According to an article in the Harvard Business Review, “99% of any networking event is a waste of time”. In the article, the author – Richard Stromeback – claims that networking is about making a connection and being authentic. This made me realise that the value of networking must be in how well we spend the remaining 1%. Read More

There’s something you should know before you invest your entire IT and information security budget on technical solutions – if a smart thief wanted to steal your intellectual property and/or your client’s confidential information (e.g., credit, financial, and contact information taken during the Equifax data breach), they’d act like a gangster and walk in the front door and take it. Why? When it

It’s tax season again! Do you usually get a refund? If so, it’s important to remember that it’s not “free money” you get from the government – it just means you overpaid last year and now you’re getting your money back. The average refund is $1,620 and while it’s very tempting to use it to go on a vacation (especially with the weather outside),

What is the single most troublesome factor for almost any person, any where and at any time? It’s time, or more specifically Time Management. We all struggle with it and not one of us ever claims, emphatically, that we have a handle on it. We all want more time, need more time or wish we had more time. If time is something you struggle with,

I think we can all agree that time management is a very good thing, however, there are situations where people tend to take the whole idea of using their time wisely to the extreme. When this happens, the crucial goal of managing your time gets lost in “the busy” and the drive to cram too much into too little time. When it gets to this

A number of months ago an article I wrote was posted on the CSBW blog, entitled Just ASK – Making Photo-Legal Groundwork Add Up. Today, I am going to address the use of music in your online content, e.g. in blogs and podcasts. While this post is focused on the copyright and related proprietary rights in musical works, there are other

Even though it’s 2018 and much progress has been made, it’s no secret that professional women are still at a disadvantage in the workplace. The same is true of entrepreneurs.   The glass ceiling is holding strong While progress has been made over the last decades and even more over the past few years, the glass ceiling is still stubbornly holding strong. This is why

Have you hit a plateau in your marketing efforts? You’re definitely not growing your business. Or maybe your business is falling short of your competitors and they are squeezing you out of the market. Whatever the case, it’s time for a marketing strategy change. Changing things up shouldn’t happen on a whim, and it should be a slow and steady process that you work through,

In my last post, I discussed RRSPs. This time, I want to introduce you to the Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) since many people I speak to aren’t taking advantage of this product. Why aren’t people using a TFSA, you ask? Well, from feedback I’ve gotten, it’s simply because many of us don’t know how it works. Let’s fix that! Read on…   WHAT

We’ve talked about this before, the importance of clearly communicating your message. What is your message? What is at the very heart, the very “C.O.R.E” of your business? I think it’s a topic that bears repeating because by taking the time to really understand what your main purpose is, you will then be better able to communicate it to the world.  If, as I believe,

Now the weather is changing and we’re moving out of the gloom and cold of the winter season, we can feel the returning spring in our step and the sense of renewal that this new season brings. For most people it has us starting to refresh, renew and reset in many areas of our lives and spring cleaning is a right of passage at this

  Years ago, I worked for the Federal Government. One day our department announced it was unveiling a Vision Statement. It would be printed and laminated and every one of us would get a copy to hang on our office wall. It was lovely. It really was very, very nice. It was also really long. And wordy. And kind of nebulous, and cumbersome. Worst of

Business and personal success is all about making the right connections and finding the people who will lead you to new opportunities. However, many believe that success in networking is defined by the volume of exchanges (how many cards can you collect) when in reality there is little to no value in the quantity. A lot of us are going about connecting in the wrong

These are dangerous times. Never have so many people had so much access to so much knowledge and yet have been so resistant to learning anything. – Tom Nichols, Professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, and five-time undefeated Jeopardy! Champion. Lately, I’ve noticed increasing criticism of and disdain towards professionals regardless of their areas of specialization. It’s as

As a small business owner, you need to make sure that you are using your resources in the best way possible. It can be easy to let things fall through the cracks, but you need to make sure that your marketing strategy is on track otherwise, it will be hard for you to succeed. Here are six big marketing mistakes many small business owners make,