Firefox-Updated Web Browser

The new version of Firefox browser is now here. For those of you who are not amoung the converted Firefox is a great way to serf the internet and avoid a large number of bugs and viruses that are prevelant in IE. I have been using it for years and find it to be great.

There is a link to download the new version completly free on my side bar.

Bon Appetite,

CB

RSS for Outlook

Are you an outlook user who wants to integrate your RSS feeds into it seemlessly? I have a solution for you that is both simple and free, it is a software program called Attensa. One of the coolest things is that not only can you subscribe to a particular blog such as this, but you can also subscribe to a key word search.

For instance if I wanted to see everytime someone created a blog that used the name Chuck Brady, well Attensa would tell me. This is great for anyone who wants to keep up with their competition. This is just another way this great new technology is allowing information to move quickly and effectively.

Happy blogging,

CB

Blogging-Accept the change

You know I always find it funny that the same people who talk about how they should have taken advatage of past trends early, are the same ones who say "well I am going to wait and see what happens with this". Blogging is no different, with currently only about 5% of companies using blogs, now is the time to be jumping on board. I don't think that there is any secret that the companies who embrace blogs now are the ones who are going to receive the most long term benefit from using them.

The time really is now to buck up and accept that blogs are becoming the business norm. It will not be long before every business card has a blog URL on it and every email signature has the same. Learn how to use them to your advantage and you will be happy you did.

Remember, you heard it here first,

Cheers,

CB

You do have the time

I am always amazed at the number of people who say to me Chuck, I don't have time for this. Or I dont have any time, I always respond the same way. It is not that you dont have time, each one of us has the same 24 hours in a day, it is what we choose to do with that time that matters.

I find though that these are the same people who find the time to spent 3 hours a night watching TV or waste time left right and center. I don't think it is a matter of lack of time, I see it as a matter of lack of clear goals or objectives. I think that once we know clearly what we want to do and achieve we always find time to do the important things that take us there.

Time and time it has been written about the importance of goals and I for one am a firm beleiver in this. How can you say you do not have time when you don't even know what you are trying to achieve?

My thoughts on the subject,

CB

RSS-What is it?

I am being asked more and more what is RSS? There are currently two accepted interpretations of the intitials, they are Rich Site Summary or Real Simple Syndication. No matter which you use the purpose is for your information or blog entries to be distributed through the world wide web.

Every time a post is created on a blog a new feed is created. RSS programs search the web looking for these new feeds and send them to interested parties. For instance, if I was interested in the topic of RRSPs, I could program my RSS reader to find me every new post on the subject. After I have done this whenever someone writes a blog post containing the word RRSP, it will be instantly sent to me via my RSS reader without me having to search for it.

In business this is a very powerful tool, as it allows you to track whenever something is being said about your company or product. Wouldnt it be valuable to know immediatly anytime someone is spreading bad press about you? RSS allows you to do this and much much more.

Cheers,

CB

Blog Culture

The business of blogging is creating a new culture for business owners and professionals. We are entering a realm where customers want to get to know the intimate details of the people they are doing business with befor making that all important decision to buy a product or service.

When you are creating your business blog by all means appear human. Humans will make typos, have the occational bad gramatical error or use the wrong word. I am not saying you should lay caution to the wind and write the entire thing in slang. What I am saying is that you do not need to have an editor scrutinize every post for hours or weeks at a time before it gets posted. We are never going to be 100% perfect, but we should be 100% honest in our approach.

Our blogs are nothing more than an extention of our personalities, use this to your advantage. If you are funny, make your blog funny. We have created a paradigm shift in the market today so be aware of it.

Happy Blogging,

CB

Bridging the gap

I am pleased to say that I have been able to put together the inaugural event, in an attempt to bridge the gap between east and west. This coming Friday in Vancouver, I am looking forward to an event with aproximately 100 business people from both Vancouver and China. We are trying to find ways in which our two business communities can work together more closely as we move towards a more global economy.

Working very closely with the Burnaby Board of Trade www.burnabyboardoftrade.com and Van Club www.vanclub.org, we have been able to get the event organized. It will be taking place on Friday December the 2nd 6:30 PM at ie Design, 180 W. 3rd Ave, Vancouver.

