Thankful On Mother's Day

When I was a younger single mom I didn’t like Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Birthdays or any day that pointed out to the world that I was single, alone and unrecognized. I always feel for other moms on these days too. It is hard to live in a world that is celebrating a big deal when there is no deal going on in your own life. The kids were too young to know to remember it and I had homeschooled them so they may not be reminded by me either. It was just too painful, so it went ignored. If I did anything at all it was usually for some other unappreciated single mom and that would take the edge off.

Cool thing though…

When you raise your kids with lots of love eventually it pays off. This last year things have been very different in the George household. My kids have become teenagers and even young adults and they have made these days very special in my life. Today is Mother’s Day and I actually got a present. It was a very thoughtful gift as my children know I love all things Canadian. There were nuts, chocolates, Canadian Ice Wine tea, and my very favorite maple syrup. My son informed me that these were chosen carefully as things they know I liked when I relaxed and they wanted to see me relax more. Nice eh?

I have a lot to be thankful for these days. Business is good. Zechariah is a fine young businessman and leader who has proven to be a valuable asset to our networking organization. Joshua is excelling in school and has decided he wants to be a lawyer and pursue politics. I have no doubt he will be very successful at it. Naomi has turned into a beautiful and delightful young woman with a sharp mind and good social skills. She has overcome a lot this last year and I am very proud of her.

So if you are going through hard times and wondering if you are going to make it, I would encourage you to hang on and keep going. If you are having a rough go with one of your kids, don’t give up. If your money situation sucks, keep working and try new things. Eventually something will start to click for you. Keep your chin up. Someday you are going to be able to look back with thankfulness and wonder how it all worked out. You will be so glad that it did.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Always Loyal2U,

Kerry George

 

Ps. We added a MompreneurMeetUp group to our growing arsenal of connectivity. We thought it might be a value add for all the other things we do including the Kids In Cowtown site.

 

By the way if you are a mom who didn't get any flowers we will buy a beautiful bouquet for the person who sends us the best photo of something in Calgary. Photos must not be copywrited. Original photos only. Post here on our Facebook page and also email jpg to kidsincowtown@gmail.com

Contest details are here.

 

We Have Always Been Mompreneurs

It is the week before Mother’s Day so I wanted to give a little attention to the subject of women in business. I come from a long line of mompraneurs but we didn’t have a cool name until just recently. My mother just called herself a “Domestic Goddess” and her mother was “Mom C.” Grandma Cerniuk had that on her license plate and ran trophy engraving business out of her basement into her late eighties. We just recently encouraged her to retire so she can spend more time on other things that she is still passionate about. My mother Sarah started out decorating cakes for extra money back in the days when she actually had to cut the shapes out of a baked square. Over the years she has groomed dogs, and other things and now is a successful commission artist. Her paintings and drawings grace the pages of history books and the walls of the Queen’s manor.

Women have always been in business. It surprizes me that some people think it is new. We didn’t always file it with the government because our efforts to keep the chickens laying eggs and the garden producing vegetables didn’t seem to be a big deal. I remember my mom and I painting the interior of houses when I was a teenager. We didn’t think of ourselves as entrepreneurs at the time. We were not even sure it was a good idea. The day we were asked to go to Trapper John’s who shot mice instead of trapping them inside his home we were not that impressed with our profession. Negotiating the price with Trapper John or Old Man Meriniuk was a whole other matter…

Now we look back and laugh and realize that we have been business women all along and often we were running more than one enterprises at a time. It just made sense to do so. By our nature we have to be creatures with the ability to multi-task. Even if we stayed on the farm like my Dad’s mom Fanny did we would have had many careers by today’s standards. I remember her baking the cream puffs and making jams and pies and even today at almost ninety her larder is still full of last season’s triumphs. She worked the farm alongside the men, went home early from the fields to prepare the meals, sewed the quilts for winter warmth and took the slop out to feed the pigs after supper. Her house is still so clean you could eat off the floors and she would not want any fancy name for any of it.

With raising children and surviving the economy women have had to learn how to do many things at once by necessity. As a single mother I did not have a choice. There was no man to bring in the paycheck and I learned early on that the Calvary wasn’t coming to save us. So the only choice was to work hard and figure out what worked and then keep doing that. Life became many tasks with the goal of focusing on the things that would be the most productive.

I used to worry about getting better at the things I was lousy at but somewhere along the way I found out the money is in doing the things you excel at and becoming the best there is at those things. That carves out a place for us that differentiates us from our competitors. We become people of excellent no matter what our gender and the things that might get in the way of our success begin to fade into the unimportant. When I began to live my life with such purpose I never thought about being a mompreneur or even a woman. I never considered it. I am a business person like any other businessperson just focused on my craft and pushing towards my goals.

