Firefli Consulting Inc.

IT Architecture Mentoring, Coaching & Education

Category Archives: Small business news

Winnipeg Enterprise Architect Talks Webinars

A funny thing happened to me on the way to the golf tournament… Well – actually while enjoying a beautiful sunny day with two of my favorite clients at the Women’s Business Owners of Manitoba golf tournament is more precise.

Some time ago I gave Martin Cash of the Winnipeg Free Press an interview at the Technology in the 21st Century Seminar day. For some reason, I can’t help but think he might have passed my name on to Sandy Klowak. I like Martin and read each piece he writes in the business section of the local paper.

Sandy called between the 2nd and 3rd hole and left a message wanting to know if I had any knowledge on webinars or teleseminars. I have been entrenched in the subject for several years so I thought “what the heck”, asked permission of my riding partner and called her back.

She was interested in whether or not I thought webinars were a trend and how they changed the office environment. Given that I probably listen to no less than 5 webinars and teleseminars a week, plus have turned much of my training in that direction, I thought I should tell her how the education world is being revolutionized by this technology. Many companies have slashed or eliminated their training budgets. The big Seminar business has been annihilated. Most have been replaced or supplemented with this technology.

If you’d like the see the entire article, it is here.

I’m happy now that I have blogs that I might to comment on the “not in Winnipeg” comment that was in this article a little further. I am sure there are many people that live in Winnipeg attend webinars and teleseminars. I am just not convinced that there are many others like me that are using it as a main vehicle in delivering educational services or as a marketing tool.

Main keynote speaker Nelly Yusupova and I sat down to dinner on the eve of the Tech in the 21st Century event. “Why do you think business women in technology are behind here in Winnipeg?” she asked. I told her it was exposure. Unless you have had experience in the Corporate world and had the need to add webinar technology to your business, it might be a foreign subject.

Small business owners have their heads down, trying to turn a profit. They might not know how this technology could catapult their marketing.

What webinars can do for you?

  • Broadcast and share your expertise with your clients
  • Save the broadcast for replay on your website  — more content
  • Communicate with your suppliers, vendors and global resources to help you do business better together.

You don’t have to be a trainer, nor a techie to take advantage. What if you wanted to let your favorite suppliers about the benefits that you wish your products had more of, or needed improvement on?

Do you think they’d be happy to listen or see your replay when it comes time to considering how to better serve you?

What about the instance where you want your clients to know more about HOW you do business so they can better get to know and trust you? Would putting on a webinar or teleseminar give you that opportunity? Absolutely!

The web can be your voice and there are so many ways to explore and utilize that voice using technology. If you want more information on this subject or our services in this area, be sure to drop us a note or call us at 204-488-2819.

Engage Today 2010 Review – Vishen brings Nuggets

Sharon Evans and Vishen Lakhiani at Engage Today 2010

Sharon & Vishen at Engage Today Private Reception

I had hoped to post every day to bring you a taste of what I was lucky enough to experience at Engage Today 2010 in early June.  Here is another gold nugget brought to you from my lingering thoughts of Vishen Lakhiani, Mind Valley.

Vishen was a repeat speaker at Engage Today.  While he didn’t deliver another performance, like Bohemian Rapsody that has thrilled YouTube visitors, he did bring solid value in his “Taking Your Business from $100K to $10M in 5 years presentation.  My take aways were many.  His love for personal growth resonated with me, as well as his personal story about how he arrived at that passion.

Intense isn’t a strong enough word for Vishen.  He is very focused in his purpose, and in developing his “theory of awesomeness” at his company.  His biggest message is that one must be happy in the now while holding their vision of the future.  If you can’t have both of those together, success won’t happen.  He calls this “flow” and for those who may not get a handle on that term in his definitive terms, he means “mojo”.

If you aren’t growing, you are doing a disservice to the mission you were set out to fufill.   Other terms he coined were “Blisscipline” where he learned how to keep himself in bliss while he embodied practices in keeping his mind clean and on target to his goals. 

I’ve probably never listened to a more exciting speaker, and the energy he throws from the stage is worth a personal sighting to everyone serious about getting their business vision to reality.  My favorite part was where he shared his method for keeping his vision in his mind.  Many create vision boards, while he has a vision note book.  He has a method for tracking his current state vision statements as well as his gratitude log which keeps him balanced.

JET

Just Enough Technology

Firefli Announces our newest small business offering. 

Our clients ask for it, and now it’s your turn to get it.  Since Firefli’s inception, our focus has been technology with clarity and creating solutions that were as simple as possible, but a right fit to our client’s needs.

Lately, our small and medium size business clients have been asking a lot of the same questions, and now we’ve wrapped it all up and are ready to present it in a nice compact package.  Yes, you asked for that too.

“Tell me what I need to do to get out of this email hell”, said one client.
“Which social media tool should I focus on?  I don’t have time to spent all day on these sites.  Which ones will give me the most value?” they usually want to know.
“Which hosting company should I use, and how can I get them to install my web page?  Which website software should I use?”

So many questions, and now in four short hours, you can learn what you need to know without a techie to decode the jargon.  Join us June 23rd and see why this will be the most valuable morning you’ve spent on your business in 2010!

See our full page description for more details.