What was your Defining moment?

November 29th, 2009

Last week one of the papers ran an article on the stars of the Dragon’s Den.    I specially liked the story of Kevin O’Leary the self made billionaire who sold his software company for over $1B.

The defining moment for Kevin to go into business for himself  was when he was fired as a teenager from working at an ice cream parlour in Ottawa.  He was asked to scrub gum of the floor, he refused and was fired.  From that day forward he vowed he would be the boss doing the firing.

I personally  never had a defining moment, I just knew since high school I wanted to go into business for myself.  Its been a struggle but very worthwhile.

What was your defining moment to go the entrepreneurial route?

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Amazon takes on Walmart

November 13th, 2009

e-Commerce sales according to Forrester Research will hit $48 billion in the USA during the holiday season.  (Total retail e-commerce sales in the USA in 2007 was  $127 billion compared to Canada $12.8 billion)   Although e-commerce sales still only account for 3.6% of the overall retail industry in the USA it is the growth rate that is revealing.  In 2001 e-commerce sales accounted for 1% of retail sales, today it stands at 3.6%.

Giving the opportunity it is no wonder that companies like Walmart are keeping a close eye on Amazon.  The recent price war on DVDs between Amazon and Walmart shows the intense competition that exist among retailers.

e-Commerce companies wondering how to better their companies should play close attention to Amazon’s strategy and business model.  Amazon has done everything right up to this point, that has allowed it to grow to the world’s largest online retailer.  It perhaps has the world’s best online recommendation system, unrivaled backed fulfillment process and is diversified in different businesses such as cloud computing.

It is mind boggling that Amazon carries 10 million products while Walmart can only ship 500,000.  Aside from fending off competitors like Walmart, Amazon still has to contend with possible threats like Google.

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Posted in Management Knowledge, Strategic Management, e-Business | 2 Comments »

Cloud Computing is the Future

November 4th, 2009

Today I attended a presentation by Google, here in Toronto.

One thing is pretty clear, “Cloud Computing” which has various meanings is the future of computing.  All you need essentially is a browser to access applications.

The proof that it is the future of computing is not only an endorsement from Google, that essentially is a cloud computing company.  But the fact that Microsoft and IBM have also rolled out cloud computing platforms for their application.

The presentation was geared towards enterprise use (3000+ employees) and the use of Google Apps.   This does not mean that Apps are only suited for this size company.  Google Apps can be used by any size company.   I use Google apps for my company and would readily recommend it.

However, some larger companies have privacy and security concerns that are well founded.  The issue is that Google does not have a data center in Canada.  Although they have 17  data centers around the world, most likely if you were to sign with Google your company would be hosted in the United States.  What this means is that if ever their was a legal issue to contend with, for example a subpoena to provide email data to investigators,  a US warrant would be required and US laws would apply.  At the heart of this issue is the Patriot Act, that was signed into law by Bush in 2001.

Privacy and Security concerns aside, cloud computing for your company should still be determined by your business needs and building a business case to prove that in fact there will be significant cost savings and productivity gains.  The fact that Google has 150 million people using Gmail is a great testament to their service, however, you still need to do your due diligence to see if it is a good fit for your company.

Does cloud computing mean you have to move all your applications to the Internet.  The answer is of course not.   The most likely scenario will be that only certain applications like email may end up in the cloud but others will still sit locally.

Each company that is contemplating cloud computing should take its time to build a proper business case and answer all relevant business, legal and security questions.

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Posted in International Business, Management Knowledge | No Comments »

Lesson Learned

November 3rd, 2009

This blog is now back online.  However, it took about two weeks.  It should have been a simple matter of  just upgrading the old version of Wordpress to the most current.  But if you ever dealt with managing technology, it is never a simple matter.

I launched this Blog back in May 2007 at which point the Wordpress version was 2.2.  I was fairly happy with the software but recently noticed that the current new version 2.8.5  was lot more robust and secure.   So I decided to upgrade.

The blog  runs on a hosted platform, so I opted to upgrade via their control panel.  That was mistake number one.  Here is the message I received from them when I contacted them to find out why the upgrade did not work.

“Unfortunately upgrade option from Easy Apps collection is unstable and it isn’t recommended to use it. Please upgrade your applications manually or re-install the newest versions from scratch.”

My first though upon receiving this message was to cancel the account.  But I cooled down and decided to to give them a chance to redeem themselves.

Luckily I had made a backup of my Wordpress Database, which runs on MySQL.

I exchanged several messages with the hosting provider trying to get the blog upgraded, but it was in vain.   I realized that these guys were not going to be able to resolve the problem.  So I contacted Wordpress.  I conceptually knew what the problem was, but needed someone to vocalize it.  I sent an email to Wordpress.  This was their response after four days.

“This database dump is from a very old version of WordPress and several of the tables here do not exist anymore in a WordPress setup. You’ll need to install whatever version of WordPress you used at the time, get this data in through phpmyadmin, upgrade to the latest version of WP and then you can do a proper export.”

