Some Emotions Just Can't Be Transferred to an Ad

I really, really wanted to let this one go but it has seriously been bothering me for more than 2 days now.

I was driving in my car the other day and this ad comes on the radio. I believe it was an ad for action.gc.ca where they had new regulations for credit card fine print and terms and conditions changes.

The radio ad had one man pleading for the credit card holder to give him another chance, much like when a husband is found guilty of something by his wife. Amongst his pleas there were lines such as "I will really change this time, please give me another chance" etc. I wish I had a copy of the ad but this radio ad wanted to leverage off an emotional connection that credit card holders usually DO NOT have for their credit cards.

How can you transfer feelings of a husband/wife relationship to a user/credit card relationship? Plus, there is a negative connotation to the whole ad, since when a husband (I only use husband here because they used a male voice in the ad, it could very well be the wife pleading for forgiveness as well) does something wrong and they say things like this, the person on the receiving end knows that:

1. You say those things because you know that's what we want to hear
2. You promise that you will change but you really aren't sure if you can; again, it's something you know we want to hear
3. We forgive you because we love you, not because you gave us the facts.

The third reason above, is precisely why an ad like this is not going to work; rarely do we experience the same emotions with a credit card. 

Enough of me blasting this ad - I will provide an example of what works well. Have you seen Ally ads on TV? The theme is that fine print in credit cards' terms and conditions are a silly thing to have, and they illustrate it with children wanting to do certain activities and the salesperson saying no, the fine print says you can't. 

Now this is an emotion/feeling we can ALL relate to, because at one point or another, we have all been screwed by credit cards and their fine print. 

What?! I didn't know they changed to charging a 30% annual rate!

What?! I didn't know international usage would cost me 6% of my purchase!

What?! I didn't know that this offer is only valid for new customers that have never had this credit card and live in Shanghai.

You get the idea. We've all been there. Point is, when you are trying to arouse emotions to associate with your brand, make sure that it does transfer, in the right way.

A Customer Experience Story (Part 2)

So I got the new Macbook Air - the totally decked out version. This was half a functional decision and the other half totally irrational (as with all of our purchases).

Following up on my last post, where my supposedly "fixed" macbook air decided to black out on me again after I replaced its hard drive for two hundred dollars plus, I called and left a message where I worked hard to repress my frustration.

I got a call early in the morning, before their store opened at Richmond Centre, from their business manager. I am going to mention her name here because I am going to give her props here for handling my anger so well. She told me that she had received my message, was sorry about my "loss", and understood that I needed to get my computer fixed right away. She booked me in for the first appointment time available at the genius bar and I told her I would be there.

I was down with a cold that morning so I had to groggily pull myself out of bed, get dressed, put on my glasses (which I rarely ever wear in public), and dragged myself over to Richmond Centre. 

I was like a woman on a mission beelining into the store and headed straight for the genius bar at the back. "I am here to see Christine, she booked in me in for an appointment." 

The helper with an iPad called for her via iPad (at least that's what I think happened) and she showed up, we shook hands, and I proceeded with throwing a fit. It went something like me wanting to throw my computer against the wall when it shut down on me again after I was told that it was fixed. OK, that was the only "angry" comment that I made and then having someone immediately attend to my broken computer and saying they understood my pain suddenly made me feel better. Let's face it, as customers, we all just want a little genuine lovin' from these companies.

I told Brody (who was the genius who was going to fix my computer) and Christine that I did need another new computer given that I can't go into meetings with a computer that may die on me any second. We went around and I got to take a look at the new Macbook Air models (11" and 13") and even the new Macbook Pros. Considering that I needed my computer to handle mostly web surfing, word processing and simple photo rendering tasks, the Macbook Air would be more than sufficient. Seriously, with 4GB ram and 280 GB storage I think I am good to go.

Of course they also credited me for the amount that I spent the day before trying to fix my old computer. That made me feel better because I felt that they were fair with me. That's all it takes to satisfy a customer, don't try to rip us off. A lot of you might ask why I decided to buy another Mac, and I will tell you the reasoning is threefold.

