I almost felt like I was living the 12 days of Christmas at a recent networking meeting; 12 Mortgage Agents lending, 11 Realtors listing, 10 Financial Planners investing......... You get the idea. When you have a large event there will always be multiples of businesses, vocations and specialties. So when that is the case, how do you stand out? Meet Donald Lofthouse of Keybase Financial Group. He likely had that same thought and approached the meeting differently, as you can see above. Of course I had to stop and ask him - his strategy worked. The pouch that the pig... Continue reading

This is the video I shot for the Vlogathon going on over at Peter Sterlaci's blog. Lots of great content still to come. Your business card really can be your best personal brand trigger. What do you think? Continue reading

“Even if I don’t finish, we need others to continue. It’s got to keep going without me.” Terry Fox He firmly believed in his vision and made it a mission of the Terry Fox run to allow anyone to run without registering, or having to pay fees or raise minimum amounts. "When I started this run, I said that if we all gave one dollar, we’d have $22 million for cancer research, and I don’t care man, there’s no reason that isn’t possible. No reason!” The run has now raised over $500 million and this coming weekend sees the annual... Continue reading

I love this time of year. The evenings are still light, the mornings are fresh and crisp and back to school has a whole newness feel that goes just beyond children and learning. For many of you with children, in North America, today is their day for starting back at school. You might even be more excited than they are! But once the joy has worn off and everybody has settled back in to routines and plans are you making time for your own education? September traditionally is almost like the start of a new year. an opportunity to re-focus,... Continue reading

Can you spot the difference? Apparently over at Microsoft they can't! The logo on the left came from a 90's Windows95 commercial, the logo on the right, with great fanfare, was launched as Microsoft's new logo, the first for 25 years. Hope they asked for their Fiverr.com investment back! Continue reading

Athlete......Survivor.....Philanthropist......Cheat? Sadly, unless there is a definitive answer, that final attribute will now always be associated with Lance Armstrong's personal brand. But always with a question. We all know him through those first three attributes, the question is can we ever not think of him without the last one? Both sides were always too far apart for this to be concluded with anything other than the wrong result. Witnesses and experts on both sides claiming to be right. Strong personalities involved. A lot at stake. Now the truth may never be known. Part of the confusion for many of us... Continue reading

I have just returned from speaking for the CCCA (the in-house counsel association) at the Canadian Bar Association's conference in beautiful Vancouver. We really could not have picked a better week for weather. Hello to everyone who has joined this e-zine from that event. Like me, you probably find at conferences that you encounter many different ways and means of people trying to communicate their message. Sponsors, trade booth vendors, suppliers, colleagues, everyone tries to think of the next best give away or catchy slogan to get your attention. There were certainly some novel and creative ones. Still, at networking... Continue reading

Olympic Winners from Paul Copcutt on Vimeo. This past two weeks the Olympics has been a great spectacle. Obviously I am a little biased given my UK heritage, but team GB did fantastically as host nation and in the medals. I loved what the Royal Mail did for each GB gold medal won. Overnight they produced a stamp of the winners and then painted all the mail boxes in the winners home towns GOLD! This was an organization finding a unique and memorable way to connect their brand to the Olympics and they were not even a major sponsor. For... Continue reading

With the Olympics the great thing about living in one country and coming from another is you get to root for both- in other words you have double chance of celebration! To date Canada has performed below expectations but team GB is certainly rocking it, with 6 days to go they are already at the same number of Gold medals as Bejing with, I am sure, more to come. But when it comes to your personal brand, you cannot afford to have two sides. Your personal brand is you and needs to be consistent on all fronts. The International Olympic... Continue reading

Recently I was asked to contribute an article to a month long blogathon put together by fellow brand strategist Peter Sterlacci. Below is my contribution. The 30 authors offered up a wide array of personal brandng related advice, it was a great month of information and insight. The great news is that all the posts have been compiled in to one e-book which you can get at no charge, just by e-mailing our office (AT) squarepegsolution.com with Blogathon E-book in the subject heading. Enjoy! Almost 15 years on and I unfortunately find that most college and certainly high school graduates... Continue reading

Given the plethora of TV shows - everybody's got talent. One of the fun activities at our recent family camp was 'Talent Night'. Whilst it is generally arranged for the children to participate, we could not resist. We ended up delivering a re-worked version of LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" based on the camp. We managed to stay on stage! But will not be threatening LMFAO's status anytime soon! They certainly have a distinct sound, look and feel - their brand, their talent. Can you say the same about your personal brand? Three things to consider about your personal brand to... Continue reading

