I've hate cigarettes.
In high school the "cool" kids walked up "the hill" to smoke on the designated pad while I hung out with my lame friends inside wondering what was so cool about freezing my fingertips to puff on a paper stick filled with tobacco.
The best stories were told on the hill while the cool kids huddled around each other to protect themselves from the windchill.
The best fights occurred on the hill while the innocent nerds waited patiently to hear about the latest battle.
I never smoked. My grandma smoked. So did my mom and dad.
That's a bit of a lie. There were a few nights in 1995 where some friends and I lit up in a bar thinking it was time for us to join the cool kid ranks. Into the mirror I saw a horrendous cancer stick in my mouth. I looked ridiculous. So my engagement with coolness ended that night.
My grandma died two years earlier from lung cancer. I saw the horrendous effects menthols could produce. Yet the desire to be cool on that smoke filled night was greater than the desire to not die like her.
Second hand smoke has been part of my life since childhood. My family were smokers on the most part. Smoke was in the car, the living room, the kitchen. As I got older, it was in the bars, the restaurants and designated areas of the office.
Within ten years, cigarettes were banned in bars and restaurants. Then they were kicked out of all public buildings. Then they were ostracized from the doorways of buildings. Now their vape cousins are treated with the same hatred as the cantankerous cancer sticks.
In 100 years, the cigarette has gone from being a symbol of sex, coolness to absolute detest and disgust. The banning of cigarettes in public is coming. Despite tax profits, and free economy, there is an anti cigarette lobby that is trying to obliterate the industry.
And I couldn't care less. Except for one thing.
Free choice.
When do government rules eliminate the ability for its citizens to decide what they want to put into their bodies?
Today it is cigarettes. Tomorrow it will be sugar. Coca Cola is banned in some schools following the same path as its unhealthy tobacco cousin.
The cigarette is a symbol of the industrial revolution. It was popularized as western nations became more industrialized. Pollution, lack of consideration for others and blatant disregard for our health is foundational to what happened with the industrialization of our civilization. Cigarettes are another example of what we created in that time.
As we move into the information age, factories are being shut down, production work is being transferred to less civilized nations and governments are imposing greater laws on the population.
Imposing further bans on cigarette consumption does not stop smoking. It just sweeps the problem under the rug a little further. People who want to smoke, will continue to smoke. People who want to freeze their nuts off while inhaling on a tumour stick will continue to freeze their nuts off.
Smoking will never go away. It doesn't matter how many government laws exist. The only way it will ever go away is because people don't want it anymore. After 80 years of the imposition of the marijuana ban, we have statistical information that shows that the legality of a product does not thwart its consumption.
Let's be honest, governments love smokers. Elected officials are not long term thinkers. They don't worry about future healthcare costs of smokers. They are short term thinkers. Elected officials only care about one thing: how to stay in power. They stay in power by getting votes. They get votes by passing popular laws, no matter how ineffective and ludicrous they really are. Let's face it, cigarettes is big tax revenue for government. They are not going away, just like the stupid laws that pretend to limit consumption.
10 cases of cigarettes bought in another province is not treated with the same legality as 10 cases of chocolate bars for a reason - taxation.
I hate smoking.
I hate stupid laws that try to control us even more.
The biggest farce of this new law is that the government has asked the public to "rat" out any offenders. Cool kids don't rat out their friends, even if they do wreak of smoke and burnt tobacco.
It's time for government to leave the smokers alone. If they really want to stop promoting smoking, they'll make it illegal to buy. That'll never happen...
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Monday, July 6, 2015
"I know everything"
My friend Wayne says the day we know everything is the same day we can pack it in and accept death. Life will be but a bore after that day, so dying is the best option.
I introduced myself to a pizza shop owner recently who professed to know everything. I was blown away. He literally told me he knew everything and there was nothing I could help him with.
He was right about one thing - I cannot help him. He's closed his mind to anything new. I am not interested in hammering nails into cement blocks.
Pretty sure he's wrong about the first part though.
His passion and confidence was magnetic and retractive at the same time. Observing him talk while waving his hands and moving his head was theatre. All kinds of drama and I left with a sense of awe.
A reasonable person would not openly admit"I to knowing everything.
But how many of us think we know a lot about something.
Keep this in mind:
"Do you have 20 years experience or one year's experience repeated 20 times?"
My experience has brought me to where I am. And your experience has brought you to where you are. Two people can have similar experiences and arrive at a different location.
We're people. Not computers. Our experience gets interpreted differently by our perspective.
If you're hiring someone and looking for experience. What are you really looking for?
Experience doesn't necessarily mean the candidate can do the job.
Hire for attitude. Train for experience.
But you already know that. It's just a quicker fix to hire for experience and deal with the consequences of the potential poor hire later.
Let's defer the staff problem to some later date.
