Archive for July 2011
When Business Doesn’t Matter
I want to share from my heart today, please indulged me. I know you can’t imagine a time when business just doesn’t matter, but today, it just doesn’t. On March 4th, 2001 business didn’t matter, and it really hasn’t since, on that date, I suffered a heart attack and today I live to tell the story. Today, my wife & I are dealing with…well, we don’t know what we’re dealing with. You see, my wife’s Father is in the hospital, and he believes he is going to die! He will, but just not yet. There is a possibility he has cancer, and is also having problems with his heart, the diagnoses is still unclear.
Now obviously living is important to business, but a business living, is only important if the one who owns and is responsible for it is alive and healthy. I know what you are thinking, well OK I don’t, but, I know we all get wrapped up in our work, our projects, and we’ll do anything, we will kill ourselves trying to get a business off the ground. But for what? Why?
I can tell you this, if you have ever had a brush with death, the things you chased and worked for, just don’t matter. No one has ever said on their death bed, geez, I wish I had a faster car, or a bigger house. Almost 100% of the time, they say, I wish I had spent more time with my spouse, my kids, and or my immediate family. We are messed up as a people, are priorities most of the time are dictated by things we think are important.
Hell, in some of our businesses we won’t do FREE, we won’t give anything away, but we are the first one’s in line when some other business is giving away something for free. We won’t even help someone in desperate need, most of the time we walk right by. That was random, but it shows the hypocrisy of mankind.
Life is far too short, and when you don’t have your health, not only does business not matter, nothing else matters too! So a pre-requisit to the Future Of Business should be this, take care of your health, your personal health, and it will be much easier to take care of your businesses health.
We need a healthy heart for everything we do, without it, your health and the world you live in, will die with you, and that’s when business doesn’t matter. We have things in the wrong order don’t we, look after personal health first, then, everything else that follows.
Live long & prosper, but only if you have a healthy heart.
Be sure to give to the Heart & Stroke Foundation while you are at it.
The Future Of Business – Workshop In Abbotsford
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The Future Of Business
With Owen Greaves & Special Guest Rick Rake
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| The internet has changed the way the world does business; But will it ever stop changing? |
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Change is constant and the electronic age has served merely to speed up the rate and size of change. If you are in business, or are planning to start a business, understanding how the online world changes everything will position you not only ahead of your competitors, but as a trustworthy ally to customers. Owen Greaves will guide you to understanding the Future of Business. |
| What you can expect in the Future of Business: | |
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The Future of Business Workshop is more than social media, the Internet or the world online; it’s about looking at business differently and fighting for your Businesses Survival. Together with Owen, you will see the Future Of Business and will apply that knowledge to create new ways of embracing the future in your business.
A workbook will be provided to each participant in the 2 – 4 hour workshop to encourage home study and application of the concepts presented. |
| What you will learn in this Engaging Workshop: | Your Investment: $99 Per Person till Sept 23rd Reg Price: $149.00 after Sept 23rd, 2011 |
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Who is Owen Greaves? Owen Greaves lives in beautiful Abbotsford, British Columbia; he is a Futurist, Thought-Leader, Keynote Speaker, Think-Tank Leader, Author, Blogger, and Strategist. He has spent countless hours exploring and understanding what the next 3 to 5 years will bring and applies the vision of reaching out and teaching this model to business people eager to listen and learn. Owen is a man who loves making the paradigm shift around media and commerce to the Internet less painful. |
| Location:Sandman Inn, Abbotsford, B.C. To Reserve Your Seat, Contact: E-Mail: workshop@owengreaves.com |
Blog Post #300 Is To All Commentors Here At Owengreaves.com – I Thank You!
This past week I was wondering what the topic should be for the 300th Blog Post of Owengreaves.com, yes, 300! I was kind of surprised myself, but that’s what a Blog is for, submitting Blog posts. I threw out your way on Twitter, FaceBook, Buzz, MySpace, Google+, a question, what should #300 be about, what problem should I solve, what topic should I cover. I got a number of reposonses, but one jumped out at me, and I shouldn’t be shocked and or surprised at the answer considering who it was from.
You should know I don’t always agree with, but I have huge respect for this man for hundreds of reasons, but I won’t list them now. The person in question suggested I write about you, the commentors of this blog, afterall, it is all about you. You are the reason I even exist as a business, in fact, I learn more from you than you probably ever will from me!
I would love to list every person that left a comment here on owengreaves.com, but that would be the longest blog post in the history of blog posting. I wonder what the world record for blog post length is? I would also love to tell you I thought of this, but I didn’t, Chris Brogan suggested I say thank you to all who commented on this blog. Humbled yet again. And that my friends is called transparency, honesty, and openness. It’s what I write about here, it’s foundational to the Open & Free Business Model, it is the very core of what the Future Of Business needs to be.
Without you, this blog is just another newspaper lying in the trash, just another person standing in the forest screaming at the topic of his/her lungs, and no one hears them. Without you, there is no conversation, no dialogue, no reasoning, no creativity. How could we ever get to know one another’s interests and passions? How would we ever discover the right path to take? I am forever gratefiul you even think of coming to this blog, I would like to believe you are here looking for some nugget or perspective that will help you take another step forward in your business. No matter how big or small your business is, you make a difference, regardless of size or how much money it makes.
Remember back when you used to hangout under the street lamp with your friends, gossiping, chatting, and just hanging out? That’s what we do here, it’s a safe place to hangout, to ask questions, share perspectives, and have meaningful conversations, but mostly, build relationships. This doesn’t happen without you, you are the most important part of why I write!
I won’t lie, there have been many, many times where I almost shut this blog down. At times, it feels like no one cared or was interested in what is found here, or considered the content valuable. And maybe it isn’t on a grand scale, but there are those who are in need of learning, and a new way of thinking, it may be a very small audience, but the Future Of Business matters and it is a new way of thinking. Remember, Mind Set Trumps Skill Set Everytime.
I must confess, you who visits here and shares your thoughts, validates my work. Everything I do here is for you, I only hope it helps you. With that in mind, I hold (not free) workshops locally in my community on the Open & Free Business Model, what it is and what it might look like for your business, and how you might adopt the model. My question to you is this, would this workshop be of interest to you in the form of an online webinar?
So, To All Commentors Of Owengreaves.com – I Thank You, there is no business without you.
My PowerPoint Presentation From The World Futurist Society Conference
Here is a scaled down version of my PowerPoint Presentation I made at the World Futurist Society Conference July 9th in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I hope to have the audio of my talk in the next few weeks, stay tuned. The conference was great and I made many new friends, I would like to thank WFS for the opportunity to share, and for an awesome time, well done.
Next year the conference will be held in Toronto July 27th – 29th at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel, register now!
You Don’t Need Money To Start A Business
I’m not going to type out a long list of reasons why you don’t need large sums of money or why you need that one BIG client. I’m going to let you watch this encouraging video by Derek Sivers at DerekSivers.org. That’s It!