Advicetap Blog

Today we caught up with Vancouver Entrepreneur and Marketing Consultant Minna Van…She’s helped organize an event called “Freelance Camp” that’s coming to Vancouver and we wanted to get the lowdown on what it’s all about – check it out!

Hey there Minna welcome to the Advicetap blog! First off for any of our community members or blog readers who aren’t yet familiar with you and what you do please hook us up with that info.

I wear a few hats but the one I am very happy to elaborate on is my Vancouver Entrepreneur Meetup host hat. Third Thursdays of every month, I host a wine and cheese with a speaker relevant to entrepreneurship at The Network Hub. It is a wonderful opportunity to get new entrepreneurs mingling with established entrepreneurs from all different industries. It is the meeting of minds with a no-pressure, fun twist.

I know we could chat to you for hours about all your interesting ventures but let’s focus on the upcoming Freelance Camp here in Vancouver. Can you tell us what exactly Freelance Camp is, how it got started, and the whole concept behind it?

Freelance Camp was started in San Francisco by Shane Pearlman. The idea of it is, “In business for yourself, not by yourself” and that is a wonderful concept to work with. Many freelancers toil away in isolation and there hasn’t been one event that is specific to freelancers. The great about this is it is presented by freelancers and for freelancers, no theories but rather from experience. It is about the sharing of best practices, resources but more importantly to pull together the pockets of freelancers from different industries who are already out there networking into one big community event.

Nice! So this is the first Canadian Freelance camp to be held…Let me ask you in your opinion what makes Vancity a good place to hold this event and can you reflect a bit on the freelance scene out here?

As a host for Vancouver Entrepreneur Meetup, I get a lot of suggestions from entrepreneurs/freelancers/small business owners and for the last two years, there was an overwhelming request for sharing and hearing of experiences from their peer groups. I think people are tired of hearing about theories and they want to hear from the people who have gone through the same thing as they have. Theories are great to explain in hindsight but practical experience is tangible, applicable and relevant to real life.

Minna you work with all sorts of freelancers, consultants, small business owners, and the like…from what you see what is one of the biggest business challenges these professionals face and do you have any advice for how they might deal with that challenge or overcome it?

In my point of view as a marketing freelancer, I find myself sometimes overwhelmed with the changes in contracts, strategies, etc and it becomes all so frustrating trying to keep up. Great thing about hosting Vancouver Entrepreneur Meetup is that every month I have the opportunity to vent, ask and share my frustration with 80-160 other people who have gone through what I went through at some point. So what has worked for me is just going out there and connecting with other people.

So Freelance Camp is this month on Saturday the 29th of May? Where is it? How much is it? And where can we sign up?

Yes May 29th is the magical date freelancers in Vancouver need to note down. It is happening at The Network Hub – the location is close to skytrain, West Coast express, sea bus and major bus route so you have no excuses as to why you cannot come. It is $10 dollars but 100% of it will go to charity.

You can sign-up online at: http://freelancecamp.thenetworkhub.ca

Last but not least can you tell us one or two cafe’s or cool spots with wireless for a freelancer to do their work out of? Any good secret spots?

Well other than my absolute favourite place for coworking; The Network Hub, I’m also slightly biased as a co-founder of the space! My cool spot for working is Waves because they not only provided wireless, the people who come to Waves are super cool and they are open to talking to you (yes I like talking to strangers). Once in a while, I like going to Central Library to relive my many years of studying exams on the 4th floor.

Today we caught up with communications consultant and Advicetap member Janice Tomich based here in Vancouver, BC. Janice is doing some innovative stuff with her company, branding, and services that she’s offering. We met her to get the skinny for all of you…

Hi Janice thanks for stopping by…first off introduce yourself to the readers. What kind of work do you currently do and how did you get into it?

I am a downtown dweller who thrives on the buzz of Vancouver’s constant action. My husband and I moved from the outskirts of Metro Vancouver once our son grew up and we haven’t looked back.

Living downtown is really convenient and enables me to meet clients easily. Many of my clients are situated downtown and they like to meet in their office space.

My type of work is a bit unusual. My business, Calculated Presentations, helps people develop their public speaking voice. In a nutshell I am a presentation trainer and coach.

The love I have for language and words began at my childhood kitchen table. My father, the orator, would deconstruct political speeches.

I am drawn to the intricacies of motivational speeches and that magical pivotal moment when a speaker holds their audience in the palm of their hand. To understand what that “something” is I returned to academia three years ago.

