Small Business Week Success
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Loading ...Today is the end of Small Business Week. It was a huge success on the North Shore. Yesterday the North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce put together a Small Business Bootcamp which ran from 9:00am to 5:00pm and featured speakers covering topics about E-commerce, setting up a company, accounting, strategy, and marketing. I was invited to speak on the E-commerce topic and had a great time. The group was very enthusiastic and asked a ton of great questions. I had an excellent time, but then again, I always enjoy speaking to groups about topics that I love (E-commerce being one such topic). Check... Read more »
Where are the strong female role models?
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...My oldest daughter wanted to be Superman for Halloween. I said “Why not go as Supergirl?”. To which she answered, because Superman is stronger than Supergirl. Why? Because Superman is just that… a Super MAN, whereas Supergirl is a Super GIRL. Who wouldn’t want to be Superman over Supergirl if given a choice. I tried to think to myself that there must be a strong female role model that can compete with Batman or Superman? All the female superheros, no matter how powerful or smart they may be are always depicted as inferior to their male counterparts. Those that are... Read more »
Giving kids tools to succeed
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...The guest speaker at our preschool was a really interesting and funny woman. I have heard her before and I really appreciate her point of view on parents and children. Her feeling is that parents focus too much on trying to be perfect parents and don’t spend enough time working on giving their children the skills and tools to succeed as healthy, vibrant, human beings. I was reminded that not very long ago, children as young as four or five years of age would have helped with the daily running of the household including milking the cow, gathering eggs, doing the cleaning. Now however,... Read more »
Realistic expectations and e-commerce sites
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...I was reminded today about how important it is to set realistic expectations for customers before or at the beginning of a project. I am still trying to figure out the best way to address the perception that an e-commerce solution will “do it all” for the customer with little or no input or intervention. As much as I have tried to make this a priority, it still seems to get lost in either translation or delivery. The fundamental problem seems to be unrealistic expectations being set early in the delivery with no reasonable way to change those expectations. The result, inevitably,... Read more »
Bridging the Gap for Non-profits
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...I got an instant message from a guy that used to work for us, Stephen Richardson, about putting together a website for the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre. He is planning on doing the design and templates for free and asked if Sentias would be able to provide the hosting. I told him we would go one better and provide a complimentary copy of the Content Server, Email Request, and Newsletter module. I’ll wait to see what the decision will be, but I think it would be nice to see an organization like the DEWC get some help with their site. After all, they need the support. Sphere:... Read more »
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...The other instructors and I have been trying to figure out how to get a website set up for the squadron that doesn’t infringe on DND’s requirements. The answer was actually fairly simple… we don’t. The Parent Sponsoring committee of the squadron would set up its own website and as long as it is made clear that it is managed by the PSC and volunteers not on staff with the Squadron, then it should be alright. This should help a lot with keeping the cadets up to date on events and give us an opportunity to keep the community more informed on what the Squadron does. Sentias... Read more »
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...The other instructors and I have been trying to figure out how to get a website set up for the squadron that doesn’t infringe on DND’s requirements. The answer was actually fairly simple… we don’t. The Parent Sponsoring committee of the squadron would set up its own website and as long as it is made clear that it is managed by the PSC and volunteers not on staff with the Squadron, then it should be alright. This should help a lot with keeping the cadets up to date on events and give us an opportunity to keep the community more informed on what the Squadron does. Sentias... Read more »
Good Karma pays dividends
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...My current volunteer committments include the North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, the Air Cadets, the Coho Society, and my daughter’s preschool. On top of being a partner in Sentias, a boss to 10 employees, a husband to my wife, and father to my children, why would I insist on committing so much time (close to 15 hours a week or more) to these other organizations? I learned through my public service experiences at school (St. Georges) and through the Air Cadets, that donating one’s time and expertise to worthy non-profit groups can pay dividends in the future. Those dividends are... Read more »
Evolving into a Web 2.0 company
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...So what is this Web 2.0 thing anyway? I’ve been trying to figure that out myself. Having gone through the Internet rise and fall, I am always skeptical of band wagons, buzz words, and hype. Call me cynical, but “Blogosphere” and all the other current terms associated with what amounts to basic guestbook (do you remember guestbooks?) mean nothing to me. So Web 2.0 seemed to me to be just another way of refering to “software as a service”. That said, we’ve made a dedicated push to migrate our transactional based products into hosted services. Why? Because... Read more »
Good Karma pays dividends
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...My current volunteer committments include the North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, the Air Cadets, the Coho Society, and my daughter’s preschool. On top of being a partner in Sentias, a boss to 10 employees, a husband to my wife, and father to my children, why would I insist on committing so much time (close to 15 hours a week or more) to these other organizations? I learned through my public service experiences at school (St. Georges) and through the Air Cadets, that donating one’s time and expertise to worthy non-profit groups can pay dividends in the future. Those dividends are... Read more »
