Zipcar: Value and excellence on the road to social business

You work hard for your money right? So when you consider who you HAVE to and even who you WANT tozipteam2012 give your money to, mobile phone providers, grocery stores, gas stations, clothing companies, landlords… the question is who do you actually feel brings value? What about fun? Who brings excellence? Could there be ONE company in your life that brings all three? In mine, it’s Zipcar. I encourage you to join too, here’s my pitch for why. I’m trying to do the right thing for the planet and my community and drive as little as possible. Now, we own one car which my wife drives to take our little one and herself the 75km a day to work, daycare and back ( longer story, we actually bought our car because we drove it as a Zipcar before we had a kid. Big shout out to Westowne Mazda for wonderful sale, service with integrity and for joining me in seeking social business, but that’s another blog post ) zipcard2012Now, I ride the ‘rocket’ every day. Calling the Toronto Transit Commission a rocket is like calling Mike Tyson a people person – let me be more clear: Riding transit saves the planet, saves me money but drains my energy, destroys my dignity and eats my soul a little bit each day. I love to drive. As a kid my parents drove us from PEI to Vancouver and through dozens of US States.  —- but I don’t like the lifestyle, cost, pollution and upkeep of a car. In 2006 I changed jobs to a building on top of a subway station – even though I drove thousands of kilometres a year for work I didn’t need to buy a car. Why? There was two Zipcars in our office parking lot!! Since then, I have driven tens of thousands of km’s in Zipcars. Now I work in a building where parking is $38 a day and there is NO street parking… heh heh… except for Zipcars I haven’t paid for gas or insurance, haven’t lifted a finger to clean zipvanor maintain the cars, I always drive virtually brand new cars, have over a dozen models to choose from and there are hundreds of locations all over the city! 2 seaters, sports cars, sedans, microvans, minivans, pickups, SUV’s and now ZipVans!! Most importantly, the Zipcar team has NEVER let me down. Every problem solved, every question answered, every issue made right. I call it, platinum service. As I embarked most recently in pursuit of the future of social business ( tied to social media yes ), Zipcar has been along for the ride. Engaging me, a3allowing me to promote their business to my network ( I’ve signed up dozens of friends, family, business peers and they are ALL grateful for the referral ). And hey, from time to time we have some fun too – just recniagaraently I won a high-end car rental from Zipcar on Twitter. I eschewed the BMW because fancy doesn’t appeal to me, like business, I choose performance and excitement. So I went with the Audi – took my wife and friends for a day in Niagara Falls and dinner for my birthday. Do you have a company in your life that makes you feel like this? Last week, we exchanged a little mutual business affection. I nominated Zipcar Toronto for Canada’s Passion Capitalist Award and I see zippassionthat they are officially on the list. And Zipcar, as part of another social business contest is naming a car after me! Thanks Zipteam. zipname           I can’t say this enough: I kind of HAVE to use Zipcar. I use it 95% for work. But they have taken this business relationship over, and above. I continue to enjoy only the best of service and happily refer the ZipToronto team – you have my business, loyalty, gratitude and respect. Isn’t it time YOU dumped that gas-guzzling, dirty, old car?  Here’s the BEST argument I’ve read for car sharing ( I totally agree that even the inconvenience is a plus for my health ). Yes, it’s time. In the words of Starsky and Hutch, Do it. Paul For business

Zipcar for business

And…. beyond

Zipcar for everything else

Fundraisers and Entrepreneurs: Why don’t we hang out more?