I am really looking forward to this event as I think it can be a springboard into future events and a closer working relationship with our friends from the east. I think I need to start learning to speak Mandarin and Cantonese, I think they are quickly becoming the languages of the world trade. But I digress, Friday should be great, everyone is welcome to attend.

Cheers,

CB

Access Strategy-What is it?

I often get asked the question, "what is an Access Strategist"? Well the short answer is I provide business owners and sales people ACCESS to the people, resources and ideas that are required to take your business to the next level.

Access Strategy is the new wave of consulting, using things like blogs to help companies gain insites into the mind's of their customers. Though to me the most important part of Access Strategy is you, my loyal customers and friends. Every person that I work with is so very uniqe and needs access to something a little bit different. Together we gain access to the new ideas, new thoughts and create the paradigm shifts future generations will read about.

So really for me being an Access Strategist is nothing more than living and sharing dreams with people as we build lasting relationships for the future, so to each and every one of you who help make Access Strategy fun, I thank you.

Cheers,

Chuck

Blogs-The new corporate face

In this world of big faceless corporations and company politics, I see companies struggling with the paradigm shift that is taking place in the blogosphere. Companies are so used to having press releases and web site content scrutinized by the accountants and lawyers before it is allowed to be viewed by Joe public. The blogging world has changed the rules and customs and the companies who are able to adapt to this the quickest will be the ones who see the most success.

I am a firm beleiver in the old adage when refering to customers, "they don't care how much you know untill they know how much you care". Blogs are the ideal way for companies to get rid of the faceless facade they like to hide behind and show the human side of business. I see time and time again in Vancouver how it is the businesses and business people who have the skills to relate to their customers who are having success.

We are very much living in a world where distrust is at an all time high. People want to buy products and do business with people they can trust. Companies that can get out from behind the desk and smile pretty or take constructive critism without resorting to company rhetoric are the ones who will be the market leaders moving forward. The best advice I can offer is blog as a person, not a company and talk like you are talking to a friend. I feel a little softer touch will go a long way to earning you that soft spot in the customer's heart.

These are my two cents,

Cheers,

CB

TOMA-Top of the Mind Awareness

The goal of any marketing program is to achieve TOMA. This happens when consumers link your product or service with a particular key word. For instance when we think of a tissue we immediately think of the name Kleenex, and we often forget that Kleenex is not a generic product name, it is actually a brand of tissue. Kleenex has just done such a good job of creating TOMA with their product.

When creating a corporate blog one should always have TOMA in mind. It is a good idea to have a series of posts using a few keys words in which you would like to own in the minds of your customers. You will have much greater success with your blog if you focus on a few key areas and maximize your exposure. A corporate blog is an extention of a marketing campaign and should be treated as such.

Since the world of business blogging is still relatively new a company has the opportunity to be first in owning key words in the blogosphere and thus gaining a great competitive advatage. Know what you want to achieve TOMA with and you will be one step closer to success.

Cheers,

CB

RSS-The new email

As blogs continue to explode onto the internet the importance of RSS or Atom feeds is becoming more and more refined. I could see these one day replacing a good portion of the emails we receive on a daily basis. The best feature of them is that you are receiving only content you want WITH NO SPAM, I mean how cool is this.

The most user friendly one I have found so far is RSS Reader www.rssreader.com. It allows you to subscribe to any number of blogs and have the great content delivered right to your desktop without having to go through the hassel of serfing for it. The readers will just ask you for a feed of each site you would like it to keep you abreast of. Mine is http://chuckbrady.blogspot.com/atom.xml .

As blogs continue to increase in popularity those who use RSS to their advantage will be the ones who are able to best reap the rewards. Now is the time to be one of those people who will be looked at 5 years from now when people say "boy were you lucky to get in when you did".

These are my two cents,

CB

Blogging: Bubble Or Big Deal?

Here is another great article I came across, I think it provides some great insite to review.