1. Functionality wise I have tried out many different laptop brands, including Fujitsu, Acer, HP, Toshiba and Mac. My Mac never got the blue screen of death and didn't have constant crashes happening. Plus, the system is just so user friendly. Even small things like searching for a file on my computer is 100 times faster. Have you tried searching for a file on a PC? WOW, it really seems like there is somebody inside the computer slowly going through the folders.
2. They have been SO good with servicing broken stuff on my Macbook Air. Last time the little piece that held my laptop screen and the keyboard together broke off a little bit and they replaced my ENTIRE SCREEN for FREE - I was not under applecare and they helped me simply out of the goodness of their heart (at least this is how it appeared to me). Even when they replaced my hard drive they reduced their labor charge down to $39 from $159. 
3. Again, totally irrational. This is what customer purchases are like. We buy things that makes us feel good. I know I bought the Macbook Air because it is the thinnest laptop in the world - which really makes me feel quite awesome. My feet will also thank me because I am not lugging around a 10-pound IBM.

I would say that Mac has redeemed itself in this customer experience story. Wouldn't you?

A Customer Service Experience Story

It happened this morning when I woke up.

My Macbook Air had mysteriously put itself to sleep, or rather, turned itself off entirely, refusing to start.

I did not freak out because of a data loss, since everything important had already been backed up, but I needed my computer to work on things, and not being able to work on things when I want to drives me insane. I booked an appointment to bring my laptop in to the Apple store to get it checked out.

I show up on time, and a 'genius' diagnoses my laptop and tells me that the hard drive is fried. I ask whether I could fix it and the genius states that it can be done and it will last me another 2 years (looking back at the conversation now I really, really should have recorded it). Since I trusted the brand, the technical expertise of their geniuses, I agreed to replace my hard drive for two hundred dollars.

I was more than overjoyed when they called me later in the day to tell me that it had already been done - I seriously thought this was impressive, considering how all other electronics dealers would take days to fix something. I happily paid for and retrieved my laptop, carrying it back home and tried it out. I left my computer on and idle for half an hour while I had something to eat.

Seating myself back at my work desk after dinner, I fiddled with the keyboard and found that my computer had fallen asleep again. I shut it down and tried to restart it but to my horror, it failed to boot again.

This meant that the 'genius' had made a recommendation, made me spend two hundred dollars, gave me false hope that my computer is going to last me another two years, and very frustrated that I am still dealing with a problem that should have been resolved.

Despite having a great brand, strong customer following and supposedly a technical team that is extremely qualified to handle issues like mine, I am disappointed this time. I hope Apple will show me tomorrow, when I bring my computer back in, that they can treat me right as a customer, because this really hurt the trust I had in their brand. It really did.

A LARGE audience doesn't equate to a captive audience

First off, it's been a long, long time since I've posted and I might even consider myself a bit rusty, so bear with me.

I recently started to use Twitter to promote for a hobby website of mine that I started on the side.  It's totally unrelated to the finance industry so I won't go into detail about it. The point of this post is to discuss the use of Twitter.

I have noticed the majority of people on Twitter have the following things in common:

1. They rarely generate their own content, they are "retweeting" other people's content (this can be done by a "bot", so the person isn't even manually checking for what they retweet);
2. They follow hundreds, if not thousands of people in hopes that those people would follow them back;
3. If those people do not follow them back, they can have their Twitter settings set up so that they automatically "unfollow" those people.

Judging by the above set of prevalent behaviors in the Twitter community, I would believe that close to 90% of your followers aren't even paying attention to your tweets. What are the implications of this to businesses that are hoping to use Twitter to mass distribute their company news, events, etc?

1. You don't have a captive audience - less than 10% are actually listening;
2. You have followers because you are also following thousands of people who feel like they should reciprocate by following you back but not necessarily follow your news;
3. When spending money on platforms like Twitter and Facebook, make sure it makes sense for you; this means you KNOW your target audience is there and that they will also be receptive and responsive to your ads through those channels - or you might get better results by throwing money from the top of a building and courting passerby with your product as they scramble to pick up free money.
4. This doesn't apply to well-known brands and celebrities because their fans are crazy about them and can be considered a captive audience.