I wasn’t too happy with the response, since it could have been a little more detailed, telling me what version I was running and providing a link to that version.  But it worked and I was happy for the help.

Notice the last two words in the quote, “proper export”.  This was the key.  Eventhough, I had a copy of the database, it didn’t matter, I could not import it using the myphp tools.  You had to have the proper XML file from Wordpress with the posts, comments and categories.  The problem was the incompatibility of the structure of the database tables.  Some tables did not even exist anymore.

The lesson my friends, to avoid this mess is use the export function within Wordpress if you are planning an upgrade.


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A Whole New Mind

September 8th, 2009

While on my trip to Halifax over the Labour Day long weekend I had an opportunity to sit down and read Dan Pink’s book A Whole New Mind.

 

I had met Dan before at a Rotman business school event where he was promoting his latest book, Johnny Bunko–The last career guide you’ll ever need.

 

In A Whole New Mind, Dan’s thesis is that we have entered into a new phase of time, the Conceptual Age.  Initially there was the Agriculture Age, followed by the Industrial Age, and the most recent, Information Age.

 

I liked the way the book was structured.  It was split into two parts.  The first part covered his argument for the Conceptual Age, which boils down to the 3As; Abundance, Asia and Automation.  The second part covers the necessary skills that will be needed to compete in the Conceptual Age, mainly six senses: Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play and Meaning.

 

The Conceptual Age Dan says will require a balance between the right side of your brain, the more artistic side, and the left side of the brain which is more logical.  In the second part of the book he provides how you can strengthen the right side of your brain to heighten the six senses.  Those who don’t tune up their right side of their brains will not be able to compete effectively in North America.  The 3As will make sure of that.  It’s a warning for both employees and employers.

 

There is an Abundance of products and services to chose from.  Companies in order to compete will need to differentiate their products more and make them more emotionally relevant to customers. Think of the Iphone, you have to wait to get one. Why?  Because of its unique design and the emotional attachment that it has been able to create with customers.

 

Outsourcing to Asia will continue to grow.  Why would pay a software engineer $70,000 when you can get the it done in India for $14,000.   “Each year, India’s colleges and universities produce about 350,000 engineering graduates.” (P. 37)  But it is not only IT jobs that are been outsourced but as well, accounting and law related services among others.

 

Your job is at stake if it can easily be automated by software or a robot.  Answer the following 3 questions, and if you answer is yes to number 1 and 2 and No to number 3 you are in deep trouble.

 

 

  1. Can someone overseas do it cheaper?
  2. Can a computer do it faster?
  3. Is what I’m offering in demand in an age of abundance?

 

I enjoyed reading the book and believe it can help you plan your professional future. All you need is “a whole new mind.” Highly recommended!

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Can You Trust Your Financial Advisor?

June 29th, 2009

About a year and a half ago an “investment advisor” called me from my bank.  They wanted to “help me with my investments”.  When I asked what exactly they were proposing, they said they wanted to discuss some mutual funds.  Now, if I were like most people I would have agreed to meet them and inherently trust this person to have my best interest at heart because after all they are my bank.

 

But having worked in the financial services industry for 7 years and completing the Canadian Securities Course back in 1996 and doing all my own investing for the past 20 years I knew right away this person was just trying to sell me mutual funds and didn’t know the first thing about investing.  I grilled this individual to the point where they admitted that all they knew was mutual funds.  I pointed out to this person that the bank was doing a disservice to their customers by trying to push out their own product, and this was not investing.   I have not received any calls from the bank concerning my investments since.

 

I recalled this incident while while watching CBC Sunday Night yesterday.  They ran a feature called, Can you Trust Your Financial Advisor.   It appears it originally aired in April, so you might have watched it.  But what really caught my attention was that they interviewed a local business acquaintance, Mike Green, who has lost $3 million dollars after investing it with an advisor.  Mike Green is a savvy Canadian entrepreneur, and I was shocked when I learned he had been ripped off.  It made me think, if this can happen to Mike then the average person had no chance.

 

To protect yourself and increase your knowledge on investing here are a few things I recommend:

 

 

  1. If it is too good to be true, then it is.  Consistent hight returns with low risk is not possible.  Read this Harvard article entitled What Did Bernard Madoff Do?
  2. Given the recent scandals with the likes of Bernard Madoff and others I think the CBC piece is very timely and I would highly recommend you watch the feature to increase your awareness of the investment industry. 
  3. Buy a book entitled “The Great Investment Lie” by Michael Edesses.  The book is worth its weight in gold.  The book is written by a industry insider, who has been in the industry over 25 years.  He has a PHD in abstract mathematics and provides a 10 point strategy how to invest your money.
  4. Take the Canadian Securities Course, just for your own knowledge even though you may have no intention of becoming an investment advisor.  Really, they should make a money management course mandatory in high school, so everyone has an awareness of how to invest their hard earned money.
  5. Watch this presentation by Prem Watsa, FairFax’s CEO, known as “the Warren Buffett of Canada.” He recommends the “bible” of value investing a book entitled “Security Analysis” by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd.  Watsa made $2 Billion in the economic meltdown by betting betting against banks and other financial companies using credit default swaps.