"Although Weblogs (blogs) are currently used by only a small number of online consumers, they've garnered a great deal of corporate attention because their readers and writers are highly influential. Forrester believes that blogging will grow in importance, and at a minimum, companies should monitor blogs to learn what is being said about their products and services. Companies that plan to create their own public blogs should already feel comfortable having a close, two-way relationship with users. In this document we recommend best practices, including a blogging code of ethics, and metrics that will show the impact of blogs on business goals........"
For the entire article click here:
www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,35000,00.html

Bon Appetite,

CB

Corporate Blogs- Measure their value

I found this great article about blogging from a business standpoint. It puts blogging into context and shows how you can include it into your budgeting.

Bon Appetite,

CB

www.clickz.com/experts/crm/actionable_analysis/article.php/3517546

BNI Vancouver

I am please to announce that our BNI Terminal city club was officialy sanctioned today. It is my great pleasure to take on the role as president of the club. I have long thought BNI to be a great organization. With our proactive group of business people in our group we are excited about the future of our new chapter.

Vancouver's business community has always been close knit and I think that BNI is still grossly under-represented in our fair city. I like to consider myself as someone who is well networked and would welcome anyone looking to network in Vancouver to come as my guest to our chapter or to any of the other many events that I am associated with in the city.

Cheers,

CB

Blogging in Vancouver

While looking around my fair city of Vancouver, one known for its high tech community I was surprised to see that not many of the companies here have adopted the idea of blogging for business. I think Vancovuer is a great city that has the ability to lead the world as far as getting its business community to come together and market the heck out of something. With the upcoming winter Olympics in 2010 Vancouver has all sorts of revenue potential for companies.

I really look forward to playing a strong role in helping the local companies understand and utilize the effect blogging can have for businesses. I would welcome any local people or companies to stand up and be heard on this subject, after all Vancouver is the best city in the world to live in.

Cheers,

CB

Blogging For Business

Blogging For Business

A great resource I discovered for more information.

Cheers,

CB

Never miss another article!!

Make sure you never miss another post with a free service offered by Bloglines http://www.bloglines.com/. This is a great service that allows you to track what is being posted on all of your favorite blogs; without having to visit a whole wack of sites. I have found it to be an incredibly useful tool for keeping track of what is going on.

Happy reading,

CB

Blogging for Business

With the popularity of blogs on the up swing many business owners are asking the question as to how they can best take advantage of this emerging trend. One of the questions that come along with this trend is asking how can business owners keep from being a victim of the blog wars which have caused many companies headaches beyond belief.

A few things a company should be aware of are that bloggers are going to speak their mind regardless. You can not stop news from spreading through the blogsphere so just make sure there is positive news spreading with your company attached to it. Be proactive and be ahead of the growth curve.

It is also a good idea to monitor the content that is spreading through the blogsphere on a regular basis. There are many monitoring systems out there; you can find a great list of them at http://www.atomenabled.org/ . Finally make sure you are adding good content on a regular basis and blogs will become your new best friend.

These are just my two cents on the subject

Cheers,

CB

Defensiveness-Our inborn ability to waste time

By our nature we as humans have a defense mechanism built into us for survival. We have the inborn desire to survive and will do whatever we feel we need to do. However this is often driven by emotion and not logic. Once we know this we can then begin to break down the barriers and find softer ways to approach problems. Always be focused on the solutions and not the problems.

When I used to manage for pizza hut I was always amazed at the reaction of my cooks when a customer who complain. Pizza Hut always had a very liberal customer service policy, if a customer felt there was something wrong with his pizza then our attitude was there is something wrong with his pizza so we would make him another one. It always astounded sometimes when I would ask a cook to do a remake. Often time they would stand there and argue with me for 5 minutes that there was nothing wrong with the first one. My response was always the same, “it doesn’t matter what the first one looked like just make another one and get back to work”. These cooks were not punished or reprimanded for these customer complaints; it didn’t affect their wages or shift lengths. It really had no effect on their life whatsoever despite the fact that they now had one more pizza to make. They would just stand their arguing with me about the initial quality and waste time. The come the end of the shift I would always get the same excuse if some of the important tasks were not completed. “Chuck I didn’t have time to get that done”, as I have always said we all have the same number of hours in the day, it is what we choose to do with them that matters.

