I'm a firm believer in supporting local community groups as is my friend Monica Graves of Glamjulz. Why? Because we know that giving back is the BEST way to help a community grow and prosper. This chat Across the Desk we talk about the teachers' gift initiative Monica is doing to support Halton Food for Thought. Looking for a great way to say thanks to your kids teacher AND give back to the community? Win, win!

Have you ever had the chance to learn something new but thought it might make you look stupid to admit you didn't already know? Or had a REALLY freaking great idea that you let go to mold because you were too afraid to share it? It all comes down to your willingness and ability to be vulnerable.

If you've decided to shut down your business, that can suck disco balls. And if you owned a disco, well, you've got lots of shiny things to remind you about your anti-success. Me? I've got @ symbols / statues / socks / marketing material - the list goes on. Looking at it used to annoy me. Now? Now I realize the gift of being an entrepreneur is that I've learned lessons to help me be more successful next time ;)

Thanks for joining me!

Are you working in an organization where the boss just isn't quite the boss you'd like them to be? In fact, are they an asshat? Rude term for sure. But we've all had an asshat in our life that made working miserable. This week I'm part of Spark the Change where we try to turn asshats in to leaders that we want to work for, and dare I say, follow.

Do you write a ton of great ideas down and then losing money by not acting on them? Me too! So let's chat about how your brain creates great ideas and how your lack of process to use it, just sucks and makes you less banana bread.

Are you one of those entrepreneurs who writes things down like I do? Does the creative demon take hold of your hand and force you to record all those crazy, amazing ideas? And then you just leave that shit there. On the page or in the audio file. All that creativity going to rot like a stinky banana at the bottom of your lunch bag. Yuck. So let's chat about that. How do you keep your banana from going stinky and using those ideas to make you money?

If you are in a competitive market, you need to take chances on marketing yourself. For example - if there are five other coffee shops within swinging a cat you need to step it up. And if one of those shops happens to rhyme with Cartucks? You REALLY need to step it up. Product alone isn't going to get people in the door my friend.

So - take a chance. Start with small weird things and build up to bigger weird things but for goodness sake try some weird things. Or the state of your business my friend are going to rhyme with ducked ...

Are you tired of the BS? In this case BS stands for back stabbing or behind the scenes sabotage. I love working with other people, sharing ideas and building up success. For EVERYBODY! I play in the sandbox with the firm belief that if you like my shovel better you'll play with me but if that guys bucket is more to your liking, well, he'll be your buddy today. Same thing in business. So if you need help growing your business or solving a business problem, who do you share your angst with???

Do you work from home? Does that suck sometimes? I agree. I feel like I've just graduated college and am back to living in my parents basement except it's my damn basement, which I guess is a step up. And since I have a strong dislike for conducting business in coffee shops, I thought my options were limited until a friend gave me a GREAT suggestion to solve my basement dwelling predicament.

Guest Teresa Baerg is a recent success story out of the Corporate Communications program at Sheridan College. We met in 2012 and connected over the life of the mature student and how to handle term papers while getting dinner ready. Fast forward 3 years and now Teresa is using her education and passion for being involved in the local Burlington community, to carve out a career as a freelance journalist, editor for two local community platforms and promoter of local businesses. How's that for kicking ass and taking names?