No matter what you call yourself, or what others call you, I hope you find your way to focus on becoming great at what you are already good at. You will go further than you ever dreamed once you do so.

Always Loyal2U,

Kerry George

Ps. We added a Mompreneur MeetUp group to our growing arsenal of connectivity. We thought it might be a value add for all the other things we do including the Kids In Cowtown site.

 

Here is an awesome video by a woman of passion. Love the work that went into this. Good job Lara Galloway. When I am in New York City I may look you up!

 

Are You Growing By Percentage Increase Or By Multiplication?

There are basically 3 ways of making money. Legally.

There is linear income where you exchange dollars per hour. This is basic wage earning. It does not matter how many dollars you make in an hour there is going to be a ceiling at some point because there are only so many hours in a day. It is really glorified slavery when you think about it. The least amount of tax benefits exist for this group of people. They think they are secure because they get benefits but really their company CFO considers all employees to be a liability and would like to replace them with cheaper options to increase the bottom line. These days, nobody is secure. Most people are changing careers 4 times in their lifetime, not just their jobs and that alone should be an indication that security is a fallacy.

The second way of making money is by percentage increase. It is an upgrade of linear thinking but not by much. Many business owners believe they are better off than they were as employees but it really is only one step up if you are in a situation where your business owns you. If you have created a business that buys a product for $1.00 and sells it for $1.60 you are just making money a percentage at a time. These businesses are always susceptible to economic challenges. If it is a store front business it could prosper for a while but if the city tears up the street in the front you are instantly in trouble because there is not enough on reserve for the emergency. It is very difficult to get ahead if you are only increasing by percentage.

The third way of making money is by multiplication. This is really the distinction of how an entrepreneur thinks differently from a business owner. They are not the same animal at all. An entrepreneur often has more than one income stream. They are always thinking about how to buy something for $1.00 and sell it for $3.00 while still providing value that makes people want it. They think about multiple locations not just multiple employees. You never find them filling in at the cash register because someone blew a shift. They use systems to keep things multiplying long after they left the building.

How do you start thinking like an entrepreneur and move into multiplication? Here are 5 Quick Tips:

1. Hang around others who think like this. Who has more than one successful business or multiple locations of the same business? Go for a coffee with them and pick their brain for ideas. Listen more than you talk.

2. Attend networking functions with the Canadian Imperial Business Network or the Calgary Business Network. You will meet both business owners and entrepreneurs there. Pay attention to those who sponsor the network and those who have MasterMind Level memberships. They often are those with the entrepreneurial mindsets, and these events bring them into events where you can spend time with them.

3. Join a successful multi-level marketing company. One that has been around for more than 10 years and that is operating in many countries. One that has more than lotions and potions that will fall out of popularity in economic downturns. One that has a great training system. This is an inexpensive way to get a great education in multiplication thinking. Hang out with the successful members by coming early and staying late. You will see they think differently and many of them are also involved in real estate investing, other businesses, speaking events and more. Learn to multiply from those who multiply.

4. Read books by successful entrepreneurs. W. Brett Wilson, Arlene Dickenson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Daniel Pink, and Kevin O’Leary have all put out some awesome books in the last year that will rock your world. These are recent, they are motivational, but even better you will see the insight of a modern entrepreneur with multiplication thinking at work. Each have different styles and humours but the underlying messages are similar. You will see a sense of focus and a big picture attitude that will make a big impact on your own thought life.

5. Watch the Dragons Den. When you watch it, stop siding with the guy giving the pitch and start thinking about why the Dragons are responding positively or negatively. Think about how you would respond if it was your money they were asking for. What are the questions that the Dragons are asking? Why are they asking those questions? What questions do they ask over and over again? Why is that important to them? Should those things be important to you in your business? Do you know the answers to those questions if an investor were to ask you?

Now go and multiply…

 

Always Loyal2U,

 

Kerry

 

Mental Patient Masquerades As Doctor?

Funny thing happened on the way to becoming successful. I ran into a few crazy people…

You never expect that kind of bat-crap crazy to come at you, but yet there it is. You are going along minding your own business when people come down with a spirit of weird and need an exorcism.

I own my own business (more than one actually.) I hang around other business owners. The people that I do business with seem to care about how they look and how they dress. They are usually polite and mind their manners because that is what professional people do. They would lose business if they were rude, or if they jumped to wild conclusions about prospective customers.

