Outsourcing Is A Must If You Are Truly An Entrepreneur!

Posted by Owen Clark on January 31, 2014 in Sales Marketing, Tools & Tips - Comments
outsourcing

Wikipedia – In business, outsourcing is the contracting out of a business process to a third-party.

2014 is the year for outsourcing for me and I have already seen and feel HUGE benefits.  It’s amazing the weight that is lifted when you finally allow yourself to let go.  I dare you to try outsourcing something this week on a task that you have always done yourself but know you could delegate to someone else.  You will now have extra time to grow your business.

Seth Godin talks about the difference between a freelancer and an entrepreneur in his course on Continue Reading →

Leaders Are Readers The Power Of Audio Books

Posted by Owen Clark on January 13, 2014 in Sales Marketing, Tools & Tips - Comments
Leaders Are Readers

Not All Readers Are Leaders, But All Leaders Are Readers

- Harry S Truman

In today’s world getting educated in your downtime is easier then ever.  Do you commute?  Do you watch TV?  Do you Facebook? Believe me if you analyzed where you spend your time I am almost certain you can come up with 2 hours a day.  A year ago I took a very hard look at where I spent my time and I gained 24 hours a week.  That is HUGE!  You can do the same. Continue Reading →

User Reviews – Here Is An Easy Plugin To Install

Posted by Owen Clark on December 29, 2013 in Sales Marketing, SEO, PPC & Analytics, Tools & Tips - Comments
5starReviews-1

Embed user reviews and Google Rich Snippet ratings anywhere on your site.

Capture user reviews for your business, website, or individual products/pages and display them on your WordPress page or post and in Google Search Results as a Google Rich Snippet.

2013 Study

  • 79% Of Consumers Trust Online User Reviews As Much As Personal Recommendations
  • 85% of consumers say that they read online reviews for local businesses (up from 76% in 2012)
  • 73% of consumers say positive customer user reviews make them trust a business more (up from 58% in 2012)

Continue Reading →

NFC Tags Are F****** Cool!

Posted by Owen Clark on December 3, 2013 in Tools & Tips - Comments

NFC Tags have been around for a while now, have you played with them?

What are NFC Tags you ask?  Near Field Communication, and to be honest everywhere I have looked online for an explanation makes them sound way more confusing then they actually are.  In short you can program NFC Tags to talk to your phone, when you swipe your phone over an NFC tag the tag triggers preset commands.  Why would I want this you ask?  I asked the same question and finally while browsing Amazon one day I decided to buy a bag of NFC tags.  What the heck they only cost $13 for 10.

NFC Tags

 My 5 NFC Tags Trigger these commands

1. My key chain tag is a simple trigger.  It takes you to my website for Speed-Sew Fabric Glue

2. Entering my house I have a tag on my kitchen counter.  This tag triggers several commands.

  • Turn Bluetooth off
  • Turn WiFi on
  • Turn Sync on
  • Turn Volume up
  • Turn Brightness up

3. Beside my bed I have a tag Continue Reading →

Getting Things Done!

Posted by Owen Clark on October 16, 2013 in Tools & Tips - Comments
getting things done

My BIG take away from David Allen’s book “Getting Things Done“

Although Getting Things Done is probably more for the high level corporate executive I did gain some valuable insight that has already made my life easier and less stressful. Your brain has a hard drive (subconscious) and Ram (Conscious) like a computer.  The hard drive is great for storing stuff however the Ram is used for stuff that is open and running.  If you have many programs open and running they slow your computer down.

Let’s Compare Your Conscious Mind To Ram In Your Computer Continue Reading →

A Special Invitation To Celebrate Small Business Month

Posted by Owen Clark on October 8, 2013 in Branding - Comments

Get your FREE All Day Pass compliments of SOHO (save $50)

  • TORONTO – TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15 @ Hyatt Regency on King
  • VANCOUVER – THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24 @ Fairmont Hotel Vancouver
  • CALGARY – THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31 @ Hotel Arts

 

SOHO

SOHO Business Group is pleased to invite you to the upcoming 16th Annual SOHO|SME Business Expo to celebrate and support Small Business Month.  I would like to extend a special invitation for you and your staff to attend for free – save $50 at the door.

Highlights of the SOHO|SME Expo include a CEO / Entrepreneur Spotlight, Featured Keynotes, Expert Panel Discussions, Demo Stage, Coach’s Corner, Exhibits & Displays. This event offers great networking and a chance to win some fabulous prizes throughout the day all for FREE when you pre-register online. Continue Reading →

THE BEST INSPIRATIONAL SPEECH OF OUR TIME (2013)

Posted by Owen Clark on September 21, 2013 in Tools & Tips - Comments
Microphone

If you set goals you are among the top 3%

If you want to be among the top 2% then you need to review your goals daily and to be in the top 1% simply write them down daily.

Every 3 months I attend a full planning day with CoachKyle at his Growth Club to reset my goals. I figure I must be in the top 1.5% because I review and read them out loud daily.

This video is part of my daily process for this quarter.  The thing that amazes me with this video is that every time I listen / watch  it I pull another nugget or 2 out.

 

Continue Reading →

Gmail Email – 5 Options To Choose From

Posted by Owen Clark on September 17, 2013 in Social Media, Tools & Tips - Comments
Gmail

Have You Ever Considered Gmail Email?

Gmail Email

Are you stuck to a program installed on your computer? Do you still use Microsoft Outlook or Apple’s Mail as your email manager? Why don’t you try an online email manager?

I personally prefer Gmail Email. Google has done a really good job.  Yes I know there are ads but honestly I think it has been a few years since I have noticed them and I’m not even sure if I have ever clicked on one.  Did you know you could turn the bar at the top off (Web Clips)?   Its easy, in the top right you will see a cog, click it and a drop down box opens > Click Settings > Web Clips and then uncheck ‘Show My Web Clips Above The Inbox‘.

As with any type of change there is a learning curve.  Once you switch there will be a few things to get used to, all you have to do to appreciate the change is to take a few minutes to understand it and once it makes sense and you get used to it you will wonder how you did it the old way for so long.  The 1st thing that is a little different is that Gmail Email keeps your email conversations together.  If you send an email and there are 12 back and forth’s with that email they will all be grouped together.  This confuses some people because they are so used to everything being separate.

5 Inbox options

Next is how Gmail Email manages your inbox and most do not know that you in fact have 5 options when it comes to your inbox.  Check out this short video to learn how you can see and manage your options.

  1. Default
  2. Important First
  3. Unread First
  4. Starred First
  5. Priority Inbox Continue Reading →

Facebook Messages You Are Missing

Posted by Owen Clark on September 6, 2013 in Social Media, Tools & Tips - Comments
facebook messages

I Bet You Are Missing Several Personal Facebook Messages

Facebook has become so popular with some they don’t even know what email is anymore.  I have several friends who only Facebook me.  Like your email spam folder, Facebook messages have an “Other” folder.

Look beside your ‘Inbox’ tab at the top, right and beside it you will see “Other”.

Other

 

 

I knew about this “Other” tab but had forgotten about it for months until only a few days ago I noticed in brackets (+99) beside it.  Sure enough I had over 100 unread messages in my “Other” folder and was missing many Facebook messages. Continue Reading →