Business
It's Time To Start Thinking About Setting Goals for 2011
Last year on Dec 6th, 2010 I did a blog post on my goals for 2010, I also challenged you to do the same. Here are my goals from 2010:
My Plans for 2010:
* Increase Public Speaking Engagements – on The New Technology, I.T. Strategies / Planning
* To educate and teach 100 businesses develop an I.T. Strategic Plan. (roughly 8 new businesses per month)
* Develop a video series on developing I.T. Strategic Plans. ( The I.T. Strategic Planning Series)
* Continue working on my next eBook, The New Technology Pt 2. (hope to complete by end of 2010)
* Write more often on my Blog. (daily if possible)
* Get more subscribers on my Blog.
* And of course, increase revenues ( I have to put that on here)
Now goals are important, they hopefully kept you moving in the right direction of your overall business plan. So how did you do? Better yet how did I do? For the sake of transparency, I’ll will list the results of this year.
1.) Increase Public Speaking Engagements – I have averaged 1 per month in 2010, that’s up from two in 2009.
2.) Educate and teach 100 businesses to develop an I.T Strategic Plan – well, I have educated & taught 150 businesses, but more on the Open & Free Business Model than I.T. Strategic Planning. I’ll take it either way.
3.) Develop a video series on developing I.T. Strategic Plans – I started and stopped, I have a face for Radio and I just wasn’t happy with how things were going. maybe I’ll try something different like Slide Shows or Podcasts, maybe Slide Shows with Audio….hmmm. Or, Webinars…what you think?
4.) Continue working on my next Book – I have been working on two books, Part 2 of The New Technology & a new book on The Future of Business – The Open & Free Business Model. This is a work in progress.
5.) Write more often on my Blog – I have increased posting here but not at the level I should me thinks.
6.) Get more subscribers on my Blog – they are up over last year but only marginally – maybe another 30 – I guess I’m not interesting enough.
7.) Increase Revenues – I am very happy to report that I surpassed the previous years revenues by the end of January, so 2010 has been a good year so far. Still not sure what that number is, will know better in Jan 2011. Keep in mind, in 2009 I only made $4,600, that was due to losing 6 months to health issues, that prevented me from working at anything close to full capacity. Also, in 2010 I changed my Business Model – yep, The Open & Free Business Model – and it works!
So, there ya have it. What about you and your goals, how did you do, did you actually set some? If not, how about trying it this year, set some easy & hard goals for 2011, but be realistic too, otherwise you’ll give up.
I’m currently assessing my goals for 2011, you can never have enough positive challenges in front of you. So I challenge you again this year, set some goals and share them, sharing them puts them out there and in front of the world, that way you have accountability.
Good luck and I would love to hear about your goals.
One Mistake Corporations & Big Businesses Make
Something interesting has been happening since Social Media became a force to be reckoned with, it’s power and use has been grossly misunderstood. The big mistake most corporations and big businesses make, they try to understand communities rather than the users (generations) that build and make up these communities.
To understand a community is actually quite simple, if you spend enough time in any community you will discover a personality and a few trends. But that doesn’t mean you understand the people in that community, people influence people, and communities can influence other communities, but the characteristics vary. What these communities and people (generations) tolerate today, most likely won’t fly the next year or for that matter the next day. Another interesting characteristic about these generations, they group and regroup on the fly.
The Gen C and generations to come, group and regroup for the purposes of grouping and regrouping for a new purpose, they will no longer staying together for long periods of time. Making it virtually impossible to derive quantifiable data that can be used for marketing and or to merely understand any community. They social and very mobile.
Gen C are the under twenty somethings with very little patience for old industrial age thinking, or for that matter, systems developed by those old thinkers. They want a more Natural User Interface (NUI), they want their content to be relevant, useful and interesting. They move in packs, very tribal in behaviour, which means you need to be able to adapt to there moods swings. Gen C are at best chameleons, constantly changing and morphing their identities to simultaneously belong to as many tribes as possible.
Communities will come and go, but those jumping from community to community will be harder to attract unless certain criteria are in place. Connect Gen C members with each other, not just with a brand. Enable Gen C to participate in, play with or produce themselves and then share. Ask for a reaction and have a fun social interface. Enhance social status within tribes, and as I mentioned earlier, Keep it relevant, useful and entertaining.
Remember, pay-walls are not inviting, these generations will keep looking until they find what they want for free. Yes, those with money will pay upfront for some things, mostly just to save time, but the majority of the global population will spend the time to find what they want for free. The Future of Business will be an Open & Free Business Model, where FREE is the business model.
The businesses of the future should pay attention to the user not the communities, they don’t spend enough time in communities to provide enough reliable data. Whether you agree or disagree really doesn’t matter, the future generations will move in packs whether I say they will or not, they’ll group and regroup to meet their needs. Pay attention to what they get behind, not where they hang out.
If you’re in business today, don’t assume communities is where the valuable data is located, it’s in the users, the Gen C and beyond. The communities are a way to determine where they are at the time, that’s it, and it may not have anything to do with what the purpose or cause happens to be at the time.
Naked Boxer Briefs
Summer Dhillon and Model
The title says it all doesn’t it? Well, believe it or not, that is the name of a brand new product and company here in my community. I attended the coming out party for this group of amazing entrepreneurs last nite, and I had a blast watching men in Naked Boxer Briefs. I didn’t get the chance to ask Joel Primus (CEO & Founder) where and how the name came about, but I discovered the answer to that question on their Blog. I highly recommend you visit their site and witness a great company in the making.