It seems like everyone is crazy about using social media to advertise, but if you audience isn't listening, or not even relevant to your product (as in they won't use it!) then why are you throwing away money? 

Winners Don't Quit (Part 2)

Since my post on Winners Don't Quit a couple days ago I've gotten quite a few emails asking whether I'm OK and what's going on. 

My only response at this time is that I"m handling the change in the business quite well and actually love the fact that we'll be able to reconnect with our roots and original goals of Changing Exchanging for the better.  I'm really living the entrepreneurial life, with things changing constantly.  After a few years doing this you no longer worry too much about tomorrow, because you never know what's going to happen tomorrow!  It's great to have an idea of what you would LIKE to see, but 100% of the time it turns out to be not what you expected...which is PERFECT because it means every day you're creating something on the fly.

That being said - we're in the midst of switching gears...so stay tuned.

So I say...bring it on industry!

We're not about to be stopped yet...not. just. yet.

PS.  For those of you that cared enough to send me an email, phone call of encouragement - this is another reason why I continue to fight to make things happen - because of my great support network!

Winners Never Quit

I've hit so many roadblocks since day 1 in this business that it doesn't come as a surprise to me anymore when I hear this line: "We can't work with you because you are in the financial industry and are a Money Service Business." 

I can't help but think that the big boys are influencing the regulations so that the growing businesses like PeerFX, that actually want to do something for the everyday consumer instead of ripping them off, cease to be on the playing field. 

Of course, I still think rules were made to be broken :)

I've spent most of my morning trying to get on board with some potential new partners with no luck.  I keep hearing that damned line - "We can't work with you because you are a Money Service Business". 
After being in the industry for 2 years now it's FRUSTRATING!  Seriously, the rules you put in place lock out everybody EXCEPT the criminals.  Would a real criminal tell you that they are a forex broker or that they are trying to launder money?  I don't think so.

If they do then they should be on the show World's Dumbest Criminals.  Plus, we know that the "successful" criminals cannot be barred out by these regulations anyway, so who are we kidding? 

Hitting 5000 walls has not stopped me from building this business and though this wall seems larger than the ones before, I'm determined to break you down.

How Employers Think

I'm on the verge of spitting blood going through tons of resumes coming in for our PR and Brand Management position.  I think the job description really captures how fun and awesome this position will be, and its a job that I would have jumped at to do some real hands-on marketing if I wasn't already doing my job as President with PeerFX :)

Here are a couple things I noticed that grinds my gears:

1. If you can't write a good cover letter that tells me why you will do an awesome job at THIS particular job - don't apply.
2. If your skills aren't relevant to what's required in the job description - don't apply.
3. If you have grammar mistakes in your cover letter - don't apply.
4. I gave each resume a 30 second scan - because the candidate has to contribute to blogs and gain PR online...my focus was on the cover letter.  Are you engaging to read about?  Can you communicate to me why you should be part of the PeerFX team and not just part of any team because you are a "driven, self-motivated, results-oriented" individual?  
5. You have a hotmail account as your contact email - I would not want the media contacting our PR person at their hotmail address.
6. If you can't recall where you saw PeerFX before, don't make something up - I do most of the PR so I would know if you actually saw us.
7. Certifications and other abbreviations behind your name on your business card does not impress employers - we think it comes standard.  Now if you tell us you went on a trip around the world, or built a school in a third world country...let's talk.  Don't email me now trying to convince me that you did those things...what I actually mean is - what makes YOU special?  

That's it for now - I have to go back to shortlisting...I hope the above helps those of you that are looking for jobs right now :)

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Dear Employer, I am a fantastic candidate for this job...

How?

1) ...you are sending in generic cover letters?

Blows me away how most if not all of the applicants to our PR and Brand Management position send in cover letters that sound like they just changed the name of the company. 

I tuned out immediately after I read the first line.  "Dear Employer/who it may concern/hiring manager, I am a fantastic candidate for this job (because I have this degree). 