macpc.pngNote: This post has a soundtrack. Click here to play while reading…

In the past few years I’ve become a student of social business
Notice I didn’t say social media. The skills are the tools, the goal is always profit. As a fundraiser my goal was social-profit.
A few years ago, sitting at a ‘kitchen table’ discussion an entrepreneur turned to a fellow fundraiser and said “I know you work 60 hours a week for a charity and I respect that. But I work 100 hours a week and I donate a lot to charity too. But I have no office, no resources, no benefits, if I’m sick I don’t eat, I live on the edge and am more ‘non-profit’ than you’ll ever know or be”. He had a point.
And I took to heart that I would be a better fundraiser if I hung out with a few more hungry folks like him. He yearns to succeed in much the same way my fundraising peers yearn to make social change. I’ve been telling folks that I want to focus less on wearing a tie and more on better work.
When the charities I worked for, rejected social media. My new entrepreneur network embraced it, learned fast and I got to tag along for the ride. Today I often share the power of social media with job seekers – how to use tools like LinkedIn to create a personal brand. Then how to use tools like Twitter and Blogging to engage and use that brand to and a job then develop a career.
dekefirLast week I sat down with the owners of a business whose delicious product I’ve been enjoying. Sure their product is unique, they sell dekefir1Yogurt’s cousin, Kefir with uber-healthy toppings to the Bay Street crowd in Toronto. But what fascinated me was the strategy and intelligence with which their business was born. They are a coupe of business professionals who had a dream and make it work by mind, not just passion.
I asked a question recently in my first podcast “who do you happily give your hard earned money to?” and what companies are truly engaging in “social business”. DeKefir is one of those businesses. These entrepreneurs host early morning masterminds at their location, they understand that true business is in the relationships with their supporters and customers – just like fundraisers realize the relationships with their network and donors are they key to survival. 
It was an inspirational meeting.
When I read about the transformation from cubicle dweller and see what it takes to be an entrepreneur, sometimes it can be pretty terrifying. Unsafe, uncomfortable —- but they are the fuel for the fire in the engine of our economy
When Paul Alofs talks about “Passion Capitalists” – WE are who he was talking about! So why don’t we hang out more? As a fundraiser I was always dreaming of our best conferences and educational gatherings but maybe there is a new class of teacher that we’re already interacting with on a regular basis.
 entrepreneur
I know I have the musical taste of a 13 year old sometimes but this song is how I feel when I hang out with a group of entrepreneurs. They inspire and excite me. I learn something every moment we’re together.
I look forward to meeting more and encourage any fundraiser reading this to do the same!
As we end the summer and get back to work, remember, I’m here to help. Keep in touch,

Paul

IAmEntrepreneur-image-copy

Being selfishly generous with your time and skills

Ok, taking another crack at this podcasting thing to start the week…podcast2 This one is only 5 minutes! The theme of this podcast is about seeking the win-win between helping yourself and others, in particular why I have a networking meeting before 8am almost every weekday. coffeemonkeyI often get called a sucker for “giving” so much to others. People advise me it’s not a “smart” way to live my life. Then I explain how everything I do to give, has a return value to me in network bench-strength and skill building. I’d love your thoughts, please comment below or on twitter…   Links mentioned in the podcast:

Hope to see you at my August 29th free networking event! Paul Ps. A special thank to peers who encouraged me to make the podcast and gave me some great and honest feedback after the first one… especially @gptekkie @erejman and as always @claremcdowall

Podcast : The Future of Social Business

Thanks to all my peers who encouraged me to use this medium to serve my network – I hope this podcast is of value to you! It’s a little shaky, but I’ll improve.. I promise!
podcast
 
Click here, it’s just over 10 minutes…
Here are the resources I mention:

Please comment, let me know how I can improve!

Paul..

about.me/paulnazareth

New Year’s Eve networking in August?