Let’s face it, when you get invited to an event like this, you know it’s going to be fun. The location for this gala event was at the prestigious Ronald Allan Clothiers store in Abbotsford, the store alone is worth the visit, let alone men in naked boxer briefs. I should also mention that the Ronald Allan Clothiers store has been a fixture in this community since 1953, they are well known for quality fashions, commitment & service, it’s what they do. They have also been recognized with Sales and Service awards including Chamber of Commerce Retailer of the Year. So you know you are well looked after at Ronald Allan Clothiers.
The wine & not cheese event had it’s dignitaries present, here’s a picture of me with Abbotsford Mayor Goerge Peary and Dean Sutton of Sutton Industries International Ltd. I tip my hat to Mayor George Peary, he is a great supporter of his community, he doesn’t just give lip service, he shows up!
Owen, George & Dean
And no, we did not model the Naked Boxer Briefs, we were there to support Joel Primus & Ross Brown, along with the rest of their team, in launching Naked Boxer Brief in Abbotsford at Ronald Allan Clothiers. Here is a picture of Ross, myself & Joel:
Joel, Owen, Ross
Now Joel Primus is the CEO / Founder of Naked Boxer Brief, and every CEO has his right hand man, in this case, it’s Ross Brown. Ross is accomplished and well known in the Abbotsford area, he serves as Chairman of the Board, and is the Managing Partner of Altitude Consulting and Altitude Search Marketing, just to name a few. (You can read more about the team on their site)
If you are asking the question, what are Naked Boxer Briefs? They are just that, men’s under garments, you’ll have to make a trip to Ronald Allan Fashions in Abbotsford and try a pair on, I guarantee you’ll like the product.
The table with all the food was well attended, and you’ll never guess who I found guarding the table. The lovely and vivacious Chrissy Lambert of Fraser Valley Pulse. Chrissy is a featured writer with Fraser Valley Pulse, she covers Health, Beauty and you guessed it Fashion. She is all decked out with me by her side : )
Chrissy Lambert & Owen
As you can see, much is happening in our community, entrepreneurs are making they’re mark, and they are doing it in Naked Boxer Briefs! It was an honor to be invited to this moment in history, I wish Joel & his team well, and you will be hearing more about them here, so stay tuned to Owen Greaves.com for future Naked Boxer Brief events, you won’t want to miss them.
The pictures at the event and for this blog post were taken by the Social Media UNGURU Rick Rake, be sure to follow him on Twitter!
The Vancouver Social Media Professionals Nov MeetUp
I thought I would post a little something on this event, I’ll be speaking and sharing on the Future of Business Online, The Open & Free Business Model. This event requires you contact the event organizer to attend, as of this writing there are only 4 spots left, so if your even a little bit curious, contact Glenn Hilton right now! He is on Twitter as well: @glennhilton
These fine professionals gather on the 1st Tuesday of every month where they bring in a speaker and then (my favorite part) a long Q & A session. They also do a neat thing called a Lightening Round, this is where you can pitch new things you’re learning, questions and challenges you might be facing, you could present new tools or technologies that make your job more efficient. You need to be a part of this group if you’re serious about your business, a fine group of people.
Groups that meet regularly should be helping each member improve, help increase business, learn, and support one another. How many times have you joined a group only to find out it was a bitching session and nothing of real value came out of it. Well, I can tell you this group is NOT one of those groups. In my opinion, these professionals like to solve problems, help one another, lift one another up, and just for fun, they love to eat!
The Vancouver Social Media Group is meeting at the Water Street Cafe in Gastown (Vancouver), so that speaks for itself don’t you think, a classy group already me thinks. They ask you to come prepared to order something, so get ready for a fun evening. The MeetUp will start at 7PM and run till 9PM, unless I go long : )
Again, there are only 4 spots left, if you wish to be with true professionals, then contact Glenn Hilton before you do anything else. Who is Glenn? Glenn owns ImageX Media, an award winning Drupal web design, development & consulting firm. Glenn oversees HR, creative direction and Social media Marketing.
Visit they’re website at: http://imagexmedia.com
See you there!
The Future Of Business Online Workshop
COME EXPLORE THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS ONLINE!
The Open & Free Business Model means looking at the world of business as it will be, not as it is.
How you can give away content and generate revenue, join me as I walk you through the basic principles of an Open & Free Business Model for your business. I’ll Show you what it might look like for you and your business.
We will look at three main topics:
TRENDS
We’ll look at trends and what’s happening around the world, and how these trends will impact your business online & off. Today there are 2.0 Billion people on the Internet, in the next 3 – 5 years that number will be 5 Billion. How will you get their attention?
THE OPEN & FREE BUSINESS MODEL
This is not a skill set, it’s a paradigm shift and this shift is painful, I’ll layout why and what this model might look like for your business, I’ll also show examples of how businesses are using this model.
BREAKOUT SESSION
By the time we get to this section, you’ll already have some new creative ideas, and ways to increase revenue. We’ll work through how you can build & implement your ideas with your staff.
When the workshop is over you will have a much better view of what’s coming, a framework to help you adapt, plus you will have a simple step by step approach for implementing new revenue streams.
This workshop has been reworked, it’s new & improved, it’s 4 hours (Noon to 4PM) of compelling information that will give you a whole new perspective on your business.
Workshop Friday Noon – 4PM / Oct 29th, 2010 – Price $99
Location Yet To Be Determined.
Book now and reserve your seat!
For more details and to book your seat, just send an e-mail to: workshop@owengreaves.com
I look forward to working with you,
Owen Greaves