My best employee and worst hire was the same person. I hired him for experience. He made me money. But he killed my team spirit. He ruined the emotional capital I had worked hard to build with the employees and suppliers. I traded him the day I was forced to make a choice between my team and my captain.
I introduced myself to a pizza shop owner recently who professed to know everything. I was blown away. He literally told me he knew everything and there was nothing I could help him with.
He was right about one thing - I cannot help him. He's closed his mind to anything new. I am not interested in hammering nails into cement blocks.
Pretty sure he's wrong about the first part though.
His passion and confidence was magnetic and retractive at the same time. Observing him talk while waving his hands and moving his head was theatre. All kinds of drama and I left with a sense of awe.
A reasonable person would not openly admit"I to knowing everything.
But how many of us think we know a lot about something.
Keep this in mind:
"Do you have 20 years experience or one year's experience repeated 20 times?"
My experience has brought me to where I am. And your experience has brought you to where you are. Two people can have similar experiences and arrive at a different location.
We're people. Not computers. Our experience gets interpreted differently by our perspective.
If you're hiring someone and looking for experience. What are you really looking for?
Experience doesn't necessarily mean the candidate can do the job.
Hire for attitude. Train for experience.
But you already know that. It's just a quicker fix to hire for experience and deal with the consequences of the potential poor hire later.
Let's defer the staff problem to some later date.
My best employee and worst hire was the same person. I hired him for experience. He made me money. But he killed my team spirit. He ruined the emotional capital I had worked hard to build with the employees and suppliers. I traded him the day I was forced to make a choice between my team and my captain.
Friday, July 3, 2015
The Golden Rule
My parents are hard workers. They were seasonal employees. Jobs were hard to find in my community. Work was not. My parents worked all year round but only got paid when they went to a job.
Work included cutting wood, growing a garden, clamming, landscaping, home renovations, pickling vegetables and fruits, fox farming, raising chickens, turkeys, and rabbits. None of which made them real money. It put food on the table and helped us survive.
I watched my two heroes go to the same factory for a dozen years. My dad was the foreman. My mom was a production line worker. When I was 15, dad got me a job with the crew. The work stunk. Working with smoked fish will do that. It was dirty, hard labour that put a sweat on your brow only to be covered by dust, smoke and stink. The worst part of the job was the way we were treated by ownership. I watched my parents work their tails off only to be pushed harder. I observed the lack of respect for the employee. I learned the lack of appreciation from ownership killed employee loyalty.
Dad told me he brought me to the factory to encourage me to go to school and not end up in a dead end job.
The factory job served as a reminder for what not to do.
Yet, when I graduated from university, I ended up in a white collar factory job.
I worked my ass off in my office chair. Stink, smoke and dust a distant memory. The treatment of the employee was much the same. Job security was supposed to be directly correlated with hard work. I found out that job security was an illusion.
A safe secure job is a thought from the 1960's.
The only security in a job today is things change.
Today they change fast.
Don't get too comfortable.
Things will change.
Did I mention they change much faster than they used to?
My last corporate job, my employer gave me a raving employee review 30 days prior to escorting me out the front doors like a criminal. Although I wasn't in handcuffs, I was stripped of my pride. Humbled after getting kicked the curb by a company I had worked hard to gain its respect.
My parents were wrong. Working hard did not mean I always had a job...
Here's what happens when employees are treated as replaceable, interchangeable cogs in a wheel.
My rule of thumb for human resources comes from the Bible, "Treat people the way I want to be treated".
Work included cutting wood, growing a garden, clamming, landscaping, home renovations, pickling vegetables and fruits, fox farming, raising chickens, turkeys, and rabbits. None of which made them real money. It put food on the table and helped us survive.
I watched my two heroes go to the same factory for a dozen years. My dad was the foreman. My mom was a production line worker. When I was 15, dad got me a job with the crew. The work stunk. Working with smoked fish will do that. It was dirty, hard labour that put a sweat on your brow only to be covered by dust, smoke and stink. The worst part of the job was the way we were treated by ownership. I watched my parents work their tails off only to be pushed harder. I observed the lack of respect for the employee. I learned the lack of appreciation from ownership killed employee loyalty.
Dad told me he brought me to the factory to encourage me to go to school and not end up in a dead end job.
The factory job served as a reminder for what not to do.
Yet, when I graduated from university, I ended up in a white collar factory job.
I worked my ass off in my office chair. Stink, smoke and dust a distant memory. The treatment of the employee was much the same. Job security was supposed to be directly correlated with hard work. I found out that job security was an illusion.
A safe secure job is a thought from the 1960's.
The only security in a job today is things change.
Today they change fast.
Don't get too comfortable.
Things will change.
Did I mention they change much faster than they used to?