newyar The calendar tells us the New Year is January 1. But the business year really starts in September.
So! August 29th join me at the office…The Office Pub that is. 7:30pm is when we kick off and there are three themes:
IMG1051. Celebrating innovative wisdom: Ken Wyman is no stranger to the fundraising and philanthropy community. Many people know the fabulous Humber Fundraising program he has lead for years and years. Well Ken is taking a break this year, let’s raise a glass and celebrate a wise leader creating some mental space to let the program he leads grow without him, and to refocus his own intellectual legacy to our profession.
2. Celebrating innovative courage: Another man I greatly admire, often brockembodies my feelings towards the younger generation of fundraisers coming up in the profession. Brock Warner, like so many of his contemporaries, pushes, teaches, supports and gives back through his work with the awesome team at Stephen Thomas. Brock has made a career move and it’s something I and many others would like to celebrate ( but also to celebrate the career courage of others like Emma Jenkin, Laurie Fox and more! )
smctoronto3. If it’s the new year… why not start by brushing up on new skills! Social Media is the hot new business skill only the bold are adopting early. The bold like 2011 Golden Crab winner Clare McDowall, a teacher of mine who has told me before about the great folks at “Social Media Cafe”. So! To make this all convenient and super-high value networking, I have merged these two events! Come to “The Office” for 6pm and join the SMCafe crew and then come downstairs and join us for a drink or dinner at the Pub right after. You’ll meet new contacts, and keep building relationships with those you know. Time well spent. No RSVP as usual for Nazevents but if you’re coming for #SMCafeTO, please follow this link. Want big results for your #bizNewYear ? ( hashtag for the event ) . If you can’t make it then : 1) Consider grabbing this book to help you
2) Keep in touch with me and use my offer to help with your goals and career digitalmedia3) Don’t just sit there. Do something (strategic)!

As always, I’m at your service,
Paul
Here’s a great way to start something new…..from our buddies TED and Matt

Business Cards To Business Relationships: Volume II

Do you feel the earth shaking? You should.

It has arrived, the updated, improved, 2nd edition of “Business Cards to Business Relationships“.

Now let me qualify, my #1 networking book of all time is still “Work the Pond” and that’s because it’s readable by every adult on the planet. Its’ shorter executive style format focuses on their patented “positive networking” methods and is accessible to non-working folks too. It’s the science of networking.

But THIS book is the #1 BUSINESS networking book. As Allison says, her book is about building a “profitable network“. This book is for those seeking employment or to develop a career where business theory turns into profitable* reality.

*When I say “profit, note that when I first read this I was a fundraiser, Allison was also a fundraiser once and she includes charitable donations, also know as “social-profit” in the book.

Today in a social media obsessed world, where every grad is told “now you have the education, start working on ‘brand you’ “. What they mean is… you need a networking plan.
Allison goes right back to basics about your smile, eye contact, dressing for success to the fundamentals of being approachable, the ROI of networking events to understanding core values like the concept of ‘character Vs behaviour’ .

International business magazine Fast Company featured Allison’s advice on how to rock a room.

The Globe & Mail’s Career section featured an excerpt from the book on how to escape a room!

Every College and University graduate is told about the “Hidden Job Market” and the importance of “Informational Interviews“. Instead they should be given this book, it’s all in these pages. All you MBA and B-School types, you don’t have a choice. This is required reading for business success. Period.

I often talk about why not to “fake it ’till you make it” but how to “be it until you are it”. This is how to do find out what kind of professional you want to become and how to become them – the author’s “seven steps to business confidence” could be a book in itself.

People often ask me why I don’t write a book about the fundamentals of networking, about my personal secrets. Ladies and gentlemen, 99% of my secrets are in this book.

Great example, 7 entire pages on how to create your conversational pitch script – how to be fluid and authentic when talking about your business. Over 15 pages on email, phone, mobile and face to face etiquette.
If the book had one weakness, I would have liked to have seen more integration of net-media. LinkedIn and the like. But the chapter entitled “Don’t confuse 10,000 followers with a profitable network” is not too shabby.
So, if you work for a living, or want to.
Buy it. Read it. Live it.
And Profit.

Here’s a few of Allison’s videos and Huffpost articles to get you started. Enjoy

Paul

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

This book has been on the often over-hyped best seller lists for months. I often put books on this list down, frustrated and disappointed.
Not this book.Some readers complain many concepts in this book aren’t new, my main man Willy Wonka and his crew were always trying to teach me how to break bad habits like gluttony , envy , chewing gum or watching TV . Leaders in the time management, diet and money management sectors always tell us to “write down how we spend our time, what we eat and how we spend money every single day” – with analysis and reflection we can make change. They’ve been saying that for a long time and it works that’s why they’re famous. But maybe, it’s only part of the solution.

