Archive for November, 2008

As a proud parent of two choristers and a Board member of the Oakville Children’s Choir, I would like to invite you all to consider including the Oakville Children’s Choir concerts as part of your holiday events this year!

The Oakville Children’s Choir is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year and has created a phenomenal line-up of concerts this season! If your family enjoys music, come to one of our holiday concerts. From a business perspective, take your best clients to a concert as part of your client appreciation gift to them this holiday season. Personally, I have invited 4 clients to the first concert, which is on December 6th, and we are making an evening out of it together!

Here is the link to ticket information, dates and all other details. If you haven’t experienced the choir before, I really recommend coming to a concert. Our Oakville world-renowned children’s choir has performed all over the world – actually, the choir just returned from a competition in Argentina this summer. You will be surprisingly delighted, I’m sure.

If you know an amazing and inspiring business or entrepreneur in Oakville, show them how much you appreciate them by nominating them for the Oakville Award for Business Excellence.  I was very honoured to have been nominated 2 years ago and it was a great opportunity to network with other local business leaders.  Think about who you know, places you frequent, companies that make a difference and make a difference for them by nominating them!  Here are the details….

The Rotary Club of Oakville West in partnership with the Oakville Chamber of Commerce proudly presents the 14th Annual Oakville Awards for Business Excellence. Know of a business deserving to be honoured? Now is your chance to nominate that company for one of six prestigious awards:

- Oakville’s Entrepreneur of the Year
- Oakville’s Restauranteur of the Year
- Oakville’s Small Company of the Year
- Oakville’s Large Company of the Year
- Oakville’s Professional Service Provider of the Year
- Oakville’s Environmental Leadership Company of the Year

To nominate a business, please click HERE before Sunday, November 30th, 2008.
The 14th Annual Oakville Awards for Business Excellence will be held at the Oakville Conference & Banquet Centre on Thursday, April 2nd, at 6:00 PM. Watch for upcoming notices for further details!

The New York Times newspaper is struggling to keep being relevant in the 21st century.

Please read this insightful blog post by Seth Godin, one of the most influential bloggers (among other things) of our time. His article contains some great ideas on how to take advantage of emerging markets and how you can even create your own markets.

In the last year or so you must have heard of Facebook, or at least of the term “Social Networking.”

If you’ve also heard of MySpace, YouTube and other such places, most likely your opinion on these sites falls under the banner “for teenagers only.”

Well, although most users of Facebook do tend to be young adults, more and more people are using the Facebook network as a marketing channel for their business.

If you’d like to learn how to use Facebook for business, I highly recommend you sign up for Facebook for Business – Free Marketing Webinar. I’ve attended HubSpot-hosted webinars and they were always very good.

What Every Small Business Owner MUST Do in the Next 30 Days to Get Through This Economic Dip

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” - Benjamin Franklin

Let’s face it, what we don’t know REALLY can hurt us so if you consider your business to be your legacy and you’d like to ensure its continued success, this workshop will serve you well.

RBC Woman Entrepreneur of the year nominee Grace Yvonne Attard, MBA, and founder of enSpire Coaching Inc. has designed a succinct 2 hour workshop aimed to give your business the “checkup” it needs to breeze through this economic haze. What you can expect from this 2 hour Workshop:

1)  Learn The Five Strategic Actions you must take in the next 30 days to prepare for and succeed in your business during these uncertain times,

2)  Get clear on the 4 pillars of your business strategy that you must excel in,

3)  Is your sales strategy working? How is your operational flow slowing down your business? Discover your company’s weakest link and create fortifying solutions to those areas,

4)  Leave the workshop with a clear, customized strategic action plan for immediate implementation,

5)  Feel focused, purposeful and confident as you lead your business through this critical time.

Don’t just “hope” your business will survive this turbulence; hope is not a plan.  Attend this workshop NOW and potentially save THOUSANDS of dollars for your business in the months to come. With proven business evaluation tools, ample time for individual planning using take-away worksheets, and an entrepreneurial coach working alongside you, this workshop will put your mind at ease and propel your business forward!

Date:      Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

Time:      8:30 – 9 AM Breakfast and Networking, 9 – 11AM Workshop

Location: Cora’s Restaurant, 200 – 240 North Service Rd., Oakville

Cost:       $59* plus GST for all enSpire clients: $75 plus GST for non-clients

Includes a healthy, hot breakfast.

Never fear. You can give ordinary cards a little “pizazz” without spending a cent. Given the fact that people expect someone who’s serious about their business to have a card, you can’t afford to let this versatile and portable marketing tool languish in the depths of your desk drawers.

Here are three free ways to make an ordinary card seem extraordinary.

1. Use both hands to give someone your card
Next time you want to give someone your business card, make it a presentation. Turn the card face up with the text facing the receiver, and then slowly, carefully, give them the card. You want to convey the impression that your card contains such valuable information that you wouldn’t give it to just anyone. Treat it as if it was a precious commodity, and the person receiving it will definitely notice.

2. Punch a hole in your card.
Use a standard hole punch and “snap!” put a hole somewhere on your card. Odds are you’ll be asked about it! That gives you a great opening to give more information about your product or service.

A window washer might say: “That hole lets you see through the card very easily, doesn’t it? You’ll see just as well through your windows, too!”

If you run a dating service, the hole could represent the emptiness people feel without someone to love.

If you sell insurance, the hole could illustrate the gap in coverage your company can certainly fill.

If you sell weight loss products, the hole might represent the “empty stomach” feeling you get on traditional diets.

Get the idea? You can even spend $5 or so and buy a themed punch, say in the shape of a house or a heart.

3. Write on your card.
Anything you do to personalize your card increases its value and makes it more likely to be kept. You can merely sign your name, or go further and write down the name of the product you recommend. You can write “10% discount” on the card, initial it, and tell the receiver to bring it into your store. You can even write private information on your card, such as your home phone number, which really makes the receiver feel special.

Another way to add value to your card (and to other people’s cards, too) isn’t free but offers great returns on a one-time investment. And that’s the purchase of a classy or unique business card holder or case.

Try to find one with two sections so you can separate cards you give and cards you get. Buy two separate cases if you can afford it. And make a point of using them! You can really impress a prospective customer by taking time to really look at his or her card before carefully tucking it away into a sturdy case. The care with which you treat that card subconsciously equates to the care with which you’ll treat their business.

Remember, creating a card that people keep is only partly about the card — it’s about you, too. If you’re creative and helpful when presenting your card, you’ll likely be perceived as someone who’s creative and helpful in business dealings too. And who would toss the card of a valuable contact like that?

Copyright 2006-8 Diana Ratliff. All rights reserved. For a limited time, Business Card Expert Diana Ratliff is giving away free subscriptions to her private “Bizcard Bulletin” newsletter. To learn how YOU can get more prospects than your Rolodex can handle using business cards, visit http://www.BusinessCardDesign.com/newsletter.html.

I would like your comments on this NEW version of the business card/invitation I think would be a good idea to have for our networking group. Please see the discussion on the first version.

• It’s easy to promote our group
• Our group looks professional by having its own card
• If we’re promoting this group as being different, then having a card would definitely contribute to the idea.
• Each member can buy 100 cards for $2, or some other amount we can agree on.
• Card would be printed full-colour on both sides, with AQ coating (a semi-gloss, writable surface)

This is the front of the card:

This is the NEW back:

Please comment, by filling out the comment form below.