First at BCIT in the Marketing Communications program, then completing a Bachelor of Professional Communications at Royal Roads University.

When I enrolled at RRU, I had a solid idea of my plans post-graduation. A friend and mentor advised that there was a need of presentation skill offerings for IPOs and Engineering and Scientific presentations and I agreed that he was on to something.

Tell us a bit about your company, what kind of services you offer your clients, and how you’re standing out in a crowded marketplace?

The three primary services I provide are public speaking training, content collaboration, and slidedeck creation. I have an arsenal of techniques that speakers use to engage their audience.

The visual perception of a speaker by an audience can make or break a presentation, which makes voice, gesturing, and stance important. As does clear and concrete content targeted to “what’s in it for the audience.” Along with the trend for visually rich slidedecks, these three key components create presentations that end with audiences applauding and wanting to learn more.

My service is niche in its nature so I believe I stand out already. Instead of standing out, the hurdle for me is to educate the client of how valuable my service is.

The evidence is easily demonstrated – have you noticed the people sleeping and fidgeting (aka Blackberries and iPhones) at presentations?

We all know the importance of presentations for sales and relationship building but often we resort to default PowerPoint and old style lecturing.

Here at Advicetap we love branding. So I need to ask you why you chose to go with Janice Tomich as the main focus of your visual and brand identity (logo, URL, website, etc)? Has this worked well for you? Any positives or negatives you can share on how personal branding has worked for you.

The decision to use my name as my brand was not an easy one. I went back and forth a few times. My decision is a bit waffley as I am the identity (URL, my image on the website) but the company name is Calculated Presentations.

I understand that the trend is individuals being the identity of a brand. The philosophy of Tony Hsieh from Zappo’s Shoes helped me make my decision. He is the face of Zappo’s and leads it but he is not the company.

What I have noticed recently that is that people recognize me, and what I do, but do not know my company name. This is a dilemma for entrepreneurs.

Speaking of branding and visual identity your website is really pro looking. You mentioned to me the whole thing is powered by WordPress even though it’s much more then a blog? How does that work for you and do you recommend this set up? Where did you get it done? (….More)

Today’s guest post was written by Jeff Waldman, founder of Fusion Point in Toronto. In today’s post Jeff shares some insight on relationships and networking. Jeff has built up a huge network of meaningful connections not just “followers” so his words are worth listening too!

The world in which we live is shrinking exponentially before our eyes, and it appears that everyone knows everyone in all corners of the globe. This phenomenon is creating new kinds of relationships, but to be quite honest with you relationships are relationships because they’re with people, and the fundamentals of developing, growing and sustaining great relationships have remain unchanged. Why? People are feeling beings and the intangible things that influence how people feel don’t really change.

The methods and tools that we use in our interactions with people change daily, particularly with the explosion of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Sprouter, Flickr, YouTube and a gazillion others. This explosion is not only happening in the Gen Y and X demographic groups, but also with Baby Boomers and to some extent the Traditionalists. Believe me, it’s critically important to stay on top of the latest and most effective tools available so that you optimize your efforts, but in my humble opinion what’s more important is being technically sound on the finer elements of relationships.

It’s pretty simple actually — the strengths of your relationships with people are based on authenticity, consistency and reciprocity. Mind blowing? Not really! Difficult to do? Absolutely! Are people good at doing this? Not really! Does it matter where your relationships exist (e.g. through social media with someone in Dubai or in-person with a neighbour)? Absolutely not!

Authenticity — be you! It’s so much easier and less exhausting when you just be yourself. When you meet someone for the very first time, subconsciously they are forming judgment about you. Be authentic right of the bat so the sub-conscious judging that goes on is based on truth and reality. There is nothing worse than meeting someone and being someone you’re not, and then over time your true colours start to naturally filter through. This is extremely detrimental to the relationship and the overall perception of “you” in the eyes of the person you have the relationship with. (….More)

Today’s guest post was written by Aarni Heiskanen of AE Partners in Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland. Aarni is a seasoned management consultant and today he shares with you a tip that if you take action on can become very profitable to your business.

You have the SWOT analysis, the Boston matrix and many more tools freely available at your disposal. Why would you want to develop consulting tools of your own?

The reason why my colleagues and I have developed new consulting tools has been straightforward. We have discovered – or gradually developed – a new consulting approach for client projects. The cause has most often been a client’s need or problem that has made us adopt a novel approach. Once the project has been completed we have analysed the developed tool to see if it could be applicable elsewhere.