We all have triggers in our life, negative and positive. We react to those daily triggers with responses that have become habit because the result is positive and pleasing. Adults don’t change habits easily, many won’t be able to at all because the triggers never go away and we need our positive pleasure at the end of the habit. This book teaches the reader how to understand the trigger, change the response to get the same reward. A tricky thing but there are dozens of story from live, business and history that vividly tell this tale of cause and effect.

I love that this book is BS-free. “Companies aren’t families, they’re battlefields in a civil war”. Worked at a company like that once? Me too. We needs solutions, not coping mechanisms. A powerful year in my career was when I grew to hate institutional and professional arrogance and bureaucracy for bureaucracy’s sake. Hate it like murder. It’s why I started reading management /leadership books and started this blog. Many people won’t find their way to real work-excellence because their jobs aren’t about life or death, so they aren’t forced to want to do better. There’s a story in this book about how silo’s and bureaucracy actually killed people in a subway fire in London England. The stories told are powerful, they will stay with you and help you think about how you can make change in your own work and life.

This book continues the focus on where neuroscience and the brain meets business strategy and marketing. I am the grocery shopping for my family – the book’s tale of how we are controlled by supermarkets like rats in a capitalistic maze read like my weekly routine. It offends and impresses me how hard they are working to make me break the list I bring each week!

When the author does interviews he often talks about a case study in the book where a department store did such deep data analysis they captured part of the massive baby market because they could tell a woman was pregnant before she had told ANYONE, spouse/family included. You’ll leave this story realizing how much better you can serve your clients/donors if you apply this “life cycle” observation approach.

The book’s many valuable touch points on networking include a great chapter on the power of weak ties. I know that it’s tied to the power of LinkedIn which allows us to find “people like us” quickly in the business world, and time is money right?

Some great business lessons from the dozens of stories…

-how the music industry uses the power of the familiar

– how cities and the military study habits to make or stop crowds from forming community or tearing it down

– how athletes use the power of training to get instant response from their minds/bodies to succeed

– how businesses capture the power of “one small thing” that affects every part of the business to positivity influence major change

– how to harness the power of peer pressure and how to make it work for you was brilliant and again, really down to earthIt’s a fabulous read that will no doubt spark your creative mind to take a lot of notes for today and turn them into business improvement and revenue tomorrow.

Would love to hear your comments on the book!
In the mean time here’s Charles talking about the book in his own words… enjoy!

 

Giving Away Presents on your Birthday?

The folks at “Box of Crayons” have waaaay too much fun

They help people do less ‘Good’ work and more GREAT work…

Recently I went head over heels for their book published with marketing uber-inspirationist Seth Godin ( you mean you haven’t read “End Malaria” $20 for advice 62 of the world’s most awesome business authors?!?!? )

They are well known for their awesome thoughtful videos to help you do better work…

And they already give away a ton of free stuff..

But on their 10th birthday they want to help you! Check out this boatload of great  stuff (from authors like Pam Slim and Mark Bowden ) to live with more focus, strategy in your work and life…

Enjoy, here’s a little more about these great folks… follow @BoxofCrayons and please wish them a happy birthday by tweeting them at #BOC10 today!!