Guess what?  Another 10,000 people have this degree as well!  What have YOU done that makes YOU stand out as an individual?  Did you exceed sales quotas by 100%?  200%?  Did you drive tons of additional traffic to your company's website?  Did you get your company President on the cover of prominent business magazines? 

Be specific.  Identify yourself. 

OR....are you a fantastic candidate because...

2) ..you are not researching the company or reading the job description?

You know...we include certain tasks and responsibilities in the job description because its part of the job.  It doesn't say: "well, it would be great if you could do this, but it's ok if you don't."

So if you don't have all that we're looking for in that job, your time is better spent applying for jobs that actually fit your skill set.  That's where you can make a positive impact with your skills; not in a job where you can't shoulder the responsibilities required.   

Some people do manage to get past the first screening and we give them a call.  We usually ask them so...why PeerFX?  Amazingly we get awkward silence on the other side of the line or the attempt to make it sound like they went to the website.

"Umm...I went to your website, you guys do currency exchange right?"

YOU SERIOUS?!

Please. Please. PUH-lease.  My mom has always told me that opportunities come to those who are prepared to capture them; how are you going to capture any opportunities if you don't put any effort in up front?

Think about it.  Come more prepared and then you can stop wondering why you are unemployed.  

This is a Test

Earlier this week when I just got back from LA I was faced with some Monday morning crisis. I say crisis because it was unexpected news that was delivered to me with one week's notice to do something about it.  Usually getting your entire operations set up again takes more than a week.

If I didn't find an alternative solution this crisis could put me out of business.

This is a TEST.

Did it ever make me efficient.  I basically set up an alternative within the same day, sought out several other options to work on and took care of my best customers so service to them wouldn't be interrupted. 

Situations like this test your ability to think clearly in times of crises and I was actually quite happy that I didn't fall into panic mode.  Building the business over the past 2 years I realize that I am a person that freaks over the minute details and thinks clearly when "stuff" hits the fan.

What was my thought process when I got the news?

1. Can something still be done to maintain the business relationship? Is there someone above this person I'm talking to that can change the decision?   [It's not over until it's over!]
2. What are my alternatives?
3. Which one is the easiest, fastest to implement to take care of the short term? Use this to buy time to set up the long-term option.
4. What options exist in the long-term?

Decide on it then figure out who to call, what steps are required to set up and the time to finishing the set up (getting fully up and running).

I have to say, I was asked how I felt about this test, and frankly at that moment I wanted to say it was fun.  Seriously.  It was something out of the blue and got my blood pumping.

Of course, too much of that leads to heart attacks but once in a while - I can handle it :)

No Other Business Does What I Do - BS!

Complete BS.

If you seriously think whatever you're doing has not been done or is not being done by someone else right now - let me tell you, it WILL be done by someone else SOON, really soon.

Or for those that say other businesses can't do what they do - again - BS.
Have you thought about the number of substitutes out there that do exactly what you do?

Example:  Need: Quench Thirst

Substitutes: Coke, Water, Tea, Icetea, Nestea, Sprite, 7-UP, Beer(sssssssssss), Lemonade, the list goes on for about 5 million other choices

Coke Bombs

Example 2: Need: Foreign Exchange

Substitutes for PFX: Banks, Foreign exchange houses, online brokerages, online banking platforms, foreign exchange booths at airports, MoneyMart, Western Union, etc. the list goes on for another 5 million other choices.

Example 3: Want/need: Staying connected with friends

Facebook Logo

Substitutes: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogger, Wordpress, Typepad, Blackberry Messenger, Whatsapp, MSN Messenger, Skype, etc.  This list also goes on for another 5 million choices.

SO....if you still think you are the ONLY ONE satisfying a consumer need/want, then you seriously must be from another planet.  Unless you've discovered a new need/want that we don't know about yet - which I must ask that you kindly share with us what it is and why it's so "new".

DELETE THE WORD SHOULD

...because it limits your creativity for what you can do with your business.

IMO, and this is similar to one of those theories that Dilbert makes up, the word should was not in our dictionary when we came into this world (yeah yeah, neither were the other 10 billion words we would soon learn). 