Posted in Investing | 1 Comment »

Meeting Canadian Entrepreneur Ron Dembo

May 27th, 2009

 Edgar Sanchez meets Ron Dembo

I have been interested in Ron Dembo’s work since reading his book “Seeing Tomorrow” back in the late nineties.Dr. Dembo created the world’s biggest risk management company, Algorithmics, from scratch.  He then sold it for $175MM.  Before that he was a consultant at Golman Sachs, where he was earning $35,000 a month.  The same amount he was receiving for a year’s salary as a professor at Yale in the eighties.

If you are interested in how he built up Algorithmics read this Rotman Branding article.I met him at the Drake Hotel in Toronto on May 19, 2009.  I had a chance to ask him the one question on most entrepreneurs mind.  The question I asked him was, “If you had to give one piece of advice to budding entrepreneurs, what would that be?”. His answer, “liquidity”.  He said you must at least have 6 months of cash to cover your costs.  He recounted a story about a billion dollar company who was asked to cover a margin call.  The company did not have the cash.  Guess what happened? That’s right, it went belly up.

Check out Ron Dembo’s current company Zerofootprint .  It is helping clean up our environment and not just talking about it like Al Gore.  The presentation at the Drake was all about it, I learned how North America is responsible for two thirds of the world’s carbon footprint and that 40% of our energy is consumed by our inefficient buildings.  Dembo currently has a $1MM international contest to “re-skin” our buildings in Canada.

Posted in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Management Knowledge | 2 Comments »

Seven Steps to Marketing like President Obama

May 13th, 2009

President Obama’s marketing campaign has been hailed as one of the most successful ever.  Her raised $639 million in funds for his campaign.  How did he do it?

Answer: click here, Marketing like President Obama.

One key strategy employed by President Obama was his use of the Internet.  He has embraced the Internet.   In fact he is known as the “Net President”.  Obama is the first U.S.  president to appoint a US Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Chief Information Officer (CIO) to the Whitehouse.  Vivek Kundra, the CIO, has vowed to extend the use of Cloud Computing in the government.

When it comes to marketing, “Politicians are,by far, the best marketers” says Sergio Zyman.  He should know, he was Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) for Coke.  Coke is arguably the the best brand in the world; water with some dark stuff in it, who would have thought?

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Coke, number one Brand on Facebook

May 7th, 2009

My last entry talked about the ineffectiveness of social media in B2B marketing.  However, in a B2C marketing it seems that social media tools like Facebook are starting to make headway.  Marketers are always looking for a targeted audience.  Well, Facebook has an audience of 200 million users and half of those log in at least once a day.  Imagine the marketing potential, given the detailed information people post on their profiles.

Coke is already the number one consumer products brand on Facebook, followed by  Pringles.

To get a free article on the Top 10 consumer products on Facebook, contact me–Edgar Sanchez.  The article also provides guidance on how to set up a referral program on Facebook to reach the South American country with the third largest percentage worldwide of Facebook users.

Posted in International Business, Marketing and Sales Strategy | No Comments »

Is Twitter just a Fad?

May 5th, 2009

I have been giving this question a lot of thought lately since my company’s e-business arm, CloudAcent, specializes in Web marketing.

Bottom line social media tools, like Twitter and Facebook are probably not as effective as you thought they were for business to business (B2B) marketing and sales purposes. However, from personal experience from using Linkedin as  Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tactic, it is very effective.  In essence, what it allows you to do is create a web “property” to drive traffic back to your site.

The Globe and Mail published this recent survey that shows that social media really isn’t that effective in a B2B scenario.  As expected out of the more popular tools out there, Linkedin, is by far the best out of the group for B2B marketing and sales.  This makes sense since it is a site targeted towards professionals.

Here is the article:

Tom Davenport’s instinct about Twitter seems to be backed by a recent survey by the ESR Group into the impact of new social media tools in business-to-business selling. CRM Magazine reports that the number of respondents claiming the best-known tools “sometimes” or “often” help B2B sales were underwhelming:

LinkedIn: 36%
Hoovers and OneSource: 33%
Jigsaw: 10%
Facebook: 8%
Plaxo: 7%
Twitter: 4%

By the way Tom Davenport is a Harvard Business Prof.  and he thinks Twitter is a fad.  I don’t know enough about Twitter at this point,  aside from what I outlined below to agree or disagree.   But my business sense is leaning towards agreeing with him. I would like to know what you think.

Comparing Social Networks

NETWORK
 Number of Users
 Target Audience
 Uses
Facebook
facebook.com		 200 million100 million logging in at least once a day Personal
  • Post pictures
  • Keep in touch with friends and family
Linkedin

linkedin.com		 39 million Business Professionals
  • Find Jobs
  • Find Business Opportunities
  • Research companies
Twitter
Twitter.com		 5 Million Friends, Family and Co-workers
  • send quick text messages 140 characters long
  • follow what people are doing
Myspace
myspace.com		 close to Facebook musicians, celebrities

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