Sometimes we may select a business associate with care or be watchful to see if we would mesh well with a client especially if it is someone we will have to do business with on a long term basis but it is really not a fruitful enterprise to be full of judgement and blame within the first 30 seconds, and I believe that most true business people know this.

So today I visit the ladies room after a meeting and the oddest encounter ensues. A gal begins chatting with me and seems friendly and normal enough. She tells me she is in the psychiatry field and owns her own business. Naturally because I own a networking company that brings people together for referrals and warm leads I suggest that we get together at a later date to discuss it or possibly have her come out to an event. She tells me she has more than enough business and does not need any leads because she has lots of referrals already. I am about to move on politely when she changes her mind and offers her card and I agree to give her my own.

I glance at her plain card thinking to myself that she needs some marketing help and I ask her if she is on LinkedIn? I like to connect with people on LinkedIn as it is a good way to keep in touch and it is often  the first thing that I do with a card when I get home. Her response was a bit strange. She seemed to freeze up at the mentioning of social media. I tried to encourage her that it may be helpful for her business if she was on this business platform as it helps people discover a little more about oneself and it can be the determining factor between choosing one service provider over another. I could tell from her body language that she was suddenly uncomfortable so I just decide to smile and thank her and move on. I was just trying to help her out but for whatever reason she was not open to help so I thought it would be better to just let it go. I get back to the table where a business associate is waiting for me and I take out my pen and write a note to myself on the back of the card.

A few minutes pass and I am deep in discussion with my associate when this woman comes tearing towards us and rudely interrupts our conversation. She accuses me of being condescending and that I treated her badly in some way. She makes some reference to the fact that I am so much younger than her and that I have wrongly jumped to the conclusion that someone her age would not know or understand social media and I have somehow dishonored an elder. My associate begins to engage her in an argument chastising her for interrupting and being unprofessional. She demands her business card back and says she wants nothing to do with us and storms off.

I was dumbfounded. The age comment really threw me. Why? Because I am pretty sure that there is no more than a 5 year difference if there is one at all! But I look younger. I am a positive person. I dress kind of young,  I am perky and confident and I believe that a good attitude does cause us to look and feel more youthful.  I had been wearing a black dress, stockings and high boots with a colorful scarf. My hair is also colored hiding the years effectively.  In contrast this gal was dressed very casually and her hair was not concealing her age and she also wore a variety of fears in the lines on her face.  She is definitely afraid of the wrong person having her card, afraid of being on social media, afraid of trying new things and definitely threatened by another woman giving her any kind of advice. She was also obviously self-conscious about her age and appearance. I would not even have noticed either had she not brought it into question.

The sad and shocking part though was that this is someone who is in the business of giving other people therapy. Really? Wow…

I just don’t know what to say about that…

Was she really a doctor? Or was she an escaped mental patient masquerading as a doctor?

After she stormed off she must have turned that card over and read the note I wrote on the back. I wonder what she thought of that?  It said, “Not interested in LinkedIn/NEGATIVE PERSON.”

She was so worried about me calling her, I had already identified on the card that this was not someone I was going to call. I have nobody I could recommend her to. I absolutely do not know anyone who needs a negative therapist. I can only imagine that these abundant referrals that are already piling up for her must be coming from a government agency that only checks the credentials instead of the fruitfulness of a therapist. If you need a good therapist I will connect you with someone else...

Don't use the guy below either...

Always Loyal2U,

Kerry George

What Do Entrepreneurs Think About Most?

Some people think that just because they own a business that they are an entrepreneur. That is not true. One can own a business and think nothing like an entrepreneur. A business owner can just as easily be owned and ruled by their business than an employee can be ruled by his employer. The biggest difference is in how they think and later as they grow and develop there will be another big difference - their income.

Most business owners think in terms of percentage increase. That is what binds them to their income status. They buy product for a dollar value and mark it up by percentage to make a profit. Sounds good accept it never gets to be great unless they open multiple locations. Entrepreneurs already think in the terms of multiplication. Right from the beginning of the equation they are looking for more than a percentage of increase. They are looking to multiply the profit, multiply the locations, multiply the employees, and multiply effectiveness.

Ask any successful entrepreneur what they think about most and they will tell you something about the hunt. They are excited about where there business is going. They are planning the next phase of development. They are not “in” their business in their mind even when they are doing the small things that need to get done. They are “on” their business in their mind. They are thinking about the next blog to write, the white paper that explains things, the elements of the business plan that make the project bigger. They are thinking about franchising and licensing and the investors that they will need to get to the next level. And guess what? They get what they are thinking about.

The difference between an entrepreneur and a business owner is entirely in how they think. Two guys can both own a McDonalds. One is an entrepreneur and the other is a business owner.