Given the plethora of TV shows - everybody's got talent. One of the fun activities at our recent family camp was 'Talent Night'. Whilst it is generally arranged for the children to participate, we could not resist. We ended up delivering a re-worked version of LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" based on the camp. We managed to stay on stage! But will not be threatening LMFAO's status anytime soon! They certainly have a distinct sound, look and feel - their brand, their talent. Can you say the same about your personal brand? Three things to consider about your personal brand to... Continue reading

"I'm bored" were two words that were not uttered once on our recent family vacation at Camp Wanakita. In today's hyper connected world this was perhaps even a little more unusual as our children had deemed the week a 'No Technology' zone. No I-pod's, Laptops or Blackberry's. It certainly was not a case of 'Survivor' but we survived! In fact we thrived and perhaps even lived a little more. I will admit it was hard at times, not every family at the camp had decided the same course. But overall it was a really enjoyable and fun experience, not to... Continue reading

I am celebrating several independence milestones over the next week and invite you to join me. The first is that I have passed one year clear of cancer. I continually think about others facing this challenge either directly and indirectly and send them continued strength and wishes. Also over the next week see's Canada's 145th birthday - and it was on July 1st 16 years ago that I arrived in Canada to start a new life that has led to a wonderful family and self employed independence. As a family we are celebrating these milestones with a travelling vacation in... Continue reading

This Thursday see's the longest day in the Northern hemisphere. The Summer Solstice is the almanac's 'official' start of the summer (it actually starts at 7.09 pm on the 20th). I love the summer - it is filled with great memories of kids playing freely, trips to the beach, clear skies, bbq's and warm weather. The song in the video above just captures a lot of that for me (check out the lead singers sideburns and the glass bottle musical instrument - just classic!!). It is also the time for increased irritations from more bugs and pests. Often when we... Continue reading

The recent news that Bombardier (the Canadian transportation company) had a strategy around it's business development and lobbying activity should come as no surprise. In fact I was astounded that the tone of the Globe & Mail article and certain commentators seemed to perceive this as somewhat deceitful. The particular business activity that was being analysed was their eventual win of a $2 billion train and maintenance contract for South Africa. Admittedly there are also suggestions around suspect payments. However compiling background information on contacts who were part of the decision process strikes me less about unethical practice and more... Continue reading

This video was posted this week by the owner of Buddy Media a dot.com celebrating the recent sale of his company two hours previously. What is interesting is it's not a self congratulatory video. The CEO, Mike Lazerow, has a heart defect that nearly killed him, twice, before the age of 20. He was expected to not make it the 2nd time. But he did and went on to launch 4 companies. Buddy Media has just been sold to Salesforce.com for over $650 million. The question he has for you is 'Is fear holding you back?' What can you be... Continue reading

In some areas of products and services the technology sector is booming, in others it is going.....going....gone - FAST. I have attended a couple of local events recently that highlighted a very innovative and growing tech hub in the Hamilton area - there is a new smartphone app from Snap Pay for example that enables anyone to take credit card payments in seconds . One presentation from Pipeline Studios (a highly successful cartoon house) informed us of one of the best kept secrets, that Canada is the largest producer of digital content for TV in the world! This is all... Continue reading

When you set out to go mountain climbing, as in business, there are a number of factors that increase your chances of success, but if not can cause a fall. Knowledge - past experience, having all the right equipment packed, planning your route, practicing the more difficult traverses ahead of time. Teamwork - having the right team with you, knowing everyones strengths (and weaknesses), understanding you do not have all the answers. Realism - not living in the clouds thinking whatever happens that it's all going to be great. Having dreams yes, but ensuring your feet are set firmly in... Continue reading

Well it was only a matter of time before we saw it again. People seem to easily forget that celebrities and CEO's are human too. That means a small percentage will also do things that surprise the rest of us. This time it was Scott Thompson, now former CEO of Yahoo, the beleagured internet company, uncovered as having lied on his resume. His claim was to have a double degree, when an unhappy investor discovered that one of those degrees was not even offered by Thompson's school until after he had graduated! Three things that Thompson did that accelerated his... Continue reading