A tool, in our case, is a process or way of structuring, analysing, and presenting information. It does not have to be “new to the world” but “new to the client or industry”.

How it all Started
Back in the 1990s I was involved in a project, which assessed the business value of IT in the construction industry. During the project we needed a simple method for measuring the maturity level of IT implementation and its business benefits. We created a framework called an IT Value Barometer. It was basically a set of 12 self-assessment sheets and three graphical representations of the data gained. (….More)

Today’s guest post was written by Susan Varty of Wordtree Consulting. Susan has been in the game for years and specializes in web copywriting, user guides, social media strategies, training manuals and last-minute proposal preparation.

When designing my company logo back in 2006, I wasn’t sure what direction to go so, naturally, I used “Consulting”.

Why? I didn’t want to narrow my focus or shut out potential clients at that time. I just wanted to help people with their written communication.

Eventually, I started learning about having a specialty and a niche market to streamline my client base and reach my business goals. I thought about re-branding again. No, it was still relevant. I kept it.

Then the headlines started appearing in the papers:

“Thousands wasted on consultants”

and other stories about “their ludicrous expenses”. Consulting was beginning to be a dirty word.

Three years in, I keep thinking about changing my company name now and then. However, I’ve realized that it suits what I do just perfectly. When I expand my business next year, I hope to keep the brand. However, I recognize that it needs a review now and then to make sure my brand is a true reflection of what I do.

Some confusion still exists with the dirty word. Now and then, if I don’t get my elevator pitch just right, I get that question “What do you do again?” But then I have an excuse to listen again and really discover what they might need.

Lately, there are several ways that I’ve noticed that consultants position themselves to avoid being “dirty” and get themselves hired.

1. Avoid “sticker shock” by describing the value you bring to the table up front and spelling out exactly how you are paid (maybe not how much at first).

2. Show off your “street cred”. What did you do for a business to help them get things done? Name brands and numbers are classic ways to improve credibility. Also, consider changing your job title so that it is appropriate for your audience. For example, at a design conference I’m a copywriter, but at an IT event I’m a Technical Writer. These titles have made me very approachable. Sometimes people get scared off at the thought of talking to the CEO – especially project leads who might give you the most work. This may not be the approach for you, but I still consider myself a Communications Consultant in both roles.

3. Exude confidence to reach decision-makers. They need you – it’s obvious. Focus on the bottom-line and the experiences you have in your portfolio that they can’t get anywhere else.

4. Offer a contract that starts with a very small step. This small engagement will usually lead to larger projects. It’s strange – the small step approach has been very effective with large corporate clients. A friend reminded me that they operate in small “budget-focused” groups and have a reputation at stake. Smaller companies are more flexible and willing to do more risk-taking.

5. Force your customers to think like their clients, not just their world of day-to-day tasks.

6. Create a detailed project plan - check off what has been completed and they will get a sense that the project is moving forward – not just fees going up and up. I like to hope that “consultant” will not continue to be a dirty word.

Sometimes an outside opinion and a kick in the right direction can make a lot of shiny, new coin.

Today’s guest post is written by Advicetap member, consulting expert, and author Rebel Brown (www.rebelbrown.com). Rebel is a veteran consultant and in this post she speaks on using “Objectivity” as a business tool.

Consultants bring an objective viewpoint to our clients. Take for example when working with a marketing team to position a company. I don’t believe I do, say or create anything of value that my client didn’t already know. After all, they’re the ones who gave me all the fodder for the story I create.

The difference is my objectivity. They live and breathe their business and strategy. They know it inside and out. So much so that that they can’t see the changes around them. My clients are heads down in their details, running a business. We all get dragged down into the way we’ve always thought about it. It’s human nature. Being objective, I am able to spin their story in a new way.

Objectivity is a beautiful thing for consultants. We can leverage it as one of our key value propositions. We can all tell a story about how one of our clients benefited from our objectivity.

Here’s an example of my own experience.

I met a new client a few months back. The guy is sharp, and the opportunity he unearthed is strong. All the pre-requisites for success are there: current customers are clamoring for the solution (it saves them major money), there’s an un-served and significant market demand, minimal investment is required and there’s a significant upside.