The Business Owner Thinks About

·         How to get things done
·         Who to hire next
·         Accounting
·         End of the day report
·         Stocking the shelves
·         Meeting the clients
·         Menial tasks
·         Taking the place of the employee who called in sick
·         Percentage increase
·         The how, the how, the how

Business Owners think “Facts matter.”

The Entrepreneur Thinks About

·         Expansion to new regions and opening new outlets
·         Training a group of people at once and multiplying time
·         Hiring a manager to free up “thinking time”
·         Multiplication of money
·         Owning more than one business and investing in others
·         The why, the why, the why

Entrepreneurs believe “When your attitude is right the facts don’t count.”

How do you think? What do you spend your time thinking about the most?

That is what you will get.

Always Loyal2U,

Kerry George

Fearing Competition Or Embracing Partners?

I can be very competitive. Just challenge me to a game of Monopoly or Scrabble and you may find out just how competitive. However, one does not need to be on the offensive all the time and I often find too much competitive attitude to be a hindrance in running a business.

Jim Messner is not afraid of competition. As a real estate agent he founded the Calgary Business Network and ran all of the meetings in an open come-as-you-are format. He used to tell me that when other realtors came he was not threatened. He knew his market, he knew his unique offering, and he knew there was more than enough to go around. The way they ran each meeting everyone had ample time to talk but there was limited time to get through the whole crowd. So he would meet some contacts and some of the other realtors would make some connections. He never considered it a waste of time if there was 3 people and he was not intimidated if there were 40 people who already had agents. Jim is secure as a human being and secure as a real estate agent.

In social media I have never been threatened by other social media operations. Recently I was at an event and was asked about my sm competition to which I replied, “I don’t have any competitors.” I think it came off as a little high and mighty which was not my intent. It was actually the gut level response that came out of my mouth. I know what most other social media companies offer. I believe in a lot of what they do, but I don’t do most of what they do. In fact, they should see me as an ally because I would rather refer them that business than to work on what I am not good at and my team is not equipped to deliver. Our service is unique, our price-point is high. There are certain tasks that we delight in and others that we farm out or simply give away.

The other day I met a web designer who said the same thing. He used to do everything but found much of it took his time and resources and it was not what he enjoyed. So he began to specialize. His niche got a little tighter and his price got higher but he was able to deliver something unique to a particular group of people. He was not afraid of competition and even wanted me to possibly bring another web designer into the weekly networking group so he could give him all of the projects that were not his “thing.”

Interestingly big thinkers are seldom worried about competition. They observe competition and they learn from competition. They save money on their own research and web development by looking over their competitors who spent all of the money on it. They have already learned that pioneers stay broke. Going through rough ground and being the first may get you recognized years later but in the beginning it is just plain hard work. It is a lot easier to follow in the path of another and learn from their mistakes. When one has this thinking, nobody is really a competitor. They are all mentors, friends, associates and  allies, and even if we thought someone was our competition we would be more tempted to have them close so we could watch them rather than snub them.

Being afraid of competition closes doors. Instead of asking “how can we work together?” We are moving away. Instead of learning something new and taking tips we are wanting to be the one giving tips and we are comparing our performance with theirs all the while jealous they had the opportunity when it should have been us. We miss opportunities to take on specialized parts of a larger project. We don’t realize that this person may include us simply because they don’t have the time or it is not something they enjoy. They may even be looking for a partner in a project and that partnership could propel us to a stardom of our own if we just embrace the possibilities. If we hang around awhile we may even end up owning the company just because nobody else showed an interest or had the talent and the willingness to take the job.

When Jim Messner asked me to look after the email marketing for the CBN I did it for free. I saw the potential. I had no idea how far it would go or how big it would be. Maybe I still don’t. I was not threatened that there was someone else looking after his website. I didn’t do websites. I was not concerned that someone did his social media and he was pretty savvy all on his own. I did not do what they did. I still don’t. What I did do was partnerships. I did focus on what I was good at. I did stick with it. Two years later Jim has gone to work with NASCAR and I run the CBN. The web designer is still a good friend but has moved on to other projects. Social media is wide open and I own a social media company that doesn’t do some of the things we need done. Do you know what is weird though? Nobody wants to offer to do it because they are afraid we are their competitors. Strange…

Funny thing. Sometimes I have offered partnerships with people and they did not get it. They were worried we would promote our own company and not give them any business.Maybe they were unable or unwilling to commit the money or the time to the project. They were easily upset when someone else was promoted and never asked if that courtesy could be extended to them. They came and they went fading away into the night. Some though saw the bigger picture and figured out how to contribute for the common good. We will build a future with those ones. Together we are stronger.