My last corporate job, my employer gave me a raving employee review 30 days prior to escorting me out the front doors like a criminal. Although I wasn't in handcuffs, I was stripped of my pride. Humbled after getting kicked the curb by a company I had worked hard to gain its respect.
My parents were wrong. Working hard did not mean I always had a job...
Here's what happens when employees are treated as replaceable, interchangeable cogs in a wheel.
- Employees use the company the same way they are used. They treat their employment as a commodity.
- Decreased employee loyalty causes an increase in training expenses and a decrease in profit
- Constant training hurts customer service
- Decreased levels of customer service, lowers customer loyalty
- Decreased customer loyalty affects revenues and long term profits
- Decreased profits negatively affects ownership decisions like strategic shift, investment and growth
My rule of thumb for human resources comes from the Bible, "Treat people the way I want to be treated".
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Running business in the dark, without a map is bananas
Driving downtown Toronto on my honeymoon, I got lost. I am from the country and the big city scared me a bit. More importantly, as I was driving, my newest and lovely co-pilot couldn't navigate me out of the labyrinth of greasy streets and wall-to-wall cars. Before GPS, the ancient travellers used paper maps bought at a corner store for $3.99. This piece of paper was integral to navigate our lost souls back onto our chosen path.
That one dark afternoon on our honeymoon reminded me of the usefulness of a business map.
What do entrepreneurs use to map their business?
Unless she's a pioneer, someone has already been there.
If a person was driving a car, she''d pull out a map, phone or GPS. Someone has already been there and tracked the route for everyone to follow them in the future, like my wife and I had done.
The pioneers created the maps.
Everyone else improves on them.
Business is the same way.
Someone has already drawn out the map.
So why would anyone try to do it alone?
American pioneers who didn't learn from other pioneers got killed.
Business people who don't learn from other business people get ideas and dreams executed.
85% of businesses fail in the first five years.
Maybe part of the problem has to do with the inability to ask for help.
The best entrepreneurs attribute their success to some other person.
Doing it alone is... well, lonely. And riskier than jumping off a bridge without checking the level of the water below.
The best entrepreneurs find the roadmap, find others who've already been there. They ask for advice and build upon the known path making the road a little more travelled.
No one can do it alone.
Which begs the question why anyone would try?
That one dark afternoon on our honeymoon reminded me of the usefulness of a business map.
What do entrepreneurs use to map their business?
Unless she's a pioneer, someone has already been there.
If a person was driving a car, she''d pull out a map, phone or GPS. Someone has already been there and tracked the route for everyone to follow them in the future, like my wife and I had done.
The pioneers created the maps.
Everyone else improves on them.
Business is the same way.
Someone has already drawn out the map.
So why would anyone try to do it alone?
American pioneers who didn't learn from other pioneers got killed.
Business people who don't learn from other business people get ideas and dreams executed.
85% of businesses fail in the first five years.
Maybe part of the problem has to do with the inability to ask for help.
The best entrepreneurs attribute their success to some other person.
Doing it alone is... well, lonely. And riskier than jumping off a bridge without checking the level of the water below.
The best entrepreneurs find the roadmap, find others who've already been there. They ask for advice and build upon the known path making the road a little more travelled.
No one can do it alone.
Which begs the question why anyone would try?
Monday, June 29, 2015
The whisper of time
Let's kill time.
I need to burn some time.
I can't wait until tomorrow.
Tomorrow will hopefully be a better day.
Time is all we really have. If you're like me, you sometimes take it for granted. Until one day it will all be gone.
Where has the time gone?
Time surely has flown by.
In a whisper, our lives are over.
150 years ago, people existed that none of us know.
Books tell us a story of their lives.
But do we really understand what they went through?
And in 150 years from now, the same will be said of our civilization.
Forgotten in reality. Remembered by youtube footprints.
Isn't it sad to think that youtube might be used as an accurate depiction of our lives?
And even then, youtube will be stored on computer libraries long forgotten by the future masses as they live their lives capturing memories on their futuristic medium.
Ask anyone in their sixties or older about time and they will say something like, "Where did it go?"
Is that what you want for your life?
Wondering where it went...
The only difference between an old man and a young man is his experiences.
Are you working for 40 years. Or are you working for one year and repeating it 40 times?
Time is whispering away, with each repeated experience.
I need to burn some time.
I can't wait until tomorrow.
Tomorrow will hopefully be a better day.
Time is all we really have. If you're like me, you sometimes take it for granted. Until one day it will all be gone.
Where has the time gone?
Time surely has flown by.
In a whisper, our lives are over.
150 years ago, people existed that none of us know.
Books tell us a story of their lives.
But do we really understand what they went through?
And in 150 years from now, the same will be said of our civilization.
Forgotten in reality. Remembered by youtube footprints.
Isn't it sad to think that youtube might be used as an accurate depiction of our lives?