As soon as we learned the word should, here's what happened.

...you should eat your vegetables.
...you should not try to fly - somebody gonna hurt real bad.
...you should not stay up late.
...you should word hard at your academics.
...you should this, that, you get the idea.

Same goes for business.

...you should build your business this way because it's been proven.
...you should cater to this group of customers because according to research this group has the most money.
...you should hire so and so.
...you should fire so and so.
...you should get senior people on the team.
...you should not badmouth the banks.
...you should not take a stand early in your business to be "under the radar".

I think I've hit a spot where I am seriously sick and tired of the word should and how I have been running my business by it.  SO. Everything needs to get put back in its place. 

Who cares if that customer group has the most money?!  If they don't love what we have to offer, then they're not going to pay us!

Who cares if so and so is a superstar in the industry?!  If they don't love selling what we have to offer, they're not going to generate results!

Who cares if we upset some people out there by positioning ourselves as an anti-something?!  If we don't upset some people then we're neutral to everybody and the business might as well be dead.  I take a stand for what I believe in. It's time I let my business do that too.

So how is the word should screwing over your business or even your life?  Delete it from your vocabulary.  One book I recently read suggests replacing it with the word want.  Works if it's something that you need to get done.

For example:

I want to hire so and so.
I want to spend on marketing.
I want the company to be positioned like this. 

YOU. YOU. YOU.  You own and run the business.  Once you start using the word 'should' you are letting other things that exist determine what you should do.  That ties your hands, and feet, from doing and creating whatever awesomeness will come out of your business. 

We Humans are Social Animals

Image by Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten via Flickr

According to the new book titled "Herd" that I've picked up and just started the first few pages.  It'll have to wait until I finish "Rework" today :)
Caught this excerpt from one of the blogs that I follow Inc.com by Max Chafkin.

Social networking? Feels kinda like falling in love. Over at Fast Company, Adam Penenberg talks to neuroeconomist Paul Zak who discovered that social networking--much like falling in love--triggers our brains to release of a "generosity-trust" chemical. Says Penenberg, "That should be a wake-up call for every company." In Zak's lab, Penenberg subjects himself to various experiments to find out why humans are "compelled to be social animals online and off" and what that could mean for brands, companies, and marketers.

This is a similar concept that I'm reading about in the book "Herd" and it is interesting that though we all insist on being individuals and having our own style, values, opinions...often times we see crowds of people sharing the same interest, activities, values, opinions.  Kind of makes sense, since if we were true "individuals", and no one shared our opinions and activities, etc. we would have no one to talk to about them - pretty boring I would say.

I'll give an update on my thoughts on this after finishing "Herd".  Stay tuned.

Planning Extremes - ZERO or 5 years out?

Image by adria.richards via Flickr

I started reading "Rework" by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson.  I picked it up because on its front cover it said "Ignore this book at your own peril." - Seth Godin.

Just kidding.  I flipped through and it did appear to be written by founders of businesses and not some businessperson who has never built a business before themselves lecturing us on theories and what not.  Looked like it was in plain English :)

I started it yesterday and noticed that they basically said "Screw Planning Anything!" (at least that was the feeling I got) and I think to myself, well, I agree that for a start up you do have to do things differently as you go...I think we can all agree that the so-called business plan in the initial phases is like what the authors call business "guesses".  Sure. Since we all know that it definitely never goes according to plan with these things.  I also agree that it's silly to plan ahead for 5 years because you can't account for all the extraneous factors that will effect your business outcomes.

Here's the other side of the coin.

The business plan should be considered as business thoughts.  I use it as a place where I put down my thoughts on the who, what, when, where, how given the current situation.  It also makes you think about what you would do if sh*t hit the fan.  That's the key word - THINK.  If you stick to going through your day-to-day operations without ever THINKING about this how do you figure out your end game and how to get there?

Planning is almost a dirty word for entrepreneurs/starters/doers whatever you want to call start up business founders.  Why?  We want to be creative, innovative, whatever, that planning gives us the perception it inhibits our creativity.  This is why business plans are a pain - because of how we think of planning.