He hired me to help him communicate his strategy to the board and fellow executives. The first morning we met, it didn’t take long before we were both drawing pictures on the white board, talking at the same time. We were both passionate about the opportunity. By the end of the session, we had the fundamentals of the story down pat. Yes, it was and is compelling.

So why was I able to capture that story so quickly when he’d struggled for weeks, even months? I’d like to say it’s because of my brilliance, but that’s not true. My experience did help – all that practice does payoff after all!

I brought one really helpful thing to the table: Objectivity.

This quote by Stephen Chow says it well.

‘A creation needs not only subjectivity, but also objectivity.’

As many of you know we’ve recently rolled out gigs into the Advicetap community, think of Advicetap as a “Gig Board” if you will…

So how does it work? When Advicetap members apply to different gigs, the companies offering the gigs are sent a message as well as a link to view the profile of the member that applied.

Based on the kind of information companies want to see we’ve updated Advicetap member profiles – see image and then explanations below:

Average Hourly Rate:
You can select your average hourly rate so potential clients can get an idea of what you charge.

Contact Information:
This is the basic email, phone, and mobile numbers so they can contact you to give you the gigs! *Remember contact information is not shown to other members but only to companies that you apply for gigs at.

Social Media, Blog, Resume
In this area you can input links to your popular social media profiles like Twitter and Linkedin. You can also include a link to your blog, and upload a WORD or PDF resume.

So there you have it. New and updated profiles that will land you more gigs What are you waiting for? Spend 2 minutes now and update your profile today!

Today’s guest post was written by long time communications consulting professional Ken Welsh. To find out more about Ken and his years of international business and consulting experience visit www.letstalkcommunication.com

Well, as someone who coaches and consults around the world what should I give you as my first gem? (My parents are opal miners in Australia’s Outback so you may find my using word like, “gem”, “colour”, “dust”, “dirt”, “kangaroo” and “emu” a lot! ) One of my specialities is the power of language (all of our language, verbal, written, body and subliminal) to affect behaviour, so let’s look at a simple principle that has the ability to transform the way that people relate to us.

One of my specialties is the power of language (all of our language, verbal, written, body and subliminal) to affect behaviour, so let’s look at a simple principle that has the ability to transform the way that people relate to us.

Tell them what they CAN do (rather than what they CAN’T).

In a previous incarnation I was a young trainee City Planner, merely one amongst a myriad of other city planners, in a large bureaucracy. Many of my fellow planners were life-termers, they started there, continued there and would likely stay there until retirement. Hey, I’m not knocking it, it was a great job and one that could be made VERY easy by the use of simple words like “NO”, “CAN’T”, “DON’T” and “WON’T”,

Word such as these have the power to do two things:

1. Make some people’s lives very easy (namely the user)
2. Make other people’s lives very hard (namely the use-ee)

This was particularly the case in a large organisation with little or no accountability. Simply say “no” to a development, proposal, plan or idea and you had the power to stifle both it and the ambitions of the person that you said it to. Likewise, as a “decision maker” it was much safer to maintain the status quo by saying “no” than by saying “yes” and needing to deal with the outcome, good or bad. Say “no” and you wouldn’t have to deal with angry neighbours, residents or politicians who didn’t agree with what you’d said “yes” to.

However I was extremely lucky in that I had a rather progressive boss, he wouldn’t let this young trainee say “no”, my only options were – “Approve” or “Defer & Confer”. “Defer & Confer” meant that I had to meet with an applicant, talk with them and see if there was anything that we could do to help the proposal work for everyone concerned. Then, after graduation, I took this approach to my next job and it was incredible how everyone wanted to deal with me – I was the planner who made things work. The quality of my outcomes was no less than adjacent planner’s areas, in fact I think that my area turned out better in many ways (he says modestly!) I was still sticking with the guidelines, however I was telling people what they COULD do rather than what they COULDN’T. (….More)

Introducing Advicetap Drinks…
On April 7th we’re going to have a casual social event  for Advicetap members and friends right here in Vancouver.

Who’s it for?
Advicetap members or any consultants or freelancers interested in joining Advicetap.com.

Where’s it at? (Update)
We had more sign ups for Advicetap Drinks then we anticipated so we’re going to move the get together to Smiley’s Public House starting at 8pm.

Directions
Smiley’s is located at 911 W Pender St downtown not too far from where the F5 Expo is going on. Here’s a map for directions.

Cost
It’s free to attend, you only pay for food and any drinks that you decide to order.

RSVP
Click Here to RSVP»

Welcome to Episode 1 of Advicetap TV!