And even then, youtube will be stored on computer libraries long forgotten by the future masses as they live their lives capturing memories on their futuristic medium.
Ask anyone in their sixties or older about time and they will say something like, "Where did it go?"
Is that what you want for your life?
Wondering where it went...
The only difference between an old man and a young man is his experiences.
Are you working for 40 years. Or are you working for one year and repeating it 40 times?
Time is whispering away, with each repeated experience.
Sunday, June 28, 2015
The best cheapest, most efficient way to advertise a business
Growth in revenues is what we want in business. More revenues means the expenses get taken care of easier and the doors get to stay open.
Here's where most entrepreneurs stumble:
They think that a growth in revenues is determined only by attracting new customers to the product.
Attracting new customers is the hardest and most expensive form of revenue growth.
A new business, with no customers, has no choice to go down this road. That's part of the reason why 80% of businesses fail in the first five years of operations.
An existing business that already has clients isn't forced down that path.
There are three ways to grow sales:
1. Attract new clients
2. Increase frequency of purchase of existing clients.
3. Get existing clients to buy more each visit
Two of the three ways are attributed to existing business.
In my first year of business, sales had to be increased or the doors would be closed. We focused on number 2 and 3, without any outside advertising. Our sales increased by 42%. I heard a similar story of a Burger King franchise who increased his sales by 40% in one year by focussing on cleanliness and customer service.
Could it really be that simple?
So instead of investing valuable marketing dollars towards a yellow pages ad, newspaper ad, TV commercial, radio commercial, or whatever you might think about doing, understand that sales can be easily influenced by your current actions INSIDE your business. Fix your internal stuff and sales will grow.
Then, if you still haven't hit your sales targets, you can advertise.
Advertising speeds up the inevitable.
Don't allow the inevitable to be negative.
Here's where most entrepreneurs stumble:
They think that a growth in revenues is determined only by attracting new customers to the product.
Attracting new customers is the hardest and most expensive form of revenue growth.
A new business, with no customers, has no choice to go down this road. That's part of the reason why 80% of businesses fail in the first five years of operations.
An existing business that already has clients isn't forced down that path.
There are three ways to grow sales:
1. Attract new clients
2. Increase frequency of purchase of existing clients.
3. Get existing clients to buy more each visit
Two of the three ways are attributed to existing business.
In my first year of business, sales had to be increased or the doors would be closed. We focused on number 2 and 3, without any outside advertising. Our sales increased by 42%. I heard a similar story of a Burger King franchise who increased his sales by 40% in one year by focussing on cleanliness and customer service.
Could it really be that simple?
So instead of investing valuable marketing dollars towards a yellow pages ad, newspaper ad, TV commercial, radio commercial, or whatever you might think about doing, understand that sales can be easily influenced by your current actions INSIDE your business. Fix your internal stuff and sales will grow.
Then, if you still haven't hit your sales targets, you can advertise.
Advertising speeds up the inevitable.
Don't allow the inevitable to be negative.
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Dealing with employee morale
Ever work for someone who's self interests are greater than her interest in the growth of the team?
It's demotivating. It's poisonous. The negativity vultures start circling, eyeing their prey waiting for the perfect time to pluck out thine eyes.
Don't give into the vultures. You have a choice. You can quit or you can change.
If you actually like your job, quitting is not the right answer.
So change it is.
How do you change?
What you focus on expands. Focussing on your boss's inadequacies will piss you off more.
The only way to go to a positive place is to focus on the positive things about the job.
Ask yourself what you're thankful for with this job.
Ask yourself what you love about this job.
Write it all down.
Ask yourself what you're thankful for with this job.
Ask yourself what you love about this job.
Write it all down.
If you're a team of one, you keep doing this. If there are others on the team, whether you're a supervisor or not, it's your time to lead. Your happiness depends on it. Can't do it? Then you should quit your job. Your happiness also depends on it.
Quitting a job in this way is like running away from a problem. Unfortunately, this problem will resurface at another job someday. Ever notice that life is like a video game. Until you learn how to get past a difficult level, you keep reliving the same old mistakes.
Today, you're going to get past this difficult level. You're gonna go Jedi on them with this mind trick.
Get the team together on Monday morning and lead them to positive change. Ask them to list the five things they love about their jobs, the team, and working with each other. You write down their answers but don't let them write them down.
Every Monday, do it again. At first, some will push back. Keep doing it. It will get harder before it gets easier. Keep referring to each employee's list. Write down the new answers they give. And there will be new answers because they will forget their previous responses if they didn't write them down.
Happiness comes from gratitude. This tactic will force employees to remind themselves why they are grateful for their job and their coworkers.
Focus on gratitude, and what they love about their jobs.
Happiness, gratitude and love will expand.
Happiness, gratitude and love will expand.
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