What if I told you that business planning as just taking a piece of paper out and jotting your thoughts down on how to get things done towards a specific goal?  Not so hard now is it?

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The G20 - Ground Level Woes?

Image by roch lasalle (farinn veiða) via Flickr

I've just returned from Toronto and luckily avoided the G20 that's happening starting this weekend. 
There hasn't been a lot of positive press for the G20 happening in Toronto, especially on the point where many are criticizing us for the large sums we've spent on the event to date.  Here's what The Economist had to say about it in their online feed:

LEADERS of the G8 group of rich countries gather in Muskoka, a Canadian holiday resort, for a two-day summit starting on Friday June 25th. The meeting overlaps with the two-day G20 summit that begins the next day in Toronto. Both get-togethers will give the opportunity to world leaders to discuss global financial regulation, reforming international financial institutions and responses to the crisis in the euro zone. The Canadian hosts have been criticised at home for the vast cost of the summit, in particular on the creation of a huge artificial lake for the media centre in a country with more real lakes than anywhere else in the world.

 What about the people that are actually in the middle of all this?   Residents of Toronto downtown that are discovering that the G20, which is supposed to boost the economy and bring in additional revenues, is transforming the downtown core into a tourist town, but ironically with no restaurants or services open?  Here are a couple things I heard at the ground level speaking to people around town.

• Waiter was saying if he knew that his restaurant would be closing during the G20 period, he would have taken more shifts outside of the downtown core.
• Person working at CIBC said that her company is transferring a lot of employees to either work from home or work from Mississauga - definitely increased expenses for the company since they have to pay for transport; also takes a toll on the employees, who now have to wake up extra early to get out of the downtown core
• Restaurants have said that they will be closed for fear that they will incur damages to their property due to expected protests in the downtown area
• Residents down by Queen's Quay, which is pretty much center of the G20 action (and road closures) are renting out their apartments for $1500 a day 

So what we have are companies that are cutting back/relocating their services and an influx of tourists that would need services.  Great.  Would like to see how it plays out in over the next couple weeks for those living in Toronto.

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CTV News Website - Florence's article "Learn Lessons from Failure, but Do it Fast"

So a while ago Darren Dahl from the Sauder School of Business asked me to chat with him about some lessons that every start up owner should know or may have experienced and be able to relate to.

I had just gone through an entire revamp of my website and made a decision to severe our ties with our old system, essentially incurring significant sunk costs.  It was worth it though, and a lot of times entrepreneurs hang on to poor decisions just because they feel like they've vested time into the process.  Doesn't work that way - you can't turn a poor decision into a great one by sinking more time and effort into it. 

Here's the article where Darren and I discuss some key things about mistakes in business and how to make sure you keep getting up when you hit your face on the pavement in business.

Learn Lessons from Failure, but Do it Fast
(Source: CTV News)

The Three Roles of Great Entrepreneurs

I've shared this link on Facebook already (see below) and when I read it I can agree with the fact that our list of to-dos just pile up everyday, but entrepreneurs start out getting all frustrated about why they can't finish everything on the day that they planned for it. THEN, we realized that out of all of our to-dos, there are multiple ways to deal with it, I think my different categories just off the top of my head include:

1) Priority - if I don't do this today it's the end of the world
2) Leave this end of day in my one hour of time to work through it at superman speed
3) Get someone else on the time capable of doing an awesome job to handle it
4) Not worth my time right now - this includes spam emails, emails that have no point, bad sales pitches, etc. You know what I mean

The article's a quick read and summarizes, as it states, the 3 roles of great entrepreneurs. Rarely is an entrepreneur good at everything, so use this as a quick moment to reflect on what you're good at. Just because you are the leader does not mean you're Superman/Superwoman - often times it means you are SUPER at picking out great people that can do amazing things - ie. Joe is great at managing financial ops, Susan is spectacular at customer service and sales, Mark handles the entire company's treasury operations in the morning within 10 minutes before the breakfast meeting (all fictitious names but I wish these people existed my company right now!)