CB

Busy vs. Productive Continued

“Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing." Thomas Edison

In the years I have spent managing people it never ceased to amaze me the number of people who were keeping themselves busy at work and could never understand why their peers were surpassing them. I heard all sorts of complaints such as “I have been here longer than him”, “I work much harder than her” or “she is just lucky”. Many years ago I stopped wasting my breath trying to explain to these people that just because they were busy did not mean they were helping the company in any way shape or form.

Throughout my life I have often been called lucky or very successful for my age. This was because at a very young age I picked up on the idea that it wasn’t the people in the world that worked the hardest who were at the top, it was those who worked the smartest. If it were the hardest workers at the top of the financial food chain we would see countless millionaires from the manual labour pools. The truth of the matter though is that very few people who do labour for a lifetime will ever be near the top. They are usually the ones putting in 12 hour work days and living pay cheque to pay cheque. It is a sad but true reality of this crazy world we live in.

CB

Business Plans-My first experience

I wrote my first business plan with my good friend Tim at the ripe age of 19 years old. Tim and I decided that we wanted to enter into the business of selling computers through the retail channel. We needed to raise some capital to start our business so we went about writing a business plan. Along the way to writing the business plan we elicited the help of many seasoned business people as well as many small business associations. The process caused me to read dozens of books, gathers thousands of pages of census and market data as well as do market studies.

After 6 months of 10 hour days we finally finished our business plan and our company vision had changed more than I could have ever imagined. About the only the consistent with our initial vision was that we would use computers and that there were to be the two of us as partners. We went from wanting to sell retail to working on call and in an office rather than a store. We changed our approach from selling product to selling services and solutions. Most of all we went from a concept that was going to cost us upwards of $100,000 (which we did not have) to something we could begin with a mere $5000 which we were able to raise.

What a difference 6 months and many lates nights can make,

Cheers,

CB

Business Plans-A guide to success

This is an area that I think can be both over used and underused, sometimes at the exact same time. No business should operate without a business plan; however, it is critical to remember that business plans are not written in stone. They should be fluid and will evolve each and every day as your market changes, you become more experienced and different economist and environmental effects come into play.
One of the first important lessons to learn about planning is that even with the best laid plans, events will rarely go completely as expected. Just relax and accept this as the way of life. Make sure you are not so rigid in your thinking that you have to follow the plan to a T. The business plan is designed to be a guide.

Listening-The forgotten Skill

I believe that listening is a skill that is very much under developed in our society. Often times what happens when someone is speaking to us even though we hear the words we are not actually listening. The human mind is capable of taking in over 500 words per minute but most of us use only a small fraction of that ability.

What often ends up happening is that when someone is speaking to us we immediately start to interpret what they are saying based on our ideas and the things we believe. When this happens we shape our opinions of that person based on our beliefs and the things we are thinking about and often miss what the other person is trying to tell us. This can be devastating if done in the sales process.

We as human beings have a deep down desire to be understood, when we feel that people do not understand us we shut down and become hostile or distant. Conversely, if we feel that someone cares about us and listens to what we have to say we become open with that person and begin to develop trust in them.

Know your Audience

I can’t count the number of hours I have wasted in my sales career on customers who were more hassle than good before I learned the importance of knowing my audience. I am sure you know the type of person I am referring to. We have all had the experience of someone who will nickel and dime us on our most inexpensive product only to get it home then return it 2 days later. This is a key illustration on how important it is to know who your target market is. As business people and salesmen we should know inside and out what kind of customer we are looking for. We should be able to repeat this information in our sleep and recite it within 5 seconds of someone asking. This simple yet important process is lost on so many people.

FEAR- False Expecations Appearing Real

Fear can be defined as an acronym: False Expectations Appearing Real. This happens when we do not make our choices wisely. We can however change this at any time by taking responsibility for our choices, learning from them and becoming better at making them.


Often times we will have a bad day in life, but what we must realize is that 80% of our problems are within ourselves. Outside factors can only impact us if we allow them to do so. Until you make a conscious decision to not be influenced by outside sources you will be destined to be ruled by your environment. As soon as you make this determination your life will instantly change for the better. It will be like a load of bricks has been lifted off your shoulders. You will become free of your shackles and can begin moving towards your goals and objectives.

