The Riff Raff Podcast

Do you hate wasting time? I do. I even go so far as to plan out my driving route for errands so that I minimize travel time wasted. If I have to backtrack? That drives me bananas. So believe me - I don't waste time on books that will be bad for my business or get in the way of me achieve my goals faster.

Gary Vaynerchuk has written three books specifically geared at helping business owners at all levels succeed. Despite the occasional appearance of the Salty V, I believe through watching and learning from him that he truly wants to help others. So I gave Jab, Jab, Jab Right Hook a shot. For someone who peruses used book stores and avoids paying full price, shelling out the $40 was hard. But was it worth it?

It turns out it was. This book has been designed to help you navigate the choppy waters of social media and specifically how not to screw it up for your business. If there is any time to invest your time and energy, it's when it has to do with your business. After all, any return on investment when learning is directly related to the effort you put in.

Covering the top 7 social media platforms that can benefit business relationship development, this book provides a decent overview of the platform. If you weren't familiar or comfortable before, this part of the chapter might encourage you to take the leap. At the end of each chapter is a review of content found online, the hits and misses and recommendations. I love this part of the book. Real life examples of the good, the bad and the yikes.

This is one book I'm glad I've added to my business library. I just hope I don't one day end up under the don't section ;)

Have you ever lost your wallet? Or had it stolen? That sucks right?! This weekend I got the chance to make it suck less for someone. How? Social media.

In this day and age of mobile phones and mobile people, it can be hard to track someone down the traditional way. But thanks to social media, all we need to do is follow the breadcrumbs that get left online.

My husband found the wallet in downtown Toronto while working but the address on the ID was in Burlington. It made sense for him to bring it home as we could return it quickly. With knowledge of the panic associated with losing your wallet, I wanted to get in touch with him sooner. So I went online.

All it took was googling his full name to find the beginning of the trail. LinkedIn proved to be a bit of a bust but his Facebook profile provided some ideas. He'd listed his work as being at a pub close to where my husband found the wallet so I gave them a call. Sure enough, he works there. After explaining the situation, the staff agreed to contact him with my info.

Interested in hearing how the story turned out? Take a listen ;)

So what do women talk about when they meet up? Kids? Work? Husbands? Expectations? Trust? Sounds like a typical meeting meeting right? Turns out it can be all of that and so much more.

Tuesday night was the joint Ballsy / Women in Tech meetup that featured speaker Norine Jones. Norine was asked to speak to the group based on a conversation that we had during another meeting. Specifically, it was to discuss the role of women in business and what exactly that means. How much sacrifice should we be making for our business vs our families and how do we make those choices.

What started out as a speaking gig turned in to a terrific discussion that I think generated far more helpful perspectives than a regular format would have done. I'd already had the conversation and still ended up with six pages of notes.

If you're a woman in business, or a man still trying to learn about women, then this podcast might shed some light on the mental games we play with ourselves and how men factor in to all of that.

The Huffington Post ran an article last year on "11 Things We Fake in Our Social Media Lives" and I love it. As part of my business (and my inherently nosy personality) I love the peeking in on other people's lives aspect of social media. I love the stories they tell. I love connecting with people over similar interests. But what I don't love is the fakery and insincerity of some accounts on behalf of businesses. I just want to shake them and say, "Really? Are you sure about that?". I thought it was just me. Then I read Unmarketing by Scott Stratten and felt a huge sense of relief. I was not alone in my frustration on the fake factor.

I've had Unmarketing on my shelf for a bit. I'm not sure why I held out but am so glad I got over whatever was holding me back. This book confirmed that the fake route, autotweeting, push marketing and all the other things that drive me crazy were in fact dumb. And bad for your business. And annoying.

Thanks to reading this book I now have a deeper confidence in the slow but steady growth of my social media audience and the recommendation to my clients that they too embrace the WYSIWYG way.

One of the many things I love about this book is how each section is a manageable length for marketing newbies and filled with enough insight and actionable items for those more long in the marketing tooth. The fact that it made me laugh out loud several times and managed to teach me so many great things? Well, that's a bonus worth passing on to others.

If you're more of a video learner, then do yourself a favor and check out one of many of Scott's keynotes, the unmarketing podcast and other videos of amazeballs via: https://www.youtube.com/user/stratola/featured.

Careful if you have a drink in your hand while you watch it. It's either coming out your nose or ending up in your lap at some point. Laughing or a forehead palm for the aha moments you'll have - keep it cold. You're welcome ;)

If you have ever been to a restaurant or event, you might be guilty of this: can you even remember the face of the server at the last restaurant you went to? At the last event you were at (wedding, gala, networking, did you thank the staff that cleared your plates and picked up after you all night?

Chances are the answer is no. Sadly that seems to be more common these days. The ME generation has returned and the manners have left the building. We are so distracted by phones and noise and our problems and just US in general that we forget one important thing: there is a them behind the tidy table you are now sitting at. There is a them behind the beautifully arranged room you are enjoying. And them? They like to hear thank you. Quite frankly so do I.