What in the world is Advicetap TV you ask? Well Advicetap TV is a series of video interviews we’ll be filming and then publishing into this blog. We’ll be chatting with marketing, brand, PR, online business consultants, and more and getting them to reveal tips, insights, thoughts, and more.

This time around we caught up with Internet Marketing Consultant Adam Killam based out of Vancouver, BC. Adam shares what it’s like to be a consultant in this space, the ups, the downs, and even some online marketing tips. Check it out!

For more information or to connect with Adam Killam, check: www.AdamKillam.com

Today’s guest post was written by Tom Searcy member of Advicetap. To find out more about Tom and his years of business and consulting experience visit www.HuntBigSales.com

I have a simple value proposition – I help companies grow explosively. That’s it – My whole focus is on helping companies between $10M and $250M double their double. Double the speed with which they double their company. I don’t focus on culture or Lean manufacturing or technology.

My focus is large account sales – selling deals 10 – 20 times the size of a company’s average size deal. I have developed a process for doing it that really works and has resulted in $3.5 billion in new accounts for the companies I have run and the clients with whom I have consulted.

I have written two books on the subject, “Whale Hunting: How to Land Big Sales and Transform Your Company,” and “RFPs Suck!: How to Master the RFP System Once and for All to Land Big Business.” I speak on this subject nationally as well as doing 15-20 consulting contracts per year and a series of workshops.

Candidly, I think that there are a lot of folks like me. The world of author/speaker/consultant is a fairly large fraternity. What I have found that is different is that I built a million dollar business out of it in just a couple of years. That is unusual and I think what I learned on how to do it, (and not do it), might be of interest to you.

You can also go to my website to get lots of extra ideas on landing your own bigger contracts along the way. I’m at www.huntbigsales.com. I look forward to your feedback to my ideas.

Here at Advicetap we’re big believers in quality not quantity. A community with thousands of uninterested ‘low’ quality members delivers far less value than a much smaller community where people are passionate and engaged.

We’re all about the latter. And it’s not just us, Seth Godin talks a great deal about this as an example of the power of Tribes.

That’s why for every 4 people that apply for an Advicetap account we create one. This allows us to ensure a quality community where all members are qualified and professional.

We’re excited to announce that we’re just around the corner to welcoming our 200th member!!

If you’re a consultant or freelancer in the area of Marketing, PR, Branding, Social Media or Online Business come join us. If you’re not … you can still help us spread the word! Sign up here …

Several members gave feedback that they wanted the ability to edit their conversations … say for example when they forgot to include a point they wanted to make. Previously it was tough luck because once you clicked “Add Comment” there was no turning back.

We’re happy to let you know that about a week ago we implemented and have been testing a new update that allows you to edit your conversation for up to 15 minutes after you click and save.

Here’s how it works:

After you’ve added a reply you’ll see the “Edit Reply” link as shown below…

When you click “Edit Reply” you’ll have the ability to edit what you’ve written any way you want, as follows …

Once you’ve updated your comment simply click “Save Changes” and all is good.

Hope you enjoy this update and keep that feedback coming!

Things keep moving along nicely here at Advicetap and we’re constantly making both small and large changes to the design, usability, and overall functionality of the community and application.

Some of you may have noticed that we recently changed up the way email notifications work. Until recently when you received an email inside Advicetap, or someone commented on a conversation you were subscribed to the email notification you got to your external email account like Gmail or Hotmail would just tell you inform you of the action and you would have to log in and go to Advicetap to find out what it was all about.

We have now improved email notifications so that now in all notifications you are able to read the Advicetap email or comment inside your external email client. Simply put you can now decide if you need to log into Advicetap or not to reply to an email or continue a conversation.

A couple of days ago we updated the way you receive emails and notifications from Advicetap.

Email Message Display
You’ll now receive the message text of the email you’re receiving in your email client rather than having to go back to Advicetap each time to view the message. This should save you time and make it more convenient for you. To reply to messages you should still visit your Inbox on Advicetap.

Twitter Cleaning

We’ve also cleaned up the way your Twitter feed displays on your profile. We have several other Twitter integration plans we’re looking into so stay tuned.

Conversations Order
The order of Conversations on the main Conversations pages have also been updated so the newest one will always be at the top of the page.

There’s lots more coming from Advicetap. We hope you’ll enjoy these new updates and be sure to keep sending in your comments and feedback.

Have a great one!