how to leverage these platforms to reach their goals (make more money, attract more clients etc).

If you are an entrepreneur, that “is” your business (eg. Travel Agent, Realtor, accountant, business coach etc), it is a little easier for you to “dive” into social media without having a plan. After all, you are just being yourself… and who else better to know who you are than you? Even then, many entrepreneurs ended up finding me after being on social media for awhile as they aren’t getting results by just showing up.

However, if you a part of a corporation or organization like a non-profit… it is harder to be the “voice” of your company on social media.

I recently sat on a flight home from Vancouver and spoke to a senior manager that explained that although he understood the power of social media for business, his company was not ready to take the plunge. No one wants to have their company “fall on their face” while the world is supposedly watching!

So how do we prevent this? Don’t partake in the social media world?

No… but DO NOT DIVE in!

Have a plan, learn about the different platforms and how they fit into an overall strategy. Figure out where it is best for you to actually show your expertise, engage with and attract more clients.

So if you are (or know of) a corporation or organization that is scared to take the plunge… Do Not Dive… instead, give me a call or pop me an email. We’d love to talk to them.

PS. On April 23, 2012, I will be at the PG Chamber of Commerce doing a (an almost free $20 includes lunch) talk called Social Media Strategy. Definitely grab a seat as this is a hot topic on every business owner’s radar!

How YUMMY do those cupcakes look?

I just wanted to spread the word that #IHEARTPG and a BIG, I heart Save-On-Foods on Central in Prince George. After an exhausting day of looking for St. Patrick’s Day treats we came up empty handed. All the green cookies or treats were all sold out everywhere we looked.

But the AWESOME Save-On-Foods staff on Central said, “No problem… if you have 5 mins I can whip up some green cupcakes for you!”

This is yet another reason I love this town. Even from a big chain store we get awesome small town service.

I’ll definitely be heading there FIRST the next time! Thanks Save-On… You guys rock!

PS: Still grinning from ear to ear

Just this past weekend I had the great fortune of attending Start Up Weekend Kelowna. There are over 450,000 people have participated in start up weekends worldwide. Tech programmers & developers come together with marketers & business people to form a tech business in 54 hours. It was intense, exciting and full of lessons (I’ll blog about those later… too many to write about now)!

Before I went down to Kelowna, I was thinking that it might be a little premature for Prince George to bring an event like this to our town. Thoughts like “Am I jumping the gun to think that we can pull this off?”

Let me tell you a little more about what happened…

This past weekend, 2 PGers… myself and Brittany West (a Youth Mean Business Participant) flew down there to just “watch and learn”.

At the end of the first night, Brittany jumped up to pitch an idea that just came to her while watching others pitch business ideas. From there, her idea grew legs as she recruited the tech and business help she needed.

I, on the other hand, joined a developer with an inspirational idea about a goal setting site.

Saturday was long and exhausting with a few “let’s just throw in the towel” moments.

I learned a lot of about myself, how I interact with people and what is possible with a technology business. I also learned something very interesting about how K-town folks saw themselves in the bigger global picture of things. We are definitely more similar than we are different as a city (more to come on that too)!

At the end of the weekend, I revisited the question on the way to the airport to fly home, “Is Prince George ready for Start Up Weekend?”

And the beaming answer came instantly. “Hell Yes!”

Brittany and her team brought home the Silver prize and my team brought home the Bronze. That means PGers placed in 2 of the top 3 teams out of the 10 that pitched and grew their companies.

We are SO READY PG! Anyone else on board?

Let me know your thoughts as I start the ball rolling and get this innovation party started.

We are looking for programmers, developers, marketers, finance people and well… pretty much anyone interested in supporting innovation in this city! Our time is now.

OR visit www.StartupWeekend.org

Last Friday I ventured out during the blizzard in Prince George to my first Speed Networking Event held by the PG Chamber of Commerce.

As a newbie to an event like this, I was curious, excited and to be honest… a bit nervous!

The rules were clear, you get 1.5 minutes (timed) to say your elevator pitch before you heard a whistle… Then it was the other person’s turn to do their 1.5 minute pitch.

So for the first few people, I jumped right in and rambled as fast as I could about what I do here in town. It wasn’t until well after the “half time” break, did I realize I was making some pretty BIG mistakes… continue reading to find out what I learned:

Lesson #1 – Don’t Sell… have a conversation and share a story.