Why the rant? I've over rude people. I'm over staff at events feeling unappreciated and borderline maligned. I've coordinated enough events, been to enough events and worked at enough events that when I hear stories of rudeness - well quite frankly, I get a little farking snarky.

As a business owner, you may have reason to hold small to large events on behalf of your business. Could be a workshop. Could be a celebration. Could be a staff appreciation. Whatever it is you're holding an event for, I'll give you the best tip you'll ever receive:

BE NICE TO THE EVENT STAFF.

That's worth gold right there. Because when shinola goes sideways during your event (and it will), the event staff will be the ones to save you. And if you've been an asshat? Well it might be their job to make you happy but believe me, a little appreciation and good old fashioned P's and Q's will hopefully make them want to go that extra mile for you. Otherwise - Aunty Mathilda's sitting at the kids table and your boss isn't getting his steak any time soon.

Thanks for listening and please come again :)

Are you either currently working with a service provider or about to hire one? Do you think you're the only one who should be prepared for meetings? Think again.

If you want to maximize the time you have with a service pro and minimize the budget, then do your homework on your pain. Points that is.

Take the time to understand what you want to accomplish, what you can take on and the best way you can support the service provider so that they give you the best bang for your painfully earned buck.

Women in leadership roles has been a bit of a tricky development over the last 100 years. No, I'm not crying the poor me blues. No, I don't want to wear power suits and be like a man. But what I do want is for women to stop limiting themselves because they think they should. Because society is slowly coming on board with losing the judgement of women in leadership roles. And best of all? Women are slowly stopping the judgement of themselves.

Why is this important? Because even the strongest women leaders, who appear to show no fear, are still battling inner demons. This is especially true for women entrepreneurs. We still believe we have to prove we're capable and fit for our role. And when strong women leaders don't admit to feeling this way, the rest of us believe something is wrong with us because we do.

So today, you can meet Norine Jones, CEO/President/Leader of PowerVac Services Hamilton who successfully runs a successful business in a traditionally male dominated industry. She is also a devoted wife, fierce mother and amazing volunteer. And she too battles that inner demon that makes her question if she's strong enough, talented enough and wise enough to run her business.

My answer - an enthusiastic Hell yes!

Why are you happy at work? Good boss? Good team? Free coffee? Is it enough to make you get up in the morning and bounce out of bed with that "Yes! I get to go to work today!" feeling? That is awesome!

Now, if you are in Canada, think about the 9.5 million people who are unhappy at their jobs. No bounce in their step. No fabulous boss. No team to rely on. In the US, that unhappiness amounts to ....

Wait for it.

$450 BILLION dollars per year. Yup. Billion.

In general, asshat bosses who can't lead a team, don't know how to foster communication and team work and wouldn't know how to lead without fear are costing the economy billions of dollars every year. We can fix that.

I'm joined by Jason Little, author of Lean Change Management and globe trotting coach, who has dedicated his working passion to helping employees become one thing: happy. How? You'll have to listen to find out!

I am a change management neophyte. Enthusiastic and firmly converted but a neophyte none the less. With Happy Melly Exploration Day coming up on October 19th, I thought it best to bring someone on Across the Desk who has more experience than me. Meet Hazel van der Werken.

Since being involved with lean practices in Scotland in 1995 and adding change management in 2009 in the Netherlands, Hazel arrived in Canada in 2013 and found Silicon Halton. Thank goodness because it was through Silicon Halton that Hazel found Spark the Change Toronto where we met in 2015.

While Hazel is unable to be at the Happy Melly event next week due to a work trip, she's a staunch advocate for all levels of an organization regardless of industry taking advantage of the Happy Melly Exploration Day. Why? Because Hazel is all about the right tools for the job and Happy Melly has a toolbox that will blow your mind.

www.happymellyexplorationday.com

If, like me, you've worked for organizations for years and thought it was all in your head, I'm here to tell you that you're wrong. That vague feeling that something is off all the way down to full mental breakdowns because the boss is batshit crazy. That feeling that it's always going to be this way and nothing will ever change. The feeling that you can never be happy at work and just have to accept it. WRONG!

It took me over 20 years and a chance meeting to discover how wrong I was and how many people are working to change it.

Three years ago I was introduced to the world of agile and change management. I'm still learning what all that entails but what I did learn in a big way is that there are tools, experts, coaches and more to help organizations not suck. To help employees learn how to make things better. To help bosses, managers and supervisors find the way to the light that shows them communicating with their employees doesn't have to include condescension, fear and ego.

How?

One way is Happy Melly. You can learn more about HM during the podcast but what I also want to put out there is the first EVER face to face Happy Melly Exploration Day. A chance to meet and learn from the experts (who are some of the coolest people I've ever met) and have your come to jayzus moment where happiness at work isn't just a fantasy.

Intrigued? Great! Visit www.happymelly.com to learn more about the organization and click on their subscribe to happiness to attend the event on October 19th. Why? It will change your life. It changed mine.