Hope it’s of value! Thanks for reading…

Paul

LinkedIn and Twitter breakup is GREAT for networking strategy

It’s been a thoughtful few days for me….
I’m neck deep in one of the most popular business books in North America, I watched the video at the end of this post which has me very thoughtful and last week LinkedIn and Twitter broke up.
I’m ecstatic.
I’ve been saying for a while now that people should disconnect their twitter and LinkedIn accounts because although they are both critical voices in a “business media” strategy ( I’ve no interest in social media ) these are voices that should be different. Leave it a great peer of mine Promod Sharma to have one of the best business discussions on the net about the practical applications of the split. Read his post here.
Recently, while defending my useless brother-in-law my Mother mentioned something her Mother told her… “every finger on the hand is different, all are important and serve a purpose“. Old and wise words indeed.
So how do are these voices different? Let’s look at that hand shall we? In 2012, your thumb is the communications dept: because that’s how Blackberry talks and how we tweet quickly. Like LinkedIn, the index finger is the leader, the strategic one; it tells by pointing direction, it asks by scratching the head. The middle finger, often used for the expression of profanity is the social one, nuff said. The third or ‘ring’ finger is what I call the iFinger- eating messy foods it’s the one kept clean to operate iphones, ipads and other devices. And lastly, because this is a Canadian blog and Planned Giving professionals do drink a lot of tea the pinky needs to always stand at the ready should the need arise…
Fact is we need to think more strategically about the business use of LinkedIn and Twitter. We need a game plan says George Bradt in Forbes, he cowrote one of my favourite books I recommend to peers on how to make a full spectrum plan for success that includes face to face networking and online connecting.
LinkedIn is the business powerhouse, classic thoughtful style like this great R&B song I love, Knock on Wood. But! Too many business professionals write off Twitter. Sure it’s a little flashy, can be seen as gaudy but it drives more online referrals faster. Much like clients find us because of new, flashy ideas, I had never heard of the original song because being born in the 1970’s I only know it’s flashy, #1 Platinum hit reincarnation by Amii Stewart. The two can work together to drive business but we need to get back to WHY what we do has value.
We need to MAKE time to think. 
So many in my network are head over heels for this guy Simon Sinek. They brought him to speak at Canada’s largest fundraising conference — he shared great insight and rocked it….so enjoy the talk below.
I hope it will leave you as thoughtful as it did me….after all it IS the summer people. Years gone by we would slow down and use this time to think. Thinking and strategy ARE important assets in business right?!
More on “The Power of Habit” soon…
Thanks for reading,

Anyone who is going to slow down and think this summer feel free to join me next weekend at my informal networking afternoon July 15 and enjoy this great Toronto artist and song!!!

A public thank you to Jacklyn Atlas

A pet peeve of mine

People who use wedding pictures and other terrible shots to represent themselves on LinkedIn and other social media feeds

Used to be that only consultants, celebrities and politicians took headshots. Many good hard working intelligent folks ( mostly thinkers /introverts ) tell themselves it’s a mark of vanity.

But in a DIY career world – you are a brand
Your digital footprint is your calling card
You need to make a good first impression.

I know a few great photographers:
A very kind charity-peer took my first headshot for LinkedIn. I met one of Canada’s only national corporate photography business owners through BNI and last year an awesome guy I met through Timeraiser took the best picture I’ve ever had taken in my life.

But as even LinkedIn says, you need to refresh your brand every six-months to a year so it was time for a new look. I’ve been yammering on that I need to become a non-tie-guy and that creating your brand before you become it is the way to make goals a reality…

Enter Jacklyn Atlas – the secret of a few heavy hitting major Canadian charities I know. We met while she was working on such a project and we took a few shots to connect my profile, Twitter and LinkedIn feeds…

A humble and thoroughly insightful professional, her character made a connection – her entrepreneurial spirit makes me admire her and helps me to confidently refer.

You should reach out to your network and find the photogs – amateur or professional. It’s time to make sure your brand speaks for you.

After all if a picture speaks a thousand words, that same picture could speak more than all the words on your dumb paper resume that never gets any damn response right?

Not to worry though, I promise to hold an even in August ( like last summer ) or September with a photographer to take headshots….

Until then, Jacklyn, you’re awesome. Thank you.

 

(Donna Newman takes us out with some more important tips on how to use LinkedIn besides just a great headshot…. )