We are proud of our partners. We are looking for more partners. Don’t assume because we already have one in that arena that the door is closed. There is a lot to be done and we are all unique.

Bob Francis is a business partner of mine. He invested money into the network so we could make it larger. He is a contributor in every way, often attending CIBN meetings and bringing new members and picking up the slack when I drop the ball. He has a jewelrybusiness that offers Canadian made luxury jewelry, designer purses and spectacular celebration time pieces. We are looking for others who believe in us and want to invest. The returns are awesome!

Allan Fine is a business partner of mine. He saw the big picture. He loves to train people on social media and basic web enhancements and he brings a lot of value to the organization through our seminar events. Allan offered to give us a lot of help for our new CIBN website. We needed a lot of help and still could use more but having someone on board who understands how to rank high on Google and how to promote an event was critical to our ongoing success. The value of his work is astronomical. He is always looking for better ways for us to market ourselves online and even though he does some social media he is not a competitor. He is an ally. We could use other allies. There is a lot to be done.

Nagui Bihelek is a business coach and not just any coach. Nagui is with Business Edge Coaching and a representative of Action Coach. He has built a powerful association of professional coaches who make a difference in the lives of small to large businesses in the Calgary market. He is sought after for his expertise and considered one of the best in the industry. We are particularly honored to have him and his team speak into our lives and we often use their facility and share their valuable events with our members. They have reciprocated by offering fantastic savings sometimes as high as 50% to our organization.

Dorothy Briggs is the publisher of Womanition and Vavasaur Magazines. She is a powerful speaker, a great leader and a personal friend. Dorothy should be a partner to everyone I know. Click here to find out why. We have some great 2 page features coming out in the next editions of these magazines. We are always open to partnerships with media of all kinds but Dorothy is the kind of partner that puts a sparkle into all of our business interactions. She is a class act that gets things done and a powerful connection to have.

Zechariah James is a professional networker. He looks after everything that I don’t have the time for and he is the security plan for the entire network. Zechariah is my son and heir. He is there to learn everything that he can about the groups, bring new members, offer referrals and oversee operations. If anything ever happened to me we have made sure that you our members, and our investors are looked after. He is the succession plan for the next generation and he keeps us sharp as we expand so that we are always thinking of what young entrepreneurs would be attracted to.

These are just a few of our partners, affiliates and friends that we do business with on a variety of levels. None of them are absolutely perfect and neither am I but all of us have strengths that the others can benefit from. Together we are stronger and we get a lot more done.

Currently we are looking particularly for an event planner and a radio station that wants a strategic alliance. It could be very profitable in the long term.

Always Loyal2U,

Kerry

403-397-1909

Fiercely Canadian

I am very patriotic. My grandfather was proud to fight in the Second World War as a paratrooper and he left a lasting image on my life. I joined Cadets as a teenager and the Reserves as a young adult. I still snap to attention when I hear the national anthem play and I shed a tear when I hear a bugle play taps or the bagpipes in a parade.

I am also a Westerner through and through. I live in Black Diamond, AB because I absolutely love it. Today I had to stop my car on the highway to watch ranchers on horses heard cattle across the road. It was a finely tuned machine of men in wranglers and animals moving in perfect harmony. Horses, cows and a couple of dogs all working together.

Black Diamond is one of the few places in the world where chivalry is not dead. As a woman I have walked down the street as a cowboy literally tied his horse to a post and then rushed his quick bow-legged body ahead of me to get to the bank door first so he could tip his hat as he opened the door and utter a polite “Mam.” Seriously this place rocks! Where does that happen?

People ask me why I don’t move to Calgary because I am in the city almost daily to do networking meetings or to work with social media clients but if they saw what I see they would all move to Diamond Valley. The drive is nothing anyway. I love to drive. I have put 70,000 km a year on my car and I enjoy every minute of it. I love the city. I love the country. It is easy to make the drive each day and it is refreshing to think and plan as I drive. I get to see the country that makes me feel so blessed to live here. The foothills are a peaceful backdrop to a hectic life.

Living near Calgary reminds me daily of being Canadian. Prairies on one side, mountains on the other. It goes together like maple syrup and bacon.

It was absolutely natural to me to name our new network the Canadian Imperial Business Network. It is Canadian. It is the best and it is business networking. What else would we call it? It is as delicious as Grade A Alberta Beef with bannock and then beaver tails for dessert!

Why not enjoy my favorite band playing one of my favorite songs.

Canada Is Really Big