As someone that teaches the building of relationships both online and offline in business, I should have realized that:

• Spitting out what you do as fast as possible doesn’t build a relationship
• Unless you have no competition in town and have a completely unique service (like Pat MacDonald of Big Steel Box…they can outfit massive storage containers into offices! How cool is that?) you probably won’t leave a lasting impression.
• Storytelling gives people “handles” (something the other person can connect to) about your business.

But although I teach this and show clients how to do this online, it was probably my nerves that got the better half of me that night… or perhaps it was the whistle… Because every time that whistle went off, I rambled off my list!

Then I met Alison Kroeger of Millenium Motors and we actually had a conversation!

We laughed about the “used car salesman” that we all dread when wanting to purchase a car… She then began to tell me a story about a customer. (They are used car brokers btw!)

She shared that last week, the day before a customer was supposed to pick up the car they brought in, she was driving it across the lot when the gasket burst (or whatever those gaskets do when they break!). And although the customer paid the deposit for the car, she called them up and said, “You don’t want to buy this car from us and we will refund your deposit”.

Right there I could see via her story they did actually care about their customers versus just the sale. She said, “It’s just a small operation with me, my dad and a lot attendant, we aren’t just looking for a sale. We want to make sure our customers are happy.”

Then she asked me, “so what is it that you do?” It was a perfect segue. “I take how natural (and honest) you were in sharing your story with me and teach you how to showcase that online.” This is so the person I see here in front of me is in line with what your potential customers (that have never met you) will feel and see online.”

You see, having a two way conversation means that there is a flow, like a tennis game of back and forth. During these conversations, did we mention what we did? YES. Did we do hard sales? Yuck, NO. Through stories and just “talking” we accomplished so much more.

From that point onwards, I realized I needed to listen and actually have a conversation versus listing all my services.

Lesson #2 – Don’t drag out everything (including the kitchen sink!)

Unless you have been under a rock in this city… You too would have recognized Angel of Spinning Angels Pole Fitness. It was with her that I learned another great lesson in speed networking.

With 1.5 mins to share how fabulous you are… it is impossible to cover everything.

Like many of the people I sat across, I tried to fit in as much as I could about all that I did… (well, until I met Alison above!). Angel, on the other hand, gave me a brochure of all her services and then said “I do all of this here, however, today I am focusing on telling you not about Pole Dancing, but my Silk Flexibility Class “

It was awesome.

Perhaps she could see from my lack of gracefulness or maybe it was the flashing “I’m really not that fun” neon sign on my forehead, that I would never actually succeed in any pole class… but her narrowing down the focus to just ONE thing, was so much easier for me to remember, digest and ask questions about.

Lesson #3 – Showing Up is half the battle

Now no matter how many “mistakes” I think I made… Lesson #3 is really learning that showing up is half the battle.

“When you know better, you do better!” And the only way to know better is to learn as you go and actually TRY!

Just by showing up, I was able to meet MANY new faces, learn about businesses I didn’t even KNOW existed in Prince George (Eg. Did you know that there is a Mobile Vet? Yes, Dr. Jodyne Green) and…

Just by showing up.. I was able to fill the last few seats of my upcoming Online Marketing Course… so even if you fumble showing up does pay off! And next time I will “do better”.

Although I’m a fast talker, if you’re looking for a master in speed networking, as you can tell, I’m still a newbie fumbling my way through. However, for a mentor on how to build relationships online (using your website & social media)… well then, I’m your gal.

Thanks again to the PG Chamber of Commerce (specifically Sam and Tina) and all the businesses that ventured to make it a fun evening. (It always surprises me how weather doesn’t seem to hold back PG-ers…but that’s a whole other story!).

PS. The March Online Marketing Strategy workshop is just about full. If you are looking to get on the waitlist please email me here. You can also contact the Chamber of Commerce for the “Intro” to the workshop that will be happening some time in April.

This video was forwarded to me this morning by @kellyopg (thx Kelly!). The ongoing #iheartpg and now the new #positivelypg (started by @MacleansMag) conversations on Twitter has my radar heightened for all things we love about our Northern home of Prince George.

By using social networking tools like YouTube, we are able to spread any message we like. The only thing I would suggest to these guys is to change the title of your video to something with the word “Prince George”, “UNBC”, “Medicine UNBC” or perhaps “Medical School Prince George” to aid in Google’s spider search engines to find this great video too!