So have a read, everyone has strengths and weaknesses, realize yours - and realizing it isn't enough - DO SOMETHING about it.

The Three Roles of Great Entrepreneurs

"How to Give the Best Performance Reviews to Your Team and Employees" - a PeerFX Power Tuesdays Webinar

Here we go again! 

Our team has been traveling the country to bring on board quality salespeople, and met some interesting businesses that I thought we could feature in our webinar series. 

I came across Rypple, and I see it as an online collaborative platform that makes performance reviews, an exercise that most managers dread and most employees hate because it's vague and fluffy, easier and more cost efficient. 

It's not just for large corporations, Rypple has actually tailored its platform to small teams and growing businesses as well.  This fits right in with PeerFX's user base, and that's why their Head of Community and Sales will be sharing some tips on how to give better performance reviews, what trends are in the market today and a quick demo of the Rypple platform to show you how they can make your life easier.  It's free to try so WHY NOT?

Register for your seat today at this link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/150007648

We look forward to seeing you online next Tuesday!

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Positive "Networking" = GIVING FIRST

I think within over the past 2 days I've had this same conversation with 4 different people.  How do you network?  How do you build your network?

I have to say that I rarely think about how I'm expanding my network, because I think what I do is build relationships instead.  Some people still like to tie it to the word networking, hence the term positive networking. 

The way to do it is just find out about the other person's business, what they are involved in, and how you can help them with your services or connect them to other people within your own network.  GIVE something first and don't expect that they will or can reciprocate right away.  Just know that when they do come across something that relates to your business, they will think of your first.  The power of building business relationships instead of just having a network of acquaintances is so, so, SO important in business.

I found all of my advisors, employees and investors through this type of relationship.  If you don't genuinely care about the other person's business, why should they care about yours and want to help you?

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Writing Your Business Plan - Make it Modern?

Many of us learned how to write our first business plan in business school.  My first business plan, was a whopping 120 pages of...fluff, diagrams, thousands of pages of projections, etc.  Read like a textbook - BORING.

How does yours look like?  The longer I've been running PeerFX, the more I find that everybody is constrained on time, and usually a 20 slides slide deck or an exec summary is sufficient for an investor to decide if they want to see you.  Then it's your performance during your meeting that gets you the money.

What is a business plan for anyway?  As Seth Godin puts it - for us to think through the actual implementation.  Write it so that after reading it, YOU would be convinced to put money into it.  Seriously, if you can't communicate how your business is going to make a gazillion dollars in less than 20 pages (including appendixes!) then I question whether you've nailed down your business details enough.

I say that the business plan components have to be continually revisited - anyone that has gone beyond just writing the plan would know that it never happens just like it.  If it does, please go buy a lottery ticket because you're seriously super lucky.

So what components are in a Modern Business Plan?  5 things

1. The TRUTH - look all around you, how does the environment affect your business - be realistic - you have competitors, existing alternatives, the economy...
2. Assertions - How do you propose to change the way things are done?
3. Alternatives - like I said, never happens like you want it - so what do you do for plan B, C and D?
4. MONEY - money, money, money - without money either in the form of revenue or investment, you don't have a business.  Figure out your finances!

Read more about Seth's push for writing a modern business plan here.  THEN WRITE ONE.  Reading without doing you learn nothing.

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American Express Accepted Everywhere

Over the years I grew up with American Express being positioned as a prestigious, high status credit card brand.  They worked so hard on it that they made sure their cards were accepted only at places of high status - luxury restaurants, hotels, etc.

Then I saw this at Eaton's Centre in Toronto the other day.  Made me think: "Burger and American Express?  Really?" 

An Amex black card may even have been a goal for some aspiring businesspeople out there, but now that they can use the Amex card at the local burger joint, what does this do to the brand?

I wonder why Amex made the decision to go mainstream and compete for the same customers that are currently catered to by Visa and MasterCard.  They had a nice little niche - is it because the high status, high spending group is shrinking?  Or they feel like they've saturated that market?

What do you think is the reason for this switch in brand positioning?