Choices-or Lack there of

Those in life who fear choices really are living what psychologist call a “self fulfilling prophecy.” The term "self fulfilling prophecy" was defined by the American sociologist William Isaac Thomas when he said “If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.” What happens is a fear is created in the mind and it becomes the focus of a person. Since it becomes the focus, all actions taken by a person are complimentary to that focus.
What ends up happening is people focus so much on bad things happening because of decisions, they fear to make decisions. In not making decisions they become creatures of circumstance and end up being the brunt of bad events.

"Build Your Own Business" by Brian Tracy

The high road to becoming a self-made millionaire in America is starting and building your own business. But this is not as easy as it sounds. Most businesses started by inexperienced people fail. Probably the primary reason why people don't start businesses is because they're afraid that they're going to lose their money and for good reason. 99 percent of businesses started by people lacking business experience fail within the first two or three years.

Why Business Fail And why is that?

It's because they don't know how. They haven't the slightest idea how to make a business successful. They may have an idea for a product or service, but they don't know all the things that they need to know to run a successful business.

Why Businesses Succeed However, surprisingly enough, 80 percent of businesses started by experienced businesspeople succeed.

Now why should this be so?
The reason is because experienced businesspeople know what to do. They know how to purchase their products and their services. They know how to negotiate with their suppliers. They know how to raise money. They know how to negotiate leases. They know how to sell and to market. They know how to manage their finances. In other words, experience is the key. In order to start your own business and succeed, you have to learn how.

Competence Makes The Difference Now according to Dunn and Bradstreet, 96 percent of businesses in America that fail, fail because of what is called "managerial incompetence". Managerial incompetence means that the people running the businesses don't know what they're doing. And here are the two critical areas of managerial incompetence that cause business failure. First is sales and marketing. 48 percent of businesses that fail in America fail because the business cannot sell enough of its products or services. Very few businesses fail when they have high levels of sales and revenues coming in.

Control Your Costs The second reason that businesses fail, 46 percent, is because of poor cost control. They may be selling enough on the front end, but they're losing so much on the back end that they go broke anyway. Sales and marketing, financing and cost control, both require experience. And if you're serious about becoming financially independent, you have to learn how to do both of these. Put Luck On Your Side You must learn the skills you need to be successful. Business success is not a matter of luck. Business success is a matter of application. It's a matter of ability. It's a matter of experience and skill and intelligence, and wonderfully enough, you can learn what you need to know to be successful. And you can start by learning through on-the-job training, which is called OJT.

Most successful businesspeople become successful because they get all their training by working for someone else.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to make sure that your business succeeds greatly:

First, take the time to get the knowledge and experience you need in business by working for someone else where you can learn a lot in a short period of time. Go to work in an area in which you are interested and learn everything you possibly can.

Second, read and study in business, especially entrepreneurial business, all the time. Read one or two business books per week and read every business magazine that is published on your subject. Never stop learning and growing.

Busy vs. Productive

"Inevitably in life we all come to the crossroad where we find ourselves saying “I don’t have time for this”. It is not that we do not have the time, as each one of us has the same 24 hours in a day. It is what we choose to do with that time that makes all the differences in the world. Have you ever stopped to wonder how some people seem to find all the time in the world to do the things they love while most people are stuck in their dead end rut we like to call a job.

Well I am here to tell you it is nothing more than the choices these people differently than us that make them who they are. You can change your behavior to become one of them by simply making better decisions."

I am curious as to whether or not business people see this as an important issue facing them. I would welcome feedback on how you feel your time is managed and what areas you would be interested in receiving help on.

Cheers,

CB

Eye opening

Often times we will have a bad day in life, but what we must realize is that 80% of our problems are within ourselves. Outside factors can only impact us if we allow them to do so. Until you make a conscious decision to not be influenced by outside sources you will be destined to be ruled by your environment. As soon as you make this determination your life will instantly change for the better. It will be like a load of bricks has been lifted off your shoulders. You will become free of your shackles and can begin moving towards your goals and objectives.