Way to go UNBC Med students. AWESOME job! I’d love for any of you to share why you love Prince George on the AwesomePG page here.

Every so often I am asked to speak about my experience as an entrepreneur. I usually love it because being an entrepreneur is something that has always been in my blood. But when asked to speak about being an entrepreneur to youth 29 and under…

Well…

Now, that truly floats my boat!

I started when I was just 16 years old with my first business, but somewhere between that point and high school graduation and then University, I had convinced myself that I wasn’t ready to be an entrepreneur.

I needed to be older, wiser, have achieved more and perhaps learned more about “life” before owning my own business. Luckily I got sick in my late twenties and was given a window to do some soul searching. It was then I launched my first ‘real’ business.

So when Vera Beerling of Youth Mean Business here in Prince George asked if I would be a speaker at their UNBC event on Feb 3, I was over the moon.

Inspiring today’s youth to be leaders in business is more important than ever. With almost 50% of the world’s population under 30… It is soon becoming the largest cohort.

Who better to understand this group than GenYers themselves.

This means that leaders (and potential entrepreneurs) within this age group don’t need to be older or wiser… they need to just be looking at their peers to see what problems they can solve and how they can impact the world around them.

Traditional businesses will always be around… businesses handed down through generations.

What I am talking about here is innovation… innovative ideas that can only be sparked by minds that have not been jaded by the obstacles we place in front of ourselves as we grow older (and supposedly wiser). Minds that were born in a time where technology is infused in our daily lives as teaching tools, to aid commerce, save lives and build relationships.

Innovative ideas that change the way we interact with each other from across the globe to within our own neighbourhoods.

If someone told you 10 years ago you would be communicating to family and friends on the internet via a platform called Facebook, you would have thought they were crazy.

This isn’t even about just tech or computer geeks.

It is about all of us directing our youth to nurturing what is uniquely brilliant about them and figuring a way to join together with other like minded entrepreneurs to develop and grow that little spark into a big flame. Because small ideas can turn into game changers.

So if you are… or know a youth that is under 29 living in Prince George… don’t miss this opportunity to have them learn about the Youth Mean Business Program.

You can be as young as 18 (just getting out of high school), still in university/college or never have gone to post secondary at all.

Come out and learn how this amazing program can help to spark the entrepreneur in you, what Prince George as a community can offer and whether you have what it takes to be a game changer.

If you are in media, a teacher, youth worker, parent or also just passionate about seeing youth in Prince George succeed… please share this article through the links below (Twitter, Facebook, email etc) or better yet… come by too.

Date: Friday Feb 3, 2012
Time: 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Place: UNBC Bently Centre

To RSVP call Community Futures 250-562-9622, Ext. 112 or Maria Trujillo at the UNBC Career Centre 250-960-6426.
Download info here.

PS. Here’s a recent article in the PG Citizen about the Youth Mean Business program.

If you are in business, whether for yourself or for a larger organization, the book Straight Line Leadership will be something you want to pick up. There is only one certified Straight Line Leadership Coach in Canada and we are lucky to have her here in Prince George.

Franzi Ng has been doing a number of closed door presentations to corporations, organizations and community groups in town. However, in just a few weeks, you will have a chance to see her speak for free at Community Futures. Don’t miss this opportunity. Here’s the info:

You are invited to the free performance workshop hosted at Community Futures right here in Prince George.

This workshop powerfully addresses the 19 classic business performance issues that are costing entrepreneurs and business owners a fortune in lost revenue, opportunity, time, energy, sleep, relationships, and happiness.

You will learn to:

• - Succeed in any economy regardless of the turbulent times.
• - Take back control of your business immediately.
• - Solve time management issues forever.
• - End employee management problems NOW.
• - Stop thinking positively and start being effective.
• - Stop endlessly “talking and thinking” things to death.
• - Stop “reacting” and start “creating.”
• - Produce more results in a week than you usually do in a month.

http://drng.net/CommunityFutures.htm

You will leave this workshop with the tools to start impacting your personal and business bottom-line results immediately.

RSVP:

Please register at 250 964 0118 or email Franzi@StraightLineCoach.com.

Bring a friend.

Register early.

Seating is limited.